I hated California, but ended up living there for 10 years. Worryingly, the signs are worsening. In his book The Upside of Down, the political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon observed that environmental degradation throughout the Roman Empire led to falling EROI from their staple energy source: crops of wheat and alfalfa. To many historians, the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century CE has always been viewed as the end of the ancient world and the onset of the Middle Ages, often improperly called the Dark Ages, despite Petrarch 's assertion. I play with [former Angel singer] Frank DiMino when Im not touring with Armored Saint and have made a living as a musician all these years, which is all I ever wanted ever since I was little. October 8, 2003 By James Kurth. Think of civilisation as a poorly-built ladder. Steven Hanseter: Im forty-nine years old, never been a smoker, never been drunk. Everyone seems tragic and hopeful. I still talk to him a lot. 323 BCE - 31 BCE. It took me years to get over the humiliation Odin in their prime. Western culture also referred to as Western civilization, is usually synonymous with European culture. I havent been drinkin since 1996. Whatever people say about London, DPriest says, and we have been called a lot, nobody can take it away from us that the band was formed by Nikki Sixx from Mtley Cre, and the early lineups included Blackie Lawless of WASP, and Slash, Steven Adler and Izzy Stradlin, who went on to form Guns N Roses. He'll be dressed and groomed just like the White . The film's title is possibly a reference to music critic Lester Bangs' 1970 two-part review of . She knew we had something, so she interviewed us for the movie. It was Penelopes idea to film us in the hot tub, at her house, says guitarist Jeff Duncan. Since its first publication in two volumes between 1918-1923, The Decline of the West has ranked as one of the most widely read and most talked about books of our time. So I said: If we dont make it big, well have an amazing time.. Of all the bands to emerge from the Sunset Strip of the 80s, few had as many future superstars as London members of Guns N Roses and Cinderella passed through. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Five years later, it had plummeted to 2 million sq km (770,000 . His forthcoming book is The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism. Societies are problem-solving collectives that grow in complexity in order to overcome new issues. The Decline of Western Civilization. Of course, hes still not as big as Robert Plant, but he hasnt killed himself yet. I want to go but my brain cant tell my body to move. The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. They are global, human-driven, quicker, and more severe. How the West reacts to them will . Virtually all past civilisations have faced this fate. Toxic culture thanks to cultural Marxism and feminism. Being a skateboarder, I was into punk and new wave, like 999, The Specials, Devo. Four years ago I told my daughter Anna that I wanted her to come and work for me. So I knew most of the people in that movie before I filmed them. She sat down with Ashley Ray-Harris to dive into how and why she first decided to document what was happening around her and, of course, share plenty of stories about navigating the entertainment industry, from doing coke with Lemmy at a restaurant to falling in love with a gutter punk. Youll find everything from the story about theworlds greatest space missionto the truth about whetherour cats really love us, the epic hunt to bringillegal fishermen to justiceand the small team which bringslong-buried World War Two tanks back to life. But The Decline of Western Civilization is the first and best film of what would become a loosely linked trilogy exploring different LA subcultures over three decades. To argue over the holy is to argue over the very nature of . The films are important and essential . But this gives little ground to believe that we are immune to the threats that undid our ancestors. But where are they now? The promoter said we didnt have to play, so we just hung out and played basketball. Since much of the west had already fallen by the middle of the 5th century CE, when a writer speaks . Its also possible that collapse can happen without violent catastrophe. Despite the abundance of books and articles, we dont have a conclusive explanation as to why civilisations collapse. Im lucky, my dad and mom are still goin. In the past, collapse was confined to regions it was a temporary setback, and people often could easily return to agrarian or hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Now for the first time, all three films are available in one deluxe box set. Our deep past is marked by recurring failure. (Or, like bathrooms.) What can this tell us about the future of global modern civilisation? "In a dying civilization, political prestige is the reward not of the shrewdest politician, but of the man with the best bedside manner. We already had our deal with Elektra Records, and wed just finished doing the first album, but it hadnt been released yet when we did the interview. Again. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. For those of us who grew up watching the Decline series, Spheeris' name is as synonymous with . The Urartu civilization flourishes in ancient Armenia, eastern Turkey and western Iran. