I watched the movie “Velvet Goldmine” over Thanksgiving. It’s about a Marc Bolan/David Bowie character and an Iggy Pop/Lou Reed character. I enjoyed it, though I didn’t understand it.
It got me thinking: what are the best movies about music? Let’s throw out the Chris Guest ones (though I love them) as well as actual musicals. I loved “The Commitments” (you probably couldn’t make a movie about Irish people singing soul music that I wouldn’t love) and “School of Rock”. Documentaries could be a separate part of the genre — I love me some “Behind the Music” and liked “Only the Strong Survive”.
Update. Forgot “The Harder They Come”. Jimmy Cliff isn’t so convincing as a gangster, but this studio scene is great.
joel hanes
I very much enjoyed “That Thing You Do”
Matt Q
I’m gonna recommend East Side Story – a documentary about Communist musicals.
MadamZorba
Almost Famous.
Marc
This is Spinal Tap!
the Conster
Almost Famous. That one scene where the kid fondles the Cream cover is so.great.
jayboat
The Last Waltz- or is that not enough ‘about’ music.
Agree on The Commitments… fabulous flick.
Ben Grimm
High Fidelity?
Amir Khalid
A Hard Day’s Night? Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story? Lizstomania? Ray? The Weird Al biopic trailered on Funny Or Die that isn’t actually being made? (I’d pay to see that one.)
Marcelo
“Amadeus” comes to mind, as does Bakshi’s “American Pop” which has moments of greatness and moments of awful.
I also really like “Shine,” the Australian movie about David Helfgott. I don’t know if that’s ABOUT music per se, but music plays a huge role in it, and I don’t think any other film communicates the greatness of piano composers like Rachmaninoff and Lidzdzszdszt.
Marcelo
I’m so happy someone else mentioned Lizstomania. That movie is so amazingly weird.
BretH
+1 for High Fidelity
I also really enjoyed “Once”
Mullah DougJ
@Ben Grimm:
I was disappointed in the movie. I love the book to an unhealthy level and could quote most of it at one time. I just don’t the music culture translates that well from English to American.
John Cusack didn’t seem like the kind of person who understood that “Al Green Explores Your Mind” is as serious as life gets.
Bill Murray
Documentaries — We Jam Econo about The Minutemen, Color Me Impressed A Film about the Replacements and Teenage Kicks— the story of the Undertones
Movies — Bandwagon by John Schultz — A rollicking rock and roll road trip that will take you to the starving edge of the independent music scene. Charlie, Eric, Tony, and Wynn hardly know each other, but here they are in the most ridiculous, volatile and tenuous of unions: a band. Four young men find themselves hurtling through an exhilarating, sometimes painful adventure that puts them on a collision course with self discovery, or self destruction.
Control by Anton Corbijn about Ian Curtis and Joy Division
Elizabelle
@MadamZorba:
@Marc:
Yes and yes. Almost Famous and Spinal Tap. Would be a great double bill.
Bob
The Sapphires
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ljho1cyEfg
Lurking Buffoon
I’m not seeing any documentaries (or at least, I’m not recognizing any documentary titles) so I’ll get that part of the genre rolling with “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey.” It’s surprisingly good.
EDIT: Of course while I was writing this Bill Murray beat me to it with documentaries.
Knight of Nothing
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is kind of a musical, but it’s awesome. Also, I love the fact that there are three documentaries about Joe Strummer – Westway to the World, Let’s Rock Again, and The Future is Unwritten – and they are all great.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Elizabelle: Though This Is Spinal Tap violates the No Chris Guest rule promulgated in the original post.
The Frito Pundito
Actually, I think one of the films that best captured being a musician was the much-maligned “Ishtar”. The scenes where Dustin Hoffman is playing in a restaurant singing “I’m Leaving Some Love for You in My Will” made me spit up my highball.
Haydnseek
I loved Velvet Goldmine. The Brian Eno pieces throughout were perfect. Eddie Izzard was superb.
Groucho48
Plenty of good movies about music. The cheesiest is probably The Great Waltz, about Richard Strauss the Younger. One of those movies that is so bad it is fun to watch.
