THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION - Part II: The Metal Years

* For information or to purchase one of the CD Art Clocks pictured in the video (along with many more!), please click on the appropriate link below (or Copy & Paste into web browser): AEROSMITH: 💿 KISS: 💿 MEGADETH: 💿 MOTÖRHEAD: 💿 OZZY OSBOURNE: 💿 VIDEO INFO: Released in 1988, this is the middle and probably best known of a trilogy of films by Penelope Spheeris, who went on to direct the first ‘Wayne’s World’ movie. Each of the three documentaries professed to examine young, white counter culture through the prism of whatever was the most fashionable musical genre in Los Angeles at the time. I haven’t seen the other two films for some time but my memory is of a far grittier examination of urban existence. This seems more fluffy and lightweight in comparison, a combination of promotional live flix for up-and-coming bands, alongside well-worn clichés dispensed by veterans of the same or similar genres, such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Lemmy from Motörhead, Ozzy Osborne (who seems uncharacteristically lucid and sober for the time, despite the attempt at cookery) and Poison. I do like the relaxed approach to the presentation and the absence of a narrative arc, so it feels less contrived or formulaic than for example ’VH1: Behind The Music’. It is not attempting to depict anyone’s journey beyond the immediately contemporary and the production is content to take its time and not edited to within an inch of its life. It hasn’t aged well and it seems to endorse rather than expose some unbearably cringe examples of rampant, adolescent misogyny that are nevertheless expressed mainly by men wearing heels, lipstick and nail polish, sporting elaborate perms or full make-up. Labelling anything ‘Metal,’ such was the range of styles under that umbrella by the mid-late 80s, is as nebulous as terms like ‘Pop’ or ‘Rock,’ although more specific descriptions such as ‘Hair Metal’ or ‘L.A. Hard Rock’ would be no less silly given that the more famous contributors on-screen emanated several thousand miles from LA and the best-known exponents of this genre at the time, such as Mötley Crüe or Guns N’ Roses are conspicuously absent. If it has any value at all now it is as nostalgia for a scene long since passed, or revealing the absurd reaction by some of the ‘authorities’ determined to contain it, using fatuous or hysterical “de-metal“ type rhetoric. © COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: I do not own the original recording or the rights to it. The material was available for public broadcast and not subject to copyright restrictions in its’s country of origin. Furthermore, under United Kingdom copyright law; ‘Fair Dealing’ is an exception which allows for the use of copyrighted works without licensing in certain circumstances. It is governed by Sections 29 and 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which provide three types of situation in which fair dealing is a valid defence: (i) where the use is for the purposes of research or private study, (ii) where it is to allow for criticism or review, and (iii) where it is for the purpose of reporting current events. Sufficient acknowledgement to the original author is also necessary for all works where the fair dealing exception is applied. Under Section 30(3), however, this is not required for reporting via a sound recording, film or broadcast where it would be “impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise“. #Megadeth #Ozzy #Lemmy #AliceCooper #Poison #Aerosmith #Kiss