Darby Crash
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Jan Paul Beahm (better known by his stage name Darby Crash, formerly Bobby Pyn; September 26, 1958 – December 7, 1980) was an American singer who, along with longtime friend Pat Smear (born Georg Albert Ruthenberg), co-founded the punk rock band the Germs and was best known as their lead vocalist. In 1980, he committed suicide by deliberately overdosing on
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
.


Early life

Jan Paul had a troubled childhood. While still a baby, he and his family lived in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. He grew up in
Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
, and later,
West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped ...
. Jan Paul grew up believing that his biological father was a man named Harold "Hal" Beahm, who had left the family early on in his life. Jan Paul lived with his mother Faith Reynolds-Baker for much of his life, but their relationship was tumultuous. The accounts given of her in
Brendan Mullen Brendan Mullen (October 9, 1949 – October 12, 2009) was a Scottish nightclub owner, music promoter and writer, best known for founding the Los Angeles punk rock club The Masque. Through Mullen's support at various nightclubs in Californ ...
and Don Bolles' 2002 book ''Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs'' portray her as having a mental illness, which caused her to behave erratically and be verbally abusive toward her son. Faith's third husband, Bob Baker, was a Korean War veteran. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1972, aged 39; they had married in 1964 when a very young Jan Paul introduced the idea of them marrying after they began dating. She never married Jan Paul's biological father, and not long after Bob Baker's death, Jan Paul learned that his biological father, whom he never met, was also deceased. Jan Paul attended Innovative Program School, an alternative school within University High School in Los Angeles, which Jan Paul dubbed "Interplanetary School". The IPS program combined elements of ''est'' large group awareness training and
Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...
. Jan Paul did not take the IPS program seriously. As students in the IPS program were given the liberty to form their own classes, Jan Paul and fellow student Georg Ruthenberg, better known as Pat Smear, created a class for themselves called Fruit Eating, in which they would go to a market, eat fruit for an hour, then return to school. Frequent users of
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...
at the time, Jan Paul Beahm and Georg Ruthenberg developed a following of other IPS students who would also use the drug. The two were accused of
brainwashing Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
the other students and causing them to behave subversively, which led to the dismissal of the two boys from the school in 1976. According to his mother, Jan Paul later enrolled at
Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The coll ...
.


The Germs

Not long after their dismissal from IPS, Jan Paul and Georg Ruthenberg began trying to form a band, inspired by groups like
The Runaways The Runaways were an American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. Formed in 1975 in Los Angeles, the band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", " Holl ...
and
The Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...
. Before they settled on the Germs as a band name, they called themselves "Sophistifuck" and the Revlon Spam Queens, but they moved to a shorter name, allegedly because they didn't have enough money to put this on a t-shirt. After putting out an ad requesting "two untalented girls" who couldn't play their instruments, the two friends were joined by the suitably inexperienced bassist Teresa Marie Ryan, soon to be rechristened Lorna Doom, and drummer
Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female rock bands of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a sol ...
, dubbed Dottie Danger, who never played a show with the group due to an extended bout of
mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adu ...
. Carlisle went on to fame and fortune as lead vocalist of
The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...
and as an even more successful solo artist. She was quickly replaced with Becky Barton (aka Donna Rhia), who played three gigs with the group and recorded with them on their debut single, 1977's " Forming." When the Germs initially formed, the only member who was proficient with an instrument was Ruthenberg, who now called himself Pat Smear. Beahm initially dubbed himself Bobby Pyn, as he is credited as such on the group's first recording, but he soon jettisoned the moniker in favor of the more overtly menacing Darby Crash, a name which he had initially referred to in the lyrics of the song " Circle One." The Germs were captured famously in
Penelope Spheeris Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945) is an American film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter. She has directed both documentary film, documentary and scripted films. Her best-known works include the trilogy titled ''The Decl ...
' 1981 film ''
The Decline of Western Civilization ''The Decline of Western Civilization'' is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrot ...
''. The film features a characteristically hectic and sloppy live show in which Crash, heavily intoxicated and under the influence of several drugs, calls to the audience for beer, stumbles and crawls on the stage and slurs lyrics while members of the audience write on him with permanent markers. During an interview in the film, Crash also discusses taking drugs onstage to avoid feeling injuries from fan violence and "creeps out there with grudges." The Germs were well known for their violent, chaotic performances, often exacerbated by Crash's drug abuse, which increased steadily over the group's brief lifespan. All of this resulted in the band being banned from nearly every rock club in Los Angeles, which they nevertheless managed to avoid by playing under the alias G.I. (standing for "Germs Incognito"). By the point in which they were filmed for ''The Decline of Western Civilization'', in late 1979, director Spheeris had to rent a soundstage called Cherrywood Studios in California in order for them to play a show outside of the club circuit from which they had been largely blacklisted.


