What happened in our Western world began 6,000 years ago in a gardena battle between two religions. They just want to escape it, and in "Decline, Part III" some succeed. 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 were looking for a David Lee Roth, Vince Neil type, which I was. Hitting the streets in 1981, the original Decline of Western Civilization dove head first into the whirling mosh pit of the Los Angeles hardcore punk scene. One of the security guards started trying to get his hands on me, but our manager happened to have a nice, compact nine-millimetre pistol, pulled it out and told this guy to back the the fuck off. They stopped teaching it, and the great cultural transmission belt broke. November 6, 2020. What's clear is how, even with years between them, they all add up to a bigger portrait. Whats that? Nobody knew. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris looks back as her L.A. rock trilogy readies itself for a box-set reissue. Director Penelope Spheeris began filming The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary about LA's raucous punk community, in 1979. I said, 'I am Penelope.' I had a music video company at that point, and I was working for the record companies doing videos for the Staple Singers, Funkadelic, Doobie Brothers and all kinds of old bands, but I learned how to shoot music from doing those music videos, way before MTV. Ill get stuck in the hallway because I cant get my legs to move. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Steven Hanseter: Im forty-nine years old, never been a smoker, never been drunk. Roberts / November 7, 2016. Donate. The films (released in 1981, 1988, and 1998) take a look at a range of . The sequence with Ozzy, thats not really his house. Mike Myers is incredibly talented but he was also unbelievably difficult to work with. READ MORE:Sorry, Ladies: Study on Women in Film and Television Confirms the Worst, Penelope Spheeris, the films director, has a less romantic way of explaining the movies thriving underground market: theft. Brought up in her father's 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. Sure, the film gave London a huge push. 'OK, cool, let's go get some beer. I know. I'm gonna make The Decline Part Three,' she recalls. Difference #1: Unlike all previous civilizations, modern industrial civilization is . Why Are So Many Young People Dying Suddenly? Roughly speaking, it covers parts of the world where the dominant cultural norms originated in Western Europe, including North America . The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. "It's been a year of pure hell," filmmaker Penelope Spheeris says with a laugh. (Long sigh) I had the thumb on me, controlling me. Then, in the early nineties, I got this job, via my friend Bruce Kirkland who had a multimedia company called Second Vision. Culture of Respect: Conservatives Need Not Apply? The Asbury Revival, Emotionalism, and Group Psychology, 3 Books That Explain the Decline of Western Civilization, American Girl and the Historical Nostalgia Trap, Attentiveness as Service: The Virtue of Noticing, Not Your Schools Reading List 8: Adventures, Spies, and More for Young Boys. That was our first show together. The collection, which has been restored using 2K technology and includes commentary from Dave Grohl, extended interviews and more, marks the first time the films have been made available officially on DVD. At first glance, it seems that remarkably little has changed over the course of a generation. Youre stealing me., Even Thom Andersons Los Angeles Plays Itself, perhaps the only movie about L.A. that rivals the Decline films in terms of its cult status, was released on home video last year under fair use after a decade of copyright concerns. There was us, Guns N Roses, Seahags, Jetboy, and we were all good friends. The Decline movies, still on a variety of different film formats, sat in an underground vault in her home, but demand for them never let up. It came out in the late 1980s and took the country by storm. Six weeks later we opened up for Warrant at The Roxy. She was held in L.A. county for awhile but was acquitted for self defense as a domestic abuse survivor. The Decline of Western Civilization includes never-before-seen footage, new interviews, and even performances that didnt make the original cut. All we had was a bag of weed, two bottles of booze and our guitar players credit card. Theyre not particularly high def; then again, the grittiness and grime are a part of the overall aesthetic, so you wouldnt want them to get too dressed up. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. Last night I saw The Decline of Western Civilization at Cornell Cinema (everybody, go support your campus movie theater). We already had this thread, lemme see if I can find it and give it to you. I still play a lot with Spiders And Snakes, but I have a medical condition, Parkinsons, which makes it hard to control your muscles. 