Media Blitz: The Germs Story (2004)

Genres - Music  |   Sub-Genres - Biography, Music History, Vocal Music  |   Run Time - 108 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
  • AllMovie Rating
    3
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Share on

Synopsis by Mark Deming

The Germs were one of the first and most infamous bands to emerge on the Los Angeles punk rock scene. Fronted by Jan Paul Beahm, better known by his stage name Darby Crash, the Germs could barely play when they released their first single, " "Forming," in the fall of 1977, but their manic stage performances, characterized by Crash's booze-addled howling and his willingness to either confront his audience or allow them to confront him, soon made them the stuff of legend. The Germs gradually grew from a joke on the L.A. punk scene to one of California's most talked about bands, but Crash was determined to live out the "live fast, die young" rock & roll mythos, and he killed himself with a deliberate heroin overdose in late 1980. Media Blitz: The Germs Story collects a variety of material on the short-lived but long-shadowed phenomenon of the Germs. Included is a videotaped live performance by the band, an extended interview with Germs drummer Don Bolles, a collection of rare Germs photos, and audio-only recordings of rare and unusual Germs tracks.

Characteristics

Keywords

band [music group], heroin, infamy, punk-rock, retrospective, underground [counterculture]