The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writer:

Penelope Spheeris (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | History | Music

Plot:

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag...

Plot Keywords:

Punk | Los Angeles | Band | Nihilism | Swastika

Cast

Alice Bag Band	...	Themselves
Alice Bag	...	Lead Singer, The Alice Bag Band
Claude Bessey	...	Catholic Discipline / Vocalist
Black Flag	...	Themselves
Don Bolles	...	Drummer, The Germs
Exene Cervenka	...	'X' - vocals
Circle Jerks	...	Themselves
Philo Cramer	...	Fear Guitar
Darby Crash	...	Lead Singer, The Germs
John Doe	...	'X' - vocals, bassist
Lorna Doom	...	Bassist, The Germs
Fear	...	Themselves
Frank Gargani	...	Appears as Himself
Bill Gazzarri	...	Himself
The Germs	...	Themselves
Michelle Baer Ghaffari	...	Herself
Greg Ginn	...	Black Flag / Guitarist
Greg Hetson	...	Himself / Circle Jerks Guitarist
Craig Lee	...	Guitarist, The Alice Bag Band
Lucky Lehrer	...	Himself
Jenny Lens
Keith Morris	...	The Circle Jerks member
Nicole Panter	...	Nicole - Germs Manager
Phranc	...	Catholic Discipline / Guitarist
Ron Reyes	...	Black Flag / Vocalist
Roger Rogerson	...	Himself
Rick Schmidlin	...	Appears as himself
Derf Scratch	...	Bass player for Fear
Pat Smear	...	Guitarist, The Germs
Lee Ving	...	'Fear' vocals / guitar
X.	...	Themselves
Billy Zoom	...	Himself

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

Spheeris Films Inc.

Trivia:

According to director Penelope Spheeris this film was financed by two businessmen who originally wanted to finance a porn film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Totally F***ed Up (1993)

Soundtrack:

Gluttony

Brilliant, funny, scary...but selective.

Everyone who's seen "Decline" knows how great it is. My favorite segments are those featuring Black Flag and Fear, because they're the funniest and the most visceral. Still, all the bands that actually STARTED the Los Angeles punk scene, apart from the Germs, are missing from this film. Where are the Weirdos, the Screamers, the Dils, and the Zeros? The Alice Bag Band is here, but they were better when they were simply the Bags. The Germs' segment is depressing. The very brief glimpses of Catholic Discipline were fascinating and make me wish that this band had at least recorded some demos. As a documentary, "Decline" is flawed...but it's indispensable, too. To find out about the bands this film didn't cover, read "We Got the Neutron Bomb" by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen. And to see what was going on in San Francisco right around the same time, get the much shorter(but equally brilliant) documentary "Louder Faster Shorter", directed by Mindaugis Bagdon. This twenty-minute burst of pure punk actually *does* feature the Dils--along with UXA, the Avengers, the Sleepers, and the Mutants.