The film chronicles the heavy metal club scene in Los Angeles during the 1987-88 time period, with an emphasis placed on the glam metal subgenre. While many established artists such as Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Mustaine, and Paul Stanley are featured in interviews, members of several unsigned L.A. club bands are also given a share of the spotlight, such as London, Odin, and Seduce. The film also features interviews with members of Poison, Tuff, Vixen, Faster Pussycat, and W.A.S.P.. Many of the struggling, unsigned acts appear convinced that worldwide stardom awaits them, and most appear to have no backup plan in place should this success fail to materialize. The film is well known for its many scenes featuring rock star excess. The scenes include:
An extremely intoxicated Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. is interviewed in a swimming pool, with his mother by his side. He stumbles through the interview, proclaiming himself "a full-blown alcoholic" and "a piece of crap" while pouring what appears to be vodka over himself.
In a hot tub surrounded by scantily dressed young women, Odin lead vocalist Randy O insists his band will become millionaires, more famous than The Doors and be "bigger than Zeppelin". He says that the possibility of superstardom eluding him causes him to ponder suicide.
An interview with L.A. club owner Bill Gazzarri, whose "sexy rock and roll" dance contests at Gazzarri's on the Sunset Strip are presented as being sleazy and sexist.
Discussions with various musicians about the way women in general, and groupies in particular, are treated badly in the metal scene.
Riki Rachtman and Taime Downe, owners of the Cathouse club in L.A., discuss how girls get entry to the club faster if they dress "sleazy."
Paul Stanley of Kiss is interviewed in bed, surrounded from head to toe by three half-naked girls.
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith talk about spending millions of dollars on drugs.
Ozzy Osbourne, while cooking breakfast in a kitchen, discusses his wild rock and roll lifestyle. In a scene that was later revealed to have been manipulated in post-production, he spills orange juice all over the table, apparently due to uncontrollable shakes. Spheeris also interviews him about sobriety, to which he replies, "It fucking sucks."
An interview with Lemmy from Motörhead. In his autobiography, he claims that Spheeris interviewed him from a distance, possibly in an attempt to make him look stupid.
Candid and sobering interviews from various artists about drug use, abuse, and dying from overdoses.
Lastly, Spheeris takes her cameras to Sunset Strip to film the nightlife in 1980s Los Angeles.
It has been claimed, most notably in the VH1 documentary series , that this film was partially responsible for the death of glam metal, and the subsequent rise of thrash metal and grunge. The suggestion in the documentary is that fans, disgusted by the scenes of excess, decided to turn elsewhere. A similar claim was made by Dave Mustaine in his autobiography and in the book Hell Bent for Leather by British author Seb Hunter. Some of Spheeris' featured musicians and live footage of Sunset Strip clubs ended up as part of the 1987 MTV Music Awards, broadcast around the world from Universal Studios in Los Angeles. In addition to a clip of the band Foxx performing onstage, the awards show that year had several presenters who were stars of The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.
Faked footage
In a 1999 interview for The A.V. Club, Spheeris admitted that the scene with Ozzy Osbourne spilling orange juice was faked, and the kitchen was not Osbourne's. A more complete version of the interview, in which Osbourne does not spill juice, is included as a bonus feature on the DVD.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on Capitol Records/I.R.S. Records. However, the soundtrack does not attempt to feature all the performances that were in the movie.
