Profile of Pat Smear on Famous Like Me

Pat Smear (born Georg Ruthenberg on August 5, 1959), is a rock guitarist. He was born and raised in Western Los Angeles, California. He has an African-American/Native American mother and a German immigrant father. In 1976 Smear met Darby Crash and together they formed The Germs with bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Dottie Danger, the pseudonym of Belinda Carlisle who went on to front The Go-Gos. She was then replaced by Don Bolles and, in 1979, they released their first album, GI, produced by Joan Jett, which is now defined as a milestone or masterpiece in punk rock. The Germs disbanded in 1980 due to the tragic death of Darby. Later Pat would go on to play with Nina Hagen, and make two solo albums of his own; So You Fell In Love With A Musician and Ruthensmear. He also appeared in TV shows such as CHiPs and movies including Blade Runner and Breakin'. While working on the latter film, Smear becames friends with Courtney Love and the two formed a relationship. In 1993 he received a call from Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain asking him to join the band. Pat accepted immediately and played his first show together on Saturday Night Live on September 25, 1993. He toured with Nirvana for about six months before Cobain committed suicide.

Following the end of Nirvana, drummer Dave Grohl formed the Foo Fighters and asked Smear to join the band. He accepted and played alongside them until September 1997. Since then he has been in various TV spots and produced the debut album of Harlow. In 2005 he began performing reunion shows with The Germs. Smear renamed himself after learning about pap smears in high school, claiming they were the most disgusting thing he had ever heard of. Smear primarily played Hagström guitars during his stint in Nirvana.

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