All Rights Reserved. But its Part II on which the series legend is built as well as that of the dying days of the Hollywood scene. Then, in the early nineties, I got this job, via my friend Bruce Kirkland who had a multimedia company called Second Vision. The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film, directed by Penelope Spheeris, that chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. 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. I said Id end up on Skid Row if we didnt make it. The Decline of Western Civilization Parts I + III plus Penelope Spheeris in Person! These are their stories, in their own words. 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. The third film, The Decline of Western Civilization III (1998), chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s. Decline is a documentary directed by Penelope Spheeris (weirdly also the . When Punk Was Meant to Hurt You: Penelope Spheeris' 'The Decline of Western Civilization'. 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. As well as Armored Saint I also have my own band, DC4. For decades, there were only two ways to watch The Decline of Western Civilization: buy a bootleg or download it online. That was our first show together. Weaver, a scholar at Vanderbilt in the early 20th century, gives an eloquent account of the corrosive materialist rationalism that eats away at the core beliefs of Western civilization. We were young and stupid but, no, we didnt always hang out in a hot tub. 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. Its not as if she hadnt tried before. ', 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. '", Spheeris says that she's working on a fourth Decline film with her daughter, Anna Fox. That film, released in 1981 . If they can remember me at all then it would be for the Decline, she said. Key Scene 2: Darby Crash and girlfriend Michelle laugh about finding the dead body of a house painter. This Article is related to: Toolkit and tagged DVDs, Penelope Spheeris, Shout! God instructed Adam to obey his Word . 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. Penelope Spheeris and her boyfriend, Eyeball Penelope Spheeris, creator of The Decline of Western Civilization series, is a veteran Hollywood filmmaker, a "den mother" and most importantly, a cheerleader for punk rock. I love you, Chris.. The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 19871988. She began a relationship with a man she met while filming the movie, signed up to be a foster parent, and eventually fostered five children.[1][2]. I didnt want to do it because I knew it would be painful. The first film, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), dealt with the punk rock scene during 1980-1981. Thats when I became enveloped by the idea of becoming a rock singer. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Blooms tour de force recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Chris Holmes: When Penelope asked me to be in the Decline movie, I went: Why dont you ask Blackie [Lawless, W.A.S.P. All in all, this is a fantastic box set, well worth picking up if youre a devotee of the films and want to really dig into them, or if youre just a fan of left-of-center music documentaries. By K.E. The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers the Los Angeles heavy metal movement of 19861988. She laughs. Jeff Duncan: From what I remember, Penelope Spheeris contacted our manager at the time. I still talk to him a lot. 90-95% of kids from churches have been indoctrinated by the secular education system to doubt and not believe the Word of God beginning in Genesisbut to believe the pagan religion of evolution as fact. Three decades on, the members of W.A.S.P., Faster Pussycat, London and Odin are still making music, still dreaming the dream and still unrepentant, despite having never reaped the rewards that they were utterly convinced would soon be theirs. Check them out. Murray added, "Sometimes, empathy isn't . The films (released in 1981, 1988, and 1998) take a look at a range of . I thought, Well, Im just going to go do something else man, screw it. PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. By Kory Grow. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: the Metal Years is a tragicomic look at the late-80s 'hair metal' scene. Nikki Sixxs email address was in there. Johnny is a music journalist, author and archivist of forty years experience. Featuring interviews with established bands like Poison, as well as acts like Odin, Lizzy Borden, Faster Pussycat, and others struggling to break through and find mainstream success, The Metal Years is a portrait of excess. Everybody always thinks its a rights issue as to why the films arent out there but it wasnt, Spheeris said. Decline III presents these kids sympathetically, and they are just that. It is the third film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at various points in time. Decline Of Civilization Quotes. Super nice guy. What happened in our Western world began 6,000 years ago in a gardena battle between two religions. I do wish where was a little more about Part III. Also The Decline . Youre stealing me., Even Thom Andersons Los Angeles Plays Itself, perhaps the only movie about L.A. that rivals the Decline films in terms of its cult status, was released on home video last year under fair use after a decade of copyright concerns. I cant go on YouTube and find out whats been stolen. 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 1918, Oswald Spengler published . I did a solo album, but I couldnt even get it reviewed. The movie got so much publicity that it couldnt have hurt anybodys careers. IBM had approached the Rolling Stones and said: Well give you guys two million dollars if you let us do the title [Voodoo Lounge CD-ROM]. No one will be interested, studio executives told her. I get dizziness, I get the shakes in my hands. So then I had an amazing time hangin out with Ronnie and the boys. 