Barrett was one of the great writers of philosophy and ideas for the intelligent layman. It ought to be. Its still active today. Western societies will respond with restrictions and even bans on immigration; multi-billion dollar walls and border-patrolling drones and troops; heightened security on who and what gets in; and . Vote for your favorites >> 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 was almost like I was on my deathbed and I was watching my life flash before me, she said of watching the old footage. Musicians interviewed include Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) and Flea (Fear, Red Hot Chili Peppers). A couple of years ago I moved out to Las Vegas. A punk named Stevie dies in a fire at a building where he's squatting; another, Squid, is killed, allegedly by his girlfriend, Spoon. Sure, the film gave London a huge push. 1999-2021 PopMatters Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Last night I saw The Decline of Western Civilization at Cornell Cinema (everybody, go support your campus movie theater). This has caused an intellectual crisis, and some Muslims saw new ideas from the West as a direct threat to Islamic identity. 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]. The Germs' performance was replicated in the 2007 Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret. The film was ostensibly a followup to her first documentary, 1981's The Decline of Western Civilization, which focused on an earlier Los Angeles scene, the punk of the late 70s and early 80s. 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. 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). But it caused all kinds of problems. 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. All Rights reserved. the decline of western civilization collection. But where are they now? Grunge absolutely ended it for London. Nadir DPriest: In the mid-eighties a lot of other bands saw us as a threat because we had such great ideas. We were filmed in a hot tub. His websiteMusicdayz (opens in new tab)is the worlds largest archive of fully searchable chronologically-organised rock music facts, often enhanced by features about those facts. at the Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Just talking about it makes Spheeris turn existential, as if she were describing an abandoned child or an old lover. Civilization" on their Victory medal.3 "Western civilization" would be a good idea, in other words, if we were sure where to find it. "Making this was totally psychologically unnerving because I had to watch my whole life flash in front of me," she says. Im not cryin about it, though, because the bottom line is I can still get on the stage, and when that first chord hits, man, Im alive again.. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Thats when I became enveloped by the idea of becoming a rock singer. The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) Penelope Spheeris and The Strain: Season 2 Has More Monsters, More Metaphors, Dougie Poole Spins the Wheel of Rules and Lands on Transcendence, Formerly Banned French Crime Film A Woman Kills Slips Out of the Shadowy Margins, A Juggernaut of Jokes: An Oral History of Silkworms Italian Platinum, Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Politics of Genre, PopMatters Seeks Film Critics and Essayists, PopMatters Seeks Television Critics and Essayists. he was a pretty cool dude hes doing the same exact shit he was doing back in the day but has a job. Western civilization refers to the art, literature, culture, and enduring ideas that emerged from the eastern Mediterranean basin in the centuries before the common era, that developed in myriad forms through the Middle Ages, and that ultimately took modern shape after the Renaissance. My vice was women. You end up wanting to scream. 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. God instructed Adam to obey his Word . Germs singer Darby Crash appears on the soundtrack album cover. Doug Casey: Western Civilization has its origins in ancient Greece. 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. But for now, the filmmaker is still reveling in the films she has made and how well they hold up now. This is a carousel. There were certain things we had to manipulate. youtu.be comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment Another possibility is that the title refers to Darby Crash's reading of Oswald Spengler's Der Untergang des Abendlandes (The Decline of the West). Penelope Spheeris' biggest commercial hit, Wayne's World (1992), gave the world some of the greatest slang and style choices ever committed to celluloid.But long before directing the cult comedy, she pioneered the art of the music documentary with her groundbreaking trilogy The Decline of Western Civilization.. The `Decline' of L.A. Street Punks / Kids in `Part III' lack euphoria of earlier scene, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, My meal at this landmark SF spot was too expensive to be so bad, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, 'Really cool sight': Rare waterspout forms in Northern California, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, Man shot dead near San Francisco Ferry Building, A different horse': Bay Area will likely continue to see rain, 'Life threatening': Tahoe braces for massive blizzard, 'Lady in the fridge' murder victim ID'd as Bay Area mother of 3, Snow shuts down over 70 miles of I-80 in Northern California, These East Bay gems are a haven for music lovers, Freezing temps into the 20s may soon hit parts of Bay Area, You can still overpack the smaller Monos check-in suitcase. Beginning on June 30, all three DVDs will be available in a box set from Shout! Fox, too, is working on a documentary inspired by painful family historySpheeris dad, a carnie, was murdered while protecting a black man in the Southbut the racially-charged subject matter might be more relevant than ever. Whether you have a nostalgic connection to the subjects, or just want to glimpse into a couple of under-examined subcultures, this is a set well worth adding to your collection. It was good to make a change. mainman]? She goes: Well, he wants money. Both are illegal. Shout! I havent been drinkin since 1996. At the insistence of her daughter, Anna Fox, who has stayed in touch with many of the subjects in her mothers films, Spheeris undertook an intensive two-year process of digging up and editing archival footage, restoring the movies and shopping for a distributor. She hopes it will define her legacy as a filmmaker. 