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Lexicon Devil
Lexicon Devil is a three-song EP and the second release by American punk rock band the Germs. It was also the debut output of Slash Records, and of Geza X, both as a producer and as a recording engineer. The record was named after its leadoff song.
In the Germs, Jan Paul Beahm served as singer and one of the principal songwriters. During the time of the Germs, Jan Paul actually went by other names he made up for himself. At the time of the band's debut single, he called himself Bobby Pyn. Bobby Pyn's persona on the single was the rather innocent "Sex Boy".[citation needed] On "Lexicon Devil," he reinvented his on-record persona as the much darker Darby Crash, who sings his fascistic mission statement in the self-mythologizing "Circle One", the guitar frenzy which opens the side B:
I'm Darby Crash
A social blast
Chaotic master
The EP's title track is an apocalyptic manifesto full of fractured images, whose lyrics were written by Crash in the first person in the name of Adolf Hitler, who proclaims himself a "lexicon devil" in the song,[citation needed] which is featured here in its slower and tamer first version. "Lexicon Devil" might also fit Jan Paul's new punk persona, since Crash was an aspiring cult leader obsessed with the idea of the mind control through the rhetoric, that is, using the power of words. Crash was one of the wordiest lyricists in the early Los Angeles punk scene, hence, while it is more musically developed than "Forming", the band's previous record, the Lexicon Devil EP is rather remarkable for its lyrics.
"You didn't know the words because [they were unintelligible], when Darby'd sing them live, so [I] was just astounded when [the Germs] got that first Slash record and actually [I] read the lyrics. They were great!"
– John Doe, member of L.A. punk band X
"I loved to read his lyrics. You couldn't always make them out when he sang them ... Darby was one of the only performers I know of who literally used the English language as a weapon."
– Chris Desjardins, frontman of L.A. punk band the Flesh Eaters
The record closes with "No God", a Nietzschean rant which borrows the intro from "Roundabout" by Yes.
The Germs were gaining notoriety since the release of their first single, "Forming", and their early live performances. The band's increasing success also presented some roadblocks. They did not have a permanent drummer at the time. After Donna Rhia left, the band had a succession of aspiring drummers and part-timers taken on loan from other bands, including X's Don Bonebrake, who filled in at a few gigs, and the Weirdos' Nicky Beat, who took the seat in the sessions for the Lexicon Devil EP. Also, Pat Smear did not own an amplifier for his Rickenbacker electric guitar.
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Lexicon Devil
Lexicon Devil is a three-song EP and the second release by American punk rock band the Germs. It was also the debut output of Slash Records, and of Geza X, both as a producer and as a recording engineer. The record was named after its leadoff song.
In the Germs, Jan Paul Beahm served as singer and one of the principal songwriters. During the time of the Germs, Jan Paul actually went by other names he made up for himself. At the time of the band's debut single, he called himself Bobby Pyn. Bobby Pyn's persona on the single was the rather innocent "Sex Boy".[citation needed] On "Lexicon Devil," he reinvented his on-record persona as the much darker Darby Crash, who sings his fascistic mission statement in the self-mythologizing "Circle One", the guitar frenzy which opens the side B:
I'm Darby Crash
A social blast
Chaotic master
The EP's title track is an apocalyptic manifesto full of fractured images, whose lyrics were written by Crash in the first person in the name of Adolf Hitler, who proclaims himself a "lexicon devil" in the song,[citation needed] which is featured here in its slower and tamer first version. "Lexicon Devil" might also fit Jan Paul's new punk persona, since Crash was an aspiring cult leader obsessed with the idea of the mind control through the rhetoric, that is, using the power of words. Crash was one of the wordiest lyricists in the early Los Angeles punk scene, hence, while it is more musically developed than "Forming", the band's previous record, the Lexicon Devil EP is rather remarkable for its lyrics.
"You didn't know the words because [they were unintelligible], when Darby'd sing them live, so [I] was just astounded when [the Germs] got that first Slash record and actually [I] read the lyrics. They were great!"
– John Doe, member of L.A. punk band X
"I loved to read his lyrics. You couldn't always make them out when he sang them ... Darby was one of the only performers I know of who literally used the English language as a weapon."
– Chris Desjardins, frontman of L.A. punk band the Flesh Eaters
The record closes with "No God", a Nietzschean rant which borrows the intro from "Roundabout" by Yes.
The Germs were gaining notoriety since the release of their first single, "Forming", and their early live performances. The band's increasing success also presented some roadblocks. They did not have a permanent drummer at the time. After Donna Rhia left, the band had a succession of aspiring drummers and part-timers taken on loan from other bands, including X's Don Bonebrake, who filled in at a few gigs, and the Weirdos' Nicky Beat, who took the seat in the sessions for the Lexicon Devil EP. Also, Pat Smear did not own an amplifier for his Rickenbacker electric guitar.