Comrade Mary
@Knight of Nothing: Oh, God, yes — Hedwig! Hedwig! Hedwig!
chopper
o brother where art thou?
Villago Delenda Est
@Marc:
Yup. I don’t care if it DOES violate the “no Chris Guest” rule. It’s the DEFINITIVE heavy metal takedown movie…so good that actual heavy metal bands don’t get the jokes…it’s too close to reality.
I’d also like to toss in a vote for Walk Hard.
Knight of Nothing
Also, I’d add Oh Brother Where Art Thou? to this list.
debg
@Lurking Buffoon: also in the documentary class, but less about music: Air Guitar Nation. Side-splittingly funny and wonderful.
geg6
The orginal “The Producers.” I’d also endorse the nomination of “(This Is) Spinal Tap.”
There are no other musicals I can think of off the top of my head that I can sit through without wanting to poke out both my eyeballs and eardrums with knitting needles. But then, I’m not a fan of musicals or musical theater.
Knight of Nothing
@chopper: beat me to it!
MikeJ
Athens Inside Out
That Big Star documentary.
ranchandsyrup
Love the documentaries. Meeting People is Easy (Radiohead). Dig! (Brian Jonestown Massacre/Dandy Warhols). Gouge and loudQUIETloud (Pixies).
Knight of Nothing
@Comrade Mary: I know, right?! I got a chance to see a live production of it as well – sat in the front row. The guy who played Hedwig was amazing.
geg6
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
He only acted in it. It was directed by Rob Reiner. So I think it counts.
If Chris Guest was allowed, “A Mighty Wind” is fucking awesome.
I watched an hour or so of one of the worst musical films I’ve ever clapped my eyes on over the holiday. It was about the Prairie Home Companion and Lake Woebegon. I never listened to that show and now I’m absolutely thrilled that I never did. Awful doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Lee
Funny you should mention The Commitments. I just watched it for the first time this past weekend and loved it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Six String Samurai
Imagine Ingmar Bergman making a wuxia style remake of The Road Warrior shot in slow motion and with all of the symbolic icons being 50s Americana and early rock-and-roll and a soundtrack by the Red Elvises.
“If I were you, I’d run.”
“If you were me, you’d be good looking.”
Bjacques
The Decline Of Western Civilization
X: The Unheard Music
The Boat That Rocked
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Okay, you mentioned one more that I can stand. “Hard Day’s Night” is a masterpiece.
Certified Mutant Enemy
‘Round Midnight
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Two that go back a way (and were sort of, uh, propaganda): Stormy Weather and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@geg6:
I’m not much of a musicals fan, but The Blues Brothers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum are both great.
Villago Delenda Est
@Villago Delenda Est:
I might add that the DVD edition has an in character commentary by the band that is absolutely hilarious.
ranchandsyrup
I am trying to break your heart (Wilco documentary).
Jack Canuck
No contest for me: Hard Core Logo. A fairly low-budget Canadian film about an old punk band taking one last road trip across the country, and it’s awesome. If you haven’t seen it, go out and find a copy. It’s directed by Bruce McDonald (who also did Roadkill and Highway 61), and has cameos from punk personalities like Joey Ramone, Joey Shithead, and Art Bergmann. Probably the only recognizable actor in it to most people is Callum Keith Rennie (aka the cylon Leoben Conoy in Battlestar Galactica). Love it love it love it. Got to get a copy on DVD – maybe I can add it to my Christmas list.
Bill Murray
@Knight of Nothing: I’d second the Joe Strummer docs, and add another The Story of The Alarm
geg6
OT, but I thought this story would be of vital importance to the BJtariat:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/12/cats-recognize-their-owners-voice-but-chose-to-ignore-it/#ixzz2mTfei9ZG
geg6
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I thought the Blues Brothers film cheapened soul music. YMMV.
ETA: And “A Funny Thing…” is exactly everything I hate about musicals. Ugh.
ranchandsyrup
Instrument (Fugazi)
Trollhattan
Even though it’s a performance movie, “Stop Making Sense” is great. “Rude Boy” was flawed and overly long, but captures the era well. the “Quadrophenia” film is good, if never shown. Can’t begin to adequetly express my hatred for the film adaptations of “Tommy” and “Seargent Pepper” other than Ann Margaret in beans.
shelly
The show is great, the movie was awful.
