GI

Not sure that as a very early example of the hardcore punk genre, *G.I* exactly has the sheer power that recordings by Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Black Flag or Dead Kennedys had. Then again, Germ's only LP can still boast of few tracks that are mean, snarling, iconic and musically worthwhile--tracks such as "Land Of Treason", "Lexicon Devil", "We Must Bleed", "Media Blitz", "Dragon Lady", " The Slave" or "The Other Newest One"... Yet I'm afraid there's nothing in this album that has the level of *Out Of Step*, *Banned In D.C.*, *Damaged* or *Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables*. Performance-wise, I guess the weak spot is the basslines, often out of pace. And production-wise, the sound of the record is pretty "thin", as other listeners have noted before--not that those "technical' flaws are so important in punk albums anyway... More importantly, you can sense the phenomenal, dangerous, formidable presence Darby Crash had onstage throughout the album--a feat which is not so easy to pull off in a studio recording. That's where *G.I.* hits the mark for many fans of the genre, I guess. Wish I could have attended a gig by this act, probably the chaotic experience of a lifetime. Alas, I was only 2-years old in 1979, and living one ocean away. All I can do now is to put this "historical" recording of the punk genre in my waiting list and see if it grows on me... 3/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential album". Which translates to a 8/10 grade for more general purposes (5+3). Number of albums left to review: 363 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 287 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 152 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 205

Angry

Punk baby! This is true punk to me, no distortion just manic guitar playing and snarled vocals about how society sucks.

loved it

Me gusta este proto-punk, aunque no es algo que pueda escuchar periódicamente. Estos discos son como testamentos: se que estan ahí, que son relativamente import, pero no de mi gusto.

Couldn’t find the album on Apple Music. Giving it 3/5 based I listening to some live stuff.

После перерыва возвращаюсь. 1979, панк рок. С первых нот альбом просто бьёт по зубам, ничего себе. Но с другой стороны я не могу сосредоточиться ни на одной песне. Я понимаю, что альбом, скорей всего, важный и жанроопределяющий, ноо... слушаю вообще без удовольствия. Что это, одна звезда? Думаю, да. Не зашло. Даже до конца слушать не хочется.

Thoughts before listening: I know the Germs but have never listened to them. They are always listed as an early LA punk band with huge influence on the scene as well as Pat Smear's first band before Nirvana and the Foo Fighters which means they should be right up my alley. However, I had always read that they were super sloppy, especially Darby Crash, and for whatever reason I just never sought it out. Seems like one of those albums that makes the 1,001 list for its historical significance more than its quality. Review: The music on this recording is a lot less sloppy than I had assumed...from a little research it seems this is thanks to production by Joan Jett. I am especially liking the bass in these songs and there are some great punk rock guitar riffs as well. It is very easy to hear their influence on the 80s punk bands that I love like Bad Religion and especially the Descendents. Only problem for me is that I don't love Darby Crash's vocals. Its too growled and slurring....even more so than the bands that came soon after them. Lexicon Devil is the one song I recognize on this album and its really good. Definitely has a similar vibe to the Ramones, especially with the gimme gimme lines, that I feel a lot of the LA bands avoided. I also really like the bass in Richie Dagger's Crime and Strange Notes. Overall this is a nice early snapshot of the LA punk scene that would have a huge influence on much of the music I listened to in high school. Unfortunately this album isn't on Spotify, and the songs that do exist are all from live recordings that are virtually unlistenable and show the side of Darby Crash I had always avoided.

Short fast loud

I like the punkrock sort of fast active beats but honestly sounds mostly like noise to me.

3.5/5. Nothing special but the lead guitarist would go on to become the guitarist for Nirvana and Foo Fighters.

I am begging this project to give me something other than 70's or 80's punk for a change of pace. 2/5

If it was without the vocals it would get 4 stars.

It's loud. Much what you'd expect from a punk rock album. Extra credit for the Germs being one of the first punk rock bands.

Not available on Apple Music

Lots of thrashing around but not much of interest here

awesome addition to this era of punk. Probably the closest thing to bad brains I've heard without it being bad brains. AND I FUCKING LOVE BAD BRAINS!!!!!!

Surprisingly pretty good. Had to listen on YouTube though.

Sincere, brave, exciting, powerful, innovative. In other words - terrible. Absolute unlistenable sounds, straight from My Own Personal Guantanamo. I might never recover. Pain.

Small punky album. A decent enough listen.

A good example of a genre, and a pioneering album that is important in the development of that genre. Didn’t really do much for me beyond that.

Punk like a meme

I appreciate that this punk album is not available on iTunes, and I have to listen to it as one big track on YouTube. I can't imagine just sitting down and listening to this on its own. I'd be happy to listen to it as background music at a dive bar or maybe lift weights to it. An above-average punk album.

My first time listening to the full album. As with most hardcore music, it's the spirit that counts for me. This album made me want to drink beer, sweat profusely, and get shoved around a bit. 2.75

Punk that sounds like all the other punk, but not as good

Listened Before? N Sadly, this album is unavailable on both spotify and amazon. I don't have the time or inclination to look elsewhere, so I listened to "Media Blitz" which is live and only contains a few of the same songs just to get an idea of their sound. Primitive hardcore. Its fine. They're kind of a mess and far too many fa***t uses even for the 80s. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: None because the album is unavailable.

Impressions: Not for me. But this album reminds of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) Favorite Tracks: None. This was hard to listen to. Rating: 1/5

I wish the lyrics were a little more intelligible, but I love the energy of this album. To my ears, this is pitch perfect punk.

