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Rating: The United States and Great Britain had the privilege of simultaneously sowing the seeds of what primarily was a counterculture movement that took the name Punk. A true mocking of the dominant culture, confronted with anger and dismay from both coasts of the Atlantic, not only by names like Sex Pistols, The Clash, or Ramones, who have certainly been reserved a front-line position in history. From the so-called Punk 77 (Damned even before Pistols and Clash!) came the origins of Anarcho Punk (in England Crass and Anti System), but also Street Punk/Oi! (Sham 69 and The Exploited), and Hardcore Punk (Bad Brains and Black Flag the most representative) among others, where it is not difficult to encounter groups with an inevitably brief existence, which today leave us with impetuous and far from predictable records that stand well alongside the works of the aforementioned leading names.
In California, The Germs in their brief existence (1977-1980) were much more than an underground band to which fortune turned its back. After numerous comings and goings, the group settled around the nervous rhythm section of Don Bolles (drums), Lorna Doom (bass), and the two rebellious yet charismatic Darby Crash (vocals) and Pat Smear (guitar), expelled from the University High School of Los Angeles. Born as Sophistifuck (and later also Revlon Spam Queens), they helped to stir the buzz around the band that rose to fame, creating shows characterized by acts of self-harm and insults that were far from a superfluous backdrop to the combined roar of the instruments. The 45 RPM "Forming" (on What? Records) came out in July 1977, and just like the tracks from the subsequent EP LEXICON DEVIL (May 1978), they leave no doubt about the genuineness of their proposition: simple, raw, and immediate music, yet effective at the same time.
It's the fall of 1979, and the coveted achievement of the first LP is reached. The flame that ignites the irreverent spirit of the band takes shape through tracks that, despite their brevity, manage to concentrate and flaunt an innate aversion to an ordinary existence, conveying their dissent unequivocally. Emotions with a primordial taste reflect the bitterness of those who have understood adversity as a reason for living, amplifying the tones of dissent and even better expressed through three blazing chords. An affinity between one track and another that makes it pointless to dwell on individual episodes, but cannot dissuade the writer from inevitably focusing on the unbridled primitiveness of "Communist Eyes" or the malice of "Richie Dagger's Crime," which are well accompanied by the howls of "Strange Notes," perhaps the first seed of the hardcore punk that is to come. The sick melodies of "Our Way" and the frontal assault of "Media Blitz" hold up well, while the meat-grinder riff of "Lexicon Devil" properly anticipates "Manimal," where Crash's bestial screams externalize that sense of self-destruction that would lead him to a premature end, committing suicide with a heroin overdose on December 7, 1980, at just 22 years old.
Just over thirty-eight ruthless minutes of well-conceived music, capable of dragging you into a reckless and autobiographical whirlwind of angry and desperate feelings that find in a devastating and vehement sound a cohesive adhesive, making it absolutely unthinkable that such a one as Dottie Danger, none other than the pseudonym of Belinda Carlisle, the singer of the delightful Go-Go's a few years later and destined for an even more rosy solo career, would be beating the skins for the Los Angeles ensemble.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 What We Do Is Secret (00:44)
Standing in the line we're abberations
Defects in a defect's mirror
And we've been here all the time
real fixations
Hidden deep in the furor-
What we do is secret-secret!
We're influential guys for the D.C.C.
We can lie so perfect
And we've got a party line
to every call
It's a very short circuit-
What we do is secret-secret!
Licensed to drill with the torch
in our lives,
Walking on shallow water
Progressed to the
point of no distinction
Dementia of a higher order-
What we do is secret-secret!
02 Communist Eyes (02:14)
I'm looking through
Communist eyes
I'm seeing planes in bloodshot skies
I see the flag of a working people
Who conceal the lies in the stars
and sickle
It's a double edge
Communist eyes-c'mon inside
I can't ever find the way out
Communist eyes-lost inside
I never get a day out
I'm looking through Communist eyes
All I see is an old man's alibi
There's a world outside
but I'm unaware
I open my books but the pages stare
It's a double edge
Communist eyes-all so blind
I can't even play the game now
I'm living through Communist times
I wave my flag and hold me head high
I can feel the glory of my
comrades in masses
But I'm waiting for the day
when this madness passes
It's a double edge...
