| The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years | |
| Director: | Penelope Spheeris |
| Producer: | Jonathan Dayton Valerie Faris Guy J. Louthan |
| Cinematography: | Jeff Zimmerman |
| Editing: | Earl Ghaffari |
| Distributor: | Shout! Factory |
| Runtime: | 93 min. |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $500,000 |
| Gross: | $373,743 |
| Italic Title: | force |
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is a 1988 documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris. Filmed between August 1987 and February 1988, the film chronicles the late 80s Los Angeles heavy metal scene. It is the second film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at various points in time as seen through the eyes of struggling up-and-coming musicians. The first film, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), dealt with the hardcore punk rock scene during 1979–1980. The third film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998), would later chronicle the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s.
The film features a mix of live concert footage and interviews with established heavy metal performers such as Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, and W.A.S.P. Several unsigned club bands are also prominently featured, such as Odin, Seduce, and London.
The film chronicles the heavy metal club scene in Los Angeles during the 1987-88 time period, with an emphasis placed on the glam metal subgenre.[1] While many established artists such as Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Mustaine, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are featured in interviews, members of several unsigned L.A. club bands are also given a share of the spotlight, including London and Odin, and Detroit's Seduce. The film also features interviews with members of Poison, Tuff, Vixen, Faster Pussycat, and W.A.S.P. Many of the struggling, unsigned acts appear convinced that worldwide stardom awaits them, and most appear to have no backup plan in place should this success fail to happen.
The film includes several interview segments with Darlyne Pettinicchio, an Orange County probation officer, discussing the dangers of metal culture on children, especially in taking heavy metal lyrics seriously and literally.
The film is well known for its many scenes featuring rock star excess. The scenes include:
It has been claimed, most notably in the VH1 documentary series , that this film was partially responsible for the death of glam metal, and the subsequent rise of thrash metal and grunge during the next decade. The suggestion in the documentary is that fans, disgusted by the scenes of excess, decided to turn elsewhere. A similar claim was made by Dave Mustaine in his autobiography and in the book Hell Bent for Leather by British author Seb Hunter.
In a 1999 interview for The A.V. Club, Spheeris admitted that the scene with Ozzy Osbourne spilling orange juice was faked, and the kitchen was not Osbourne's.[2] A more complete version of the interview, in which Osbourne does not spill juice, is included as a bonus feature on the DVD. The 2015 box set release of the three Decline films includes a commentary track for Part II that states that some of the scenes involving Osbourne and Holmes were faked.[3]
The soundtrack was released on Capitol Records/I.R.S. Records. However, the soundtrack does not attempt to feature all the performances that were in the movie.
| The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | various artists |
| Cover: | Decline of western.jpg |
| Released: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Heavy metal, thrash metal |
| Label: | Capitol/I.R.S. |
| Producer: | Various |