Right up my alley. Loud aggressive punk. Great energy.

Very rough and not very interesting.

Sale, grouillant, sans temps mort. Punk à souhait.

Cool

This is the first time in this list that I’ve disliked an album so much that I can’t make myself go back and finish it. I got half way through so I could reach Lexicon Devil (their most streamed song on Spotify) hoping that there’s finally be a half decent song on this album. But no, if anything it was just marginally less terrible than the rest. I hate the vocal delivery. The vocalist is just growling every single word. You can hardly make out what’s being said. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but this album doesn’t really have much else to make up for it. I’m not surprised this group was short lived. I never want to revisit their music again. 1/10 Top 1: 1. Lexicon Devil

Well, there are a lot of punk acts from that era i like, but definitely not this one

Loved this. Not something I seek but I can see how it would be so influential.

Not on Spotify

fast paced and unable to understand the lyrics. love it. feel like 2 stars is too low and 3 is slightly too high. im gonna go with 3 because of the 20 albums ive reviewed so far this one is more memorable.

Only giving a 2 because this reminds me of playing Tony Hawk games as a kid. I can tell the influence this had, but still a little to disorientating and raw for me.

Not sure how this list can be considered 1001 albums you need to hear when probably a quarter of them are punk albums. Pretty tired of the mid level punk that is thrashing and yelling about their problems. This album is exactly that but a little worse. 3.3/10

I regret to report I could not make it through the first minute. Not for me!

I could only listen to one song on Spotify and it was not too great

I don't think the rating system is going to capture my feelings with this album at all. It's probably the best hardcore punk album we've had on the list, and I actually thought the sound was awesome. It's got this dry, flat, really cool sound to it. Like you're in a dead basement and getting your ears assaulted. Still, my YouTube rip of this album had about 30 seconds of silence in the middle, between side A and side B. And I welcomed that silence. A few of the snippets of lyrics I heard sounded asinine, and some of the leads are so raw it'd be hilarious to get a solo'd version of them. But that's what you get! It definitely awakened a need to seek out some of this stuff more. I will probably never listen to this again, but it did its job. 3/5

The snobs who don't get punk won't like this, but this is terrific for those who do. It's raw and hard hitting. It's the kind of album that really helped define the genre. It's too bad we never got another album.

A surprisingly lengthy early punk effort, had one of these tracks on rotation in undergrad but hadn’t revisited the whole album in a while. Not every track hits a good melodic groove, but that’s the great thing about punk - just wait a minute or two and you’re off to the races on another track.

rocks

Vigtig™ plade uden tvivl, lyder lidt lidt imellem 70er pångk og 80er hardcore, jeg tror jeg foretrækker de plader der lyder mere som det ene eller det andet. FEDT move at lukke på et 10 minutters nummer!

Hahahahah. Niet mijn ding.

noise

sorry but no

Decent punk rock music. Nothing special

Good old fashion punk

This album is absolutely terrible, the instruments sound nice but I cannot understand a word of what this guy is saying. I hope in 40 years somebody will write a similar review for Whole Lotta Red.

3/5. Weird that this isn’t on Apple Music. I figured this was some sort of straight edge thing to stick it to the man. I actually ended up enjoying the album after I found it on YouTube. Quick, fast, fun.

38 minutes of incessant screaming of the bad kind.

90% is unavailable on Spotify, but media blitz is kinda ass

Really not great. Finding out Pat Smear was in this band was the most interesting bit for me.

Another non apple album which is a bummer because I was sort of interested in some old punk. I have to keep remembering we only have about a year left of this list and days like this make me glad for it.

Man, come on, what is the deal with all these albums that aren't available on Apple Music? I found a playlist someone made cobbling together most of the tracks, including live cuts, so I listened to that instead. Very DIY, proto-punk stuff, no surprise there considering its 1979. Wikipedia says this is considered one of the first full-length hardcore punk albums, that's really cool. Realized that I know the song "Lexicon Devil" from both a Tony Hawk game and GTAV. Decent album, wish I were able to listen to the real thing. Favorite tracks: Lexicon Devil, Richie Dagger's Crime. Album art: Black with a blue circle? Very nice. I feel like that sounds sarcastic, but I do really like this one, it's simple, striking, and memorable. 3/5

3.5? First hardcore punk album deserves some love

Historically important but not fun to listen to.

It is hard to believe something like this was released back in 1979. I know these is so much great punk in the 70's but this hits harder than some of the others. Granted this was a little messy but then again, that is what you expect in punk. The music is great, I'm not a big fan of the vocals Standouts: Communist Eyes, Land of Treason, Lexicon Devil

No no no

Won't play on spotify

Not my thing, but definitely very influential on the punk rock scene.

Germs are a 70's hardcore punk band. Super fast and thrashy like punk should be, but I haven't got a baker's fuck of an idea what the lead singer is saying. It's exactly what you expect from a good punk band. Hard, fast sloppy, and unforgiving. I realised while listening through the album that one of their songs "Lexicon Devil" was featured on the Radio station Channel X on GTA 5. I couldn't remember where I heard it before until I looked it up. Punk is a weird genre. Each song ranges from 1-2 minutes in length, and never overstays its welcome. That is, except for the last song on the record, which is almost 10 minutes long. Overall, a perfectly fine punk record from the roots of the genre. Nothing really to write home about, but not bad at all. Favourite songs: Lexicon Devil Least favourite songs: Shut Down (Annihilation Man) 3/5

This was ok. I’m not much for noise punk

Bass is great on the album. Songs aren't particularly memorable, but overall I enjoyed the energy. 3/5 Might listen again

Love this era of punk music. Mabye not as good as black flag but still a very fun listen

Found it on the Internet Archive. Punk!

