What We Do Is Secret

Netflix in Canada also offers What We Do Is Secret, a punk biopic about Darby Crash and the Germs.

It’s a very well done movie and the sound track is great; Pat Smear set all that up. The Germs actually rerecorded songs for the movie with Shane West, the actor playing Darby Crash, doing the singing. Since then, the Germs have actually toured with this line-up and been criticized by some. I have mixed feelings on that. The Germs have a right to capitalize on their work and the nostalgia associated with it – if people will pay them to do stuff and they enjoy it, why not?

The part that is not as cool is where you get these kids who get into the music and “scene” and use it as an excuse to act like idiots. Maybe that’s me being selfish but it kind of cheapens my memories. I guess like the Germs they have a right to do what they want to do.

That’s where the movie fell short for me – very much the way American Hardcore did. Darby Crash starts off with hope and a plan and slides down, taking drugs to numb the violence at the shows. I don’t want to rewrite history but I think there were positive things that came from the times and it would be nice to see more of that. I guess that’s the Punk Rock Dad in me 🙂

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