Trollhattan
“Tender Mercies” is a favorite and I have a lot of respect for “Cash.”
Trollhattan
@shelly:
Agreed, the movie was a shambles.
John
I recently watched “A Band Called Death” on Netflix. It’s about three African-American brothers in Detroit who started what could arguably be the world’s first punk band in the early 1970’s. It was very cool. A little melancholy, a little uplifting, as Death never got much attention until after the brother who provided most of the creative drive passed away. I enjoyed it a lot.
Southern Beale
A lot of people say “Once” is a great movie about music, we saw the musical they made out of it on Broadway. I don’t really like that kind of music though so I thought it was kinda boring. But other people like it.
It’s kinda hard to beat The Blues Brothers, I can’t believe no one mentioned it. Maybe it’s considered a musical?
I did like “Walk The Line,” being a Nashville person. And for that matter, “Nashville” is pretty brilliant. Altman isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, though. The most hilarious Nashville movie ever is “The Thing Called Love,” a couple friends of mine worked on that film. It’s so horrifically bad it’s good, in a super campy cheesy sort of way. Funny to see Sandra Bullock when she was just starting out and Trisha Yearwood with her horrible acting.
ranchandsyrup
@shelly: That movie seemed like just an excuse to have Lindsay Lohan on screen.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Trollhattan:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (the movie) is an unholy abomination straight from the deepest pit of hell.
smintheus
Irish Tour ’74, the Rory Gallagher documentary, is as phenomenal as the album from that tour.
Corydon
Spinal Tap deserves its own category, doesn’t it? Not just the best movie about rock and/or roll, but arguably the best comedy ever. Lots of good documentaries about music: Gimme Shelter gives me the chills. As to musicals, anybody who doesn’t like Singin’ in the Rain hates joy, period.
low-tech cyclist
Starstruck (the 1982 movie set in Australia, not any of the other movies by the same title).
Trollhattan
@Trollhattan:
Whoops, should have typed “Walk the Line” without which “Walk Hard” wouldn’t have worked.
(Think I conflated Walk the Line and Ray to get Cash.)
Marcin
24 Hour Party People, about brit pop.
Southern Beale
“The Devil and Daniel Johnston” was also good, a kind of obscure documentary. And we saw “Searching For Sugar Man” when it came out, I just couldn’t believe it. I kept waiting for the hoax to be revealed. Knowing how the music business works I couldn’t believe anyone would sell that many records and no bean counter in the U.S. would step forward to claim their share. But there ya go, guess I was wrong.
MikeJ
@Trollhattan: I liked the movie. I can easily see how if anybody but Altman had directed they could have made a straightforward little movie that nobody hated.
I think being a shambles was part of its charm.
Tokyokie
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Because Joey is the cutest.
But on a more serious note, I’ll throw in with Certified Mutant Enemy about ‘Round Midnight.
Petorado
“The Harder They Come.” The Jamaican patois can be almost impossible to decipher, but it really captures the mood of the time and place and desperation of the lead character. One of the greatest soundtracks ever.
Groucho48
Lady Sings the Blues is great.
For a documentary Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! is about as good as it gets. Especially if you get the bonus disks that show just what an experience it was making the film with Chuck Berry.
American Graffiti isn’t about making music but it shows how music shapes our lives.
Southern Beale
@low-tech cyclist:
Oh I remember that movie!! Went to see it in college with a good friend. We loved that movie. Thanks for reminding me of it!
Of that same era, and not necessarily a music film though music played a big part in it, was the French film “Diva.” God I loved that movie.
Villago Delenda Est
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
While people got tired of Saturday Night Fever‘s soundtrack, I think that movie had much more to do with the wave of anti-BeeGee revulsion that swept the planet in the late 70’s.
Jack Canuck
@Marcin: +1. 24 Hour Party People was really well done (and had a lot of great little cameos too).
