I watched the Decline of Western Civilization, Penelope Spheeris's classic 1980 L.A. punk documentary, last week. It is, as reputed, great. Want a current-events hook, beyond the title? It’s a movie that — between songs — sympathetically shows you poor-to-struggling white people, few of them very articulate, explaining their world in sometimes-racist, sometimes-violent, us-vs-them terms. Just like so many NPR/ Times election features in 2016! Like those features, “Decline”’s release was followed soon by the ascent to the presidency of a lying far-right ignoramus with a mean sense of humor.
Notes specific to the movie:
* X, as I expected, were far and away the musical highlight. Even without Ray Manzarek of the Doors producing and playing organ like he soon would on their classic debut Los Angeles, they were a genuinely sharp and energetic band that played their instruments well, had snotty/ clever/ searching lyrics, and blended the voices of two incompetent singers into bizarrely attractive harmonies.
What I hadn’t realized was