"It's like, it's not bullshit . 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. Bands included are Black Flag, Germs, X, Alice Bag Band, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and Fear. I said, I gotta make a movie about this punk scene. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In the third installment of Penelope Spheeris' "Decline" series, being young in a leather jacket isn't what it used to be. Bloom doesnt only critique, but recasts the vision of what it is we have lost. 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. In this follow-up to the 1981 punk rock documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization," filmmaker Penelope Spheeris dissects the world of heavy metal. 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. Through live performance . Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Eyeball is also around but I see him a lot less. he was a pretty cool dude hes doing the same exact shit he was doing back in the day but has a job. Factory. We were young and stupid but, no, we didnt always hang out in a hot tub. '", Spheeris says that she's working on a fourth Decline film with her daughter, Anna Fox. Screw the corps, right? We toured with L.A. fascinating. Also The Decline . She put us in the movie and it absolutely put us on the map. He traces it to the denial by William of Ockham in the late Middle Ages of the existence of transcendent ideas. The film's title is possibly a reference to music critic Lester Bangs' 1970 two-part review of . But where are they now? Vote for your favorites >> 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. And because it was not my band, I really enjoyed being able to kick back a bit and be more carefree. Mostly, it means that after all those years, shes finally overcome her pastand restored it to cinematic perfection. Additionally we host events, provide commentary for traditional media shows, and give speeches to groups of all sizes. "When punk started happening, I said, 'OK, this is it for me.' The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 19871988. That was just one situation. This was partly due to Spheeris refusing to relinquish the rights to the first two parts of the trilogy in order to enable the third to be released. Check them out. Maher said part of the problem of losing civilization is you fail to make judgments. RhetoricinPopularCulture-BarryS.Brummett.pdf. The Decline of Western Civilization R 1 hour 40 min 1981 by J.R. Jones October 26, 1985 August 26, 2021. Or why not treat yourself? Then, in the early nineties, I got this job, via my friend Bruce Kirkland who had a multimedia company called Second Vision. youtu.be comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. 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 . They escaped to the streets, to rampant alcohol abuse in most cases, and to punk rock as a means of survival. I knew it would be drudgery. She knew we had something, so she interviewed us for the movie. That film, released in 1981 . When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. But it remained unreleased on DVD until it finally got a long-deserved reissue as part of a box set with its less boneheaded predecessor, The Decline Of Western Civilisation Part I (which dealt with LAs punk scene) and the belated third part, which addressed Americas homeless youth. The movie got so much publicity that it couldnt have hurt anybodys careers. 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. November 6, 2020. There was as much going on in the street as there was inside the clubs. I found guys like Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. I guarantee you that. 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. These books level their criticisms not only at the political left, but also at many of those ideas that go under the name of conservatism but are really only another form of political ideology. A couple of years ago I moved out to Las Vegas. The interview includes many of the same questions . I left London to do my own band, Ultra Pop, which was more Marc Bolan-influenced. And the other day I was sittin here, thinkin, because my parents were separated when I was two. 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. Troll was on an episode of Dog Eat Dog fairly recently, and Squid was stabbed to death by Spoon (IIRC) shortly after filming wrapped up. 1. The Decline of Western Civilization includes never-before-seen footage, new interviews, and even performances that didnt make the original cut. I was never happy in W.A.S.P. She was held in L.A. county for awhile but was acquitted for self defense as a domestic abuse survivor. Stay up to date with in depth music reviews, exclusive interviews and widespread coverage of whats happening from your favourite music genre. I want to go but my brain cant tell my body to move. The Decline of Western Civilization Part III, coming after Spheeris foray into mainstream filmmaking, directing the likes of Waynes World, Black Sheep, and The Little Rascals, is easily the heaviest of the trio. After another 10 years Spheeris wrapped up her Decline trilogy and this time Spheeris shifted her attention again. This much can be said, nevertheless. I wasnt sure, at the end of Chriss interview, that I even had an interview but, you know, it wasnt me that gave him the vodka. 