Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal years

Correct!!!

 

Exactly my opinion of this movie : on all points.

 

The Ozzy orange juice incident was faked

 

I think if you have any affinity for punk you should see it. She pulls the same "making breakfast" scene with Darby Crash that she did with Ozzy in Part 2, only difference being that Darby is more coherent. If you watch Part 1 you'll also get to see Catholic Discipline perform "Underground Babylon" which is a truly great lost punk song.

 

Dude; it shows you never were into punk in the first place. No offense, but for a punk this is a must-see movie, ESP Part 1.

 

I was talking about Metal years, dude.

And no, I'm not a punk

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH....my mistake man. I remember now there was a HM installment to that sequel....I never watched. Maybe I'll give it a try. Any mention of Slayer ?

 

No

 

Are you asking if I'm offended it's sleazy, stupid, loud, and sexist? My answer is: "Hell, no. IT'S ROCK 'N' ROLL!"

 

It’s somewhat ironic that, for all the talk about the sexist attitudes on display in the film, the only one of the small bands interviewed that actually made it to any degree was Vixen. Although the singer of Tuff had a fair degree of success as the founder and proprietor of glam metal satire/tribute site Metal Sludge.

 

I haven't watched it in, well, decades now. I don't know why Spheeris focused mostly on glam/cheese/shock metal, other than Megadeth and Lemmy. This was a time when the foundations of the metal scene were splintering, and the changes underfoot were barely acknowledged in favor of propping up the MTV image of "metal" from the 1980s. In fact, most of the bands featured would barely be considered "metal" today. 80s KISS? Poison? But of course that's what the mainstream media thought heavy metal was back then, and Spheeris displayed little to dispute that school of thought on the subject.

 

There was a lot of metal that wasn't stupid...Iron Maiden and Metallica for instance

 

I think she was focusing on the Sunset Strip scene, which may have still been dominated by those bands, Megadeth notwithstanding.

I'm pretty sure that Gene Simmons and Lemmy had already parked themselves in L.A. by that time, so that may be why they ended up in the film.

 

Odin! Odin! Odin!

 

Exactly - glam metal was what was happening in LA at the time, much like how punk was the vogue in the post-Knack LA of the first film. I understand too that she wanted to make a grittier film focusing on the desperate, seedy circumstances most of the bands lived in (a taste of which we saw in the scene featuring London’s truck camper) but Spheeris’ backers wouldn’t go for that.

 

I read an interview with their guitarist a few years ago where he looked back on himself in this film and quoted Dean Wormer in Animal House: “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” IIRC he’s a construction contractor now.

 

I love the first movie, but, having been made in 1979-1980, there are a few great L.A. bands that weren't included in the movie because they had broken up (The Weirdos, The Screamers, The Zeros, The Dils, The Nerves - if you want to consider them part of the scene), or were too successful (The Go-Gos). Fear are entertaining, but to me they were basically a (deliberate) cartoon of punk rock. On the other hand, you do get to see Black Flag in their prime, just as hardcore is taking over the LA scene.

 

I agree that it's a shame those bands weren't around to be part of the movie. But if they were it would've been a 3 hour movie.

 

I would have welcomed a 3 hour version of Part I with either more bands or more live footage of the bands that were in it already.

 

Saw it at a West Village theater when it came out and one of my favorite memories of it was when they interviewed Bleecker Bob (owner of Bleecker Bob's Records) and everyone in the audience started to boo.

 

OK, now I have to watch it again and FINISH it this time!

 

Music fans in NYC just did not like the guy, even though he had one of the best stores when it came to getting new releases faster than anyone else.

 

Randy O is still around and seems like a nice and self-aware guy from interviews I've read. They know they came off looking kind of silly there. But if you get some young band guys and give them a bunch of beers they're going to talk a bunch of sh!t and say they're planning to be bigger than the Beatles and Zeppelin. Seems normal if you think about it. Odin are just the ones doing it on film for eternity.

 

The first Decline has superior performances but this one is the more entertaining documentary, one where The Toxic Twins, Ozzy, Alice, Lemmy and Mustaine* provide the moral center.

*which spell check wanted to make "mustard stain". Lars, is that you?

 

And then there's London. They are not role models for your life.