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. We know what needs to be done: emissions can be reduced, inequalities levelled, environmental degradation reversed, innovation unleashed and economies diversified. Many people no longer had to practice farming, allowing a diverse array of professions and interests to . Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email. But the conflict between civilizations during the 2020 US election has revealed some problems that are emerging in the West. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Sometimes disasters combined, as was the case with the Spanish introducing salmonella to the Americas. We are only doomed if we are unwilling to listen to the past. Importantly, wealth inequality is even worse. You end up wanting to scream. At the University of Colorado Boulder, the study of Western Civilization is thriving, across dozens of departments and programs. That one cost five-hundred thousand. Whats Next for Convicted Sex Criminals Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly? EXTERNAL SHOCKS: In other words, the four horsemen: war, natural disasters, famine and plagues. But Ozzys one of the funniest people alive. Penelope noticed that, being from the Motor City, we were freaking out staring at all the Lamborghinis and Ferraris in LA, so she hired some for our interviews. Oshkosh, Wisconsin-born Steven Hanseter was a teenage skater who grew up on punk rock, before Mtley Cre provided his Road To Hair Metal Damascus moment and he rechristened himself Stevie Rachelle. I wasnt sure, at the end of Chriss interview, that I even had an interview but, you know, it wasnt me that gave him the vodka. who said i was a poser bitch for claiming i was punk when i wasn't. but i never said i was punk. Chris Holmes: When Penelope asked me to be in the Decline movie, I went: Why dont you ask Blackie [Lawless, W.A.S.P. The theory of normal accidents suggests that complex technological systems regularly give way to failure. Many acts in it were huge; others became so. The Decline of Western Civilization Parts I + III plus Penelope Spheeris in Person! How Western civilisation could collapse. She said: Only if you do the Decline box set first. She hung around the LA music scene, she was very familiar with the clubs and the people, and so she knew there was an audience, a huge appetite, out there for those films. I believe I was smokin hash with Dave Mustaine. The field of cliodynamics models how factors such as equality and demography correlate with political violence. Hamburger died in 1999 or 2000, I believe. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. I remember lookin out and thinking: Who the fuck is this dude dancin in the middle of the floor? Of course, it was fuckin Axl. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. Decline of Western Civilization captured an important moment in music history. For example, a nation that had diversified beyond only exporting agricultural products would be more likely to weather ecological degradation or the loss of trading partners. 10 Have a source of food production if you can. He has interviewed three of the four Beatles, all of Abba and been nursed through a bad attack of food poisoning on a tour bus in South America by Robert Smith of The Cure. And we faked the spilling of the orange juice. My hair started getting longer, I wore leather pants, bracelets, eyeliner and all that, but I liked a good nights sleep and drinking orange juice at breakfast. No fuzzy/snowy frames on VHS tape. Things you buy through our links may earnVox Mediaa commission. Moreover, the weapons available during social disorder were rudimentary: swords, arrows and occasionally guns. Photograph: Everett Collection, Inc/Alamy The Germs' charismatic young frontman, Darby Crash, is the film's most magnetic . Societal resilience may be able to delay or prevent collapse. The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1996) - A film detailing the furious lives and tragic deaths of a group of gutter punks living in L.A. from 96'-97'. The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) **** (out of 4) The first film in Penelope Spheeris' trilogy takes a look at the punk scene in Los Angeles during the 1979-80 period where bands like Alice Bag Band, Circle Jerk, Fear, Germs and Catholic Discipline were all the rage. South Central were big for backyard shows when I was around and even now still living in the area, they're still around. I was starting to hear about this stuff called the internet. You get two million and well handle everything else. But The Stones go: no, we want this long-haired guy and his team to handle our shit. The film didnt do much for our career Borden today. When Randy said he wanted to be as big as Robert Plant or else hed commit suicide, it was a bit much, but he had that attitude: shooting for the moon. Part II: The Metal Years skews closer to a Spinal Tap experience, capturing what has since become known as hair metal or cock rock: tight leather, teased mullets, fingerless gloves, Jack Daniels chased with cocaine. Were doing gigs, we recorded a live album last year, and played some shows in Germany and Switzerland. Spheeris enters a world filled with runaways, drug addicts and squatters, where audience members spit on bands to signal some form of vile, violent appreciation, where Nazi regalia is worn and confused as being a symbol of anarchy. However, their self-destruction is usually assisted. Ive been clean