Documentary Movie Reviews
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The Decline of
Western Civilization (1981)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
1/20, 3/22
1/20:
The Decline of Western Civilization is an engrossing documentary that captures the Los Angeles punk
music of 1979-80.
Today, we have people, famous and non-famous alike, who are guilty of being pretentious. You'll find nothing of
the sort in this video as it's all about anarchy, punk music, and nonconformity. The featured bands are Alice
Bag Band, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, Fear, Germs, and X, and through them are numerous good
punk rock songs with catchy lyrics.
The shocking part is their intelligence. I looked up the internet to see if any is alive today, and to
my surprise, many are still living. Darby Crash, the second coming of Sid Vicious, died of a heroin overdose at
age 22 in 1980. Exene Cervenka, the singer of X, was married to Viggo Mortensen from 1987 to 1997. Claude Bessy,
aka Kickboy Face, passed away from lung cancer in 1999.
All in all, The Decline of Western Civilization is a nice time capsule of punk rock.
3/22:
To catch up on punk rock, you should start with The Filth and the Fury
and then follow it up with The Decline of Western Civilization; they're both outstanding documentary films.