The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)

Overrated

I'll tell you why so serious

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Kind of hilarious to watch almost 30 years later… I mean who considers Poison a metal band? (answer no: Pop Hair Band is more accurate) I would love for her to do a where are they now version---especially because London, Odin, Seduce went nowhere and Alice Cooper now golfs and is an upstanding member of the community (watching his interviews you can tell his persona is just an act... while Steven Tyler's interview you can guess he's high AF.) The whole thing seemed ridiculously tame (unless the metal scene really was this uneventful) and everyone was just trying too hard to be impressive. I didn't like the staged shots (especially Paul Stanley), it seemed too contrived.

I discovered this film after hearing Megadeth was in it so I tracked down a PAL format VHS to DVD rip of the movie - needless to say, it suffers from the poor quality of the rip but still very enjoyable Anyways, I recently caught it again in hi def on IFC Films and reminded me why I like this so much - so many people who think they can make it by imitating others so much so that no one can tell them apart - great documentary and should be mandatory watching for any band that is up and coming (to keep their heads out of the clouds).One of the things I really enjoyed the most out of this, though, was to look back now and most if not all of the unestablished bands didn't even make anything out of themselves... Really sad, but great to see how things change over time

I loved this. I'm one of these people. I'm not apologizing.Philadelphia (where I grew up) was not the same as LA. But we did have similar clubs and scenes. The only difference was the weather.Tight jeans. Boots. Bullet belt. Studded armbands. Bandannas. Tees with or without sleeves. Leather jackets and/or vests. And if your female? Short dresses and heels.Seeing the interviews was cool, even if they were too short. This whole film should have been longer.And it was good to see a barely known band (Odin) get the attention. Apparently, even the lesser bands got as much fun too.Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P, lounging in his pool, draining vodka while his mother looked on, was one of THOSE scenes. 'Hey ma, you can't stop ME from abusing myself.' I'm proud of these people. But I hope they survived it. It was a great ride.

Features interviews with notables in The Heavy Metal genre, fans, groupies, and aspiring musicians, with performances by Odin, Lizzy Borden {still performing}, London {post- Nikki Sixx}, Seduce {who really did possess some talent there}, and Megadeth {before they mega-died}. Questions range from the plans of the musicians if they are not successful {from what I have seen, most did not - considering their apparent adamance, I wonder how many of them actually became homeless, conformed, became involved in other positions within the music industry, or otherwise died*; among them all. I did recognize Vixen who went on to experience some success with an album}, to the "satanism" angle, which was limited {perhaps thankfully} to 'the devil horns' hand gesture, most comically explained by a Christian probation officer as containing the ubiquitous authority of The Devil with the upthrust fingers, and the three pointing down representing the denial of the Christian trinity, also containing '666' within the bend of the fingers - I honestly do not believe any of the 'rockers' and 'metalheads' even considered that more involved Occult symbology, and just lift it in the air as a habit, but was probably first used by Ronnie James Dio as relating to Heavy Metal. She also had quite a collection of confiscated gauntlets, studded fingerless gloves, spiked bracelets, and collars - no doubt plenty of records and tapes as well. A cleaned-up Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith relate tales of their narcotic excesses, a rehabilitated Ozzy Osbourne has an amusingly pleasant morning chat while preparing breakfast {at one point, he misses a glass almost completely while pouring some orange juice and talking about his own alcoholism and drug use}, Alice Cooper in full makeup on the theatrical set takes umbrage at a certain band for what he feels is unjustified replication, KISS' Gene Simmons offers intelligent and concise commentary on the going-on within the industry, Paul Stanley also offers cohesive commentary amongst a bevy of beauties in bed, Lemmy Kilmeister of Motorhead offers gruff realities overlooking Hollywood, and WASP's {at the time} Chris Holmes drunkenly rambles on about his intoxicated exploits as his poor mother sits poolside, progressively becoming more inebriated with two bottles of Vodka - one can readily perceive his unfortunate mental degeneration.I thought club owner and sharp dresser Bill Gazzarri had quite a remarkably life-loving attitude, offering great opportunities to many bands who may otherwise would have never seen the spotlight, and initiated salacious events such as dance and strip contests for sexy young ladies. His commercials were heavily circulated on 105.5 KNAC at the time, which was the only Heavy Metal radio station in the L.A. area - now there are none. KNAC DJ Tawn Mastrey was also featured herein.Ultimately, I feel 'The Decline of Western Civilization part 2: The Metal Years' was an accurate, though somewhat limited documentary of the 80's Metal subculture, although I personally would have liked to have seen interviews with Venom, King Diamond, Possessed, Bathory, Manowar, and Celtic Frost as well. Perhaps there will eventually be a part 4, focusing on these 'dark bands'? It would be interesting, but whether or not they are actual Satanists would be another matter altogether. This film concentrates largely on Hollywood 'pop-metal' and Glam rock._________* Incidentally, 'The Decline of Western Civilization part 3' features interviews with some of the homeless street dwellers of Hollywood.