one of the major success to the decline of western civilization and filmmaker penelope spheeris indie breakthrough and be that it can perhaps appeal to non punk fan a to the hardcore one . more importantly and it capture a moment in history before the movement become completely market worthy and when band would play ( or and at the least and try to play in some case ) in dank and dirty club to an audience that have a much self respect a they have respect for the band . for the fan and such a myself and there be precious interview with some of the quasi legend of la punk scum and some dead and some still living and still hard work in the scene . performance and interview include the like of the circle jerk and x and black flag ( in the pre henry rollins day ) and catholic discipline and fear and the alice bag band and and most memorable ( in my opinion ) be the germ . while i knew of a few of the band and performer in the film ( the jerk and black flag mostly ) and i have only hear rumor about lead singer ( the late ) darby crash and and from the footage in the film he seem to be one of the and if not the and epitome of the punk movement . he doesn not take himself too seriously and he love to drink and sometimes when he speak it complete gibberish and and the attitude he bring on stage be both funny and in a free form way exhilarate . a performer like that would probably scare steve miller and jackson browne out of their skin . decline of western civilization may not turn on every non punk fan that seek this film out ( it hard to find on video ) and but it shouldn not necessarily turn them off either . like a kind of anthropologist that sneak into the party and spheeris get the behavior of these people down pat and their motif and their like and hatred and and the power that be their on and off screen persona . a few of them almost come off a normal and some do not and but theyre only offensive to those who aren not too open to thing . on top of that and the film be a must see to the kind of kid that think theyre punk fan just because they listen to good charlotte and blink 182 represent if you want to get the real scoop on the movement and genre of rock you profess to love and give the pioneer a chance . a .