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. I cant play guitar any more, so now Im the singer. But where are they now? In the bonus features of the DVD, there is the extended story of what happened to the painter. Subscribe to Paper; Sign Up for Emails; Where to Pick Us Up; Submit Stuff; Place a Classified or Legal Notice For all of the hard exteriors and posturing, that protective layer is quick to melt away in front of Spheeris cameras, and youre reminded that these are just fucking kids, battered as they may be. By the time Penelope interviewed us for Decline we were one of the hottest bands on the Strip. A lot of those guys are my friends, theyve either died or have moved on to something similar but better in life. Blackie was always threatenin me to be thrown out or this or that, and on top of it the person was jealous of me bein me. In the Decline movie, that was what I call London 2, with Nadir DPriest as our vocalist. While his band, Tuff, never made it to the very top of the Sunset Strip food chain, Rachelles can-do attitude helped him weather the hard times of the 90s. It's unique among the world's civilizations in putting the individualas opposed to the collectivein a central position. 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. The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film, directed by Penelope Spheeris, that chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. Gone, too, is the unintentional hilarity of 1988's "Decline of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years," in which Spheeris simply pointed her camera at the city's gaggle of ambitious big-hair bands and let them make fools of themselves. Ill get stuck in the hallway because I cant get my legs to move. 1. Check them out. The film is the opening act of a trilogy by Spheeris, depicting music scenes in Los Angeles during the late 20th century. All three are now available in on Blu-ray in a fantastic new package from Shout! 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). For Spheeris, it's also a testament to how she grew up. This is because it includes "replacement theory" as a possible motivation and would apply to anyone who writes or talks . "But it's like, 'That's it, I'm never gonna be doing another box set in my whole life so I've got to get it right.'". That one cost five-hundred thousand. Her experiences on The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II would bear fruit when she went on to direct blockbuster comedy Wayne's World. They just want to escape it, and in "Decline, Part III" some succeed. With Eugene Tatu, Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline. Starting out framed like the previous two films, as an exploration of a particular rock and roll subculture in Los Angeles, essentially checking in with the spiritual descendants of the original Decline of Western Civilization, it quickly eschews the musical trappings, choosing instead to focus on the homeless young kids, the gutterpunks, who dwell on the streets and squats of Southern California. These days, the mythology of that era now revolves largely around Guns N Roses, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper, all of whom feature prominently in the film, but its most memorable moments and unforgettable utterances came from the eras young hopefuls who never quite scaled the heights they dreamed of. She first got the idea for The Decline of Western Civilization . You want to know the truth? With Myke Chambers, Stephen Chambers, Eyeball, Flea. I know. The interview includes many of the same questions . Seven years later Spheers released The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. User Reviews. I cant go on Google and look at myself. 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. Government corruption and . They just want to escape it, and in "Decline, Part III" some succeed. Being a skateboarder, I was into punk and new wave, like 999, The Specials, Devo. 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. Theyre skeptical of the camera, of anything that resembles the society they either ran away or were forcibly ejected from. We found all the complete original interviews, additional live performances, re-edited them, cleaned up the film, added commentaries And thats whats coming out.. We were already oddballs, even within the scene, because I was so seventies-influenced. 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. Both are illegal. All those years later, the films remains a rite of passagerequired viewing materialfor new generations interested in punk rock, including Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, who was such a fan that he got in touch with Fox and volunteered to record the DVD commentary. Lizzie Grey: London became like a launching pad for rock stars. The couple spoon and squid they had got into an argument because dude was cutting another girls hair she got jealous and stabbed squid with the scissors. For a movie about the underground punk scene, the films nearly impossible-to-find status contributed to its cult appeal. Brought up in her fathers 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. 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 . 