“The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years” New 35 mm Print to be shown in Los Angeles theater April 4th.

Special guest: Penelope Spheeris; other guests to be announced.
Date: Friday April 4th 2014 – 7:30PM

Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science as part of an ongoing series at LACMA. Penelope Spheeris delves into the clubs and bars of late 1980s Hollywood to reveal the absurd heights (or lows?) of rockstar debauchery in the second part of her The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy. The Metal Years finds marquee hard rockers such as Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister, and Kiss’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley sharing the screen with such aspiring acts as Odin, London, and Lizzy Borden. Interviewing her subjects with disarming candor, Spheeris documents the booze-fueled braggadocio and lurid theatrics of musicians blinkered by their aspirations to achieve platinum-certified immortality. Throughout her 30-year directing career, Spheeris has worked in both studio pictures (such as the smash hit Wayne’s World) and independent productions. The Decline trilogy, which began in 1981, when Spheeris filmed Los Angeles’s punk scene, remains an indelible landmark of American cinema.

LACMA, Bing Theater
Friday April 4th 2014 – 7:30PM
$3 Academy members, LACMA Film Club members, and students with a valid ID; $5 general admission.
Tickets: 323 857-6010 or purchase online.
Note: Tickets can be purchased at LACMA’s on-site Ticket Offices.
Plan Your Visit

Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P.
Rik Fox & Tommy John
Faster Pussycat

CC DeVille & Rikki Rockett of Poison
Gene Simmons of KISS
Wet Cherry Dude

Stevie Rachelle & Michael Lean of Tuff
Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith

Miss Gazzarri’s dancers