Penelope Spheeris: My family background was chaotic, so when I saw the punk thing happening in clubs I felt very at home with it. They offer definitive looks at turning points in underground music while showing both the upsides and downsides of fame often with a sense of humor. The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. I carried London on even after Lizzie left. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. And if the books themselves seem daunting, there are always great reviews of great books, which serve to give a sense of the author's point. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. Factory. I didnt want to do it because I knew it would be painful. Spheeris later credited the 1998 film with having a profound effect on her. But I was also determined to get people like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth into the film, because those guys were different, kinda deeper than the others. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city. As more and more funds were funneled into the military upkeep of the empire, technological advancement slowed and Rome's civil infrastructure fell into disrepair. While the Los Angeles punk scene comes across gritty and raw, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, depicts a scene that is bloated, almost a caricature, and, in 1988, was only a few short years from imploding and collapsing in on itself. The director . And there were all these bodyguards around and I didnt know who they were with, and it turned out to be Malcolm Forbes [multimillionaire publisher of Forbes magazine]. That went on into the nineties, when suddenly along came the guys from Seattle. It was good to make a change. It was almost like I was on my deathbed and I was watching my life flash before me, she said of watching the old footage. Here are three that help explain what is happening with our culture. Spheeris got her start with filmmaking with her company, Rock N' Reel, that specialized in music videos. But the footage in Spheeris films was deeply personal. But its Part II on which the series legend is built as well as that of the dying days of the Hollywood scene. He has interviewed three of the four Beatles, all of Abba and been nursed through a bad attack of food poisoning on a tour bus in South America by Robert Smith of The Cure. Then, just as Newlydeads was starting to take off, we got offered a new record deal for Faster. Sure, the film gave London a huge push. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was d. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. But eventually, as the Sunset Strip's version of metal ascended, she realized she had the makings of a sequel 1988's The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. I asked Anna to come work for me because I needed help with some other things with our life here and she said, I will come to work for you but only if the first thing we do is put the Decline DVDs out,' Spheeris recalled. You know that feeling you get in your stomach thats like this fluttery kind of fear? she told Indiewire recently, describing the sensation that would wash over her when shed stumble across a bootleg copy of The Decline of Western Civilization, including the 1988 and 1998 sequels of the same name. The first Decline had been made for about a hundred thousand dollars with money from a couple of guys who thought I was going to make a porn movie for them, but the second one I was able to get some money from Miles Copeland [manager of The Police, owner of IRS Records]. The question is, what took so long? 1. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. They were looking for a David Lee Roth, Vince Neil type, which I was. They treated us really good, but Id been shoved into the industry for the first eight years of my adult life. Theyre skeptical of the camera, of anything that resembles the society they either ran away or were forcibly ejected from. With Myke Chambers, Stephen Chambers, Eyeball, Flea. I still talk to him a lot. The film's title is possibly a reference to music critic Lester Bangs' 1970 two-part review of . The first "Decline," which focused on the early L.A. punk scene, was made in 1979 before most of the punks in "Part III" were even born, and Spheeris uses interviews with some of the old . 5. One of the smaller ancient civilizations, Greece has exerted an influence out of proportion to its size on the development of Western civilization, largely due to the intellectual accomplishments of Greek philosophers, who laid the foundation for much of modern science and . Inside 10 Iconic 'Decline of Western Civilization' Scenes. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the Chicago Underground Film Festival, where it received a jury award. It got your face out there and you got to be seen. I remember hanging out with Penelope at the Cat Club in New York for the release party. There used to be a lot books about the decline of the West. But now that we are well on our way to everything these writers warned us about, we dont hear that expression much anymore. By the time Penelope interviewed us for Decline we were one of the hottest bands on the Strip. Yellowstone: The Hidden Propaganda in Television and Movies, How to Cultivate a Marriage That Will Help Your Child Succeed. This Article is related to: Toolkit and tagged DVDs, Penelope Spheeris, Shout! The cut- and-paste editing, harsh lighting and seat-of-the-pants production that made the first film's technique a perfect reflection of its content have been replaced by MTV-era aesthetics. I get dizziness, I get the shakes in my hands. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. You get two million and well handle everything else. But The Stones go: no, we want this long-haired guy and his team to handle our shit. And the other day I was sittin here, thinkin, because my parents were separated when I was two. Brought up in her fathers travelling carnival, Penelope Spheeris was the ideal person to turn the camera on the three-ring circus that was the 80s/90s Sunset Strip scene. There were two follow ups: 1988s The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years and 1998s The Decline of Western Civilization Part III. When 19-year- old Spoon says this a half hour into "The Decline of Western Civilization, Part III," she isn't indulging in punk posturing. We track down the stars of classic car crash metal documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt 2: The Metal Years. Suddenly there were grunge bands, like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, on the MTV Countdown, in the magazines, on the radio. I go: The closest person to you, theres a chance he might screw you over. They look at me like Im nuts. Donate. She knew we had something, so she interviewed us for the movie. Grunge absolutely ended it for London. For decades, there were only two ways to watch "The Decline of Western Civilization": buy a bootleg or download it online. Spheeris has spent much of the past 20 years directing Hollywood fare such as "Wayne's World," and her professionalism shows in the synaptic firing of sound bites over visuals and the abrasive but seamless juxtaposition of scenes. Every day the staff of Intellectual Takeout come to work eager to do their part to restore and improve our great nation. I guarantee you that. "Let me just say I think it's gonna be kind of jaw-dropping.". Barrett was one of the great writers of . That one cost five-hundred thousand. She was lookin for bands that were staples on the LA music scene, and Odin certainly was that. Penelope Spheeris was a friend of friends, and we ended up shooting our section at The Cathouse. That film, released in 1981 . As the singer in Faster Pussycat and co-founder of the notorious, heroically debauched Cathouse club, Seattle-born Taime Downe or Gustave Molvik to his parents was perfectly placed to witness the rise and fall of the Sunset Strip scene. I want to go but my brain cant tell my body to move. