Decline of Western Civilization...on TCM?

Now, I feel REALLY old. Haven't seen that movie in a long time.

It's not as "time capsule"-y as the more recent "American Hardcore."

For once, a "Classic Movie" that really is a classic!

I saw it again at a film festival a few years ago, and this time I recognized some figures that meant nothing to me back when I first saw it - when it first came out, e.g. a pre-'jewish lesbian folk-singer' Phranc, who now has her own TP entry, and club impresario Brendan Mullin.



Post Edited (10-19-15 14:00)

Somehow I had never seen the movie until I watched it on Prime last night. Pretty fascinating stuff, though pretty much everyone in all of the bands comes off as an idiot!

As Fab notes, the earlier life of Phranc was fun to see, as was the Reyes-fronted Black Flag.

> Pretty much everyone in all of the bands comes off as an idiot!

That's why they interviewed a bunch of the punk scenesters as well: to make the band members look smart by comparison.

Ha - yes, that girlfriend of Darby Crash was something else....

One thing the movie did do was make me realize that Billy Zoom isn't really all that much older than the other members of X. I know there was some connection to Gene Vincent or something that made me think he was a lot older, but he came off as a young-ish goofball just like everyone else.

She wasn't Darby's girlfriend, she was just posing as one to conceal the fact that he was gay.

Interviewer: "When you fight, how do you feel? When you're actually fighting? How do you feel?"
Scenester: [After long pause] Violent.
Interviewer: Yeah ...?
Scenester: I feel very violent. I feel like ... I'm doing something I'm good at.
Interviewer: What?
Scenester: Beating people up.