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

I'm giving this a "7" rating because "The Metal Years" film is an interesting one. Interesting, in that almost all the bands showcased are so bad, and the "musicians" so horrid, that you can't take your eyes off them.You get a bunch of big guns, like Ozzy, Alice, Kiss, Poison, Lemmy and a few more. But mostly the movie is made of lesser metal heads, and it's not a pretty sight. It's like a Saturday Night Live skit that is 90 minutes long, all making fun of rock and roll, trying to make rock look as silly and ridiculous as possible. Only thing is, this film is dead serious."The Delusional Years" would have been a decent title for this movie, when it comes to the unsigned bands they speak to - ALL of them are sure they are going to be rich, wealthy, legendary rock and rollers. It's downright sad (almost), as in one incredible sequence, where the narrator asks a bunch of musicians what will happen to them if they don't "make it." All of them pretty much say they will make it. Now, positivity is a good attitude, but there were so many cookie-cutter hair metal bands back then, how can they all seriously think this.One band, Odin, is especially pathetic. Odin is one of the absolute worst bands you will ever hear, or see. The singer defines "unlistenable." But there they are, in a hot tub with sluts, all sure they will make it. One of them admits to almost killing himself at times, dampening the festive chicks-in-hot-tub mood. Odin what you see in this movie, is exactly what you'd see today if comics made fun of the era. They are BAD.But not to single them out, so are a bunch of the others. Truthfully though, you really don't get a sense of the inside of rock with this movie. It's kind of cookie-cutter, just like the bands - a typical documentary that really could have been about many genres of music.The saddest part of course is the Chris Holmes sequence, with him drunk in a swimming pool while his mom watches. The saddest thing here really isn't Chris - it's his mom, for just sitting there like a rock while her son drinks himself to death on a raft in a pool. Good going, mom.If you want to laugh for 90 minutes and think to yourself that some people out there actually took this (for the most part) horrible music seriously, this is the movie for you.

Penelope Spheeris blows the framework off Hollywood with this in-depth look at the cost of Rock and Roll in this perfect companion to the original Decline. The topic is metal and right from the moment go the movie starts addressing what is metal, why these people like it, and what it does exactly. Lizzey Bordin opens the film quite splendidly with a roaring version of the often copied "born to be wild". This is about one million times better then the original i might say. The singer laments on how full of bands the L.A. scene is and how hard it is to make it, a point/counterpoint exchange begins with bands like the moderately popular LB, to the slightly more popular Faster Pussycat, to well established rockers like Aerosmith and Megadeth. Im in a rock band and anyone who's in one or thinking about it should see and study this film, even if your not a rocker its an amazing time capsule. The interviews are mostly done on a small stage with a table and a single hanging light-bulb. The other half of interviews comes anywhere from couches to beds strewn with scantily clad woman, and yes this is a documentary so its all real as were reminded by Paul Stanley of Kiss. There's a colorful group of characters in this film from struttin stars like Faster Pussycat to the the more stripped down Megadeth the movie shows either end of the rock image of the late eighties. What should really be done is a "where are they now" with all the kids featured in this movie. I grew up in the nineties so grunge was more of the fashion mold, and it didn't change my style to much, but some of these kids are just unreal. Most interviewed don't have jobs (at least thats what they say) and they live off rock babes. Their dreams, and passion to be involved in the game are unmatched by todays standards. I love the clip of the kid with all the make-up and hair saying "my mom thinks this is just a phase" wow, like to see if he's still poofin up his hair and putting on lipstick before he hits the clubs. This movie is a terribly interesting depth into what being in a full time band and trying to make it was like at a time before the internet, before cellphones, this was a time when even video was scarce, you were putting up flyer's and hustling every hoochie mama you could swindle to get by. Its real its raw, its metal, and if you haven't seen the original Decline, you should its equally if not more mind blowin. So iron your Mohawk and bust out moms makeup its time to rock...80's style. Ten thumbs up, utterly amazing.

