Rock Musician. He was the original bassist of the influential punk group Fear. Born Frederick Charles Milner III, he was groomed by his parents for a career in real estate but spent more time performing at Los Angeles-area clubs, with such oddball ensembles as Marquis De Sade and the Sweet Jesus Fish & Mattress Company. In 1977, when singer and aspiring actor Lee Ving invited him to start a punk band, he thought, "Wow, I really hate this...music. Yeah, why not?" Fear released their first single ("I Love Livin' in the City") in 1978, and with a new lineup including guitarist Philo Cramer and drummer Spit Stix, quickly carved a niche for themselves in the flourishing L.A. punk scene. They were fueled by the notion of becoming "the first punk band that can really play", and beneath the crude satire of their lyrics were catchy hooks and suprisingly accomplished musicianship. Scratch slung his bass almost at chest-level to facilitate his intricate rapid-fire playing, heard at its most crazed in such songs as "We Destroy the Family", "Camarillo" and "Let's Have a War"; he also performed the sax solos on "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones" and sang lead on "Getting the Brush". During their outrageous live shows Scratch complimented frontman Ving's audience-baiting insults with nonchalant banter, telling the crowd "It's great to be gay and to be here" and "I'll give you a dollar if you'll be my friend". He had "a kind of Dean Martin classy drunk vibe", Stix recalled. Fear was featured in the documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization" (1981), with Scratch getting off one of the film's more memorable epithets, but it was their blistering 1981 appearance on TV's "Saturday Night Live" that brought them to national attention. NBC pulled the plug on their set when a group of slamdancers took over the stage, shouted obscenities and allegedly caused $20,000 in damage to studio equipment. John Belushi, who got them the "SNL" gig, was a rabid fan and good friends with Scratch; they were seen together the day before the comedian's death in March 1982. Soon after the release of Fear's debut album "The Record" (1982), Scratch was kicked out of the group for excessive partying and "not pulling his weight". The bassist kept silent about it until a 2004 interview, when he claimed he was fired because of his discovery that Ving was witholding profits from his bandmates. He went on to form the bands Scratch, Derf Scratch and Friends, and the Werewolfs, without his earlier success. He died from complications of a liver ailment at his home in Camarillo, California. Fear underwent several personnel changes over the years, with only Ving retaining his status as frontman, but punk enthusiasts generally agree that the Derf Scratch era represented the band at its peak.