Darby Crash on the promotional poster for the film. A premonition of what was to come?
The Decline of Western Civilization was a turning point in my life. I first saw this film when I was a teenager, after a cousin of mine gave me the soundtrack on tape. I was blown away by all the performances on this film, especially Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and the Germs. As I'm sure any punk would know, Darby Crash Committed suicide on December 7, 1980 by intentionally having a heroin overdose along with his friend, Casey Cola (Cola survived). As he lay dying, he intended to write on the wall "here lie's Darby Crash", but was unable to complete it. I don't really know why he committed suicide, but the rumor is he decided to kill himself in order to become a sort of legend or a martyr for the punk scene. However, his death was overshadowed by the murder of John Lennon the very next day in New York. The Decline of Western Civilization was released in theatres on July 1, 1981... Just 7 months after Darby's death. Recently, The Germs reunited with actor Shane West on Vocals. They have been playing shows together since 2006. In my opinion, this line-up is a total sham. They really shouldn't continue playing without Darby. To make matters worse, The Germs (if you can even call them that anymore) are planning on releasing a box set titled "Lest We Forget: The Sounds of the Germs", which includes previously unreleased songs Darby wrote, BUT with Shane West on vocals! Terrible...
Anyways, here's the movie. I managed to find it on youtube. Only half of it is in sequence, but the important part (the music) is there. Enjoy!
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