FILM ‘Decline, Part II’ Captures Rock’s Metal Anguish

The thing about “The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years” is that director Penelope Spheeris comes across like a camera-carrying explorer eager to find intelligent life among all the alien fauna.

She pokes her lens here, she thrusts her microphone there, but the target is elusive. Most of the glam-rockers Spheeris tracks down seem on the verge of mental coma, just skinny guys with hair that looks uncomfortable, propped up by equally vacant concert dolls.

Of course, there’s illumination in that. The fact that the world of heavy metal, where such Spandex-sheathed bands as Aerosmith and Lizzy Borden tend to live in a vacuum of celebrity and loud music, is essentially a one-dimensional place is the sharpest point of “The Metal Years.”

The 1988 documentary, screening Friday night as the latest installment of UC Irvine’s “Early Films by Acclaimed Directors” series, is a sequel, of sorts, to Spheeris’ “The Decline of Western Civilization.”

That 1981 movie explored the punk scene, a music phenomenon based on rage against the establishment and a belief in a youthful utopia where anything goes. Spheeris, by asking a few questions but mainly just letting the film roll, was able to capture the honesty, however snarly, of punk.

In “The Metal Years,” Spheeris asks a lot more questions as she tries to discover what makes heavy metal so attractive to its fans, and what types of people are its biggest stars. The film has numerous scenes that reveal by being unadulterated and spontaneous, or at least seem to be.

We get to see Paul Stanley of Kiss lying in a bed with three bosomy beauties placed around him. When Spheeris zooms in after asking Stanley, “Have you ever said to yourself, ‘I could fall in love with this groupie?’ ” he blanches a bit and the women perk up, suddenly interested.

That ties in nicely with one of Spheeris’ main themes, that misogyny may not be the heart and soul of heavy metal, but it sure greases the wheels. Much of the music portrays women as usable objects, and Spheeris lingers on the groupie as a dazzlingly sordid image.

When the issue of drugs comes up, just about everybody, from the struggling groups such as London and Faster Pussycat to the big names such as Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper, just says no. But it’s also clear that dope and booze still fuel much of their excesses.

Spheeris (who also directed the current “Wayne’s World” smash) is not evil-minded in her approach; “The Metal Years” doesn’t feel like a broadside against easy targets. Instead, she’s sympathetic and shows some compassion for all the young women who go along for the ride. This is, at times, a rather sad movie, simply because it clearly shows the subculture’s shallowness.

It’s also a very funny picture. There are many images that grip your sense of humor, as when the members of Odin, a veteran group that’s on the fringe of stardom, talk about what it takes to make it. Hard work and the instincts of a careerist are important, but they also place a lot of hope in a pair of special pants “that don’t have no butt in them” favored by their lead singer.

Wasn’t that a line from “This Is Spinal Tap”?

What: Penelope Spheeris’ “The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years.”

When: Friday, April 24, at 7 and 9 p.m.

Where: UC Irvine’s Student Center Crystal Cove Auditorium.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south. Go east on Campus Drive and take Bridge Road into the campus.

Wherewithal: $4.

Where to Call: (714) 856-6379.