The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

Dir: Penelope Spheeris

1988

****

Penelope Spheeris’s follow up to 1981’s The Decline of Western Civilization looks at heavy metal in the late 80s. It is glorious. While the first film of the trilogy looked at punk in Los Angeles, Spheeris, who had gain attention from her first film, decided to look at another music trend and persuaded some of the biggest bands of the moment to perform and be interviewed. While the first film was fairly raw (punks aren’t going to be told what to do) the heavy metal chapter is very much a staged affair. Gene Simmons is interviewed in a sexy lingerie shop, while scantily clad ladies walk around choosing outfits (he comes across fairly intelligently, until he stops to purr at the half naked opportunists every minute or so), his band mate Paul Stanley (AKA Star Child) performs his interview in bed surrounded by half-naked girls and failed band Odin sit in a hot tub, boasting that they will one day be bigger than The Doors (they split before the film was released). Ozzy Osbourne is filmed making breakfast while talking about the danger of drugs, while Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P is interviewed drunk, floating on an inflatable chair in someone’s swimming pool. Only Alice Cooper and Lemmy from Motorhead come across as intelligent and non-boastful, although Lemmy later said in his autobiography that he thought it was Spheeris’s intention to make him look stupid by interviewing him from a great distance. Loads of fans and groupies are also interviewed much like the first film but none of them are as interesting. The bands come across as arrogant and sleazy, which is exactly what they were. The girls complain that they are treated badly and the men admit they treat them badly. The younger bands talk of sex, drugs and rock and roll and most of them never made it, while the older groups talk of kicking the habit and investments, they’re the bands who are still around, playing huge stadiums and making millions on merchandise alone. While the title The Decline of Western Civilization suited the first film very well (the title was taken from Oswald Spengler’s book The Decline of the West, where he speculates that man has reached his peak and is on a downward spiral – a passage of which was used in a song performed by Darby Crash of The Germs) it almost suits the second part more so, as while most people in the first chapter were broken in some way they were creative because of it, had no delusions of grandeur and were making music for pleasure and passion. The Metal Years just showed how capitalism was alive and well and convincing the kids that they were somehow unique. The kids like to rock, who doesn’t, but even now rock fans will pay three figures to see their favourite bands in a huge arena, in seats miles away from the stage while punks still won’t pay more than a few coins and will only attend small venues. There is a token scene where some crack-pot lady claims heavy metal is an illness and has a way of curing the kids of it but by the end of the film she certainly isn’t the least likable character. Most of the groups featured were living the dream, nothing new with regards to their behaviour really, it’s just that it had never been so obvious before. These guys were worshiped as gods by their fans, many who felt disillusioned and different, but they ended up showing themselves up as just ‘jocks’ with big hair. It has been claimed in recent years, most notably in the VH1 documentary series Heavy: The Story of Metal that the film was partially responsible for the death of glam metal and the subsequent rise of thrash and grunge. The suggestion in the documentary is that fans, disgusted by the scenes of excess, decided to turn elsewhere. A similar claim was made by Dave Mustaine in his autobiography and in the book Hell Bent for Leather by British author Seb Hunter. You can speculate on whether or not this was Spheeris’s intention, she let herself down by faking a few scenes (Ozzy Osbourne did not spill orange juice everywhere and Chris Holmes bottle of vodka was filled with water) but the Bill Gazzarri interview and his ‘sexy rock and roll’ dance contest was very real, these people were responsible for their own demise. That said, many of them are still around today and making more money than they could even imagine they would in 1988. The first film is fascinating, the second is entertaining but in the same way watching a series of non-fatal car crashes is.