for 19 years, and have done everything from construction to being a stylist, but havent given up on London. If the fate of previous civilisations can be a roadmap to our future, what does it say? It was a crazy time we had a lot of fun but the stupidity wasnt acted. Most early agrarian states were fleeting due to deadly epidemics. In the film, Crash cooks eggs in a rundown kitchen and candidly explains how he needs to be bombed before performing and how he started hurting himself on stage due to boredom. The band imploded in 1992, after our manager left us in New Orleans with no bus and no money. Three decades on, the members of W.A.S.P., Faster Pussycat, London and Odin are still making music, still dreaming the dream and still unrepentant, despite having never reaped the rewards that they were utterly convinced would soon be theirs. The cover art and liner notes are included. In the first week we had twenty people look at it, and a year or two later were were getting twenty-five thousand a day. The record companies dropped all of our shit; crazy hair and make-up kind of went away. The Aztec Empire, for example, was brought to an end by Spanish invaders. We were pretty massive when we appeared in the Decline movie. A young Exene Cervenka is charming and excitable, on the cusp of ascending with future LA punk legends X, and aware of the importance of what she is trying to achieve. I got the bands first record deal when those guys couldnt get a hand-job from the industry, but they were long gone by the time we did the film. But I noticed that Metal Edge was listing contact details for artists by email. playing the Bang Your Head festival in Germany, had a shared cover of Metal Hammer magazine. If anything, the film was sanitised, because this was the era of Tipper Gore and the Parental Advisory sticker. There was us, Guns N Roses, Seahags, Jetboy, and we were all good friends. They played furious music in clubs that looked and smelled like bathrooms, and lived in squats that looked and smelled like squats. where they devised what some now call "cultural Marxism"a strategy for creating a cultural revolution to undermine Western capitalism and "outmoded" biblical values . Jeff Duncan: From what I remember, Penelope Spheeris contacted our manager at the time. In all its various editions, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies. One method is to examine the trends that preceded historic collapses and see how they are unfolding today. More skilled populations may have a greater capacity to respond to crises as they arise. We were the number-three video with I Hate Kissing You Goodbye in September 1991, but right around then Nirvana released Smells Like Teen Spirit. Some days I cant get to rehearsals. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. We had several. Other collapses were permanent, as was the case of Easter Island. Director Penelope Spheeris began filming The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary about LA's raucous punk community, in 1979. As the singer in Faster Pussycat and co-founder of the notorious, heroically debauched Cathouse club, Seattle-born Taime Downe or Gustave Molvik to his parents was perfectly placed to witness the rise and fall of the Sunset Strip scene. But between their notorious on-screen appearance in a hot tub and the films release, the band had broken up, with guitarist Jeff Duncan going on to join LA metal linchpins Armored Saint, of which hes still a member. However, the Gini Index can be misleading as it only measures relative changes in income. The Decline of Western Civilization, with Darby Crash at the centre. Directed by acclaimed documentary maker Penelope Spheeris and originally released in June 1988, it swiftly became a cult classic (and an undeniable influence on a later Spheeris movie, Waynes World). Only the political will is lacking. I realised that Id been 22 years old, when LA was a crazy stream of riffs, hairspray, excess and debauchery. So then I had an amazing time hangin out with Ronnie and the boys. She discovered clusters of teenage runaways, dubbed gutter punks partly due to an anti-establishment stance and a shared aesthetic, but mainly because they often lived in the street. He became a Teamster [trucker] in the movie business and seems pretty happy. I still have it its at my mums. Our bus was confiscated, all our gear, all our shit, we were left in a hotel with our rooms already due. Collapse is often quick and greatness provides no immunity. Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, England, The Netherlands, Germany. It got your face out there and you got to be seen. In the first challenge, the contestant must break three blocks of ice, retrieve the shapes inside, and put the shapes in the appropriate containers in the pool in a limited amount of time. Ozzy Osbourne in The Decline of Western Civilisation Part II in 1988. hen Penelope Spheeris was making the first part of her landmark documentary The Decline of Western Civilization in 1979 and 1980, none of the people she was chronicling were known outside of Los Angeless dank punk scene. Axl and Izzy were at our very first show. Her experiences on The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II would bear fruit when she went on to direct blockbuster comedy Waynes World. I certainly dont wanna do it unless its the full original band, and Randy O doesnt seem interested. American political leaders frequently said that the