If aliens landed on earth, came to me and said you have one chance to choose the most perfect example of a punk rock album or we'll turn the Earth into a smoking barren wasteland, this is the album that I would confidently choose.

Another one of those albums where it would have been a different story had I been an angsty teenager upon its release. It’s mastered all for the noise level, and the thrash can be fun at times. Every so often it clicks and gets the head bangin, but mostly it’s just noisy. I would have to dissect this one further to grasp its impact to the scene.

Hardcore is just a little too much for me most of the time, and this was no exception - although I am impressed at the inclusion of a 9+ minute track on a 16 track album with a running time of less than 40 minutes. This was OK. I guess it was interesting enough to listen to. For a bit.

Hardcore punk is one of those weird genres that I don't particularly enjoy, but can still appreciate because it seems to have spawned so many great artists. This is an early hardcore album, which hasn't yet reached the fever pitch that most hardcore albums live in, and I appreciate that fact. This album has an important legacy, but it's also hard to give it a super high rating, since I don't really enjoy listening to it very much 3/5

HL: "Land of Treason", "Richie Dagger's Crime", "The Other Newest One" book has this album listed at 24 minutes long. I wish it were 24 minutes long September 7, 2023

This album stinks

classic

They were never the best of their time and its very generic now

I guess you had to be there

A really cool look at one of the earliest versions of a hardcore punk album. It was pretty hectic from start to end but a great listen overall. Best: Lexicon Devil Worst: The Slave

Not on Spotify L

Hahahahaha….Yeeeahhh….but no.

Real genuine punk. Well done

It was loud. It was crazy. It was angry. I can see how this could be influential at the time and how many were inspired by it. I just wasn't one of them. But, I do respect the work.

Great production from Joan Jett, hard to believe this came out in 1979. It's fast, it's chaotic - Pat and Darby sound like shit. I loved it.

This was surprisingly well produced for a hard punk album. Not my usual cup but I don't mind some bitterness in my tea from time to time.

A band that sounds very emblematic and admittedly high quality (relatively speaking) for a style I can't stomach. The vocals are pretty bad but somehow better than what punk rock usually has to offer. The guttural rawness definitely sounds more genuine than what most punk bands force on us. The instrumentalists (and the drummer in particular) also seem to know what they're doing - rare enough for punk.

Decent. Good energy. Darby Crash's voice is a bit annoying. I also prefer Dead Kennedys and Husker Du to this. Did not know Pat Smear played guitar on this until now. Interesting.

meh album 2.0

Noise. Punk noise. How is this on any list of any greatest albums? I realize 1001 albums is a lot of music. But this is just pushing it.

The kind of punk I like, what I think of as "real" punk because of how my teenage years progressed. Love the the historical nature of it. Don't *quite* love the album but it's enjoyable enough with some real high points like Lexicon Devil. Extra star for helping the whole thing happen.

I instantly disliked this, but tried my very best to not let that first impression affect me for the rest of the album. But it was impossible to turn it around. Maybe the worst record we've had on this list so far and I cannot fathom why it is on the list at all. Maybe it was a pioneer back when it came out and paved the way for some genre, no idea. Is it here as a benchmark mark for how bad an album can be? When I looked at the number of songs on the album I got seriously scared, but the silver lining was that each song was just 1-2 mins long, amounting to a very short total playtime around 38 mins. And that turned out to be the only good thing with this album. I would've given this 0 stars if I could.

It's hardcore punk. It isn't really my jam but some of it's fun for a track maybe. A whole punk album like this though is too much for me and it becomes a slog. I don't really get what makes this album special but it seems to be quite so maybe that is why? Anyway i kind of enjoyed Lexicon Devil but the rest of the time I was mostly hoping for it to be over.

Well, no, I didn't like it, but am I supposed to? Is music that gets folks to riot and attack the band just more of an intended irritant? That's just what hardcore punk is, right? So do I rate this on how successfully it was irritating? Then it's up there! But if I keep to my usual rubric, while I didn't hate it, this isn't something I enjoyed.

I am not a lover of punk music…weknowdis…so I was not at all hopeful and kinda grumpy to see this album pop up. Surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. I came away from my first listen thankful for short punk songs and somewhat entertained. I was afraid to give it a second listen thinking it would then sour, but it didn’t. It must be some good punk music.

I was digging this paradigm of punk at first and do appreciate its place in the popular music canon but I was so ready for it to end and I don't ever need to hear it again.

I can appreciate this from a historical point of view, although I had to listen on YouTube to hear the original album and didn’t catch a lot of the lyrical content. I also checked out some the songs I could find on Apple Music, but much of that was live and even harder to follow. A lot of the playing was quite impressive! I do appreciate having been exposed to Germs’ music even though I can’t say I’m a fan.

cool

3.75

It's a shame that it was so grating and unlistenable at the start, because it became surprisingly pretty decent by the end

Punk meh

Très peu pour moi, du punk rock trop dans le bruit

the one song on Spotify is awesome

Meeeh

Yes

That rocked. I love how punky it was. I love the tragic tale of the often-trespassed band. I love that Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos was supposed to be their original drummer! I love Lorna Doom. I love Darby Crash. This felt so nihilistic; I can’t help but love it.

