Customer Reviews

The Decline of Western Civilization

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Given how much screen time is spent on Sunset Strip hair metal bands in Penelope Spheeris's lamentably out of print Decline of Western Civilization Part 2 - the Metal Years, I'm surprised at most of the bands that are included on the film's soundtrack. From what I recall, only Faster Pussycat, Seduce, and Lizzy Borden were actually featured in the movie.

It may not be terribly representative of the bands featured in the film, but the soundtrack is a pretty accurate snapshot of heavy metal in the second half of the 1980's. You get your L.A. hair metal from Seduce and Faster Pussycat, Seattle power metal from Queensryche and Metal Church, the Metal Blade power metal sound from Armored Saint and Lizzy Borden, the old school metal sound from Motorhead and Alice Cooper (featuring none other than Slash and Axl from Guns n' Roses), and Megadeth and Rigor Mortis represent the emerging thrash metal scene.

Some of the songs stand out more than others, and some are available elsewhere, but as a whole this soundtrack is a very effective reminder of what it felt like to be a metalhead in the late 80's. I give it a big thumbs-up and recommend it to any 80's metal fan as well as anyone who enjoyed the film (and not just in a "let's laugh at the hair metal losers" kind of way).

Dusted off the old vinyl one day and said, "I'm getting this on CD". Finally did. Began the search and found that the disc is out of print (Slash Records). Found a CD used in mint condition but was glad I saved the Vinyl! Not much more to say about this product. If you were a person of this generation and were into this music of the day, then you probably saw this at your local independent film theater! Film directed by Penelope Spheeris, "TV series "ROSEANNE",and director and co-writer of such films as, (Waynes World, Beverly Hillbillies, Little Rascals, Black Sheep) performances and interviews include Black Flag, The Germs, X and so on! Obnoxious, energetic, what fun!

When I got this, The Decline of Western Civilization; I quicky added it to my iTunes playlist and Synced my iPod, sat down and enjoyed the old classick L.A. Punk Scene... as if I we're really there but not really though. The CD is AWESOME it has some of the best band like: Black Flag, X, The Germs, Cirlcle Jerks, even Alice Bag Band and many others that were in the movie, but the only thing I disliked was that some of the bands songs we'ren't in it, like the germs song "Shut Down" and Alice Bag's: "The Pralers of the night" but I still live because of it ;) but like I said, it's like reliving the Los Angeles punk scene over again. (HIGHLY RECOMMENED FOR ANY PUNK ROCK LP CD Collector!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

On the original soundtrack (I had the cassette years ago) there was a cover of Anarchy in the UK originally done by the Sex Pistols, redone here by Megadeth. Track was decent - I guess you have to find an original printing to get that track. There was also a tune by Accept - dont remember which.

I only bought this because the 80's cover band I'm in is doing "Born To Be Wild" and I needed the Lizzy Borden version. I hate the original Steppenwolf version. I have not listened to any other songs on this release...I have seen the movie though.

"The Decline of Western Civilization Part II" was less a decent documentary than proof that Penelope Spheeris should leave "metal" alone and stick to punk. I fail to understand where "The Metal Years" tag comes into play when the majority of screen-time is wasted with members of the L.A. glam rock scene (sweet irony considering most of them are washed-up musically, yet a lot of the heavier bands on the soundtrack who received no screen time are still trundling along musically). All of the heavier/metal acts who actually were in the film such as Lizzy Borden, Seduce, Odin, and W.A.S.P. still had aesthetics rooted heavily in glam or shock rock. Megadeth and Ozzy are hardly representatives of underground metal, or quality metal at all, for that matter; while it is funny to see members of most bands involved display rock-star arrogance, get wasted, or act like jackasses, you'd get the same entertainment value out of the movie by excising 75% of the vapid content.

The content of the film's "soundtrack" is far superior to the original movie, but it's sort of a strange concoction with an odd mix of several bands that are geniunely heavy (I suspect the result of some lamebrained licensing deals). While some of the tracks were rarities when the soundtrack was originally released, a lot of them have seen become more widely available, making it largely obsolete. A track by track rundown:

Tracks 1 & 2: I'm not even going to acknowledge the titles, as these fit with the context of the movie, but not with the rest of the soundtrack. I guess compared to other Alice Cooper/G'N'R/Faster Pussycat material it's somewhat heavy, but it's not metal, so who cares?

