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"Forming" is the debut single by American punk rock band Germs. Released on What?, an independent start-up label, in July 1977, it is regarded as the first true Los Angeles punk record.〔Savage (1992), p. 437; Mullen and Spitz (2001), p. 102. Two local rock bands that overlapped with punk in different ways had previously come out with records: The Runaways shared some punk musical and visual attributes, and were a source of inspiration for The Germs (see Raha (), pp. xix, 25, 34), but they were a mainstream, major label act little associated with the punk scene (see Mullen and Spitz (), p. 102); The Nerves were close to the scene, but played in a distinctively power pop style (see Heylin (), pp. 297, 365–66, 373, 424).〕 Germs, comprising four teenagers, formed not long before the recording of the single: David Bowie–worshipping friends Jan Paul Beahm and George Ruthenberg met Belinda Carlisle and Teresa Ryan while staking out Queen's Freddie Mercury at a Beverly Hills motel and decided to start a band. Vocalist Beahm changed his name to Bobby Pyn (he would soon become better known as Darby Crash), guitarist Ruthenberg became Pat Smear, and bassist Ryan transformed into Lorna Doom. Carlisle dropped out when she came down with mononucleosis and never played a live show with the group. She was replaced as drummer by Becky Barton, redubbed Donna Rhia.〔Raha (2005), p. 33.〕 The band's all-female rhythm section put them—along with X—in the vanguard of women's participation in early L.A. punk,〔Raha (2005), p. 35.〕 where they would feature in such acts as Bags, The Controllers, Eyes, and the all-female Go-Go's.〔Leblanc (1999), p. 50.〕 "Forming" was the band's first composition, written by Pyn after a few rehearsals in the Ruthenberg family garage.〔Mullen and Spitz (2001), p. 102.〕 The band made its live debut on April 16, 1977, at a show organized by The Weirdos, a fellow punk band.〔Mullen and Spitz (2001), p. 104.〕 In the May issue of ''Raw Power'', a concert reviewer saw dim prospects for the new band and its eighteen-year-old frontman:
"Forming" was recorded not long afterward on a two-track reel-to-reel recorder in Smear's garage, with one microphone for the instruments and another for the vocals. Chris Ashford, a friend of the band, helped set up the equipment. While he was at work at Peaches, a local record shop, the band ran through multiple takes of the song—along with several others—and picked out the best to release as the single. There was an echo effect on Pyn's vocals that was accidental, Smear later said: "Somebody just bumped into this knob."〔Mullen et al. (2002), p. 67.〕 The B-side, "Sex Boy", was recorded live to cassette at the Roxy nightclub in West Hollywood during the filming of the Cheech & Chong movie ''Up in Smoke''. According to Pyn, the tape recorder was brought into the venue surreptitiously.〔 Ashford conjured up a music label, What? Records, and convinced Peaches to sell its inaugural 45—according to Smear, on the promise that it would be the "only store in the world" to offer it.〔 (What? would issue another seminal L.A. punk single, The Dils' "I Hate the Rich", in September.)〔Heylin (2007), p. 372.〕 Acting as the band's manager, Ashford arranged a photo session for the single at The Masque, a central punk nightclub, in June.〔Mullen et al. (2002), p. 83.〕 According to a 1977 interview with the band, 3,000 copies of "Forming" were printed, but the first 1,000 were "messed up".〔"Germs and The End", ''Flipside'' 2 (October 1977), p. 14 (available (online )).〕 Ashford later explained that "the pressing plant goofed up and flipped the labels, and they threw like 800 of them over a hill at some houses."〔 Despite the small number of copies and the drastically limited distribution, it made ''Billboard''s New Wave Top Ten chart.〔 Interviewed by ''Slash'' in 1978, Pyn said that "Forming" is "about breaking down the government and forming our own."〔 Mullen et al. (2002), p. 80.〕 Heylin regards the song, whose chorus declares "I'm your gun/Pull my trigger", as a vehicle for Pyn to enact a punk version of Bowie's provocative Ziggy Stardust persona.〔 Comparing it to The Damned's "New Rose"—the first single from the English punk scene—Jon Savage writes that it articulates both its specific subcultural context and the broader punk notion that artists do not have to master their craft before seeking an audience: "As the riff churns repeatedly at the end, Pyn delivers a critique of the band's performance: 'The drums are too slow, the bass is too fast, the chords are all wrong, they're making the ending too long—Aaah I quit!'"〔Savage (1992), p. 437.〕 Claude Bessy, founder and editor of the local punk scene's leading fanzine, ''Slash'', described the "Forming" 45 as "beyond music...mind-boggling...inexplicably brilliant in bringing monotony to new heights".〔 Retrospectively, popular music historians Brendan Mullen and Marc Spitz characterize it as a "surly drone ... with a tempo that could be kept by a wind-up, cymbal-crashing monkey",〔 while Clinton Heylin finds it most notable for its "ineptitude".〔Heylin (2007), p. 376.〕 It is a "primitive blast", according to AllMusic's Ned Raggett, "un-produced and proud of it."〔Raggett (2002), p. 461.〕 "Sex Boy", he writes, the "hilarious, chaotic" B-side, features "bottles breaking while Crash practically attacks the audibly scared audience".〔 Drummer Don Bolles describes the experience of his introduction to "Forming" soon after it came out:
In early 1978, Bolles would become Germs' permanent drummer.〔Mullen et al. (2002), pp. 111–13.〕 Live versions of both "Forming" and "Sex Boy" appear on the 1981 release ''Germicide'', which documents one of the band's early concerts.〔The album cover incorrectly claims that the June 1977 concert at the Whisky a Go Go that it documents was the band's first ever. As noted above, the band actually made its public début on April 16; the location was the 99-seat Orpheum Theater. See Mullen and Spitz (2001), p. 104; Heylin (2007), pp. 365–67; Patterson (1997), p. 32.〕 Donna Rhia departed the band soon after the recording of the single.〔 An alternate version, produced by Ashford, to some extent, was recorded later in 1977 with drummer D. J. Bonebrake, who would become well known as a member of X. Referred to as "Forming 2", it was not officially released until 1993, when it appeared on ''(MIA): The Complete Anthology'', also the first Germs' album to include the original release versions of "Forming" and "Sex Boy".〔Raggett (2002), p. 461. See also Mullen et al. (2002), p. 82.〕 ==Personnel== * Bobby Pyn (Jan Paul Beahm, aka Darby Crash) – vocals * Pat Smear (George Ruthenberg) – guitars * Lorna Doom (Teresa Ryan, aka Terry Target) – bass * Donna Rhia (Becky Barton) – drums 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Forming (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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