Nothin' but a good (sad) time in The Metal Years.

Good news, good news, May is Metal Month on VH1 and VH1 Classics. Ah, metal, a musical genre near and dear to my heart. I admit it, I am a metalhead. I still am to this day. I have already watched the 40 greatest metal songs in the history of history. Last night, as I was going through my guide, I noticed that next Thursday two new Behind the Musics will premiere. The focus of these new episodes? Ratt and Pantera. Two of my favorites. Ask Bratch, I always thought Ratt got the short end of the glam/hair metal stick. They were just as important as Motley Crue.

Anyway, last night I watched a documentary called The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. This doc focused on metal in the late 80’s. It was all at once funny and sad. To see what these idiots looked like and most of them drunk or high during interviews were so crazy. Ozzy, Lemmy, Dave Mustaine, and Poison played a big part in the doc as the ones who “made it.” They talked about what it was like before the fame and money, they talked about girls and drugs and alcohol, and some even warned against becoming a rock star.

The sad part was all the bands that never made that the doc focused on. I should say that at the time of the doc, these bands did not know that they didn’t make it. Every one of them was asked what they would do if they didn’t make it. None of them believed they wouldn’t. They all were confident they would be huge. Those who did answer the question of what they would do if they didn’t make it said they would kill themselves or become a bum because they did not know how to do anything else but rock. Well, that is a little funny.

Then we move to the weirdest/saddest part of the doc. The director was interviewing Chris Holmes, guitarist for W.A.S.P., at his home. I assume it was his home; he was in the swimming pool in some sort of floaty chair in his leather pants and leather shirt. He was also s*@t-faced drunk. He was talking about how many women he had had at one time, how he was a full blown alcoholic, and how he would rather be broke and happy than rich and what he was now. Did I mention he did this entire interview in front of his mother? There’s the sadness. He had several bottles of vodka floating in the pool with him and at least two times he opened one up and just turned it up and drank for about 10 to 15 seconds. It was very uncomfortable to watch. Click the link to check this part of the movie out.

This doc is not on video or DVD and that is a shame. If you have any interest, you will just have to check your guide on VH1 or perhaps VH 1 Classics to rerun this later in the month. It’s a scene, man.