According to director Penelope Spheeris this film was financed by two businessmen who originally wanted to finance a porn film.
After the film was screened in Los Angeles, punk music fans got into so many fights and caused so much trouble that then-L.A. Police Chief Daryl Gates wrote the filmmakers a letter asking them not to screen the film again.
Both this film and its followups, The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt. II and Pt. III, were for numerous years unavailable on DVD/Bluray, due to a combination of licensing issues, and the director's own reluctance to revisit them. Spheeris had said that she didn't need the money, but-- since she felt that would most likely be remembered for these films over her more commercial/family-friendly efforts like Wayne's World, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Little Rascals-- that she wanted to take her time and made sure that any digital release did them justice. Prior to their much-anticipated DVD/Bluray release in June of 2015, they had only been available by paying for pricey VHS copies on eBay or as bootlegs.
The original negative was thrown in the trash by the film lab it was stored at after said lab went out of business.
Director Penelope Spheeris decided to put Darby Crash on the poster for the movie prior to learning that Crash had died from a heroin overdose.