Just finished reading "Lexicon Devil". Pretty interesting. I was 8-10 years old in the same exact neighborhood that a lot of this book takes place in...but while I was a wee lad into Devo and getting picked on for havin a mohawk (sorry Darby, Mohican) in jr. high, I was nowhere near going out to these shows. I probably would have tho if i were a few years older...but it's probably for the best that I didn't.
Anyone see the film WHAT WE DO IS SECRET? Or read this book? Yea, the music is largely unlistenable, but the music isn't the point. I do have a great live version of the song "what we do is secret" that I got from the old time napster.
(this post is incoherent. man my head hurts)
Re: The Germs (music, film, book)
2I didn't even know this was coming out until I read a review in the paper on Friday, shows you how hip I am...then again, rock biopics are fairly staid affairs by this late stage of the game anyway. Never knew Johnny Cash had such a bland life until Manigold committed it to celluloid. Anyway, I have the Germs compilation but really never listen to it that much, enjoyed the concert footage I've seen of them in a train-wreck kind of way but have to say California had many better punk bands back then. Gimmie the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, X, Fear, DKs, any number of others over them.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."
Re: The Germs (music, film, book)
3wow. the germs were one of the most innovative bands of their time. i've been told how lucky i am that i live in one of the cities that is showing this film. however, i don't have the time to get there to see it. 
that being said, i never really got into their music. i understand what darby & co did and appreciate that without them music would not be the same - especially my music - but i just never got into it. would very much like to see this though.
review?
that being said, i never really got into their music. i understand what darby & co did and appreciate that without them music would not be the same - especially my music - but i just never got into it. would very much like to see this though.
review?
Re: The Germs (music, film, book)
4I didn't get a chance to see the film. It had a one week run at the Nuart but that was a crazy week for me.
A-head, as the book addresses: Crash was a first-hand influence on the bands you mentioned. That's the most interesting part. At first it was The Screamers and The Weirdos, a few others, and "The Germs" who were a group of people that Crash called a band before they even came up with any songs. When they finally got their first gig, it was there that something major was born even though they sounded like crap.
Crash and Paul Roessler (Screamers keyboardist) went to an experimental school that was located on the grounds of Uni High (i went to elementary school across the street from there at the same time) which utilized elements of Scientology and all kinds of crazy shit. It's almost as though you can trace the birth of this scene to that school.
The book describes it better than I ever could, so I'll stop here!
A-head, as the book addresses: Crash was a first-hand influence on the bands you mentioned. That's the most interesting part. At first it was The Screamers and The Weirdos, a few others, and "The Germs" who were a group of people that Crash called a band before they even came up with any songs. When they finally got their first gig, it was there that something major was born even though they sounded like crap.
Crash and Paul Roessler (Screamers keyboardist) went to an experimental school that was located on the grounds of Uni High (i went to elementary school across the street from there at the same time) which utilized elements of Scientology and all kinds of crazy shit. It's almost as though you can trace the birth of this scene to that school.
The book describes it better than I ever could, so I'll stop here!
