“I didn’t get TACO BELL tattooed on my knuckles for nothing!”
– The Decline of Western Civilisation III, 1998
Directed by Penelope Spheeris in 1998, The Decline of Western Civilization III chronicles the punk lifestyle of teenagers living in squats or on the streets in Los Angeles. Shot between July 1996 and August 1997, the film is dedicated to Squid, Stephen Chambers, who was stabbed to death, and “all the gutterpunks that survive”.
We see interviews with “Why-Me?”, “Hamburger”, “Troll”, “Eyeball”, “Squid”, and others, Los Angeles Police Department officer Gary Fredo and a paralysed youth living on disability benefits. We also hear from Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Rick Wilder (The Mau-Mau’s) and Flea (Fear, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and see shows by Final Conflict, Litmus Green, Naked Aggression and The Resistance.
“Because they know my films, they were OK, ” says Spheeris, who directed big budget movies like Wayne’s World and The Beverly Hillbillies. “I relate to them, definitely. I’d walk up to them on the street and go, “My name’s Penelope,” and they were like “So what?” “I did the first Decline.” And they were still like, “Yeah, so?” And I said, “And now I’m doing Decline, Part III,” and that was it. We paid them each $50.”
The film ends by listing the fate of two of the interviewees in “Squid”, who having died on July 19, 1997, from multiple stab wounds along with “Spoon” being in L.A. County Jail awaiting trial for his murder.
The first film in the series, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), dealt with the punk rock scene in the late 1970s. The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers heavy metal music in Los Angeles in 1986–1988, with bands like Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and Kiss.
Bonus: The Chris Holmes Shoot
Here’s Spheeris interviewing Chris Holmes, the lead guitarist for W.A.S.P., for The Decline of Western Civilization Part II. He’s blotto. And the woman behind him is his mother:
Via: Filmmaker,
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