Biography
American musician Georg Ruthenberg, best known for his stage name Pat Smear, was born and raised in Los Angeles. His interest in music was honed at an early age with piano lessons, which would eventually lead Ruthenberg to take up the guitar. He formed the band The Germs as a teenager after meeting vocalist Darby Crash in an alternative school, from which both ended up being expelled. Their first album, "(GI)" (1979) was produced by Joan Jett and is now considered a milestone in the history of punk rock, with Smear's work as guitarist and co-writer being thoroughly praised. Vocalist Darby passed away not too long after their first release, and Smear went on to release some solo work, do some acting, and play in different bands, such as Twisted Roots, 45 Grave and a brief stint with The Adolescents. The guitarist also played with Courtney Love's band Hole and toured with Kurt Cobain's Nirvana during the early 1990s. After Cobain's passing, Ruthenberg went on to also play with the Foo Fighters for a brief period. He would return to the spotlight with the release of "What We Do Is Secret" (2007), a film about The Germs for which he was a creative consultant. Smear rejoined the Foo Fighters in 2005 and would go on to work in the band's seventh album, "Wasting Light" (2011). The project got to the top of the United States' Billboard 200 chart and was nominated for five Grammy Awards, winning four of them. After winning several more awards for his work with the Foo Fighters, Smear was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band in 2021.
