The Decline of Western Civilization#Soundtrack

Featuring concert footage of Los Angeles punk bands and interviews both with band members, the publishers of Slash fanzine, and with the punks who made up their audience, the film offers a look into a subculture that was largely ignored by the rock music press of the time.

The promotional poster for The Decline (and the record cover of the soundtrack album) featured a close-up frame of Germs singer Darby Crash lying on stage with his eyes closed. Crash died from a heroin-induced suicide before the film was released (the poster was designed before his death).{{cite book |last1=Winwood |first1=Ian |title=Smash! Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion |date=2018 |publisher=Hachette Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780306902741 |pages=8–9}}

Bands included are Black Flag, Germs, X, Alice Bag Band, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and Fear. The Germs' performance was replicated in the 2007 Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret.

• Alice Bag Band (Alice Bag, Craig Lee, Rob Ritter, Terry Graham)
• "Gluttony"
• "Prowlers in the Night"
• Black Flag (Ron Reyes, Greg Ginn, Chuck Dukowski, Robo)
• "Depression"
• "Revenge"
• "White Minority"
• Circle Jerks (Keith Morris, Greg Hetson, Roger Rogerson, Lucky Lehrer)
• "Back Against the Wall"
• "Beverly Hills"
• "I Just Want Some Skank"
• "Red Tape"
• "Wasted"
• Catholic Discipline (Claude Bessy, Phranc, Robert Lopez, Rick Jaffe, Craig Lee)
• "Barbee Doll Lust"
• "Underground Babylon"
• Fear (Lee Ving, Philo Cramer, Derf Scratch, Spit Stix)
• "Beef Bologna"
• "I Don't Care About You"
• "I Love Livin' in the City"
• "Let's Have a War"
• "Fear Anthem"
• Germs (Darby Crash, Pat Smear, Lorna Doom, Don Bolles)
• "Manimal"
• "Shutdown"
• "Richie Dagger's Crime"
• X (Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, John Doe, D. J. Bonebrake)
• "Beyond and Back"
• "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene"
• "Nausea"
• "Unheard Music"
• "We're Desperate"
• "Sex and Dying in High Society"

{{Infobox album

| name = The Decline of Western Civilization

| type = soundtrack

| artist = various artists

| cover = Decline Western Civilization album cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = December 1980

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = {{hlist|Punk rock|hardcore punk}}

| length = 37:31

| label = Slash

| producer = Gary Hirstius and Alan Kutner

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{AllMusic |class=album |tab=review |id=r151092 |first=Alex |last=Henderson |access-date=5 March 2007}}

}}

The soundtrack was released in December 1980 by Slash Records on LP. In the late 1990s it was released on CD as well. Germs singer Darby Crash appears on the soundtrack album cover. He died shortly before the film was released, though the promotional images for the film and album release had been designed before his death.

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Artist

| total_length =

| title1 = White Minority

| writer1 = Greg Ginn

| extra1 = Black Flag

| length1 = 2:27

| title2 = Depression

| writer2 = Ginn

| extra2 = Black Flag

| length2 = 2:23

| title3 = Revenge

| writer3 = Ginn

| extra3 = Black Flag

| length3 = 1:31

| title4 = Manimal

| writer4 = Darby Crash

| extra4 = Germs

| length4 = 2:57

| title5 = Underground Babylon

| writer5 =

| extra5 = Catholic Discipline

| length5 = 3:41

| title6 = Beyond and Back

| writer6 = John Doe, Exene Cervenka

| extra6 = X

| length6 = 2:54

| title7 = Johnny Hit and Run Paulene

| writer7 = Doe, Cervenka

| extra7 = X

| length7 = 2:49

| title8 = We're Desperate

| writer8 = Doe, Cervenka

| extra8 = X

| length8 = 2:45

| title9 = Red Tape

| writer9 = Keith Morris, Greg Hetson

| extra9 = Circle Jerks

| length9 = 1:42

| title10 = Back Against the Wall

| writer10 = Morris, Hetson, Roger Rogerson, Lucky Lehrer

| extra10 = Circle Jerks

| length10 = 1:33

| title11 = I Just Want Some Skank

| writer11 = Morris, Hetson, Rogerson, Lehrer

| extra11 = Circle Jerks

| length11 = 1:15

| title12 = Beverly Hills

| writer12 = Morris, Rogerson

| extra12 = Circle Jerks

| length12 = 1:15

| title13 = Gluttony

| writer13 =

| extra13 = Alice Bag Band

| length13 = 3:45

| title14 = I Don't Care About You

| writer14 = Lee Ving

| extra14 = Fear

| length14 = 3:45

| title15 = I Love Livin' in the City

| writer15 = Ving

| extra15 = Fear

| length15 = 2:16

| title16 = Fear Anthem

| writer16 = Ving / Key

| extra16 = Fear

| length16 = 0:33

}}

• List of cult films

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|https://www.declinemovies.com/|Official website of the series}}
• {{IMDb title|0082252}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|2=The Decline of Western Civilization}}
• {{TCMDb title|id=451438}}

{{Penelope Spheeris}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decline of Western Civilization I, The}}

Category:1981 films

Category:American documentary films

Category:Films directed by Penelope Spheeris

Category:Documentary films about punk music and musicians

Category:Punk films

Category:1981 soundtrack albums

Category:1981 documentary films

Category:Documentary films about Los Angeles

Category:Music of Los Angeles

Category:United States National Film Registry films

Category:1981 directorial debut films

Category:X (American band)

Category:1980s English-language films

Category:1980s American films

Category:English-language documentary films