If you love ‘Decline of Western Civilization: Part 2’ as much as I do, you’ll flip for Chris Holmes new song.
Chris Holmes is taking the piss…
Must have been directed by Jan Terri.
He wishes it had been directed by Jan Terri.
Good stuff!
Chris Holmes is awesome. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone else on the planet who is better at not giving a f*** than him. He just does what he wants and that’s that. His music videos are terrible, and his vocals and lyrics are also dreadful. But he’s happy doing it and doesn’t have a care in the world. He’s an incredibly talented and exciting guitarist but he’s perfectly content playing to small groups of drunken slobs in the middle of Armpit, France, smoking his e-vape, fishing, and playing his dogs.
Oh, and that video is pretty good compared to the one he did for “They All Lie And Cheat”.
holy lord
Did that Decline Of The Western Civilization thingy EVER get released to dvd? You’d think it would have however I have yet to ever find a copy anywhere. I really want to see it especially the Ozzy making breakfast fiasco.
I heard they made a third one too - an Ozzfest one or something which…oh I don’t even wanna go there.
None of the Decline… movies are on DVD. I don’t know, but I suspect it has something to do with music rights. It usually does with stuff like that.
this gives me the opportunity to bring up something… i never really liked Social Distortion because of the firm stance on the anti rock star thing they were like on the first decline of western civ…, then they go full blown rock thing.
this gives me the opportunity to bring up something… i never really liked Social Distortion because of the firm stance on the anti rock star thing they were like on the first decline of western civ…, then they go full blown rock thing.
Was Social Distortion in the first “Decline”? I think you might be thinking of the “Another State of Mind” doc featuring them along with Minor Threat.
Which, in itself, has its share of classic scenes even if you’ve long since outgrown punk rawk. I love Minor Threat playing a whole show with no mics and just shouting back at the audience who knows all the words anyway. Or when Mike Ness starts talking about putting on black makeup because that’s how he “feels on the inside” lol…
I had to listen to Social Distortion non-stop for the 2 weeks that I worked at the Alley in Chicago, along with enduring a stream of Mike Ness clones in ‘Dogpile’ bondage pants, so I’ve certainly drunk my fill of them in this lifetime.
Chris Holmes was (briefly) married to Lita Ford I believe.
And what I would have given to have been a fly on the wall when those two had breakfast!!!
[shocked]
[reply]this gives me the opportunity to bring up something… i never really liked Social Distortion because of the firm stance on the anti rock star thing they were like on the first decline of western civ…, then they go full blown rock thing.
Was Social Distortion in the first “Decline”? I think you might be thinking of the “Another State of Mind” doc featuring them along with Minor Threat.
Which, in itself, has its share of classic scenes even if you’ve long since outgrown punk rawk. I love Minor Threat playing a whole show with no mics and just shouting back at the audience who knows all the words anyway. Or when Mike Ness starts talking about putting on black makeup because that’s how he “feels on the inside” lol…
I had to listen to Social Distortion non-stop for the 2 weeks that I worked at the Alley in Chicago, along with enduring a stream of Mike Ness clones in ‘Dogpile’ bondage pants, so I’ve certainly drunk my fill of them in this lifetime.[/reply]
hm, i thought they (social distortion) were the band with the black eye liner under the singers eyes and riding around in a school bus. I’ll have to look it up. man, how funny would that be if it wasn’t actually them and i hated social distorion based on that mix up. lol
To clarify a few items . . .
DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION SERIES:
“Decline of Western Civilization”
The original film from around 1980 featured the LA punk scene and had bands such as X, Germs, Fear, and Black Flag.
STATUS: It has been issued on DVD and I believe is still readily available.
“Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years”
Circa 1988. It focused primarily on the Sunset Strip scene of the day which was mostly make-up-laden glam rockers. Bands featured were Seduce, London, Odin, KISS, Poison, Faster Pussycat, as well as some gratuitous nods from Motorhead and Megadeth.
STATUS: It was on VHS back in the day (and original copies can be bought for an arm and a leg) and NEVER made it to DVD. You can score bootlegs or it, and sometimes it gets uploaded to YouTube.