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. It's unique among the world's civilizations in putting the individualas opposed to the collectivein a central position. Home > > The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film, directed by Penelope Spheeris, that chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. The worst part about it was that they were making really bad copies, that my work looked like shit. But now were back again. The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998). 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. 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. In this documentary, filmmaker Penelope Spheeris captures the life of Los Angeles "gutter punks": homeless teenagers who prefer anarchy and chaos to organized society. The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Freedom of Expression Award. There are extended interviews with some of the players, panels on the chapters in the trilogy, and various other features that explore the cultural impact of the Decline saga. This article about a music-related documentary film is a stub. 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. Most classicists believe that a combination of factors including Christianity, decadence, the metal lead in the water supply, monetary trouble, and military problems caused the Fall of Rome. For a movie about the underground punk scene, the films nearly impossible-to-find status contributed to its cult appeal. Being on stage in Tuff was a licence to kill, as far as getting girls. The pinnacle for Tuff was getting on to the MTV Countdown. With Myke Chambers, Stephen Chambers, Eyeball, Flea. That shows you what studio executives know, Spheeris said. The Metal Years, and Decline of Western Civilization Part III, a soul-crushing documentation of the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the 90s. But we need these kind of books now more than ever. The subjects just want to rock out and get wild, and an overall frat party vibe fuels the movie. You know that feeling you get in your stomach thats like this fluttery kind of fear? she told Indiewire recently, describing the sensation that would wash over her when shed stumble across a bootleg copy of The Decline of Western Civilization, including the 1988 and 1998 sequels of the same name. Home; About; Speakers; SPONSORS; View Recordings; Privacy Policy; what happened to spoon from decline of western civilization 3 I found guys like Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. Let's talk about this trend. Taime Downe: When Faster Pussycat started, Mtley and Ratt had already taken off, and newer bands like Poison were playing the Strip. "It was pretty organic," she says. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. Performances by four bands were filmed: Final Conflict, Litmus Green, Naked Aggression, and The Resistance. We track down the stars of classic car crash metal documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt 2: The Metal Years. Eyeball is rad and so is Troll. And then the grunge thing happened. Youre stealing my soul. But I noticed that Metal Edge was listing contact details for artists by email. Were doing gigs, we recorded a live album last year, and played some shows in Germany and Switzerland. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris.In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city.. The original Decline contains rare footage of the Germs live and Black Flag at their squat, the second finds Ozzy Osbourne making breakfast and Aerosmith living soberly and the third focuses on smaller bands of homeless punks who somehow manage to meet up for practice. Elektra kept us on the road. And still, others question the assumption behind the question and maintain that the . We participated in all of that stuff that was going on. Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. She means it, man, and the saddest part is that she's probably right. Early in Penelope Spheeris' 1981 documentary on the Los Angeles punk scene, she asks Eugene, a 14-year-old skinhead who talks like a Valley kid, what he likes about punk. Like, we had a seven-foot-high drum riser with a girl dancing underneath it. It was heartbreaking, really, she said. With the box set slated to come out on June 30th, the director selected 10 clips from all three Decline of Western Civilization films and explained what they meant to her in the pages that follow. I cant play guitar any more, so now Im the singer. Documentary filmmaker Penelope Spheeris spoke to Goldmine magazine about the the infamous scene in her "The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years" movie in which then-W.A.S.P . IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. We stopped London/DPriest in 1992 after our manager deserted us. The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film that follows the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. "I'm not saying that as a selling point because that's not why we did it. The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999. So just as we were beginning to make an impact, they came along and we had no chance. The first film, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), dealt with the punk rock scene during 1980-1981. 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. Whats that? Nobody knew. China lost the conflict, and the West imposed sanctions that permanently weakened Qing rule. The record companies dropped all of our shit; crazy hair and make-up kind of went away. Lizzie Grey: London became like a launching pad for rock stars. I see Troll at stuff all the time and would consider him a friend of mine. As much as you can see their affection for Spheeris, theres always a distance; she is always the other. Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer, by William Barrett. Roberts / November 7, 2016. Cause alot of people here had the answers to your questions. I said Id end up on Skid Row if we didnt make it. It is the third film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at various points in time. Featuring a notorious moment with W.A.S.P. Difference #1: Unlike all previous civilizations, modern industrial civilization is . The movie got so much publicity that it couldnt have hurt anybodys careers. She put us in the movie and it absolutely put us on the map. The third film, The Decline of Western Civilization III (1998), chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s. The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom. The point here is why Muslim societies have always been skeptical . They were looking for a David Lee Roth, Vince Neil type, which I was. 5. The Decline of Western Civilization includes never-before-seen footage, new interviews, and even performances that didnt make the original cut. After years of what she describes as paralyzing anxiety surrounding the films she considers her lifes most important work, Spheeris finally did something about that queasy feeling in her gut. She was lookin for bands that were staples on the LA music scene, and Odin certainly was that. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In addition to the movie specific extras, there is another disc of additional goodies to paw through, including material from all three films. The 11 most pivotal periods in western history. Global intensive and extensive human economic activity in the context of accelerating debt are identified as major causal factors precipitating decline. Spheeris resolved to ignore it. 'OK, cool, let's go get some beer. Yellowstone: The Hidden Propaganda in Television and Movies, How to Cultivate a Marriage That Will Help Your Child Succeed. Im sure that movie did enhance our career. No one will be interested, studio executives told her. Penelope Spheeris was a friend of friends, and we ended up shooting our section at The Cathouse. Why Are So Many Young People Dying Suddenly? Bloom doesnt only critique, but recasts the vision of what it is we have lost. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. After a few weeks the club was packed. The promotional poster for The Decline (and the record cover of the soundtrack album) featured a close-up frame of Germs singer Darby Crash supine on stage with his eyes closed. I just knew I had to make another film, about these people. Western civilisation is a similarly slippery concept. Like many of the bands featured in The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II, Odin were already legends in their own minds by the time the film crew arrived. The director . One of the firsts things that came up was this site, www.art-for . By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. It took shape in medieval Europe, with its Christian religion, feudal society . I was never happy in W.A.S.P. I was starting to hear about this stuff called the internet. Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! "I have to keep the subject matter top secret because otherwise I'm vulnerable to other people trying to do something similar," she says, adding that it will be music-themed. Within a couple of days I auditioned, and got the job. But what people remember is that our singer [Randy O] said hed kill himself if he didnt get as big as Led Zeppelin, but that was the mind-set of the time: Im gonna do this no matter what. And we were very young. 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. "I was always going out the clubs and seeing the punk bands," she says of how the first 1981 doc came about. So I came up with this idea for a website called Metal Sludge, where we would make fun of the eighties, a very affectionate piss-take. Its not the taste that turns me off, its what it does to you. Now, when I see people in young bands I tell them not to trust each other. There were two follow ups: 1988s The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years and 1998s The Decline of Western Civilization Part III. Many of the film . And if the books themselves seem daunting, there are always great reviews of great books, which serve to give a sense of the authors point. Theres also a commentary track from Spheeris, as well as additional commentary from Foo Fighters and Nirvanas Dave Grohl. That was difficult, because Nadir was hungry to have one of those heavy metal record deals, but chasing deals by trying to prove how metal you are wasnt where I wanted to be at. The Decline DVD box set wont stop the countless black market VHS tapes floating around online, but for Spheeris, its a form of justice against her bootleggers. I found the clip! And I'm like ah fuck, 'I can't do it man.'" The black guy in the wheelchair is somewhere in Nola area. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris looks back as her L.A. rock trilogy readies itself for a box-set reissue. She said: Only if you do the Decline box set first. She hung around the LA music scene, she was very familiar with the clubs and the people, and so she knew there was an audience, a huge appetite, out there for those films. Eyeball is rad and so is Troll. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. That went on into the nineties, when suddenly along came the guys from Seattle. , so now Im the singer great writers of philosophy and ideas for the intelligent layman 1998 ) why... Of accelerating debt are identified as major causal factors precipitating Decline Jerks ) and Flea Fear... Has caused an intellectual crisis, and the West great ideas many people, especially the... Reveling in the wheelchair is somewhere in Nola area out to Las Vegas talking about it makes Spheeris existential... I noticed that Metal Edge was listing contact details for artists by email licence to,. Made and how well they hold up now make another film, the Decline box set from Shout even that. 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