Maybe I don’t get punk. This just feels like rough musicianship, rough production quality, and angst.

The only track on Spotify was “Media Blitz”. One song on an album was not much of a blitz.

Awful

Pretty great

Raw punk, bit to raw for record but I imagine live these guys tear it up!

en koskaan luota enään mihinkään... odotuksena 20minuutin biisejä, 1 elektronisesti tuotettu sointua toistetaan 4000 kertaa... shokki, shokki iski korviin. punk band...not pink...punk...1 minute songs.. influentiaalinen kuulemma. jos meikän musiikkiuran huippu olisi tässä niin meikäkin tappaisi itseni (heh one liner tyyppinen kommentti dark humor) manimal

i just dont like punk it sounds like some guy screaming with out of tune instruments. Nothing creative about it id rather listen to pots and pans being hit by knives and forks. Also sex pistols just do it better and im not even that big of a fan of them

The slower ones were just about alright, but overall I didn't like it.

Ok

we've had too much of this generic punk this week so i'm a bit numb to it. this is probably better than the others but my critique is the guitar is pretty much redundant as its shitty high gain tone masks any change of chord making it an indecipherable blaring hiss at the top end. i know its punk but a bit of nuance wouldn't go amiss.

A still born baby of a record. Never really gets going in a way that I'd like, but I am partial to a good dead baby anyway, as something to gnaw on. As long as you're not putting paprika on their head, they taste delicious.

Germs

Noteworthy that a band's only album could become so influential and legendary - though, for what it's worth I've never heard of it. Certainly has a good punk sound to it, and is consistently good all the way through.

Not as familiar with LA punk as I am with the New York scene, so I missed this one growing up. Holds up with everything from the era. Certainly has a raw intensity few others could claim to match at the time, besides maybe Black Flag. Darby Crash's growling can get old after awhile, but he keeps things varied enough to keep it interesting.

I can respect the historical value here, but honestly listening is not enjoyable. I'd imagine this is a band that is purely an experience best viewed live. I think.

Having snarly vocals and gutsy guitars isn't enough to make a classic album. After one listen I cannot recall a single tune. Still, good to hear where Foo Fighter and ex-Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear got his start. Glad to have heard it. Don't need to hear it again.

Fast and loud, and not very long. A really important album, showing Cali punk in its early form, and great to hear some Pat Smear guitar work.

Gotta see “What we do is secret”

Nope.

The first album where I was genuinely debating if I should give it a 1. I absolutely cannot stand the vocals here. I'm sure it was very influential for its time and it's amazing if you're really into the genre, but it's sadly not for me.

I've heard of the name of the band, and the music from Germs fit with what I expected from the name and had heard about. The album GI has moments where I can hear how the music could almost come from the Clash, and it all fits in well with what I know of the Punk scene. Most of the album gets held back with a limited range of dynamics. The short tracks were hard for me to distinguish. The album was fine to get through once, but I don't think I liked it.

Raw. Fast. Darby Crash's voice takes a little to break into, but it really doesn't get more punk than this record. Favorite tracks: "Lexicon Devil", "What We Do Is Secret", "Media Blitz"

Loud and fast and borderline grating -- yep, this is unmistakenly punk music! Surprised by how clean the guitar production is, though the music still maintains an overall grim feel. Totally forgot this was the band Pat Smear was in before Nirvana and Foos.

???

Better than I remembered it.

I listened to about twelve minutes of this album. This is music Rodrick Heffley would listen to and that’s not a compliment. I actually dig the instrumentals but I cannot fucking stand the vocals. DNF.

😵‍💫

I do not have the ear or experience to tell good punk from bad. This seems fine.

I've enjoyed a lot of the punk I've heard on here, but this felt unexceptional.

Zeker een album met historische waarde. Maar echt supergoed is het nu ook weer niet

Cool for history, not cool for me

Awful - nothing interested me besides some of the final track. Couldn't wait for it to end.

2.5 stars. Rowdy fast-paced early punk with a lot of repetitive choruses. Shorter tracks save for the long outro. Not my cup of tea but I can appreciate it for being one of the earliest punk albums.

legendary vocal performance, for sure influenced Attila Csihar decent/strong 9

Not very good is it. Germanys answer to the Sex Pistols? It’s poor. Very, very poor.

What is there to say? Early punk, and heroin.

Too punk for me

6/10

usually i like punk but not this punk

Album unavailable on US streaming

YES! I've never heard this band but was so nice to get some legit punk on here.

interesting but not for me

not horrible but not amazing

Couldn’t decipher a single word of this but I did really enjoy it, especially the last song

Had trouble finding this one. Apparently not on Spotify (which is pretty punk in and of itself). Not something I would have easily just stumbled upon. This is definitely punk as hell. Not sure I love it, but I appreciate it. Lexicon Devil is a really fun track

Serviceable Punk album.

Sick album, love the vibes.

De va flippin nice album

Classic hardcore, gotta love it. I like how the last song is 9 minutes long

Helt bra energi men idk de tala int ti mig. Fattar vaffö de e med thou..

This is hardcore? okay. This is a punk album much like other punk albums on the list. This album gets dull in the back half.

