Died On This Date (December 7, 1980) Darby Crash / Lead Singer of The Germs

Darby Crash (Born Jan Beahm)
September 26, 1958 – December 7, 1980

Darby Crash is best remembered as founder and lead singer for influential Los Angeles punk band, the Germs.   Formed in 1977, the Germs were part of the same scene that produced X, Fear, the Circle Jerks and Black Flag.  In 1977, they released a single, “Forming,” which is regarded by many to be the first punk record to come out of Los Angeles.   The Germs disbanded in 1980, with Crash going on to form the Darby Crash Band, that didn’t last much longer than a handful of gigs.  He got the Germs back together for a reunion show on December 3, 1980.  Four days later he took his own life by overdosing on heroin in an apparent suicide pact with friend, Casey Cola who actually survived the OD.  In 1981, Crash and the band were featured prominently in Penelope Spheeris’ acclaimed documentary on the L.A. punk scene, The Decline of Western Civilization.

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GI - The Germs

Died On This Date (October12, 2009) Brendan Mullen / Founder of L.A. Punk Club, The Masque

Brendan Mullen
DOB Unknown – October 12, 2009

Photo by Adam Wallacavage
Photo by Adam Wallacavage

Brendan Mullen is best remembered for The Masque, the legendary Los Angeles punk club that he opened in 1977.  After moving to Los Angeles from London in 1973, Mullen took over a filthy room that sat right behind the notorious Pussycat Theater in Hollywood and transformed it into a rehearsal space for  local bands.  In a matter of matter of months, the room became a venue that some consider the flashpoint of the local punk scene of the late ’70s.  Bands like the Germs, X, the Weirdos, the Go-Gos, and the Plugz all played some of their earliest gigs there.  As could be expected, Mullen clashed on numerous occasions with area merchants, the fire department and the L.A.P.D. before the club was temporarily shut down in 1978.  It briefly re-opened in another location in 1979 before closing permanently.  Mullen later went on to book shows at The Other Masque and Club Lingerie, both also in Hollywood.  In later years, Mullen wrote such books about the L.A. punk scene as We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, and Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley.  Brendan Mullen died in a Los Angeles hospital on October 12, 2009.  He had suffered a massive stroke.

Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist.

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