Soul On Ice
Documentary: Woodstock
Drama: The Harder They Come
Grover's Bathtub
24 Hour Party People (about the Manchester music scene from the late 70s to early 90s) was a lot of fun.
Edited to add: as at least a couple of others have now noted!
lgerard
We Jam Econo, the Minutemen doc
Don’t knock the Twist, if only for the awesome closing number
Southern Beale
Anyone remember the ’80s film “Ladies And Gentlemen … The Fabulous Stains”? With Diane Lane as a punk rocker? Not a great film by any means.
Villago Delenda Est
@geg6:
Just confirms what we already know.
Dogs have owners.
Cats have staff.
low-tech cyclist
@Southern Beale: I hadn’t thought about it in years, but yeah, Diva was a gem! And glad I’m not the only one who has fond memories of Starstruck. Such a fun movie.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Two films in which the music is an indispensable part of the films themseleves, but isn’t important in moving the plots forward: Goodfellas and Boogie Nights.
Summer
I second the vote for the Big Star documentary. It was wonderful. I also loved “Searching for Sugarman” and “Twenty Feet from Stardom.”
srv
No lurv for Purple Rain?
Harder They Come +1. Help! was the top Beatles movie.
Southern Beale
@geg6:
I’d discount The Producers because a) it’s a musical and b) it’s a musical about making a musical, not about music.
Just my .02.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, I just remembered something else.
All You Need Is Cash
heartlesshackle
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgwFGfKENk8
R-Jud
I quite liked “End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones”, even though I really didn’t care much about the Ramones.
Citizen_X
Gimme Shelter.
And I nominate The Decline of Western Civilization as the most influential music documentary ever. Discuss.
Pharniel
Suck! with damn near everybody and their brother (Including Moby, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Alex Lifeson, Henry Rollins and Malcolm fucking McDowell is about a small time bad trying to break it into the bigs.
Also why no love fore Josie and the Pussycats(2001 vintage). The takedown on boybands was just amazing.
Bluesbrothers may have ‘cheapned’ soul to some but to me it just braught it to a wider audience. 12 Year old me had never heard much Aretha, Cab Calloway or hell most of the people in the movie.
FlipYrWhig
Wait, seriously, did no one else mention Sid and Nancy?
Highway Rob
It’s not the best, but I’d hate to see the thread die without Pink Floyd: The Wall being thrown out there. Yes it’s a musical, but it’s a musical about music, so it ought to count.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Southern Beale:
The original version of The Producers (1968) was not a musical (unless you count the musical numbers in Springtime for Hitler).
Southern Beale
@Southern Beale:
We loved that movie so much, we loved the girls’ style. I think Madonna co-opted it. That was around the time that everything Australian was so hot. We were huge David Bowie fans and his Let’s Dance video was filmed in Australia.
Southern Beale
@Southern Beale:
We loved that movie so much, we loved the girls’ style. I think Madonna co-opted it. That was around the time that everything Australian was so hot. We were huge David Bowie fans and his Let’s Dance video was filmed in Australia.
Summer
@Southern Beale: Diva. Oh my, me too.
MikeJ
The Runaways biopic wasn’t nearly as awful as I expected it to be.
Napoleon
I will throw in a movie I saw in the last year, 20 Feet From Stardom. It may not be the best about music ever but it was well worth seeing.
dexwood
A documentary – Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Give it up for the Funk Brothers.
lgerard
@Citizen_X:
It would be nice to actually see it again
Ripley
“Rock My World” w/ Alicia Silverstone. Great music that inexplicably never made it to a soundtrack.
“The Other F Word” – Nice doc about older punk musicians, family and touring.
Ripley
@Marcin: Cosign this one. More than Britpop though, lest we incur the (mostly toothless) wrath of Mark E. Smith.
BGinCHI
I highly, highly recommend the doc “Sound City” about the old LA area (the valley) studio at which so many great records were made.
It has been playing on that Palladium channel.
Villago Delenda Est
Completely OT: The cretinous swine of Noisemax are at it again:
Obama Not Yet Enrolled in Obamacare
This might be because he’s covered by a government health care plan already? Do ya think?
Southern Beale
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
But it wasn’t about music it was about Broadway show producers.
