I only remember a grand total of two moments from any actual Germs song: the line “like a puzzled panther” in one song, which Darby gurgled out as “like a puzzewed panthewewwww,” and that “gimme gimme this gimme gimme that!” bit in “Lexicon Devil.” Aside from that, I never listened to anything the Germs did more than maybe twice, with the exception of their shitty 1977 “Germicide” concert in LA, where they couldn’t keep time and Darby ended every song by yelling stupid sixth grade shit at the audience, like “daaahhh, FUCK YOU!!! Come up heah! Could you PLEASE throw more THTUFF?” And even that, I only listen to for the laughs. But I loved that book. It’s all sound bites from person to person, like the SNL book Live From New York, which is a great format for something like this. And the bits about Darby and Pat Smear at that hideous Los Angeles $cientology high school they attended have to be read to be believed: seriously, even more than some crazy porn movie, THIS is the stuff that makes me think “gee, the 1970s sure were a DIFFERENT time, weren’t they?”

Trouble Boys: yep, possibly the best rock & roll book I’ve ever read, certainly stunningly well researched and fully detailed from beginning to end. The actual Axl bit was that Tommy said he was up front about not really being a GNR fan, and Axl said he wasn’t really a Replacements fan, so no they didn’t hate each other’s bands, just not fans…but yes, Tommy did end up surviving because of the GNR gig, and became Axl’s right hand guy, and has always defended Axl as being “victim of a misconception,” I think were the words.

The SNL appearance being the big highlight is pretty funny too, especially when the writer details how that episode of SNL was “another dog,” listing shitty sketches.

I could read that Motley Crue book.