Comments on: He’s All Right, But He’s Not Real

By: lizbaillie

lizbaillie — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:36:28 +0000

But… but it’s gawt dat new gittah smell!

NAAAAHHHH!!!!

But really, I think you’re reading too much into about 10 seconds of a really mediocre movie. It was a quite shitty movie, yes, but I did find it quite entertaining even if it was basically Germs: the Cartoon. And I’m not even really much of a Germs fan… at all.

Okay okay, I like “Manimal.”

By: MaxMarginal

MaxMarginal — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:42:13 +0000

This is right on. Of course I’m going to agree with you because I’m not a huge Germs fan, but anyways - the Germs/Flag dichotomy is an LA dichotomy based on which side of I-10 you’re on. The Germs were distinctly Hollywood and relied on gullible orphans that still wander between Melrose Ave. and Hollywood Blvd., and Flag were South Bay and could have existed nowhere else.

The South Bay (the area of Los Angeles south of LAX) is a one-of-a-kind geographic and cultural divide. Imagine if there was a DC suburb where not a single resident worked in politics or government. There isn’t one, but there is a huge portion of LA where every resident does not work in show business, and that’s the South Bay. It might as well be 200 miles from Hollywood. Kids who live there will go to shows, etc. in Hollywood every now and again but not one of their parents has the slightest relationship to it, and the culture doesn’t either.

The Germs were a product of a man with charisma and vision with poor execution in the right place for people to follow a leader like that (think Manson family). Flag were young folks struggling to resolve working class or middle class identities with the glitz 15 miles north that bore no relevance to them. I think you can tell which thing I think is cooler, obviously.

By: LTNixon

LTNixon — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:50:18 +0000

So did Darby die from an Oki Dog like the famous punk song once attributed his death to?

By: jstrummer

jstrummer — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:20:43 +0000

Someone like you who has invested so much effort in being punk would like to think that everyone is equally committed to a particular vision rather than, say, just playing fun, fast, good music. There was a particular period from, say, 1976 to 1979, when some good music was produced, and that was influential. That’s about it.

To the extent that anyone today really gives a shit about the Germs, they are Germs vastly overrated.

By: uptowntopranking

uptowntopranking — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:26:36 +0000

The idea that there was enough self-awareness to tailor the music, member personae, and effect on audience behavior to embody a more perfect Art Terrorism is overreaching.

The Masque scene that spawned The Germs was older and different from the Okie / Joad bedroom communities that gave us the Flag. The Masque was Hollywood street kids, art students, a mix of Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies (pace GG). They were so old that they grew up Bowie fans because he was the weirdest thing in captivity. The Masque crowd had eye makeup, for chrissakes. None of those things were true for the crowd that wanted to see the Flag. It was working class and suburban.

You need the Germs (and the Screamers, Weirdos, Eyes, Bags, Zeroes, Black Randy, etc.) to create the space for Black Flag et al the same way you need the Pistols, Clash, Adverts and the rest of the crowd at the 100 Club to create the space for Sham 69, GBH and Oi.

You can’t have one without the other. The Art Movement becomes the Youth Cult.

Not that anyone knew what they were doing in a larger sense. There was no book on how to do or be a Punk Rock Band yet. They were both creating as much energy as possible and seeing what happened, not that there was a “goal” other than to have a good time and to set up a better one next week.

Please give up on the purity trolling. Same team!