'Nöthin' but a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal' Reviews: Series "confronts the misogyny and longtime celebration of addiction-ladled revelry associated with the era, the music, and the artists as things to now look back at in shame"

         On September 12, 2024, Paramount+ released 'Nöthin' but a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal', which has earned a mixed reception from critics. In the documentary series, "A fresh and candid behind-the-scenes look at one of music's most iconic eras; each episode showcases the insanity and blazing ambition that has enthralled generations of music lovers and continues to influence culture to this day." But what did the critics say?

       Christopher Campbell of Nonfics says, "If Nöthin' But A Good Time is good for anything, it’s the way it confronts the misogyny and longtime celebration of addiction-ladled revelry associated with the era, the music, and the artists as things to now look back at in shame." Adding, "For the most part, Nöthin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal offers nothin’ new to the history of ‘80s hair metal. It’s a basic behind the music that you used to find on VH1 and now see on Paramount+ with little aesthetic value and a lot of anecdotes in favor of insight. Still, just when I got to thinking that I’d rather recommend The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years instead of this three-part docuseries from Jeff Tremaine (Jackass), it took that classic rock doc to task for its treatment of substance abuse as comedy."

        Joel Keller of Decider notes, "Putting a heavy emphasis on the backstage stories, with all of the sex, drugs, and strange behavior they entail, is what makes this docuseries so entertaining. Tremaine isn’t shy about showing bands surrounded by topless female fans, and he encourages the people he interviews to reveal some outrageous stories. Then some of those stories were animated, making them even funnier." Continuing, "Tremaine is going in a rough chronological order, but doesn’t adhere to it religiously, allowing him to follow a path that connects bands, gigs, songs and songs in a way that makes sense. There is some attention paid to the sticks-in-the-mud who thought bands like Mötley Crüe were “satanic,” but it feels that Tremaine would rather adhere to ethic of the series’ title than be a downer about the fuddy-duddies who didn’t realize one of the Crüe’s first hits was called “Shout At The Devil.”

Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

       Nick Schager of The Daily Beast writes, "The 1980s hair metal scene has already received a definitive documentary account courtesy of Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, and Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal doesn’t outdo it. Paramount+’s three-part docuseries, which premieres Sept. 17, is a non-fiction power ballad for the era of big hair, tight spandex, and rampant debauchery and depravity, reminiscing with an affection that isn’t, alas, matched by its incisiveness. Light on the decade’s biggest luminaries and even lighter on insight, it merely opts for sketchy nostalgia." Concluding, "Hair metal was all about excess, so Nöthin' But a Good Time (based on the book by journalists Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, who appear) is invariably most entertaining when its talking heads recount anecdotes about their over-the-top heyday."