Veteran indie artist Ben Lee has proclaimed his new clip for his song "Heavy Metal" the "greatest music video I've ever made."
While we haven't seen a whole lot of Lee's previous music videos, we're taking his word for it because the video for "Heavy Metal" is pretty awesome.
In the clip directed by his friend Nash Edgerton, Lee recreates iconic scenes from Penelope Spheeris' 1988 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.
In the film, which was the sequel to the 1981 documentary on the Southern California punk scene The Decline of Western Civilization, Spheeris examined the metal scene that dominated Los Angeles in the late '80s.
"The video is pretty much a shot for shot recreation of the seminal Penelope Spheeris music documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, which you can watch for free on YouTube," Lee writes on the Weirder Together Substack he shares with his wife, actress Ione Skye.
"We tried to be as true to the period and vibe as possible, even shooting the video on film, which is a pretty rare thing these days," he added. "I'd forgotten that the limitations of film force you to make decisions on the go, not shooting forever to assemble to final product in post."
In the clip, a wig-wearing Lee recreates classic scenes from the film, including Paul Stanley of KISS lying in bed with a bunch of scantily clad women, Ozzy Osbourne preparing himself breakfast wearing a leopard-print robe, Alice Cooper standing next to a noose, a drunk Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. on a pool float talking about getting loaded on the road while his mother looks on, and more.
"Heavy Metal" is from Lee's forthcoming album, The Ones for the Old Headz, which Lee says was "recorded to tape over three days with the greatest rhythm section on the planet (Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy). We were focused, streamlined and committed."
Wurster and Narducy made news earlier this year backing actor Michael Shannon in a critically acclaimed R.E.M. tribute band, which was so good even all four members of R.E.M. came out to see -- and perform with them -- when they played the band's hometown of Athens, Ga. in February.
Watch Ben Lee's "Heavy Metal" video below along with a few scenes from The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years.