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. My vice was women. Now, when I see people in young bands I tell them not to trust each other. Axl and Izzy were at our very first show. In the years after making Decline of Western Civilization Part I, she directed two narrative films which covered some of the same territory she mined in Decline, Suburbia and The Boys Next Door. In the years that followed, she found plenty of mainstream studio success directing broad comedies, including Waynes World, The Little Rascals and The Beverly Hillbillies. But her favorite film remains the most tragic: Decline of Western Civilization Part III, a lesser-known portrait of homeless teenage punks trying to get by on the streets of Hollywood. By the time The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years came out in mid-1988, the L.A. glam scene was under siege by grittier hard rock bands on the right and the thrash metal uprising . Many acts in it were huge; others became so. There is no future in mind for anyone here. At least temporarily, they can find happiness in a few beers, the noise of a punk rock show, and a collection of people gathered at the one apartment they have between them. "I was always going out the clubs and seeing the punk bands," she says of how the first 1981 doc came about. Nikki Sixxs email address was in there. "If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would . But Greer's assumption is built on shaky ground because industrial civilization differs from all past civilizations in four crucial ways. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. However, it never went into general release and was not available on VHS or DVD until the release in 2015 of a box set containing all three films on DVD and Blu-ray. Depending on how drunk you were when you watched it for the first time, The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is either an uproarious celebration of the 80s Sunset Strip scene in all its hedonistic glory or a fist-gnawingly embarrassing parade of idiots, bozos and no-hopers who didnt have the brains to tie their own shoelaces in the morning. It was such a passion project for Spheeris, and she was, by all accounts, so moved by the plight and situation of these kids that it would be fascinating to hear her take on the film now, as it approaches the 20-year mark. It's unique among the world's civilizations in putting the individualas opposed to the collectivein a central position. Recent films like What Happened, . In the late 90s, she turned down a distribution deal to release it because it would have required her to give up the rights to Parts I and II (which initially had very limited theatrical releases). Crash died from a heroin-induced suicide shortly before the film was released (the poster was designed before his death). [3] Decline III was also released separately via streaming video. It was good to make a change. And thats the part also that really upset me.. If money comes in the situation it changes everything. Directed by acclaimed documentary maker Penelope Spheeris and originally released in June 1988, it swiftly became a cult classic (and an undeniable influence on a later Spheeris movie, Waynes World). You want to know the truth? Chris Holmes: When Penelope asked me to be in the Decline movie, I went: Why dont you ask Blackie [Lawless, W.A.S.P. At best, they think theyll be exactly where they are now: homeless, broke, spanging for money to buy beer, waiting to die. "I had to grow my hair out." I dont have the budget. So I agreed to do the interview. "When punk started happening, I said, 'OK, this is it for me.' Musicians interviewed include Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) and Flea (Fear, Red Hot Chili Peppers). This was your primer, your roadmap to being an outsider. I cant go on YouTube and find out whats been stolen. As far as how we were and what we did, how we lived, it was pretty accurate party all the time. All three are now available in on Blu-ray in a fantastic new package from Shout! Now we tour at least three months out of every year. "You can't equivocate on the stuation.". Check them out. We stopped London/DPriest in 1992 after our manager deserted us. With punk all the girls had looked like boys, but with metal the boys all looked like girls. Being on stage in Tuff was a licence to kill, as far as getting girls. Barrett was one of the great writers of . By the time Penelope interviewed us for Decline we were one of the hottest bands on the Strip. For the purposes of this article, the "West" is that civilization which grew up in western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire.. Its roots lay in the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome (which themselves built on foundations laid in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia).. And if Ive left anything behind when Im dead, its a document that a lot of people should know about., READ MORE: A.C.L.U. youtu.be comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment This is hard core. Government corruption and . 