Southern Beale
@Villago Delenda Est:
Hilarious.
the Conster
This Must Be The Place was a quirky but fun ride – Sean Penn plays a reclusive and retired Robert Smith-like musician who lives in an Irish castle, and whose music is responsible for a suicide decades before. Frances McDormand is his wife. His father, a Nazi hunter, is dying in America and he goes “home”. It’s a collaboration with David Byrne, so you know it’s going to have fun with stagecraft.
Southern Beale
I didn’t mean to reply to myself above. I’m still having troubles controlling my new Magic Mouse. It has a mind of its own.
bg
A little different, but Songcatcher, with Janet McTeer, Emmy Rossum and Aidan Quinn
About a music professor who visits Appalachia to study the incredible Scots-Irish folk songs still sung there.
the a capella singing by Emmy Rossum is just breathtaking
srv
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Summer:
I’ll jump on this bandwagon, too. Wanna see my Nagra?
Villago Delenda Est
Paul Simon’s One Trick Pony…how his own career might have turned out.
Ken J.
@Bob: I loved “The Sapphires.” Dissolute Irish music manager molds an Australian Aboriginal country act into a Motown cover girl group and takes them on a tour of South Vietnam. VERY loosely based on real people — the Dave character is a complete invention.
Though I am still annoyed that the scene where the girl group encounters the Viet Cong on the back roads was deleted from the USA theatrical release. (The scene was in the original Aussie trailer and lots of events are pointing toward it, but in the USA screening, nope, it never happens.) Maybe it’ll appear on a home video release.
But still: I love big sappy sentimental music movies.
Southern Beale
@FlipYrWhig:
I was thinking Sid And Nancy, it’s been ages but I remember it did make the characters seem a lot more sympathetic than I thought it would.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv:
Oh, please. Bashir just wanted someone to improve Grifterella’s breath.
minstrel hussain boy
i actually am a professional musician. it’s my main, and often only source of income.
spike lee’s “mo better blues” is one of the best inside looks into my world. the stupid and petty jealousies, the nagging little indignities, the self absorbtion and obsessive focus on the sounds, all of it, along with some really great music.
Trollhattan
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
Maybe not intended as such, but I can “sing” the tunes on command, which is more than I can say for most musicals. Come to think of it, I can also, too dredge up “The French Mistake.” Mel loves him some show tunes. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” anybody?
dexwood
@Villago Delenda Est: I had forgotten about that one. It’s pretty good. Loved the dead rock stars game.
Ken J.
@bg: Ooh, “Songcatcher,” another fine one, especially for folkies.
It’s a musical and doesn’t count, but I still love “Phantom of the Paradise,” Brian DePalma’s mashup of “Phantom of the Opera” with “The Picture of Dorian Grey” and setting it in the dissolute rock world of the early 1970s.
Southern Beale
Alrighty I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks for the diversion, folks.
Citizen_X
@lgerard: Amen.
@MikeJ: IMO, the price of admission/watching was justified by one shot: the one where Joan Jett blows pot smoke into Cherie Currie’s mouth and starts making out with her as the lights go red and I Wanna Be Your Dog starts. Talk about smoking hot.
Suffern ACE
On the foreign front, There is a Chinese movie called “Father” about a violin prodigy and his poor father moving to Beijing to move him into the classical musician production system. It is a weeper, but it did make me feel the need the call my father and thank him for everything he did for me.
There is also an interesting movie from Japan called “Linda Linda” about a bunch of girls who are forming a band for a spring festival at their school. Its one of those movies where nothing much happens, because it is high school, but there is a dream sequence where the lead guitar player ends up with Johnny Ramone’s hand that I remember well.
Then, for those inclined to sit through ten part Japanese TV Dramas, there is a romantic comedy “Nodame Cantabile”, a story about kids at a classical music college that I thought was goofey fun to watch without subtitles. Enough so that I tracked down a DVD that had subtitles so I could understand what was going on. The follow on series, specials and movies to the story haven’t been as good as the first ten episodes.
Bob
@Ken J.: I’m a Vietnam vet so I saw a lot of those touring groups while I was there. Brought back some fond/not so fond memories.