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. Eyeball is rad and so is Troll. We were the number-three video with I Hate Kissing You Goodbye in September 1991, but right around then Nirvana released Smells Like Teen Spirit. The term is often used, therefore, to suggest a highly developed culture. Like hunting down a rare vinyl record or an out-of-print fanzine, scoring a copy of the 1981 documentary required a rabid degree of dedication in exchange for street cred. In the original "Decline," the talented denizens of L.A.'s punk rock scene -- Black Flag, X, the Germs, the Circle Jerks -- were budding activists and politicized poets too full of spit and fervor to lapse into despair (the exception was the Germs' front man, Darby Crash, whose suicide shortly after the first film wrapped was an anomaly). While it does try to touch on topics like sexism in the scene treatment of women is across the board horrendous the effects of rampant drug and alcohol abuse, and the prospect of not being successful, those are relatively minor asides that barely touch on their struggles. Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer, by William Barrett. Being on stage in Tuff was a licence to kill, as far as getting girls. And in the letter I said: Mom, Im sure youve always wondered in the back of your mind if you brought us kids up right. Then I just wrote: After getting to fifty-five, Ive realised I had the best upbringing of anybody I know. The second Decline movie came about because I saw the punk scene dying, the clubs shutting down and a whole new scene growing. 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. Its still active today. I still play a lot with Spiders And Snakes, but I have a medical condition, Parkinsons, which makes it hard to control your muscles. A couple of years ago I moved out to Las Vegas. So just as we were beginning to make an impact, they came along and we had no chance. Mostly, it means that after all those years, shes finally overcome her pastand restored it to cinematic perfection. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. I went to school with the guys from Alice In Chains. 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. But between their notorious on-screen appearance in a hot tub and the films release, the band had broken up, with guitarist Jeff Duncan going on to join LA metal linchpins Armored Saint, of which hes still a member. Penelope Spheeris was a friend of friends, and we ended up shooting our section at The Cathouse. Home; About; Speakers; SPONSORS; View Recordings; Privacy Policy; what happened to spoon from decline of western civilization 3 "When punk started happening, I said, 'OK, this is it for me.' There were certain things we had to manipulate. 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. After a few weeks the club was packed. Every day the staff of Intellectual Takeout come to work eager to do their part to restore and improve our great nation. But not everybody's rock . The director . Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Im lucky, my dad and mom are still goin. I was more interested in spending time in the gym; more a jock than a rocker. Im sure that movie did enhance our career. 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. 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. She means it, man, and the saddest part is that she's probably right. It was good to make a change. 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. BA1 1UA. 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. Now I was intrigued. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Taime Downe: When Faster Pussycat started, Mtley and Ratt had already taken off, and newer bands like Poison were playing the Strip. Guitarist Lizzie Grey (born Stephen Perry) was the bands linchpin, while Nadir DPriest, aka Nadir Munoz, was their frontman during the Decline period. I remember driving down Sunset Strip in my car, seeing all these strangely dressed people spilling out on to the sidewalk. Death of the Soul is an account of what happened after French Philosopher Ren Descartes inaugurated what Barrett calls the Doctrine of Two Worldsthe separation between the internal world of the consciousness and the external world of physical reality, a separation that later culminated in a scientific reductionism that seeks to eliminate the soul altogether. The documentary earned Spheeris the opportunity to direct This is Spinal Tap, which she turned down because she didn't want to mock her beloved heavy metal.She chose to make Decline II: The . You want hard core? Featuring chaotic live performances by legendary West Coast groups cut throughout with intimate interviews, its a snapshot of a specific moment, a specific social and cultural group, and a specific time, warts and all. 8011 34th Ave S.Ste C-11Bloomington, MN 55425. 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. The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. "I had to grow my hair out." Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. And then the grunge thing happened. Barrett was one of the great writers of . I remember a show in Ohio, we played for free and two people came. The mother-daughter duo are now working together on a fourth Decline film, which Spheeris said is still about punk, but also involves another kind of music. The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass . by Leor Galil June 26, 2015. The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom. I said, 'I am Penelope.' Well shortly be recording tracks for the next London album.. But never say never.. For decades, there were only two ways to watch "The Decline of Western Civilization": buy a bootleg or download it online. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Difference #1: Unlike all previous civilizations, modern industrial civilization is . The second consideration depicts its slow decline with the internal problems like slow economic growth, unemployment, stagnant population, government shortfall, deteriorating work ethic, crime, and . "Let me just say I think it's gonna be kind of jaw-dropping.". I actually met that one asian dude "Troll" about a year ago..me and my friend were looking for a ghetto ass backyard show in L.A because they posted the wrong directions on facebook..the troll dude came up to my car and asked if we knew where the show was at but we didn't at the time..about 10min later we found out where it was and started driving. 