I keep myself active.. In the first week we had twenty people look at it, and a year or two later were were getting twenty-five thousand a day. Whats that? Nobody knew. Were doing gigs, we recorded a live album last year, and played some shows in Germany and Switzerland. As Ipsos Mori's Social Research Institute reports: "The assumption of an automatically better future for the next generation is gone in much of the west.". For a lot of fans, the most exciting part of the Decline set is Part III, which documents homeless squatter-punks dealing with violence, addiction, and death. In the late 1990s it was released on CD as well. In retrospect, everybody talks about it real fondly, but at the time bands were fightin like cats and dogs, steppin on one another. Decline III presents these kids sympathetically, and they are just that. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. There was as much going on in the street as there was inside the clubs. Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. BA1 1UA. Then, just as Newlydeads was starting to take off, we got offered a new record deal for Faster. I found guys like Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. So I quit my job and bought a one-way ticket for a hundred and nine dollars from Chicago to LA-X. "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. 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 . 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 Decline of Western Civilization: Directed by Penelope Spheeris. It also exposes the homeless gutterpunks that claim. Spheeris has spent much of the past 20 years directing Hollywood fare such as "Wayne's World," and her professionalism shows in the synaptic firing of sound bites over visuals and the abrasive but seamless juxtaposition of scenes. November 6, 2020. 3. As well as Armored Saint I also have my own band, DC4. Toggle navigation. We did do an Odin reunion in 2003, played a Monsters Of Rock Cruise ship, and a bunch of other gigs, but I dont think wed do that again. I do wish where was a little more about Part III. These are the writers who know the great truth that the first requirement in fighting something is to understand it. Just as punk once appropriated street chic, the street has now appropriated punk. I know a lot of the rest of them have been dead for a long time. After a few weeks the club was packed. The third film, The Decline of Western Civilization III (1998), chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s. A couple of the Brat Pack actor kids were also friends, and that brought in other elements. 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. She was held in L.A. county for awhile but was acquitted for self defense as a domestic abuse survivor. It showed exactly what was going on in our lives. She was held in L.A. county for awhile but was acquitted for self defense as a domestic abuse survivor. Everybody always thinks its a rights issue as to why the films arent out there but it wasnt, Spheeris said. But as prickly as they are, all charged hair, spike-covered leather jackets, and layers of filth worn with a sense of pride, they still find joy and love with their friends, even as they recount horrific home lives, systematic abuse, and fighting white supremacists with the nonchalant resignation of the everyday. ', In the meantime, she busied herself with other projects including We Sold Our Souls for Rock n Roll, a 2001 documentary about Ozzfest and The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron, a 2003 TV movie about the Enron scandal. Here she finds the struggle of street kids and young adults in West Hollywood trying to make it day by day, fighting. 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. The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. 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. Or why not treat yourself? The expression in the title is widely known, but the book that made it famous is little read today. This Article is related to: Toolkit and tagged DVDs, Penelope Spheeris, Shout! The `Decline' of L.A. 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If we told you wed have to kill you, Spheeris joked. When Punk Was Meant to Hurt You: Penelope Spheeris' 'The Decline of Western Civilization'. Civilization" on their Victory medal.3 "Western civilization" would be a good idea, in other words, if we were sure where to find it. He traces it to the denial by William of Ockham in the late Middle Ages of the existence of transcendent ideas. It . International Man: The decline of Western Civilization is on a lot of people's minds. The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers the Los Angeles heavy metal movement of 19861988. 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. 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.'. Axl and Izzy were at our very first show. 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. 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). The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1996) - A film detailing the furious lives and tragic deaths of a group of gutter punks living in L.A. from 96'-97'. The arrival of "The Decline of Western Civilization Collection" as a pristine extras-filled box set from Shout Factory this week is to budding punks what a new "Star Wars" movie is to . I played in bands in Wisconsin, but then I saw a flyer for Tuff, with pictures of them all except for one empty square in the middle, where it said: Wanted Lead Singer/Frontman. We toured with L.A. 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. Each movie got a shiny new 2K upgrade, so they look as good as these movies will ever look. Part III arrives with additional interviews with the kids, some behind-the-scenes footage, and a longer version of the conversation with Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. 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. She hopes it will define her legacy as a filmmaker. Being on stage in Tuff was a licence to kill, as far as getting girls. Now I was intrigued. We already had this thread, lemme see if I can find it and give it to you. Oshkosh, Wisconsin-born Steven Hanseter was a teenage skater who grew up on punk rock, before Mtley Cre provided his Road To Hair Metal Damascus moment and he rechristened himself Stevie Rachelle. Its still active today. Theres also a commentary track from Spheeris, as well as additional commentary from Foo Fighters and Nirvanas Dave Grohl. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city. Bands included are Black Flag, Germs, X, Alice Bag Band, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and Fear. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris looks back as her L.A. rock trilogy readies itself for a box-set reissue. I still talk to him a lot. That was our shit. I now have two children, I still do twenty to thirty shows a year with Tuff, and I play with a band out of Germany called Shameless. guitarist Chris Holmes drunk off his ass in his mothers swimming pool lamenting his life, the scene comes off as more silly and swollen and sad than anything else. After her revelatory look at the punk scene of LA, and her follow-up on "the metal years," Penelope Spheeris took another decade to complete a trilogy of documentary films with The Decline of Western Civilization: Part III, a "social commentary of the true punk aesthetic." Chronicling the gutter punk lifestyle of teenagers and young people . Here are three that help explain what is happening with our culture. 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. Difference #1: Unlike all previous civilizations, modern industrial civilization is . For Spheeris, it's also a testament to how she grew up. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. So then I had an amazing time hangin out with Ronnie and the boys. Performances by four bands were filmed: Final Conflict, Litmus Green, Naked Aggression, and The Resistance. 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. If money comes in the situation it changes everything. In this documentary, filmmaker Penelope Spheeris captures the life of Los Angeles "gutter punks": homeless teenagers who prefer anarchy and chaos to organized society. And then she was similarly inspired for 1998's The Decline of Western Civilization III when she saw packs of kids walking down sidewalks in L.A. "I looked at them and said, 'Jeez, that looks like a whole other punk movement going on,' so I stopped them and said, 'What's up with you? We were just doing the same things and having the same attitude as everybody else did, but we just happened to get put in a movie. The black guy in the wheelchair is somewhere in Nola area. And we faked the spilling of the orange juice. Its like, youre stealing my identity. Home; About; Speakers; SPONSORS; View Recordings; Privacy Policy; what happened to spoon from decline of western civilization 3 1. Jeff Duncan: From what I remember, Penelope Spheeris contacted our manager at the time. 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. Faster Pussycat broke up in 1993, because the whole scene had changed. Nikki Sixxs email address was in there. 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 still play a lot with Spiders And Snakes, but I have a medical condition, Parkinsons, which makes it hard to control your muscles. 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.