Final years and suicide

Plagued by Crash's worsening heroin addiction, and live performances that now often ended prematurely due to violent conflict between audience members and the
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
, the Germs disintegrated in May 1980, their last show being May 6 at the Fleetwood in Redondo Beach. Crash traveled to Britain, where he became heavily enamored with the music of
Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...
and adopted an Adam Ant–inspired new look that included a mohawk. Upon his return to the U.S., Crash formed the very short-lived Darby Crash Band;
Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag (band), Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetso ...
drummer
Lucky Lehrer Keith "Lucky" Lehrer (born 18 April 1958) is a drummer from Los Angeles, California associated with several influential LA punk rock bands. He was originally trained in jazz then played in a number of LA punk rock bands, particularly the Circle ...
joined the ill-fated ensemble on the eve of their first live performance after Crash kicked out the drummer they'd rehearsed with during soundcheck and convinced Pat Smear to act as the group's guitarist. Smear described the band as "like the Germs, but with worse players". On December 3, 1980, an over-sold Starwood hosted a final live show of the reunited Germs, including drummer Don Bolles. Crash committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
from an intentional heroin overdose on December 7, 1980, in a house in the Fairfax District section of Los Angeles. According to ''
SPIN magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...
'', apocryphal lore has Crash attempting to write "Here Lies Darby Crash" on the wall as he lay dying, but not finishing. In reality, he wrote a short note to Darby Crash Band bassist David "Bosco" Danford that stated "My life, my leather, my love goes to Bosco." His death was largely overshadowed by that of
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
, who was killed in New York one day after Crash's suicide. His female friend Casey Cola Hopkins was with him that night, at her mother's main house. Casey was supposed to have died with him in the coach house (which was a converted garage) that night as part of a supposed death pact, but ended up surviving. Crash is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. Since death, his mother received the Germs' album and merchandise royalties, thanks to Darby's deal with Bug Records that was drafted a few months prior to his death.


In popular culture

Crash and the Germs are the subject of the 2007 biopic '' What We Do Is Secret'', which starred
Shane West Shannon Bruce Snaith (born June 10, 1978), better known as Shane West, is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is known for his portrayal of Eli Sammler in the ABC family drama ''Once and Again'', Landon Carter in '' A Walk to Remember' ...
as Crash, Bijou Phillips as Lorna Doom,
Rick Gonzalez Rick Gonzalez (born June 30, 1979) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Timo Cruz in the motion picture ''Coach Carter'', as Spanish in ''Old School (2003 film), Old School'', as Ben Gonzalez on the The CW Television Network, CW su ...
as Pat Smear, and
Noah Segan Noah Segan is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the films of Rian Johnson (''Looper (film), Looper'', ''Brick (film), Brick'', ''Knives Out'') as well as his appearance in ''Deadgirl''. Early life Segan is the grandson of Amer ...
as Bolles. American professional wrestler
Darby Allin Samuel Ratsch (born January 7, 1993), better known by the ring name Darby Allin, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is a former two-time AEW TNT Championship, AEW TNT Champion and a former AEW Wo ...
's ring name is derived from Crash's name as well as
GG Allin Kevin Michael "GG" Allin (born Jesus Christ Allin; August 29, 1956 – June 28, 1993) was an American punk rock musician who performed and recorded with many groups during his career. His live performances often featured transgressive acts, i ...
's name.


References


Further reading

* Mullen, Brendan; et al. (2002). ''Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs''.
Feral House Feral House is an American book publisher founded in 1989 by Adam Parfrey and based in Port Townsend, Washington. Feral House is known for its taboo and provocative publications, but has had significant influence in both underground circles an ...
. .


External links

* Adams, Tim (August 24, 2008)
"The death and afterlife of an LA punk"
''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
''. * * Lipton, Shana Ting (August 23, 2005)
"Rekindling the punk flame"
(page 1/2). ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crash, Darby 1958 births 1980 suicides 1980 deaths University High School (Los Angeles) alumni American punk rock singers Deaths by heroin overdose in California Drug-related suicides in California Germs (band) members American punk rock musicians American people of Swedish descent Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City 20th-century American singers