“Decline of Western Civilization Part III”
This film also centered in LA but focused on the crusty homeless punks who were all basically squatting in abandoned homes and such. During the filming of the movie, director Penelope Spheeris got romantically involved in one of the dirt rockers.
STATUS: After airing at a few film fests and such it got canned and NEVER has been released in any format. Some brief clips have made their way to YouTube, but good luck EVER seeing the film in its entirety.
ANOTHER STATE OF MIND (circa 1982)
This is a GREAT film documenting the “tour” of Social Distortion and Youth Brigade. They roll out in a modified school bus and try to scrape by on dollars a day, fighting crooked club owners (one gig saw them paid in penny rolls) starvation, squabbles amongst themselves, Ness’ drinking, and many other challenges. It is a fantastic film and I highly recommend checking out the commentary which features an embarrassed Mike Ness saying how embarrassing everything is and what a bunch of clueless dicks everyone was (including himself). It actually made me like Ness quite a bit as I’d always thought he was kind of a blowhard dingleberry.
STATUS: Available on DVD.
I like social d. I like their sound i like their lyrics. I like that whole 50’s greaser thing going on. I got no problem with ness. Cool dude as far as im concerned
found it…
Social Distortion was present at the start of Los Angeles’ famed punk scene, one of the grimiest and slimiest of the various punk enclaves. The band was even featured in Penelope Spheeris’ 1981 documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization,” alongside such bands as Fear, the Germs and X. Twenty-plus years later, Western civilization is reasonably intact, and so is Social Distortion.
here’s a screen grab of him…
trip.
I like social d. I like their sound i like their lyrics. I like that whole 50’s greaser thing going on. I got no problem with ness. Cool dude as far as im concerned
Some of it was probably lingering anti-cool contrarian angst that I had. I grew up in Fullerton so Ness and the boys were kind of revered as gods . . . naturally making me consider them sellout fags.
But, yeah, I don’t have any real reason to dislike the guy and I’ve come to think he’s pretty rad too.
The makeup scene in “Another State of Mind” is hilarious. Mike smearing black grease and saying how he thinks it makes him appear more “sympathetic”.
The makeup scene in “Another State of Mind” is hilarious. Mike smearing black grease and saying how he thinks it makes him appear more “sympathetic”.
dude, the scene you are talking about has GOT to be what i’m remembering. i saw the cover and it has the bus on it. that has to be what i saw. does he put on the black eye make up normally then smear it down?
edit: Gunner, you’re right dude. i was thinking of the wrong movie… it’s another state of mind. here’s a still…
[reply]I like social d. I like their sound i like their lyrics. I like that whole 50’s greaser thing going on. I got no problem with ness. Cool dude as far as im concerned
Greaser? Dude looks emo to me. Like someone who should be pummeled just because. Not quite like you should pummel Bono on sight, but definitely slapped around just because he is an emo wuss.[/reply]
This is why I LOVE the commentary on the “Another State of Mind” disc. Mike totally OWNS what you said. He laughs about how seriously he was taking himself and how goofy they all were at the time.
As for the greaser look . . . . Social Distortion used to be part of the OC Hardcore scene of the early 80’s. Along with Adolescents, D.I., Vandals, CH3, TSOL, and a bunch of others, there was a great punk rock music movement in the early to mid 80’s.
In the LATE 80’s was when Social D really changed their style and sound (“Prison Bound” was seen by a lot at the time as their “jumping the shark” moment) to a more rock and roll vibe.
This is also when Mike Ness, who had already kind of showed an affection for 50’s stuff like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean and such really went for more of the 50’s greaser vibe.
If you see some guy in Orange County with a chopped 50’s model Chevy, slicked back hair, cuffed Levi’s and a Betty Page tattoo . . . . . 9 times out of 10 he also likes Social Distortion. There’s a whole neo-greaser thing that is big down here. I don’t know if it’s alive anywhere else.
Yeah, they even have a yearly music festival down there too: Hootenany.
And Social D, or Mike Ness solo, play almost every year.
Got duped into going once, pretty funny.