Track 3: Motörhead "Cradle to the Grave" - An about-average Motörhead tune, not as strong as a lot of their staple songs, but far above the quality of their worst stuff. Available elsewhere, so now obsolete.

Track 4: Armored Saint "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" - Strangely, the songwriting seems to be similar to their older stuff, but the actual song execution doesn't have the "galloping" feel a lot of the material from and before their first LP. Still, far, far superior to most post-"March of the Saint" material. Made obsolete by inclusion on the "Nod to the Old School" collection.

Track 5: Lizzy Borden "Born to Be Wild" (Live) - As with their cover of "Live and Let Die," the main negative is that the lead vocals are quite warbly--throughout the whole thing. Lizzy has a tendency to do that when doing high notes in his original stuff, but "Give 'Em the Axe" this is not. Not up to par with original Lizzy Borden material, and done far better by other metal bands. This is a live recording done on Halloween (I'm unsure of the year); I believe footage of this tune from the same gig is available on a Metal Blade anniversary DVD, but I'm unsure if the audio is available elsewhere.

Track 6: Megadeth "In My Darkest Hour" - Anyone into quality of material/catchiness/heavniess over fame factor/production should really only like the first 2 Megadeth albums, and some individual tracks on the third. No sincere heavy metal fanatic wants to hear your emotional "Oh woe is me" crap, Mustaine. If you're so sad and depressed, shoot up some more. All that said, the second half of this song with the speeded up tempo is quite okay. Not a rarity.

Track 7: Queensr˙che "The Prophecy" - Surprisingly, from the first EP! Not the best song from that release, but the bass-heavy mix and vocal harmonies are sort of neat. Not a rarity.

Track 8: Metal Church "The Brave" - Musically very good song, although since this predates the first album (I'm still not sure whether it's just an early studio track or a demo), David Wayne's vocals aren't as strong as on the full albums he did. Appeared on Metal Massacre V, so not a rarity.

Track 9: Rigor Mortis "Foaming at the Mouth" - For many, once the sole reason for seeking this compilation; not only the best song on here, but the best Rigor Mortis song, period. One of their faster songs, but still remains coherent and avoids wall-of-noise syndrome. The soloing is at an even faster tempo than the rest of the song, yet remains dazzingly harmonic and still fits the song nicely instead of becoming lame fretboard showmanship. The level of musical skill here is high, but rather than being used in empty displays of technical prowess, it's harnessed to make some superb thrash. Even the backing gang vocals are cool, albeit they're far from the typical annoying Bay Area thrash style. Like all of early material of this band, a highly commendable job at combining fast thrash with subtle pro-death metal influences. The band were signed to Capitol at time, which explains their appearance here. Once highly coveted, now totally obsolete since it appears on both the bootleg and official re-releases of their first album.

Track 10: Seduce "Colleen" - Many mistakenly assume this band mostly did Dokken-type stuff which was essentially hard rock but with heavy guitars. They're clearly more of a heavy metal band that utilizes some more commercial sounding melodies for choruses and so on. They certainly had big hair and a glammish look for their second album, though. As disappointing as the balladish song title sounds, it's actually one of their heaviest tunes. Ironically, this song isn't as good as "Crash Landing," the song they actually performed in the film. As far as I know "Colleen" was unreleased elsewhere."

Overall, this feels like one of those cheap "heavy metal" compilations that combines songs by more famous geniune heavy metal bands and tunes by radio-friendly hard rock acts who are commonly mislabeled as metal. The only difference is that this soundtrack has short snippets of dialogue from the film between the songs.

The first two tracks seem out of place here and really just waste space. As stated earlier, two tracks on here may or may not be available digitally elsewhere--the best case scenario is that they do make it to CD soon (although I don't think "Born to Be Wild" was included on any of the remastered Lizzy Borden discs, so it's doubtful) and this ill-fated compilation dies an agonizing death in cut-out/clearance bins everywhere. Especially if you're a fan enough of the other material to get it elsewhere, the Seduce and Lizzy Borden tracks aren't much of a draw, but in the end, the price of this compilation will probably dictate how compelling it is to get.