2-3. (Bach Black Flag kommt halt lange nix)

Je sais pas trop quoi pense. Pour vrai j’ai pas regarde l’annee de parution ni le wiki mais pour vrai j’ai trouve ca mauvais. Geulage, genre de punk mais pas de musicalite. La derniere chanson ayoye. Ca m A turnoff. 1.75

I had to pretend this was Krautrock to get past the vocals. I didn't like this album but it's hard to deny it was big influence on tons of punk music. On some of the songs the drums sound so shitty they don't even sound like an instrument. Definitely something to put on to scare the hoes. Score: 30 Art: 80

He sounded like a Sim singing for 40 minutes. I think I understood about 5 words the whole album. It wasn't on Spotify so I had to listen to it on Youtube, and it was basically a never ending nightmare.

Pretty great and dirty

Bij de eerste seconden van dit album zonk de moed me al in de schoenen. Maar op de een of andere manier, misschien omdat we al veel te veel morsige kelderpunk uit omstreeks 1980 gehoord hebben, kon ik het wel uitluisteren. De muziek is in ieder geval strak en er wordt weinig tijd besteed aan vruchteloze pogingen om het mooier te maken dan het is. Pas in het laatste nummer slaat het vertrouwde jengelspook weer toe. Daarom, en omdat het toch al niet mijn muzieksmaak was, toch geen hoge ogen voor deze heren.

Alsof je je favoriete kroeg binnenstapt, maar er blijkt die dag een lokaal bandje te staan. Met een enthousiast, maar beschonken zanger. We doen vandaag maar ergens anders een biertje...

Ouderwetse punk(rock) met lekker snelle gitaren en baslijntjes, gruizig drumstelletje erbij. Alleen die blaffende en grommende zangers zijn echt een verschrikking, alsof ze het erom doen om vals te zingen. Grunten of schreeuwen kan ik heel prima hebben, maar dit is zo a-muzikaal als de pest. Het past prima in de tijdsgeest en bij het genre misschien, maar ik vind het altijd zo kinderachtig en treurig. Het doet wat mij betreft afbreuk aan de muziek.

Very solid punk rock album. Not all songs are great but enjoyable. 3.5

I thought I liked hardcore punk, but it turns out I just like the Bronx. In common with other hardcore punk bands (excluding the Bronx), the music is basic and tuneless and the vocals painfully bad. The only good thing about this album is the cover art. Rating: 1.5/5 Playlist track: Lexicon Devil Date listened: 15/04/23

Darby Crash may have been a terrible person but I don't care because this is what punk rock is really like.

Nothing spectacular. In general I find formative Hardcore vastly inferior to the modern analogue. 2/5

Some of these albums must be on here for their influence and not their musical merit. This is one of those

Raw and powerful, essential hardcore punk.

Only good thing I can say is that it was thankfully short. Couldn't even go through the last song when I realized it was 9 minutes long. To me it is just a barrage of noise and it doesn't really seem to end. Horrible, I never want to listen to this album again.

Solid, high energy, hectic Punk album. Enjoy it for what it is.

This sucks as an album, the songs suck and also the individual instruments suck. Guitar sounds like the player bought his first distortion pedal and just had his first guitar lesson the day before. Bass player is pulling his strings like he has te compensate for something... Way too edgy sound. And the singing is just the worst of all.

Straightforward late-70’s punk. Sounds pretty much exactly like you expect it to sound.

It's really just noise to me

Full of energy and short enough to not get tiresome

I guess this would be about the message and not the musical ideas. If that's the case it would've helped the cause to make the lyrics audible.

This has all of the characteristics of a shitty hardcore punk album that I would give a two any day of the week. Unfortunately, it's not on spotify which knocks it down a point as well as just being shitty enough all around that I feel fine giving it a 1 regardless of the spotify technicality.

A complete racket

I actually listened to 90% of this last week when it came up, but never got back to it until today and then started from the beginning again. One of the things I've enjoyed about this project is that it's helping correct some of my blind spots when it comes to classic punk. Before drawing this, I'd only known Germs by reputation and due to Pat Smear playing with Nirvana in their later days. This was my first (and second) time listening and I loved it. Took a bit of time to get accustomed to Darby Crash's vocals but the music kept me riveted enough to keep my interest in the meanwhile - the bass sound throughout, in particular. Definitely see myself resisting this one! 4/5

Great for so early

Don’t want your album on Spotify? Take this 1 star L.

I kinda hate it right off the bat. I literally cannot understand this dude. For the 70s, this was very much a proper predecessor to 80s and 90s punk, and its very evident in the style. The influence is clear as day. However, the singer sounds drunk as a skunk, theres not a single coherent phrase ive heard only a few songs in. Now, much like Black Flag, i cannot ignore the importance of this record for the influence it has had on punk and hardcore music. While we have come a long way, this record contributed to the development of the foundation of punk music. But it falls into the same situation as Black Flags early work, that i really cannot enjoy this music for what it is, if i were to separate it from its time and impact. This record only saves itself from a failing grade because of this vitality of its impact on punk music. I would not buy this record for my collection.

Eh

what production alchemy did 70s punk bands use to make their drums sound like that

Pretty rad that this came out in the 70s, it’s so different to Sex Pistols/Clash/Ramones and all the other punk from that era, and a real gateway into the hardcore of Black Flag and so on. That being said, I didn’t love it

This singer has a hell of a lot of charisma. I hate screaming vocals but this is just short of that and I liked it despite my prejudices. The guitarist is hella good and the bass/drums are incredibly tight. If not for them I think the music would be a hot mess. (Prior listen)

Punk brutal.

Jevilongos. Rollo. Todo igual.

This comes off as one 38 minute song, but I'm hoping that it's just the implementation within youtube music. Otherwise, it might be difficult to pull off live. As far as it goes, it's a pretty good punk record.

