Poor Darby Crash. The guy wanted to be a legend, but he timed his suicide poorly.

The Germs are essential to American punk history, regardless of whether you like (or even know) them. Darby Crash was their seriously fucked up front man — drug addled, grandiose, closeted. I didn’t get into in this piece for Diffuser, but he considered himself something of a cult leader, too, capable of controlling the Hollywood castoffs who followed the band.

He was a mess, but an interesting mess. Read all about him — and his accidental run-in with the legend of John Lennon — on Diffuser.