The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
Essential Documentaries
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1h 33m
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 93 mins | 1988
The scummy, lightening-in-a-bottle Los Angeles punk scene that Penelope Spheeris captured in the first “Decline of Western Civilization” (1981) had morphed considerably by the time of this second instalment, nearly a decade later: the hair was bigger, the pants, tighter, and the sound, more ornate. Divided between footage of heavy metal hopefuls and their idols, including Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Lemmy, and Kiss, “Decline: Part II” is a bracing chronicle of the era’s legendary decadence.
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