I think if i was of this scene, this is music i would better identify with and embrace. Spending a little time with the lyrics as well certainly shows a deeper than average punk content, but man is Darby incomprehensible. Without lyrics, I'd have no idea what he is saying. I don't think there is an album that better conveys the sneer & attitude (i think it even steps it up one from the Sex Pistols... though their album is much more melodic and approachable). A very interesting ride.

The birth of hardcore. Not my favorite, but important.

Nasty, noisy, primite hardcore punk, it was difficult to get through those 38 minutes.

Boring and unexciting punk music with a unintelligible singer mumbling over uninspired riffs, but sure I guess this book needed another early punk release. Just listen to Dead Kennedys or Black Flag for exactly this but instead good. 4,5/10

Not really loving the Punk, but you could tell they were

So I know of the band Germs from the documentary "The decline of western civilization". It's a great documentary that I recommend everyone to watch. Germs is probably one of the rowdiest bands in the documentary and they're not that talented. It's more that they're playing with feeling than instrumental skills. Pat Smear however went on to have great success with Nirvana and Foo Fighters. With that being said this album is definitely better than their performance in the decline of western civilization. It's not great but better. Darby Crash is actually understandable this time and they're not just thrashing around the stage incomprehensibly. The album is still too basic, raw and the songs are too similar.

Classic hardcore punk with some decent moments - Richie Dagger's Crime a definite highlight. I do have a huge soft spot for LA punk, and this lot certainly make the cut.

Nei, nei, nei. Kjedelig punk

I'm happy for you if you enjoy it, but not my thing. Dope album art, though. 4/10

Well produced but raw noise

YESSSS

I'm a fan of punk but this isn't my kind of punk. On first listen it just comes across as super unrelenting and unintelligible. Hard to really pick out any standout tracks, given that it all just kind of has the same feel to me on the first listen. Standout Tracks: N/A.

Proof that groundbreaking doesn't always mean best in the genre. Sure, it's the first full length hardcore punk release, but otherwise I just don't find it too remarkable compared to others like Black Flag and Dead Kennedys

Not a ton super interesting here, although I think overall as a record it was perfectly acceptable

Awful shouting Just awful

not on spotify

Listen, I love punk. Like, I REALLY love punk. But this one is rough. It's frantic and aggressive and unrelenting and young Darby sure does want you to work to get past his vocals. That said, the musicianship is really on point. These grooves are just so good. But here's what I love the most about it: this came out the same year as The Clash's "London Calling" and, though both punk, the two couldn't be more different. While The Clash was playing with adding in jazz, reggae, and pop influences, Germs was like, "how hard can we go before we break something important?" I'm reminded of a quote from the great indie film, "SLC Punk" where Stevo is talking about the UK/US punk debate: "I don't know who started it, and I don't give a shit. The one thing I know is that we did it harder, we did it faster, and we definitely did it with more love baby." The Germs support the argument. We did it harder.

Seemingly not available on my streaming service of choice, so YouTube it is! How is this hardcore punk album, something that is supposed to be pretty "out there", one of the most nothing albums I've gotten? It didn't even give me the honor of being short like some punk albums, just kind of being normal album length. I mean, this wasn't awful, but it sure was what it was trying to be and nothing more. I understand why it's on the list, but... yeah.

A short album that seemed to go on forever. The nihilism in the music is palpable. ITs always a fine line between raw and unlistenable. Germs is leaning towards the latter.

I kinda like their stuff but only a couple songs were available on Spotify so I listened to some other.

Punk killed rock n roll to leave us with this? A little goblin boy let loose in the studio. Didn’t understand a word he said. I feel like in the perfect mood this could peak at three stars but I was pretty fuckin sick of it by track three.

Yeah I mean it's definitely noisy, can't take that away from the boys #dadtake. Can't say this one really gelled with me - his voice is not my cup of tea and it's nothing I haven't heard before. Some songs were basically unintelligible, which is fine if it's not the same guitar chords just over and over.

Good things to do while listening to this album: go for a run, shout at a pigeon, kick a bin. Bad things to do while listening to this album: write an essay, commute, literally anything else. My favourite thing about these weird punk/ hardcore albums is that they're short and the songs are punchy. I didn't mind most of it but by the end I was done. Especially the last nearly 10 minute slog

survived this nonsence

Too much screaming

Didn't love. Early metal?

Yep, that's punk alright.

This was very cool. My favorite part was when the official Spotify lyrics said [Incomprehensible].

3.5/5

Just because someone did it first doesn’t mean they did it right. I like punk, but not so much the hardcore variety on this album. It’s cool they broke new ground, but I don’t think it’s aged all that well.

Pure noise

Excellent

Groundbreaking punk.

This album is so critical and crucial to so much music that was inspired by and came after it. The bass is mixed perfectly on this thing, I wish all hardcore/punk albums sounded this good. Incredible record.

Yeeeeees!

Not for me.

Only one song on Spotify available

I had a friend who was pretty straight-laced growing up, but the second we got into high school, he was way too into drugs and anarchy and doing spontaneous stupid shit like setting his jacket on fire at lunch or lying down in the middle of the road (also during lunch, weirdly enough). Every story he told started with how wasted he was and he wouldn't understand if you didn't think that was the funniest thing ever. Anyway, I haven't heard from or about him in 20 years, but this sounds like an album he'd be into. Best track: Lexicon Devil

This reminds me of all the songs that Jay and Silent Bob dance to outside the Qwik Stop. I never got much into this scene, but wikipedia says the Germs basically invented hard core punk - so I’ll give them that. Pat Smears is cool.

