The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

Spheeris' second look at what the sweet young things of the City of Angels get up to when they're not free- basing and setting fire to classrooms or their hair. She puts a camera in front of a number of kids and Heavy Metal 'stars', and lets them talk about their music and their lives - both ultimately worthless. There are musical interludes from the likes of Faster Pussycat, London, and other almost indistinguishable crap acts, all wanting and waiting to be as big and bigoted as Guns'n'Roses, who wanted too much money to appear. Osbourne is the greatest walking example of just how stupid the HM creed of drugs, booze and macho sexism really is: fat and funny at first, sickening after a while. Holmes is pathetic, Alice Cooper is sad, Paul Stanley displays amazing penis envy, and Aerosmith are simply stupid. The regular HM girlfriends are tough and strangely feminist, the groupies singularly ugly and dumb. The boys all brag about sex but look like Mother Fist is their main mistress. The values stink, the music stinks, and Lemmy from Motorhead is a dickhead, but the movie is totally compelling. Rather like watching a car wreck on the opposite side of a motorway.