03 Land of Treason (02:08)
Land of treason-waste no reason-
we are breathing fire
We're packs of dogs-
we're enemies of men-we are not desired
Our face show-
we've grown cold-but
have not conspired
Old hearts gone-
the future's on-mother nations mired
I like a recepticle for the chosen dead,
we find our bodies clawed
And with the scent of death,
we find that we are not so very awed
Loyalties burned-
the words our blurred-overturn your own
Walk like dogs and watch the doors-
have your other stone
Stop the toys that match disordered-
calculate the thrones
Feel the pulse descending-
decaying hallowed tomes
In the starving sense you worship-
the nations of debris
You wear a cost of sewage-
that you've never ever seen
The time is now-the vicious here-
a stolen dinner code
The license of the savage land-
that you've always sold
So bite the hand that needs you
and bless another coal
The virus never issues-
from a cotton so very old
As the lights come down
You wash your hands and start to climb
the ladder that you stole
Slip the hatch-and spin the sword-
the money lords are poor
Push the tan-that rolls downhill-
their sense of dream absorbed
Still the cat that breaks the night-
tie him to the core
Chase the viruses that believe-
that what's right is scored
It's a senseless cash in of right for right-
what's wrong is never gone
And left is just a bassion for the fools
golden dawn
04 Richie Dagger's Crime (01:55)
i'm richie dagger
i can stomp and swagger
i can take on all your heroes
i'm richie dagger
i'm young and i'm haggard
the boy that nobody owns
he sits in his corner like a child despised
a crazy sort of cast comes over his eyes-
thats richie daggers crime
he's that sort of boy that was never much loved
his idea of fun was society's grudge-
thats richie daggers crime
his life was such a mess
and his friends werent quite the best
but he was satisfied-
thats richie daggers crime
suck me in and spit me out
devour me in haste-
(Chorus)
he could set your mind ablaze
with sparkling eyes and visionary case
he stood like a remnant from an outbreak past
wore something in his ear
and boy was he a sass-
(Chorus)
05 Strange Notes (01:52)
Billy Druids face is marble
He keeps veery thought in its place
He lets the days turn tomorrow
Someone's always walking
on his grave
He wears the lines just like Garbo
And talks at a saturmine pace
Listening to the strange notes marvel
Only giving what it takes
It's a sad man's world
And for Billy it's sure to crown
Dragging beauty into darkness
Inflciting a pale white frown
And the matter the runs
Through Billy's head
Is too concerned to fall
06 American Leather (01:10)
Looking for a way out
I put my foot out of line
Really like to break-out
I feel so confined
American leather
The poinsous members
Not alone-not together
Their American leather
Saw you on a dark road
Brought myself along
Got a sense of conflict
But I know what's wrong
[Chorus]
[Middle]
[Chorus]
I know that kinda feeling
So I built my place up high
But you'll never find me kneeling
Cause I'm too occupied
[Chorus]
07 Lexicon Devil (01:43)
I'm a lexicon devil with a
battered brain
And I'm searchin' for a future-
the world's my aim
So gimme gimme your hands-
gimme gimme your minds
Gimme gimme this-gimme
gimme tha-yea-yea-t...
I want toy tin soldiers that can
push and shove
I want gunboy rovers that'll
wreck this club
I'll build you up and level your heads
We'll run it my way cold men
and politics dead...
[Chorus]
I'll get silver guns to drip old blood
Let's give this established
joke a shove
We're gonna wreak havoc
on the rancid mill
I'm serachin' for something
even if I'm killed...
[Chorus]
Empty out your pockets-you
don't need their change
I'm giving you the power
to rearrange
Together we'll run to the
highest prop
Tear it down and let it drop...away...
[Chorus]
08 Manimal (02:09)
I came into this world
as a puzzled panther
waitng to be caged
but something stood in the way
i was never quite tamed
crossed paths of right and wrong
saw them take their toll
I saw the armies march
and like animals they crawled
(chorus)
evelution is a process
too slow to save my soul
ive got this creature on my back
it just wont let go
Ahahahahahah
if i am only an animal
then i can do no wrong
but they say something better
so ive got to hang on
10 We Must Bleed (02:50)
It's Sunday and the streets aren't clear
The traffic's screaming
but we can't hear
The sounds...the metals...
driving us mad...
The sounds...the metals...
driving us mad...
We must bleed, we must bleed,
we must bleed
The crash as the bottle breaks
Flashes it will through my veins
The pain...the colors...
making me sane...
The pain...the colors...
making me sane...
the pain...the colors...
making me sane...