United States was the heir to Western civilization and that it had a duty to defend the West against . In other cases, such as the Mayan ruins, they are left abandoned as a mausoleum for future tourists. I think the key point I would argue is that the US in particular - and many countries in Europe as well - have not yet understood the fact that they now have structural unemployment. I was more interested in spending time in the gym; more a jock than a rocker. Whats that? Nobody knew. I said Id end up on Skid Row if we didnt make it. But youd be remiss to skip over this final, necessary document; as with Spheeriss first two films, youll find tragedy and hope in even doses. A common explanation of this apparent randomness is the Red Queen Effect: if species are constantly fighting for survival in a changing environment with numerous competitors, extinction is a consistent possibility. Studies suggest that the EROI for fossil fuels has been steadily decreasing over time as the easiest to reach and richest reserves are depleted. All we had was a bag of weed, two bottles of booze and our guitar players credit card. The trailer for The Decline of Western Civilization Part I. Thats when I became enveloped by the idea of becoming a rock singer. Because of this, I have also depicted the income share of the global top 1%. While watching the movie, I kept thinking about Penelope Spheeris' series of anthropological documentaries about the LA rock sceneThe Decline of Western Civilization, Parts I-IIIwhich were finally re-released last month after being frustratingly very unavailable for years in any web format. Being on stage in Tuff was a licence to kill, as far as getting girls. That was just one situation. It showed exactly what was going on in our lives. ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended about 1200 bce, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 bce. Sure, the film gave London a huge push. "What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.". So collapse may be a normal phenomenon for civilisations, regardless of their size and stage. Growing up a punk rock kid in a small or at least smallish town, Penelope Spheeris ' 1981 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, chronicling the early Los Angeles scene, served as a de . In 1988, Penelope Spheeris released a documentary that the chief of the LAPD demanded, via a strongly worded letter, never be shown again in the city of Los . That's not all. Featuring rough-ready footage shot at gigs and candid interviews with future punk stars, this film is a slim time capsule of a nascent music scene not yet exploited through commerce or destroyed by day jobs. I bought a sports car, fell in love, and did a lot of work in the movies: post-production, camera guy, shampoo commercials. This has led much of the literature to discuss the possibility of an energy cliff as EROI declines to a point where current societal levels of affluence can no longer be maintained. There were certain things we had to manipulate. A couple of years ago I moved out to Las Vegas. Spheeris documented the L.A. punk and metal scenes in their nascent stages better than any outsider ever could, as she was immersed in the counterculture of the time. The share of global wealth from the 1% has swelled from 25-30% in the 1980s to approximately 40% in 2016. By 476, the empires reach was zero. Terms of Service apply. What are the forces that precipitate or delay a collapse? The Kanye of 2015 is dramatically different from 2005 Kanye - as different, in fact, as 2010 Kanye is from the 2019 model, i.e. Were constantly working. No skipping on CD/DVD. It took me years to get over the humiliation of The Metal Years, but when people started telling me they loved our youthful craziness, I started to I embrace it. It was supposed to be on the Sunday, but Penelope called me Saturday morning and goes: Can you film it today, Chris? I go: I been up for three days, partying since I got home from London. And she goes: Well, do you mind? And I go: No. And right when I was goin out the door, my mom pulled up. We had high hopes, but the band broke up a couple of years later. This password will be used to sign into all, Shania Twain Gives Rare Update on Her Ex-Husband and Ex-BFF, The 7 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend, 6 Stand-ups Analyze ChatGPTs Attempts to Steal Their Jobs, How to Watch and Stream Every 2023 Oscar-Nominated Movie, Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience, Rick Scott Is Unfortunately Kind of Right About Novak Djokovic, Rick Scott Is Unfortunately Right About Novak Djokovic, Travis Barkers Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans. Our technological capabilities may have the potential to delay collapse (Credit: Getty Images). But in the end we went ahead with Anna in control. In 1988, Penelope Spheeris released a documentary that the chief of the LAPD demanded, via a strongly worded letter, never be shown again in the city of Los Angeles. Like, we had a seven-foot-high drum riser with a girl dancing underneath it. The typical measurement of the Gini Index suggests that inequality has decreased slightly globally (although it is increasing within countries). And then the grunge thing happened. I lived that lifestyle, she said. Spheeris intended to catalogue the same type of LA punk scene she encountered in 1979 but found the kids were no longer all right. When we supported Poison in 1986 in San