Editing Germs (band) (section)

===Recordings===
The first single, "[[Forming (song)|Forming]]",<ref name="LarkinHR"/> was recorded on a [[Sony]] two-track [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel-to-reel recorder]] in Smear's family garage, and arrived back from the pressing plant with a note warning "this record may cause ear cancer" printed on the sleeve.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=455432 |title=Images for Germs, The* – Forming |publisher=Discogs.com |access-date=2015-06-05}}</ref> much to the band's displeasure. It was released in July 1977 on the What? label.<ref name="LarkinHR"/> The single featured a shambolic but serviceable performance on the [[A-side and B-side|A-side]] and a muddy live recording of "Sexboy" on the B-side, recorded at the [[Roxy Theatre (West Hollywood)|Roxy]] for the [[Cheech and Chong]] movie, ''[[Up in Smoke (movie)|Up in Smoke]]''. The song was not used in the movie, nor was the band. They were the only band not to receive a call-back to perform live for the film's "Battle of the Bands" sequence, perhaps due to the fact that the Germs' chaotic Roxy performance had featured an unscripted, full-on [[food fight]].

Throughout their career, they had a reputation as a chaotic live band. Crash often arrived onstage nearly incoherent from drugs, singing everywhere but into the microphone and taunting the audience between songs, yet nevertheless, delivered intense theatrical and increasingly musical performances. The other band members prided themselves on similar problems, with many contemporary reviews citing collapses, incoherence and drunken vomiting onstage. Fans saw this as part of the show, and indeed, the band presented it as such, even when breaking bottles and rolling in the glass, with the music coming and going.

Smear was revealed to be a remarkably talented and fluid player; much later, after Crash's death, critics finally acknowledged his lyrics as poetic art. Crash's vocals had begun to mold themselves around the style of [[the Screamers]]' vocalist [[Tomata du Plenty|Tomata DuPlenty]]. Another strong influence on the band's final sound was [[Zolar X]], a theatrical [[glam rock]] band popular in the Los Angeles area c. 1972–1980. Crash and Smear were enthusiastic fans of the band from the pre-Germs days, and the fast tempos and raw guitar tone of (the historically pre-punk) Zolar X<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alternativetentacles.com/octopodes/865/d0yYcqDhYGaeCkkj4EV/Zolar_X-Jet_Star_19.mp3 |format=MP3 |title=Audio recording |publisher=Alternativetentacles.com |access-date=2015-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305163407/http://www.alternativetentacles.com/octopodes/865/d0yYcqDhYGaeCkkj4EV/Zolar_X-Jet_Star_19.mp3 |archive-date=2016-03-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> were similar to the sound achieved on later Germs recordings.

The Germs recorded two singles (with alternate tracks), an album-length demo session, and one full-length LP, ''[[GI (album)|(GI)]]'',<ref name="LarkinHR"/> each more focused and powerful than the last. Crash was, despite his erratic behavior, generally regarded as a brilliant lyricist (a contemporary critic described him as "ransacking the dictionary"), and the final line-up of Smear, Doom and Bolles had become a world-class rock ensemble by the recording of ''(GI)'', turning in a performance that spurred an ''[[LA Weekly]]'' reviewer to write, "This album leaves exit wounds". It is considered one of the first [[hardcore punk]]<ref name="VisualVitriol_p161">Ensminger, David A. (2011). ''Visual Vitriol: The Street Art and Subcultures of the Punk and Hardcore Generation''. [[University Press of Mississippi]]. {{ISBN|9781604739688}}. p. 161.</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Sartwell |first=Crispin |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A93942 |title=Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs – Music Review |newspaper=The Austin Chronicle |date=May 31, 2002 |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Parish |first=Matt |url=http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view.bg?articleid=1182283 |title=Spreading Germs: No act: Shane West enjoys fronting veteran hardcore band |newspaper=Boston Herald |date=July 1, 2009 |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Harrington |first=Richard |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300435.html |title=A Punk Legacy Takes New Form |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 4, 2006 |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref> records, and has a near-mythic status among punk rock fans. The album was produced by Joan Jett of the Runaways. Some European copies of the album also credited Donny Rose on keyboards (the song "Shut Down" was recorded live in the studio and featured melodic, two-fisted piano).
The Germs were featured in Spheeris's documentary film ''The Decline of Western Civilization'' along with [[X (U.S. band)|X]], [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]], [[Fear (band)|Fear]], [[Circle Jerks]], [[Alice Bag Band]], and [[Catholic Discipline]].

Following the release of their only studio album, ''(GI)'', on [[Slash Records]], the Germs recorded six original songs with producer [[Jack Nitzsche]] for the soundtrack to the film, ''[[Cruising (film)|Cruising]]'', starring [[Al Pacino]]. Doom wrote one of the songs. Only one of these songs, "Lions Share", ended up on the Columbia soundtrack album. It was featured for approximately one minute in the movie, during a video-booth murder scene in an [[Sadomasochism|S&M]] club. Other songs from this session did not appear until the 1988 bootleg ''Lion's Share'', along with four tracks from their infamous last show at the [[Starwood (nightclub)|Starwood]]. The ''Cruising'' sessions were finally released officially on the CD ''(MIA): The Complete Anthology''.<ref name="allmusic1">{{cite web|author=Jack Rabid |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/mia-the-complete-anthology-mw0000101602 |title=(MIA): The Complete Anthology – The Germs &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=[[AllMusic]] |date=1993-08-03 |access-date=2015-06-05}}</ref>