Darby Crash
1958-1980
"The teachers either thought Paul was the coolest, some were in awe of him...or else they hated him, were scared of him, didn't want anything to do with him." -Paul Roessler (Lexicon Devil, 19)
An iconic figure of the 70s Los Angeles punk scene, Germs lyricist-songwriter and performer, Darby Crash, embodied a multitude of identities. As seen by the evolution of his names from Jan Paul Beahm to Bobby Pyn, to the legendary Darby Crash, he sought novel, vibrant ways of being. From freak, druggie, intellectual fein, to lowbrow scumbag, Crash through his performance as a musician and everyday “disturbed kid” created his own queered path within an already chaotic scene. Anecdotal tales from friends and acquaintances like Georg Ruthenberg note Crash’s peculiarities: childhood blue hair, obsession with scientology and lexicon, and purposeful portrayal of being dumb or an inadequate performer.“He always said he would never be old...” -Dan Bolles (We Got the Neutron Bomb, 269)
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- Network Brita Loeb