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). youtu.be comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvEa_IFt9yg. The original Decline contains rare footage of the Germs live and Black Flag at their squat, the second finds Ozzy Osbourne making breakfast and Aerosmith living soberly and the third focuses on smaller bands of homeless punks who somehow manage to meet up for practice. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris looks back as her L.A. rock trilogy readies itself for a box-set reissue. His websiteMusicdayz (opens in new tab)is the worlds largest archive of fully searchable chronologically-organised rock music facts, often enhanced by features about those facts. No one will be interested, studio executives told her. Director Penelope Spheeris began filming The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary about LA's raucous punk community, in 1979. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Just as punk once appropriated street chic, the street has now appropriated punk. Penelope was out on the Strip with her camera crew, and she walked up to us and started interviewing us and then got our contact information. The Director: Penelope Spheeris. God instructed Adam to obey his Word . In Part III, the answer is almost universally, Dead. I just knew I had to make another film, about these people. There is no future in mind for anyone here. It is the third film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at various points in time. The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality). But I like that it's done. And that has kind of evolved into my current band, Spiders And Snakes, where weve really embraced our seventies roots. I knew it would be drudgery. The Decline of Western Civilization comes across as much more authentic than many documentaries with similar aims. But as prickly as they are, all charged hair, spike-covered leather jackets, and layers of filth worn with a sense of pride, they still find joy and love with their friends, even as they recount horrific home lives, systematic abuse, and fighting white supremacists with the nonchalant resignation of the everyday. I remember a show in Ohio, we played for free and two people came. Chris Holmes: When Penelope asked me to be in the Decline movie, I went: Why dont you ask Blackie [Lawless, W.A.S.P. Cheered by those who saw what Bloom saw and reviled by those who refused to see, it continues to be referred to as one of the great books on Western culture. Factory. Nadir DPriest: In the mid-eighties a lot of other bands saw us as a threat because we had such great ideas. Bath I made this video to explore what happened to the bands that feature prominently in the cult film The Decline of Western Civilisation Part ll: The Metal Year. I wouldnt have changed it for nothin in the world. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. This summer were going to ride our motorbikes down to Florida together.. While it does try to touch on topics like sexism in the scene treatment of women is across the board horrendous the effects of rampant drug and alcohol abuse, and the prospect of not being successful, those are relatively minor asides that barely touch on their struggles. The music is fast, loud, smart and aggressive; the kids dress the same, albeit with a few more piercings; they still brawl with skinheads and get hassled by cops. Decline is a documentary directed by Penelope Spheeris (weirdly also the . Decline properly introduces itself with the distorted bars of X's "Nausea" as the title card cuts to a roiling pit churned by the trunks and limbs of thrashing teenage bodies. So then I had an amazing time hangin out with Ronnie and the boys. Part III arrives with additional interviews with the kids, some behind-the-scenes footage, and a longer version of the conversation with Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea. Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Welcome to the streets, punk. Penelope Spheeris rounds out her Decline of Western Civilization trilogy with this in depth look at the lives of self-proclaimed 'gutter punks,' homeless punk rockers that squat in abandoned homes or sleep on the streets, panhandle or steal, and live lives of alcoholism and drug addiction. In a way, you can look at Decline II as the research and then Waynes World as the final product. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Black radical activist Congresswoman from Houston has introduced a bill in the House that would criminalize thought crimes, and in particular it would criminalize sites like The Occidental Observer, but also the much more mainstream Tucker Carlson. PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated. The director, whose credits include Wayne's World and Black Sheep, has finally emerged from the depths of turning her celebrated three-part hardcore-punk and heavy-metal documentary series, The Decline of Western Civilization, into a comprehensive box set. We were young and stupid but, no, we didnt always hang out in a hot tub. The second Decline movie came about because I saw the punk scene dying, the clubs shutting down and a whole new scene growing. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988). The second consideration depicts its slow decline with the internal problems like slow economic growth, unemployment, stagnant population, government shortfall, deteriorating work ethic, crime, and . RhetoricinPopularCulture-BarryS.Brummett.pdf. After I watched the movie for the first time I wondered what happened to all the kids who were interviewed for it, particularly Eugene, but didn't bother to do any research on the subject. Ironically, its nearly the same thing she was told when she tried to get distribution for Decline of Western Civilization Part I: punk is dead. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 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