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. But never say never.. The director . Doug Casey: Western Civilization has its origins in ancient Greece. So just as we were beginning to make an impact, they came along and we had no chance. The black guy in the wheelchair is somewhere in Nola area. Under that chair in the movie, there was blow and weed and all that shit, and wed been partyin it up and havin a great time. The mother-daughter duo are now working together on a fourth Decline film, which Spheeris said is still about punk, but also involves another kind of music. This much can be said, nevertheless. In The Metal Years, when Spheeris poses the question of Where will you be in five or ten years? to her eye liner-wearing, big hair-sporting wanna-be rock gods, the answer is, across the board, that they will be rich and famous rock stars. We were pretty massive when we appeared in the Decline movie. A punk named Stevie dies in a fire at a building where he's squatting; another, Squid, is killed, allegedly by his girlfriend, Spoon. All those years later, the films remains a rite of passagerequired viewing materialfor new generations interested in punk rock, including Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, who was such a fan that he got in touch with Fox and volunteered to record the DVD commentary. There were certain things we had to manipulate. I spent my own money on it and I couldnt get it released, you know, without a gun to my head to give up the rights to the other ones. Through live performance . Lizzie Grey: London became like a launching pad for rock stars. Spheeris talks to homeless teenagers living on the street or squatting in abandoned buildings in Los Angeles, an unstable mother, Los Angeles Police Department officer Gary Fredo, and a paralyzed youth living on disability benefits. 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. Read the New York Times review of this book here. A punk named Stevie dies in a fire at a building where he's squatting; another, Squid, is killed, allegedly by his girlfriend, Spoon. We toured with L.A. Penelope Spheeris was a friend of friends, and we ended up shooting our section at The Cathouse. At that point my answer was, DVD is dead, its too late.'. The Decline of Western Civilization Part III: In the third of the Decline films, director Penelope Spheeris revisits the punk scene she illuminated in her first Decline film. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. After another 10 years Spheeris wrapped up her Decline trilogy and this time Spheeris shifted her attention again. While his band, Tuff, never made it to the very top of the Sunset Strip food chain, Rachelles can-do attitude helped him weather the hard times of the 90s. And I'm like ah fuck, 'I can't do it man.'" Its not the moneyfuck the money. The record companies dropped all of our shit; crazy hair and make-up kind of went away. Theres also a 30-plus page booklet that features stills from all three movies, as well as an extended essay from Riot on the Sunset Strip author Domenic Priore. But Ozzys one of the funniest people alive. Maher said part of the problem of losing civilization is you fail to make judgments. The documentary was equally entertaining, even if the focus was less on the music and more on musicians' lust for sex, drugs and stardom. These days, the mythology of that era now revolves largely around Guns N Roses, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper, all of whom feature prominently in the film, but its most memorable moments and unforgettable utterances came from the eras young hopefuls who never quite scaled the heights they dreamed of. I was more interested in spending time in the gym; more a jock than a rocker. Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer, by William Barrett. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, "Penelope Spheeris: 'I sold out and took the money', "Talking to Penelope Spheeris about time, rock 'n' roll, and The Decline of Western Civilization", "The Punk Director: Penelope Spheeris Revisits Her Decline of Western Civilization Trilogy", The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Decline_of_Western_Civilization_III&oldid=1139990643, Documentary films about punk music and musicians, Documentary films about homelessness in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 22:10. "It turned out beyond my expectations," she says of the box set. So whenever I would rent the record equipment for the record companies, I'd go moonlighting out the clubs and shoot the bands that I wanted to shoot. 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. 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. Suddenly there were grunge bands, like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, on the MTV Countdown, in the magazines, on the radio. Blackie was always threatenin me to be thrown out or this or that, and on top of it the person was jealous of me bein me. Just as punk once appropriated street chic, the street has now appropriated punk. That film, released in 1981 . So I quit my job and bought a one-way ticket for a hundred and nine dollars from Chicago to LA-X. The film is the opening act of a trilogy by Spheeris, depicting music scenes in Los Angeles during the late 20th century. By Kory Grow. 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