Hellofa Punk album. With heavy hitters like Pat Smear and Joan Jett involved in this album, it makes me wonder what we could have had if Darby Crash lived longer. 3.5 / 5.

Great album art, decent punk sounds but pretty monotonous and the voice is extremely grating. I’d give this a 4/10 but 2/10 if you’re listening to it in an airport as I was.

3/10. Too punky for my taste.

Pretty grating but not entirely bad. 5/10

I've heard the first handful of songs before, but never the whole album. I expected chaotic noise and while I got that, I got a lot more musicality than I remember. There is a good foundational structure under the under the unbridled energy. Darby Crash's vocals are a tough adjustment at first, but tried to listen to the music apart from the vocals and see what was there. I helped to do that and the music is really pretty great. And listening again to both the music and vocals together, honestly they mesh pretty well. I can’t decide on an overall rating here and have to move on. If I had more time, I wonder if I’d get used to the rawness and it would grow on me. Could see it go either way!

Enjoyed the energy of this, a lot. Nearly a 4*

Speed round. This isn't for me.

I enjoyed this at the open, but it ended up mostly merging from track to track, which isn't good when it's only half an hour long. I think I'll take a few tracks from this, but I'm not sure I'll ever bump the album again.

I know this record is important but I kinda hated it. The bandsaw vocals, thin production and terrible bass playing made this a tough listen, and I needed a lot of imagination to picture the live energy.

great if you like punk

Punk

Didn’t do a lot for me

Not bad. Hadn't heard of them before, but they have a crazy history, and of course an early Pat Smear band which is nuts.

Lousy punk rock

hardcore punk is ein bissi zu wild für mich :( instrumentals sind eh geil teilweise aber das brabbeln vom sänger taugt mir nicht so.

Not my thing at all but they seem pretty talented for punks.

6/10

Not for me.

first listen like the energy, but it's all the same

This album was unavailable to me on any of the streaming platforms I use so I listened to another album by this band. It was not my thing at all. The singer sounded like he wished he was Johnny rotten and I swear to god he sounded like he was chewing his own face at times. No thank you.

GI is alright if a bit paint-by-numbers punk from that era. Nothing really standing out and grabbing my attention though.

Not my cup of tea. Feels like one of those bands who are more famous than they should be because of tragedy? Too scratchy and tuneless; the music isn't great and you can't really hear much of the lyrics. Apparently it's the first hardcore punk album, but I don't think there's much there that we haven't heard from other artists recording earlier in the seventies? 1/5, it's just not nice to listen to and has very little in the way of redeeming features.

Great classic punk

Not the biggest fan.

A proto-hardcore classic

Okay, some pretty big thoughts here. I want to like this more than I do. I recognize the value of this sound of Punk, and the instrumentation side I absolutely vibe with, and occasionally when I forget the lyrics are actually words and think of them as instruments i can groove to it, but I know I'd enjoy the songs better, and connect with the message more, if it was like 20% more understandable to me. And I listen to a lot of music people tell me they can't understand, amd a lot of foreign music in languages I'm not perfectly fluent in, so i know it isn't REQUIRED that lyrics be easy to grasp... but something about this style o punk v9cal just doesn't land the way i wish it did for me.

I was pretty much expecting to dislike this - early punk is not my thing at all, although I do love a lot of later 90s punk-influenced music, especially Sleater Kinney and Sonic Youth. But those early days when you went to a punk show in order to get trashed and brawl? Yeah, not my thing. The Germs were so notorious for shows that ended in violence they were banned from clubs in LA and had to change their name to (GI) to get gigs! All that said, I was surprised by how much I liked this album. I think it's the crisp production that makes it so compelling to listen to. Apparently this is not how they sounded live and listening to some live recordings confirmed that. But here each instrument comes across clearly and there is a surprising amount of skill here ... It's still not my thing but I couldn't bring myself to hate it at all. 2.5/5

Didn't enjoy this at all.

Surprisingly liked this one, despite it being an absolute chaotic mess. I can imagine an audience going absolutely mental to this and that’s something I tend to look for in music. Loud and messy but a lot of fun, I do love a bit of punk rock every now and then

Suffered through it

This is what people think of when they think of Punk. It has the attitude people expect and want from it.

Amazing early punk album

This was a bracing dose of punky goodness, but I don't really get why it's important.

violent genius but oh, so sad

Punk is not my genre but I didn't hate this.

This is actually quite good, as far as these "hardcore punk" albums go. I like the riffs and the angsty energy delivered in the vocals. But there is a reason their peers didn't go beyond 16 minutes, with individual tracks seldom reaching 3 minutes. Hardcore punk songs are basically straightforward bursts of energy. make it a little too long and it turns into noise. PS. That's a pretty odd cover. I though it was an ambient-electronica album at first. I like it, it's not corny or pretentious like other punk album covers.

Not for me, understand that it's punk but personally found it too samey.

ничего в этом не понимаю

Another landmark punk album that’s borderline unlistenable (surely just a coincidence). And only borderline because it’s brief (mercifully so).

