Editing Germs (band) (section)

===Formation===
[[File:The-Germs-Band-Logo.jpg|thumb|upright|The band's logo, also used as the album cover for ''[[GI (album)|(GI)]]''.]]
Crash (born Jan Paul Beahm) and Smear (born Georg Ruthenberg) decided to start a band after being kicked out of [[University High School (Los Angeles, California)|University High School]] for [[antisocial behavior]], allegedly for using "mind control" on fellow students. Their original name was "Sophistifuck and the Revlon Spam Queens", but they had to shorten the name as they could not afford that many letters on a T-shirt. The (initially hypothetical) first line-up consisted of Beahm (then known as Bobby Pyn, and later as Darby Crash) on vocals, Ruthenberg (under the name Pat Smear) on guitar, an early member named "Dinky" (Diana Grant) on bass, and Michelle Baer playing drums. This line-up never played in front of a live audience.

In April 1976, the band added Lorna Doom (born Teresa Ryan) on bass, with transitional member Dottie Danger (later famous as [[Belinda Carlisle]] of [[the Go-Go's]]) on drums.<ref name="LarkinHR">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1999|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0257-7|page=181}}</ref> Carlisle never actually played with the band, as she was sidelined by a bout of [[Infectious mononucleosis|mononucleosis]] for an extended period. She was replaced by her friend Donna Rhia (Becky Barton), who played three gigs and performed on their first single. Carlisle remained a friend and helper of the band (she can be heard introducing the band on the ''Germicide: Live at the Whiskey'' recording, produced by [[Kim Fowley]]), only leaving because her new band, the Go-Go's, were becoming popular and, as she put it, "I was really disturbed by the heroin that was going on".<ref name="hoot">{{cite web|url=http://www.hootpage.com/hoot_germs-trib.html |title=Watt and Mascis on Germs tribute |publisher=Hootpage.com |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref> [[Nickey Alexander|Nickey Beat]], of various noteworthy Los Angeles bands including [[the Weirdos]], also sat in on drums for a time.

The band's first live performance was at the Orpheum Theater, a 99-seat venue on the [[Sunset Strip]] in then-[[unincorporated area]] [[West Hollywood, California]] (later the location of [[Book Soup]]). 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".<ref name=hoot/>

The Germs initially drew musical influences from [[Iggy Pop]], [[David Bowie]], [[Ramones]], [[the Runaways]], [[Sex Pistols]], and [[New York Dolls]]. Early on, Smear was the only musically experienced member; Doom survived early performances by sliding a finger up and down the fretboard of her bass while Rhia generally kept a minimal beat on the bass drum, periodically bashing a cymbal.

Early performances were usually marked by raucous crowds made up of the band's friends. As a result, their gigs became notorious for being rowdy and usually verged on a riot.