My memories of the incredible shortsightedness of so many people I knew in the time period that's portrayed in this great film, are confirmed again. And today is just another form of mindlessness. At least back then the pop/metal music that was in the mainstream had a melody, even if the singer sucked! I've been playing music since just before this time period, and it includes HARD-METAL music, but I'm often fond of a more melodic/operatic style in my metal. In any case, I never made it big time - who cares? Most people on this planet who perform will never make the, "IT'S A REALLY REALLY BIG SHEWWW'! The people who need to hear you, see you, and be hit on that nerve that makes them believe that you can make them LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY, are few and far between. And even if you do perform in front of some promoter who can get you that lovely EXPOSURE and PROMOTION that your band will need to make it, you're in competition with countless other music making groups. And don't be so naive as to think that deals are not occasionally, or even frequently made in the backseats of limousines, or other potentially shady and unprincipled locations. My cousin lived and played in the LA scene from '79 to '82 and I've heard details about some of what goes on playing in the clubs, talking to managers, promoters, etc. Las Vegas doesn't have a monopoly on sleazy, pitiful, wretched, and even vile behavior in the business world. This movie shows some real dreamers. And I don't see them as losers, necessarily, because that implies some guarantee that was not lived up to. Yes, most of the people who make the big time scene have to really want it and strive hard. But, there's a lot of people in this world who also want to make it big. This movie doesn't adequately touch the well-known subject of "who's related to who", but that might not have been possible in the very "SELF-DEFENSIVE WORLD OF MASS ENTERTAINMENT". Money talks, and those with it, love to keep it as close as possible to themselves. Most of the BEST MUSICIANS/ARTISTS in the world will please and entertain those around them, family, neighborhood, community, city, etc. Who says they need to go further than that. I'm glad the movie showed the incredible stupidity of drugs, at least in a limited way. But obviously, many of the lines by the striving to be and the successful musicians interviewed in this movie, were pure BS. "I don't do drugs." --yeah, right.... Some of them may not do that, but most of the musicians in the movie were influenced by,,, hummm.... This is a great documentary on a part of the mainstream metal scene from back then. Other reviewers here say that it was too limited in focus. I've worked in film production and scripting and funding. I'd like to hear these critics suggestions on what more could have been added. To put together a revealing portrayal of one particular subsection of our society is very difficult. I think that Penelope Spheeris did a good job. These days,in spite of all of the big time music world's weaknesses, ROCK IS NOT DEAD! I still rock out and entertain my city. I still dream also, but I've got dishes to clean.

I'll admit right off the bat that I didn't respond as strongly to the Decline of Western Civilization 2: the Metal Years as I did to Penelope Spheeris's first film and documentary, even as I know I did like this film. The former was a kind of fly-on-the-wall (as I recall, not as many direct interviews, more concert footage) look at this way of rock and roll life- of LA punks- that Spheeris knew intrinsically. In the Metal Years, she here isn't as much a fly on the wall in the sense of just getting the pure feeling of these people as she is getting answers to questions by a mix of highly popular and working-the-bottom bunch of Metal rockers.It of course can't cover everything in such an amount of time, and one might be slightly disappointed to see Britain's metal scene is sort of overlooked in the course of the film (not that it isn't represented in interviews with Ozzy and Lemmy, but Maiden and Priest fans, among others, may wonder wtf). But if there is any single strength to this seemingly longer-than-90 minute film, with the interviews strung together in a interesting fashion alongside the concert footage, it's that this particular scene of American metal- particularly LA metal's scene- is captured very well.And in this capturing of this time and place and the people all abound in it, it's of course of note to mention that everything the musicians say is not 100% reliable, and here and there it definitely has the feeling of bulls***ing with Spheeris's questions (however clever and funny). But there are enough true moments to really get the sense of these people at the time, that there is maybe at least some depth to the members of Poison (with really one good song in my opinion), or that Ozzy does have a very clear and honest view of what's gone on with him and the scene, or what rock means or drugs mean or sex.If there isn't always a focus in the line of questioning, or if there doesn't seem to be much of a structure to the film, maybe it's part of the point. Here we have a mix of rockers either trying to make it (Odin, who I think made it bigger since, are featured prominently, as well as London), or have made it (Aerosmith, Kiss, Megadeth and Alice Cooper among a couple others), and be it that a scene or two is staged or set up at a location for a desired effect, there aren't many punches pulled with the answers to the fairly straightforward questions. And some of them, when not all about "rock and roll is my life" does show the dark side quite accurately, especially considering the time period. One interview with the drunk in the pool gives the most to try and shake off, even as the manipulation of the filmmaker kind of kicks in with having his mother right there watching him in his over-drunk state.But, it is at the end of the day an entertaining documentary, if only as being a fan of the sub-fold of music myself. Some of the concert footage is less than great, even as London and of course Megadeth give quality performances. There was, like with other good documentaries, enough talk coming out of people to really chew on, and it shows Spheeris in a sort of different direction than in the other look at life in underground rock and roll. It's not great, but for the fans of the bands &/or those interviewed, it is near essential viewing, and also with an anthropological side to it through the stories and Q&A's that work for those not as into the music.