Jan Paul Beahm in the 4th grade. Jan Paul Beahm and George Ruthen originally met in the 8th grade, then went to college together. They were expelled from Santa Monica Community College for mind control and antisocial behaviour, after having convinced class mates that Paul was Jesus and George was God. Paul later referred to this as 'having their own religion'. They were both fans of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, and decided to start their own band. George could play guitar and Paul had written some lyrics as early as 1975 (see Lyrics). After seeing the Sex Pistols on a US TV broadcast of LWT's Punk Special they changed their names to Bobby Pyn (Paul) and Pat Smear (George). Very early 1977 there were talks of forming the band 'Sophistifuck & The Revlon Spam Queens'. That would have been Bobby Pyn (later known as Darby Crash) vocals, Pat Smear guitar with Dinky and Michelle Baer on bass and drums. Michelle was later pictured as Darby's 'girlfriend' in Penelope Spheeris' great 'The Decline Of Western Civilization' (1980) film. The film is mainly a collection of live performance by LA punk bands including the Germs, and some interviews. Darby talks about what kind of drugs he takes before a gig and shows his tarantula. He is also pictured on the film's poster and soundtrack cover.		In April 1977 they started the first version of The Germs, featuring Bobby Pyn on vocals, Pat Smear on guitar, Lorna Doom on bass and Dottie Danger (Belinda Carlisle) on drums. They never played any gigs, or did any serious rehearsals. Belinda Carlisle (yeah, the pop star) can be heard explaining why she left The Germs on the 'Germicide' tape/LP. She was replaced by Donna Rhia (Becky), and the band kept this line-up long enough for their three first gigs and the recording of their first 7''(see Discography for details). Their first show was in April 1977, at The Orpheum Theater with The Weirdos and The Zeros, and they played for about five minutes. The second gig was at The Roxy for the filming of Cheech and Chong's movie 'Up in Smoke'. Cheech and Chong wanted a number of (terrible) bands for a talent show scene in their movie 'Up In Smoke'. The Germs volunteered. Auditions and filming was done at the Roxy club. Bobby jumped on tables, smashed some glasses and throw peanut butter around. If you play the record you can hear glasses being smashed and people scream ''Oh Fuck!'' and 'Watch Out!''. At the time the band only had two songs. They were allowed to perform one. It was not included in the film. Their first real show was in June 1977 at The Whisky A Go-Go in LA, at Kim Fowley's Punk Rock Festival. Friends of the band throw beans, whipped cream and ketchup at the Germs and Bobby emptied a bag of sugar during their version of 'Sugar, Sugar'. After the gig Jimmy, the Whiskey's manager, ran around the club asking people if they came to see The Germs, and if they answered 'Yes' he forced them to clean the place up.
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