The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years

Penelope Spheeris, 1981, 100 min, English dialogue, subtitled, age limit 12 years.

If Penelope Spheeris' The Decline of Western Civilization is an "important" (cautiously and objectively speaking) film in music documentary history, her follow-up The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years from 1988 is absolutely legendary. Nothing less. This journey through Hollywood's hairspray-infested heavy metal scene towards the end of the eighties is simply completely wild! It's almost as if you don't know where to begin, but perhaps with the experience when the film ends that Megadeth's Dave Mustaine - of all people! - stands out as an unexpected voice of reason in a pool of misogyny, machismo and abuse. In short, there is so much you are drawn into here that is so NOT OKAY that you almost feel the need for mental and physical disinfection afterwards.

To be direct: This is a rough film where people with deeply problematic views of women are in full display, and where disgusting statements are delivered left and right. This as a warning. At the same time, it is at times hysterically funny, very absurd (yes, this is where Chris Holmes from WASP lies in a pool float wearing leather while literally drenching himself in vodka and saying the wildest things, while his own mother(!) sits at the poolside with a stone face listening), sad, challenging, enlightening, nostalgic (now forty-ish years later, for many of us) and actually professionally and balanced. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is almost everything. And that is quite a lot.

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