Gutter Gang: Penelope Spheeris’s ‘THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION III’

I have been in the punk rock scene for almost forty years. And I refuse to let that part of me go even in my middle age. There is something about the scene: you enter. And you get together with flying boots from stage divers and crowd killers in the pit. It’s the best moment of my life. There are so many ways to spend your time, like sleeping in a station wagon or on someone’s porch swing. I know it; I live it, and I love it.

As I got older, I saw the person I was, then I became someone for my kids. I can’t be throwing chairs around the living room, blasting Aus Rotten. I had to behave and give them love and advice that I should have had as a kid. It is with that in mind that I’d like to talk about Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization III.

Synopsis

A film about homeless punk rockers in LA. Along the way Penelope interviews the people with the best stories and how they live, What their story is with evertything to alcohol or traumtizing family upbringing. You find out how important this lifestyle and what it takes from shame and alochol.

The film hit me hard because it’s raw and real; these kids had so many reasons for leaving their families, and I was the same. The film also picks up steam as it goes on, and you almost lean toward love. Penelope knows the nerves to hit, considering it was her third documentary. She knew the right button to push and the people she interviews. This series instantly got my attention. I will say, though, that I turned off the first when the lead singer og The Genms let racial slurs fly, and that stuff is dumb. It’s TheDecline of Western Civilization III that made me love number I with a dying passion. Everyone has a story that they want to tell to get it off their chest.

Also, they rock, in my opinion, the best club ever.

Spare A Dollar?

Southern California is one hell of a place for homeless kids, and I also ended up doing everything, as I was raised there and miss it every day. However, we all have to become adults one day; get your butt moved to a new state that is just a dark place to be. The film brings me right back to having a homeless gang of people like you, and that film explains that with a deep understanding. Nine out of ten kids are living this way; they were chased away from their home. Sometimes being homeless.

 

Always Forever

The film is based in Hollywood, where we have to walk up to the Chinese Theater to do our dirty work. The reason these kids hang out there is to take pictures and charge them a few bucks; hey man, it’s business. In the movie, they explain more details. Also, they go deep into their home life and how horrible it was, and what made them alcoholics or any other substance abusers. Because this film was covered over a year, from 1997 to 1998, we lost some people along the way.

I was homeless for two years, and I think what attracts the crowds is that it’s not a group of punks; it’s one insane family that you earn and not the one you were afraid of. It gives you a whole new perspective.