The Decline of Western Civilization (1981, Penelope Spheeris)

Great rock doc, maybe the absolute ideal. Songs play all the way through, with good live sound. The movie conveys the experience of a high-energy club show, and she asks direct interview questions behind the scenes. They filmed in 1979 and ’80 and this came out summer 1981… where’d the bands end up?

The Bags broke up before the movie’s release. Alice’s recent solo records are good, her bandmates migrated to Gun Club.

Ron Reyes was a short-lived Black Flag member, their second singer, and by mid-1981 the band was testing out Rollins, their fourth.

Ron:

Circle Jerks are still together, kind of, and their members have been in Redd Kross, Bad Religion, Off!, and Black Flag.

Catholic Discipline was short-lived – their keyboardist became El Vez.

The Germs singer died at the end of 1980 – one band member would later form a group called Celebrity Skin, and another would join Nirvana.

Darby:

Lee Ving of Fear was in the movie Flashdance, and every few years all his band members quit over “his right wing beliefs and his lack of empathy” and he hires new band members.

X would stay together forever, more or less.