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. If I was still drinkin Id be dead now. A website? Nadir DPriest: In the mid-eighties a lot of other bands saw us as a threat because we had such great ideas. 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. "If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would . At best, they think theyll be exactly where they are now: homeless, broke, spanging for money to buy beer, waiting to die. 3. Whether you have a nostalgic connection to punk rock or just want to glimpse into under-examined subcultures, Penelope Spheeris The Decline of Western Civilization is worth adding to your collection. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. "Making this was totally psychologically unnerving because I had to watch my whole life flash in front of me," she says. Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Donate. We had several. Or why not treat yourself? For a movie about the underground punk scene, the . All rights reserved. Why Are So Many Young People Dying Suddenly? I keep myself active.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvEa_IFt9yg. 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]. I dont know what I was thinkin. All Rights reserved. It showed exactly what was going on in our lives. The Asbury Revival, Emotionalism, and Group Psychology, 3 Books That Explain the Decline of Western Civilization, American Girl and the Historical Nostalgia Trap, Attentiveness as Service: The Virtue of Noticing, Not Your Schools Reading List 8: Adventures, Spies, and More for Young Boys. August 19, 2020. The film's title is possibly a reference to music critic Lester Bangs' 1970 two-part review of . Penelope Spheeris: My family background was chaotic, so when I saw the punk thing happening in clubs I felt very at home with it. Beginning on June 30, all three DVDs will be available in a box set from Shout! The Decline of Western Civilization Part III: In the third of the Decline films, director Penelope Spheeris revisits the punk scene she illuminated in her first Decline film. Axl and Izzy were at our very first show. Wed had a ten-year run, but by 1995 we were playing to forty people some nights. Shout! Yellowstone: The Hidden Propaganda in Television and Movies, How to Cultivate a Marriage That Will Help Your Child Succeed. We track down the stars of classic car crash metal documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt 2: The Metal Years. A projected 45 \% increase in global population will be an accelerant in the negative turn for western civilization. Toggle navigation. 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. She was lookin for bands that were staples on the LA music scene, and Odin certainly was that. I made this video to explore what happened to the bands that feature prominently in the cult film The Decline of Western Civilisation Part ll: The Metal Year. It got your face out there and you got to be seen. The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film that follows the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. In 1998, the last in the series, "The Decline Of Western Civilization Part III", hit select theaters but was never released in any home video format. "It was pretty organic," she says. This summer were going to ride our motorbikes down to Florida together.. Crash died from a heroin-induced suicide shortly before the film was released (the poster was designed before his death). youtu.be comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She means it, man, and the saddest part is that she's . But three decades later, Duke TV has shot a sequel pool interview (conducted by Holmes's wife, Sarah) with the now-sober, 58-year-old musician. These are the writers who know the great truth that the first requirement in fighting something is to understand it. 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. This is hard core. 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. November 6, 2020. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Maher said part of the problem of losing civilization is you fail to make judgments. In the UK alone, he has written for Smash Hits, Q, Mojo, The Sunday Times, Radio Times, Classic Rock, HiFi News and more. Within a couple of days I auditioned, and got the job. Just talking about it makes Spheeris turn existential, as if she were describing an abandoned child or an old lover. "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. Civilization (from the Latin civis=citizen and civitas=city) is a term applied to any society which has developed a writing system, government, production of surplus food, division of labor, and urbanization.The term is difficult to define because not all 'civilizations' include every one of the above facets. 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. And thats the part also that really upset me.. This was your primer, your roadmap to being an outsider. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris looks back as her L.A. rock trilogy readies itself for a box-set reissue. That was just one situation. I didnt think grunge would kill our shit, but it did pretty much. 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. 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? "They said, 'No, Penelope has to do that.' You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Ancient Greece. But now were back again.
what happened to spoon from decline of western civilization 3