The Germs were an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band started with Darby Crash (born John Paul Beahm) and Pat Smear (also known for playing guitar in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, born Georg Albert Ruthenberg) after they were kicked out of University High School for anti-social behavior and allegedly using “mind control” on fellow students. The band’s original name was “Sophistifuck and the Revlon Spam Queens”, but the name was changed because they could not afford that many letters on a T-shirt.

The first line-up consisted of Crash on vocals (known as Bobby Pyn at the time), Smear on guitar, Diana Grant on bass (known as Dinky), and Michelle Baer on drums. However, this line-up never played in front of a live audience. In April of 1977, the band added Lorna Doom (born Teresa Ryan), replacing Dinky, and Dottie Danger on drums as a transitional member, later famous as Belinda Carlisle in The Go-Go’s (although this was the first line-up to play live the final line-up was Crash, Smear, Doom, and Don Bolles). The band’s first performance was at the Orpheum Theater. Smear recalled: “We made noise. Darby stuck the mic in a jar of peanut butter. It was a dare, we had no songs or anything! Lorna wore her pants inside out, and Darby covered himself in red licorice… we made noise for five minutes until they threw us off.” The first song the band recorded was Forming, recorded with a Sony 2-track reel-to-reel recorder in Smear’s family garage. The tape was sent to a pressing print and returned with a note saying “Warning: This record causes ear cancer.”

The Germs were featured in the film The Decline of Western Civilization, along with other LA punk bands. On December 3rd, 1980, the date of the band’s over-sold last show, Crash told amazed kids in the audience “We did this show so you new people could see what it was like when we were around. You’re not going to see it again.” Crash ended his life in a suicide pact with Casey “Cola” Hopkins, where Cola survived but Crash did not, nor did he intend for her to survive or change his mind at the last minute. He wrote “My life, my leather, my love goes to Bosco”, referring to David “Bosco” Danford. His death was overshadowed by the assassination of John Lennon and mistakenly reported of taking too many sleeping pills.