No need for a coffee wake-me-up this morning. "(GI)" is the only studio album from the LA punk band The Germs and it is often considered the first full hard-core punk album...GI standing for Germs Incognito. Oh, and it rocks in a pretty relentless way. The album was produced by no other than Joan Jett as the band were big fans of The Runaways. The band consisted of the charismatic (in a hardcore punk way) lead singer Darby Crash, Pat Smear (guitar, he might have been in a few subsequent bands), Lorna Doom (bass) and Don Bolles (drums). The music is pretty much straight-forward hard-core punk..the musicians are top-notch for what they are playing and Darby is unique with his sneer and lyrics. And the lyrics appear to be pretty autobiographical and sometimes political although I'm not sure if it's serious or tongue and cheek or both. This music is very influential; I hear early Husker Du and just about every other hard-core punk band. The album kicks off and the stage is set with the 43 second "What We Do Is Secret." Here's the Incognito. "Communist Eyes" is just a great hard-core song..thumping bass, Smear's guitar, Darby's sneer. Seeing through the Communist eyes. Hard to tell if he's serious or not but he compares it to a double-edge sword and suppression. "Lexicon Devil" might be their biggest song. Kind of a classic rock guitar riff. Has to be autobiographical with a leader making people believe anything with words. "Manimal" is slower and more in the heavy metal category, at least in the beginning. Humans have the power to nature and destroy. The second side starts with "Media Blitz" and comments on media control. "The Other Newst One" is the closest thing to a pop song. It's slower..very Ramones-esque. The band goes horror and Black Sabbath at the end with "Shut Down (Annihilation Man)." This nine-minute long song was recorded live in the studio. Darby brings all his evil out and comments on Joan Jett, Sid Vicious and a lot more. An appropriate way to the end. The first time I came across The Germs was in the film "The Decline of Western Civilization" which prominently featured Darby Crash. I think I went immediately out and tried to find a Germs' album. I need to watch this again. (GI) is a great and influential album. I actually think The Germs were one of the highlights of western civilization in the 20th century...there was a lot worse.

Sometimes these foundational cornerstones of a genre leave me less impressed but I could see the point of the hype on this one. The sound is iconic, the lyrical sensibility clever, self-aware, and very punk. No love on YouTube music though, another where I ended up finding an (easily searchable, clearly identified, complete and decent quality) YouTube video on some unofficial channel, still can’t figure out how that works other than I guess no one is trying to fight it.

Good punk album, but not iconic

This rocked

Classic punk rock at its finest.

I just really struggle to differentiate hardcore stuff

No gimmicks, no games, just straight hard core banging. In the middle of budgeting time at work and somehow this relieved some frustrations. Also kept my co-workers out of my office while it was being played, so I listened like 3 times straight. Haha. Definitely a different punk sound from Sex Pistols or Ramones. Straight in your face. I liked it and felt like kicking my bosses ass after I listened. +1 for Pat Smear I'll give a 3

5 Absolute quintessential punk fucking rock. Lexicon Devil is what got me started (s/o THUG2) and I’ve listen so many times since. Top shit

4.5 The Ramones may have invented punk, but The Germs invented hardcore... and the genre owes so much to them for it. It's not for everyone, but man it's for me - I couldn't help but bang my head along even though I was working in the office while listening. Darby Crash is an all-time great punk vocalist (RIP) and Pat Smear (later of Nirvana/Foo Fighters fame!) an all-time great guitarist. Would have loved to mosh to these guys. It's really all killer, no filler here - just 38 minutes of raw, uncut punk. Yeah, not the most versatile record to exist, and maybe some songs blend together, but dammit I had a great time with every single track. Special shoutout to Lexicon Devil for being one of the greatest punk songs ever written. Would listen again in a heartbeat... though probably need to take a minute to calm my anarchical urges. Favorite songs: Liked them all, but love Lexicon Devil

This project has made me realise I have a very low tolerance of punk and there's far too much of it on the list. This was awful.

UPDATE 8-11-2023. Finally listened. None of the tracks were enjoyable to my ear. Not for me.

I can see that this was an important and influential album, just not a great album.

There's better punk albums IMO

Flui bem o hardcore com jeito de clássico.

Bit too punky for me

Glad to see punk rock representation but I never really liked the Germs. They didn't have an innovative sound or impact the mainstream so they don't really need to be on this list.

A lot of energy but didn't really stand out for me. I'd never heard it before, so that was good.

Feel like I’m listening to someone angry about the things going on around them at the time. Sound like Nam evaders

(3.4) I feel like I’m back playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Really like the sound. I bet Ben hates this.

Felt like a Tony Hawk game

The phrase 'American Hardcore Punk' often makes me wince. But this is potentially where it all started and its actually enjoyably raw and innocent.

Very punk, not for me

Basic punk

A mad band, though only the rhythm section benefits, musically speaking. Hardcore moves fast enough that misses and hits are obvious; Remarkably, Germs veers back and forth between success and failure in the space of seconds. Repeatedly. This is a remarkable set to have captured on wax. The bass and forward momentum carry a listen or two and one hopes there are grimy depths to plumb.

germs!

Pretty good stuff. Can really hear the Bad Brains influence.

hardcore parkour

Meh. This album isnt even on Apple Music at the time of this review, so I went and listened to some of the tracks on other services. Nothing special, not worth comment. 1/5

I did this so you wouldn’t.

Interesting but not really my jam

Wow, I really enjoyed that. Wasn't sure at the start, but the short punchy songs really got me going. All topped off with a cruisy come down at the end.

Old school punk isn't really my thing so this largely left me cold. I did start to warm up to it towards the end, I guess. Fave track - "Lexicon Devil", maybe? I quite liked the proggy drawn out "Shut Down" too....