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. The term is often used, therefore, to suggest a highly developed culture. Now I cant wash a dish, cant button my shirt. 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. It continued to dominate the cultural discussion for years after its publication. She means it, man, and the saddest part is that she's . It came out in the late 1980s and took the country by storm. Spheeris got her start with filmmaking with her company, Rock N' Reel, that specialized in music videos. And still, others question the assumption behind the question and maintain that the . The movie never got a proper release . But the footage in Spheeris films was deeply personal. But we need these kind of books now more than ever. Aside from a love of music and a desire to make a lot of money and bang as many groupies as possible, theres not much substance to the people of The Metal Years. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! By the time The Cathouse was up and running we were off, constantly touring. Now I was intrigued. Penelope Spheeris was a friend of friends, and we ended up shooting our section at The Cathouse. I spotted troll sitting in front of a liquor store with a 32pack and pulled over and gave him a ride..i recognized him from the decline but was not completely sure since he was like 25years older and didnt want to ask..we ended up drinking with him all night then it became apparent that it really was him since people kept coming up to him and taking pictures and yelling out "the decline!" 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. the decline of western civilization collection. I remember hanging out with Penelope at the Cat Club in New York for the release party. The Germs' performance was replicated in the 2007 Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret. 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. I said, 'I am Penelope.' Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer, by William Barrett. Taime Downe: When Faster Pussycat started, Mtley and Ratt had already taken off, and newer bands like Poison were playing the Strip. Ancient Greece. It was supposed to be on the Sunday, but Penelope called me Saturday morning and goes: Can you film it today, Chris? I go: I been up for three days, partying since I got home from London. And she goes: Well, do you mind? And I go: No. And right when I was goin out the door, my mom pulled up. But it caused all kinds of problems. It took shape in medieval Europe, with its Christian religion, feudal society . 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. And thats the part also that really upset me.. Let's talk about this trend. Decline III presents these kids sympathetically, and they are just that. The black guy in the wheelchair is somewhere in Nola area. I never realised that until the last day I ever saw him, when he told me that right to my face. And that has kind of evolved into my current band, Spiders And Snakes, where weve really embraced our seventies roots. Weve done three albums and were doing another one at the end of the year. BA1 1UA. June 16, 2015 . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city. The first film, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), dealt with the punk rock scene during 19801981. For decades, there were only two ways to watch The Decline of Western Civilization: buy a bootleg or download it online. I keep myself active.. Its not as if she hadnt tried before. The subjects just want to rock out and get wild, and an overall frat party vibe fuels the movie. The Metal Years includes in in depth interview with Spheeris, previously unseen footage and interviews, and a commentary with the director and Nadir DPriest, singer for the band London, who figure prominently in the film. My hair started getting longer, I wore leather pants, bracelets, eyeliner and all that, but I liked a good nights sleep and drinking orange juice at breakfast. While its predecessors focused on punk music and musicians, this latest episode concentrates on the audiences -- kids who weren't born when the original film was released. "You can't equivocate on the stuation.". Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. This feels legitimately dangerous a way that not many movies do, and it captures the sense of outrage and dissatisfaction that drew so many people to punk rock in the first place, looking for somewhere to belong, to be heard. Thats when I became enveloped by the idea of becoming a rock singer. Barrett was one of the great writers of . . The promoter said we didnt have to play, so we just hung out and played basketball. Here are three that help explain what is happening with our culture. Bath Fuck Police Brutality I cant play guitar any more, so now Im the singer. 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]. Gone is the chaotic euphoria of the first movie, filmed in 1979, which quickly became a classic on the underground circuit for its playful, sympathetic chronicle of L.A. punk bands and the fans who loved them. This Article is related to: Toolkit and tagged DVDs, Penelope Spheeris, Shout! Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. It was just me not wanting to do it and preferring to do other things and then Anna coming to me and saying, Mom, youve gotta do it.'. The director . 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