Death on Credit
Senior Member
Darby Crash, singer of punk rock band the Germs, died by intentional overdose 30 years ago today (the day before John Lennon's death).
I'm going to try to recreate an anecdote I heard years ago from memory, as I long lost the source...
"On December 7, 1980, I went over the my friend Dave's house, and he told me that Darby Crash had died that morning. I had to leave immediately, in shock. The news tore me apart.
The next day, I went back over to Dave's house to talk to him about what happened to Darby, and when he came to the door, he told me that John Lennon had been shot.
I stopped going to Dave's house for a while."
Darby Crash was among the first gay men to be involved in the punk rock scene, although he tried to hide it. His wild on stage antics, which made even Iggy Pop seem tame in comparison, got the band banned from many clubs, which eventually lead the band to break up. After about a year of being broken up, the Germs reformed for a gig on December 4th, 1980. When asked what he would do with the considerable amount of money that the gig earned him, Darby responded that he was going to buy a bunch of heroin and kill himself. Nobody took him seriously, but he did just that a few days later.
Nowadays, the Germs are on tour with a rom-com actor filling for Darby. Despite this farce, Darby Crash and the Germs remain highly influential in the hardcore punk community.
I'm going to try to recreate an anecdote I heard years ago from memory, as I long lost the source...
"On December 7, 1980, I went over the my friend Dave's house, and he told me that Darby Crash had died that morning. I had to leave immediately, in shock. The news tore me apart.
The next day, I went back over to Dave's house to talk to him about what happened to Darby, and when he came to the door, he told me that John Lennon had been shot.
I stopped going to Dave's house for a while."
Darby Crash was among the first gay men to be involved in the punk rock scene, although he tried to hide it. His wild on stage antics, which made even Iggy Pop seem tame in comparison, got the band banned from many clubs, which eventually lead the band to break up. After about a year of being broken up, the Germs reformed for a gig on December 4th, 1980. When asked what he would do with the considerable amount of money that the gig earned him, Darby responded that he was going to buy a bunch of heroin and kill himself. Nobody took him seriously, but he did just that a few days later.
Nowadays, the Germs are on tour with a rom-com actor filling for Darby. Despite this farce, Darby Crash and the Germs remain highly influential in the hardcore punk community.
