Well done for asking!
It might save repetition of the same tired old lies.
The accident rate in Germany, in the early years, was admittedly horrific. Though arguably less so than that of the German F-84s (which were in service for a much shorter time).
But this had much more to do with training ab initio pilots far too quickly in Arizona, to too low a standard, and then sending them into a European winter to convert to and fly hot F-104Gs in an environment they'd not encountered, and a role they hadn't adequately prepared for (low level strike) than it did with any intrinsic flaw in the -104.
Interestingly, none of the other NATO F-104 users had anything like the same problems, and some (was it Norway? Can't be arsed to go and look it up) never lost one.
Even in Germany, the type matured into a useful, popular, and effective (if narrow and inflexible) aircraft, and when the boxheads retired theirs, most were snapped up with alacrity by the Turks. By the end, the aircraft was obsolete and lacked any pretence at the multi-role capabilities that became standard with the F-16, but the pilots still loved them.
I have spoken to first tour German -104 drivers back when the aircraft was brand new - but I was wearing shorts and a rather natty toy dagger at the time, as they were showing me the cockpit at Wildenrath c.1967. I suspect that I didn't ask any interesting questions, nor did I gain much appreciation of the role or the accident stats. I have photos of me sitting/standing in/next to most of the early users' F-104s, often with the kind chap from No.14 Squadron who used to hoik me out of school and show me interesting visiting aircraft.
But I have spoken marginally more intelligently to more recent F-104 pilots, and I never found one who was less than affectionate and enthusiastic about the aircraft, and its apparent that it was never the dire and dangerous beast that the lay person would expect from reading German newspapers and magazines in the 60s, or listening to the Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters LP.
Axl Ostermeyer (a German Navy -104 and Tornado pilot) published an excellent book on the -104, and Captain Bob Wade (a Canadian -104, -18 and MiG-29 ace) is worth speaking to about the jet.
It certainly wasn't an example of 'soaraway crapness' and nor, I'd say, was the Harrier.