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Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years


TheSeeker

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Marc,

Guns N' Roses was notably absent from the 1988 documentary "Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years" that was filmed between 1986 and 1988:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_Western_Civilization_Part_II:_The_Metal_Years

Was GNR asked to be in the film? Do you remember what the band thought of the final film? Did you feel like it was a fair portrayal of the LA Scene?

I've read that this documentary led to hair-metal becoming uncool with its focus on the excess of the time. Most notably Chris Holmes drunk in a pool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKlZELdJh8

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Izzy, Slash & Axl did Under My Wheels with Alice Cooper for the soundtrack, which I think played over the end credits from memory.

I also saw an interview a long time ago with Duff & Slash that was allegedly an outtake from Decline....someone else told me there were quite a few outtakes floating around so who knows.

Either way, Spheeris would have been aware of GN'R when she made the movie - Faster Pussycat and the Cathouse got a fair run and they obviously came out at the same time as GNR and were doing the same rounds.

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The movie is apparently not completely accurate. Apparently, the stuff with Chris Holmes is not vodka, but water. I know I've read that somewhere and it wouldn't surprise me. That seemed so way over the line that I'm more inclined to believe they set it up to make people think that as opposed to the director actually getting something that big on film. Also, the director says here that the Ozzy part with his shakes is made up so it leads me to believe other stuff might be as well:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/penelope-spheeris,13584/

O: What about the Ozzy Osbourne scene? How did that come about?

PS: Well, that's not really Ozzy's house. And I faked the orange-juice spill. So there's two broken bubbles. But Ozzy is just naturally hilarious. He's one of the funniest people on the face of the earth. It's kind of hard to lose with Ozzy. You just put a camera in front of him and he goes on. It's hard to screw that up.

She talks about the Chris Holmes stuff here and doesn't say its fake, but I know I've read somewhere that people doubt its validity.

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