Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

i just watched Metal: A Headbanger's Journey last night... random thoughts:

1. what a douchebag gaath is... but damned if he didnt provide the hardest laugh of the movie
2. the 2nd best LOLz moment: corpsegrinder's neck
3. dio constantly getting in digs about gene simmons was funny as well
4. the filmmaker actually takes time to delve into glam metal, which is pretty interesting and totally unexpected
5. how can anyone stand being around chuck klosterman for longer than 5 seconds?
6. very little content featuring metallica, thank god

all in all, very good, very entertaining, for both intentional and unintentional reasons

saw both Spheeris Declines last night, with PS Q&A in Chicago.

II is amusing. This, of course, is the shallower of the two cept for that no-hoper in the pool.

oh yeah, Decline boxed set out this week.

which one are you thinking Spheeris didn't do?

Pretty sure Dr Morbius considers the actual decline of western civilisation to have happened before the third.

like Gandhi, i am waiting for it to rise.

Thanks in part to the inclusion of genuine rock stars like Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne, “Decline II” (produced by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris of “Little Miss Sunshine”), was more widely seen than its predecessor and has a more overtly comic feel. To this day, Shawn Duncan, the drummer for the band Odin, must reckon with his 20-year-old self. “Sometimes when I’m out on the road people don’t know who I am, and then the minute Odin comes up they all know me, from the movie, and it becomes this weird thing.” The chant “O-din! O-din!” — mimicking the one led by the legendary club owner Bill Gazzarri in the film — usually follows.

In its most notorious scene, Chris Holmes, the guitarist for W.A.S.P., floats in a pool and pours vodka over his head, but only a wizened Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith mention the damaging effects of partying. Sex with groupies is discussed frequently, but the AIDS epidemic is not even brought up until about 40 minutes in. And yet for all the film’s kookiness, off camera Ms. Spheeris was not invulnerable to the casual misogyny sometimes found in metal. “I often felt stepped on during that movie,” she said.

Years earlier she had been offered the chance to direct the mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” but refused, insisting she was too much of a true believer to make fun of rock. You could say that she ended up making it anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/movies/homevideo/penelope-spheeris-reissues-decline-of-western-civilization-films.html

watched pt I and all the extras last night. none of the extras are exactly revelatory but Brendan Mullen sure is charming, he comes off like an Alvie Singer who ended up staying in LA and getting into the punk scene. also my gaydar must be broken because I am having a hard time accepting that Pat Smear isn't gay.

you're not the only one.

and y'know Darby Crash shared a bf/hustler with Paul Lynde.

ha I knew Darby went both ways but no

it was in that book Lexicon Devil.

huh yeah I haven't read that one (I have read We've Got the Neutron Bomb tho)

wow did not know that

at ballgames i prefer to be in the john when the anthem is played, but if not i only sing the last line like Lee Ving: "and the hoooomos too."

<3

lol

per the recent discussion on the Runaways thread about Jackie Fuchs, I did take particular note of some of the weirder/more egregiously misogynist notes (Pat Smear bragging about punching girls, the bouncer talking about not being able to tell the difference between sexual assault and punks enjoying themselves etc.) The scene doesn't have the predatory vibe of Rodney's English Disco but it was still obviously far from a safe space. The main difference seems to be that many of the women involved (and there are considerably more than there were just a few years prior) were more assertive and central in their own right, and not just there for the pleasure of creepy male rock egos. Also, have often wondered why Joan is awol from the movie, given her involvement with the Germs.

yep, as with most hippies, most punks were sexist dirtbags or worse.

Part II DVD extras not quite as extensive as Part I's, but the full interviews of some of the bands are pretty interesting. Never would have guessed that Steven Tyler is an avowed Tuli Kupferberg/Fugs fan, for example. And it's funny to see Lemmy get a little goofy/silly as he gets more beers into him and the interview drags on. Too bad there's no extended fan interviews though, since those are where the real gold is in the movie imo. Still a fantastic document all around.

Lemmy of course still comes off as way smarter than p much everyone else

what is Grohl commentary for One like?

I didn't bother with that. I did watch all the extra interviews and live clips, although I didn't make it all the way through the latter day interview between Rollins and Spheeris which was p boring