We must bleed, we must bleed,
we must bleed
I'm not one I'm two, I'm not one
I'm two, I'm not one I'm two
I want out now, I want out now
I want out now now now now now
now now now...
11 Media Blitz (01:29)
I've got television
I've got supervision
No decisons for you
Media blitz-media Blitz
Immediate hits-we rule
Don't steal your eyes off the TV screen
Can you realize we're what we've seen
Take an injection from the mad machine
Don't read the papers read between the lines
We're vision rapers and we seed the signs
You'll play your part in the master mind
We feed the science
We deal in riots
We play by ideal time
We're a gov'ment fix
All social convicts
Watch the idle rhymes
[Chorus]
Bleed your heart out-that's all it's worth
Before you ever start-we planned it first
Forget the truth-accept your curse
12 The Other Newest One (02:47)
I feel your body's close to mine
I hear your breath and mine in time
I know I'm nothing but it's you that I need
I touch your skin and it starts to feed
You're not the first you're not the last
Another day another crash
My eyes meet yours in secret glance
Our bodies look in ancient stance
You whisper something and I
know it's good
You're acting crazy just like I
knew you would
You're not the first you're not the last
Another day another crash
Embracing my life between your thighs
We will perform in the deadly skies
Reducing my mind to endless nights
You send my dreams to their demise
Realized by your last vreath
I take your hair in to my hands
I pull it tight to fit your demands
feel my body in to yours
know it's right cause that's
my soul you stir
You're not the first you're not the last
Another day another crash
13 Let's Pretend (02:32)
Out on the streets what ya lookin' for
That thing in your bed's
just another whore
That tear in your eyes not a tear at all
For that girl that you touch
you could never fall
That stream in your mind it's a tearin' sty
[Chorus:]
Let's pretend you're vicious
Let's pretend you're cool
Let's pretend suspicious
Let's pretend you're fools
Your leather is tight but you wear it full
'Gether is right but you gotta be cool
You cut your wrists
but you don't feel the pain
You change your mind
but you still feel the same
To dream ain't your kind just another lie...
[Chorus]
Sell us a story that we can believe
Spend your dollars on pills for relief
Love is a future that you still can't see
Standing answers to questions are free
Scream in your boredom life's just to die
[Chorus]
Dive in problems just like stealin' a fix
Is your life to live or is it for kicks
Kick dirt in the faces of angry dream men
Stand on your chairs and spell
don't let me in
Son't stand in the light
cuz you know
you can't cry
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
14 Dragon Lady (01:38)
You walk to the temple on the boulevard
You know the way in cause you're
the son of God
She opens the door with
a sardonic glance
You drop to the floor making your plans
[Chorus:]
It's a real cool parody
That's my dragon lady
In a low society with no variety
She lives a tongue on cheek dream
There's soemthing in her eyes
that nature denied
She's a whirlwind creature of cultural ties
A preacher of schemes and self denial
She talks up a storm with news and belial
[Chorus]
To live in Braham tragedy
Driven it seems by fantasies
A life like this is sad to see
A smile kept quite in reverie
The clock on the matle hands stop crossed
The rug on the floors a resting place for the dust
The talk of the town yet she's never been seen
A loving relation with a well trained machine
[Chorus]
15 The Slave (01:01)
It starts in your head
And moves to your hands
Your body starts shakin'
Cuz you're in demand
You do the slave to the beat
Of the neuro-sutra can can...
You're lashed 'twixt the stars
With your ice and motor cars:
You do the slave to the beat
Of the neuro-sutra can can
Oh yea! Yea! Pull out the zen
I've got a Buddhist principle in my hand
Your life seems wasted your bodies laced in
Don't stop now you've got to trace it...
You put your hands together
Writhe in the shackle
You twist your body round
Till it starts to crackle:
You do the slave to the beat
Of the neuro-sutra can can...
Right here right now shake it in and out some
Lights on off now make it spin and fight now
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Other reviews
By pretazzo
In 1979, the Germs were probably the most extreme rock band on the planet, alongside the English Motorhead.
Behind the sonic ferocity, one perceives a bitter and disillusioned aftertaste, which makes the album... the terminal point of a descending parable that led to the end of every utopia.
By luludia
"Ah, this is one of the greatest hardcore punk records of all time."
"The devil of words and the devil of music transform shit into gold for a moment. However, that moment is too short."
