Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear started out in an LA punk band called The Germs. But when that fell apart, he didn’t know what to do. He tried acting, getting minor roles in movies ranging from Blade Runner to Howard the Duck and TV shows like CHiPs and Quincy, largely because casting directors wanted punk rock-looking people for crowd scenes.
Then, in 1985, came word from his agent that Prince was looking for authentic punks to appear in his video for “Raspberry Berry.” After scanning through all people who showed up for the shoot, Prince himself picked Pat to be in the clip because he had the right “weirdo” look.
That’s him with the long black hair sitting on a stage beside keyboardist Lisa Coleman.
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