Diego they did not want the riser, they wanted it down. Eventually, once you reach a sufficient height, any drop from the ladder is fatal. RANDOMNESS/BAD LUCK: Statistical analysis on empires suggests that collapse is random and independent of age. We got all our friends to come, and theyd bring their friends and it started to snowball. Verified purchase. Yet the world is worsening in areas that have contributed to the collapse of previous societies. What is the study of Western civilization? I left London to do my own band, Ultra Pop, which was more Marc Bolan-influenced. Rodney Stark, in the book How the West Won, attempts to tell the story of history in a fresh and new way. If I was still drinkin Id be dead now. I even got a couple of those investments., The Los Angeles quartet were filmed tearing through Steppenwolfs Born To Be Wild, with the singer (also named Lizzy Borden) declaring: We want to be the biggest, most outrageous heavy metal band ever but theres a million bands out there, playing the clubs for a lifetime.. Before being interviewed, I asked if I could see what shed already filmed so I didnt make an idiot of myself, but I still kinda did. So just as we were beginning to make an impact, they came along and we had no chance. And while our scale may now be global, collapse appears to happen to both sprawling empires and fledgling kingdoms alike. (Long sigh) I had the thumb on me, controlling me. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Maher said part of the problem of losing civilization is you fail to make judgments. Unfortunately, most renewable replacements, such as solar, have a markedly lower EROI, largely due to their energy density and the rare earth metals and manufacturing required to produce them. The Zapotec Civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. That film, released in 1981 . She was lookin for bands that were staples on the LA music scene, and Odin certainly was that. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled influence on Western civilization. Non-replacement birth rates. Search Results. Technological unemployment and wealth inequality. Im not cryin about it, though, because the bottom line is I can still get on the stage, and when that first chord hits, man, Im alive again.. so to get back at them i wrote a poem about how their rich parents bought all their expensive equipment and got them gigs and sent . Shellenberge agreed. Taime Downe: When Faster Pussycat started, Mtley and Ratt had already taken off, and newer bands like Poison were playing the Strip. And there were all these bodyguards around and I didnt know who they were with, and it turned out to be Malcolm Forbes [multimillionaire publisher of Forbes magazine]. We participated in all of that stuff that was going on. Fri., 7:30 p.m. $10. Answer (1 of 59): Yes, it is in decline. The young hopefuls scenes in a hot tub, surrounded by female fans, are among the most infamous in the film, not least for singer Randy Os supersized bravado: I want to be as big as Zeppelin or the Beatles go down in history like Jim Morrison or Robert Plant its gonna happen. It didnt. Crash was the victim of a chaotic family situation that spat him into the caverns of LA: translucent, addicted to drugs and riddled with insecurities about his sexuality, looks and abilities. This film teeters between musicians who enjoy ridiculous wealth and success, and others who assume they will too, any day now. This can be difficult, because there is no strict definition of civilisation, nor an overarching database of their births and deaths. In theory, a civilisation might be less vulnerable to collapse if new technologies can mitigate against pressures such as climate change. Here are four of those possible metrics, measured over the past few decades: Click/pinch to enlarge (Credit: Nigel Hawtin). The Westonce seen by millions around the world as a beacon of civilization and prosperityis now widely seen as a culture in decline and a society gone rotten. History suggests it is likely, but we have the unique advantage of being able to learn from the wreckages of societies past. Even the physical accumulation of rubbish and earth that covers the original level of a city . Tell me more. . Under that chair in the movie, there was blow and weed and all that shit, and wed been partyin it up and havin a great time. Inequality is more difficult to calculate. If you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called If You Only Read 6 Things This Week. The Decline Of Western Civilization series ends with its weakest instalment, but it's still a monumental achievement in filmmaking and pop-culture sociology. My vice was women. I was cringing, but I figured that the film would show a couple of times and that would be that. I now have two children, I still do twenty to thirty shows a year with Tuff, and I play with a band out of Germany called Shameless. Breaking down the contenders in the seasons most unpredictable Oscar race. The 1% have increased in their share of global income from approximately 16% in 1980 to over 20% today. Droughts have also been linked to the fall of the Maya around 900 AD and the demise of the spectacular Cambodian city of Angkor in the early 1400s. But I was also determined to get people like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth into the film, because those guys were different, kinda deeper than the others.
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