MikeJ
Respect Yourself, The STAX Records Story
Wattstax
And of course James Brown on the TAMI show, same tape I’ve had for years.
lamh36
Jeez,
Jeez, this may be the whitest list of comments I’ve ever seen…lol.
No love for “The Five Heartbeats”, people actually thought is was based on the true life Temptations, but it wasn’t really.
How about Cadillac Records?
And yeah Dreamgirls was a musical, but it was also really about the music industry.
How’s about Krush Groove?
Comrade Mary
@Southern Beale: Not great, but lovable nonetheless.
wr
No love here for Nashville?
Roberto
“Rude Boy”, overlook the wooden acting & bask in Joe Strummer’s charisma as he washes a Red Brigades t-shirt in a hotel sink.
Also, for anyone who has ever played in a really bad band, there are some true-to-life cringe-worthy moments in “Georgia”, with the band Jennifer Jason Leigh’s involved with, not the sort-of-boring parts about her more successful older sister. It’s like a love poem to anyone who has ever failed in public.
And finally, even though it often makes it onto the list of all-time worst movies ever, there is “Ishtar”, especially the scene where Warren Beatty is driving an ice cream truck and is in the middle of composing what sounds like a truly horrible pop song, and is so caught up in it that he’s oblivious to the kids running alongside the truck waving their ice cream money and yelling at him to slow down.
Bob
@FlipYrWhig: I finally saw “S and N” about two months back. It was mentioned as one of the Ten Best by either Siskel or Ebert the year of its release. No doubt it, great movie.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mullah DougJ: In the movie, they do switch from soul to alternative for the obsession. I know enough of music obsessives (I dabble on the fringes of it) here in the US that I found it realistic.
@Marcin: Great one.
@FlipYrWhig: Along with Sid and Nancy, there are Alex Cox’s other great works Repo Man and Straight to Hell. Not about music per se but lot’s of good music in ’em.
Honus
At the risk of being tragically square, I really like Jailhouse Rock. Also, The Legend of 1900, especially when he lights Jelly Roll Morton’s cigarette on the piano strings.
steve
The Competition is the only movie I’ve seen that accurately depicts the way classical music people think and behave.
Hangover Square is more of a thriller than a music movie, but it’s amazing. It’s about a British composer who becomes a serial killer during his occasional blackouts. Incredible music by Bernard Herrmann, including a justifiably famous piano concerto heard in the final scene.
Chat Noir
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (about a group of NJ teenagers trying to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan)
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: Re: Cox, I always meant to watch _Walker_ but never got around to it.
kevinthehen
Festival Express – documentary about the Woodstock-like festival that traveled across Canada by train. Best Janis Joplin footage ever, fun footage for the musicians hanging out on the train including members of the Grateful Dead and The Band among many others. Sha Na Na!
eldorado
documentary: heavy metal parking lot – exactly what it says on the tin
performances: urgh! a music war and songs for cassavetes, which give a great taste of the ’80’s punk/new wave, and ’90’s indie scene respectively
Turner Hedenkoff
I watched “The Decline of Western Civilization” and “Repo Man” back-to-back in high school and was warped for life. Not that I’m complaining … I’d put “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “The Filth and the Fury” right up there with “Decline.”
Citizen_X
@FlipYrWhig: The movie’s pretty meh. Watch it for the “making of…” stuff that includes a bearded Strummer screwing around and telling stories.
Omnes Omnibus
@Turner Hedenkoff: I like Westway to the World better than The Filth…
catclub
There was a performance movie made by Tom Waits. I would at least like to see the whole thing – it
was on cable when I was traveling somewhere. It seemed pretty interesting.
Now I have to find the title: Big Time
Origuy
Coal Miner’s Daughter is a really good biopic, and Sissy Spacek nailed Loretta Lynn. Tommy Lee Jones was good, too.
Nobody mentioned La Bamba?
kindness
I’m gonna say Rocky Horror Picture Show even though it isn’t the best musical. It’s the best movie that ever killed Meatloaf which is worthy in it’s own.
Does Heavy Metal count? Fine animation with lots of substance abuse.
catclub
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I think there was a Nagra in the movie “Diva”.
Mullah DougJ
@lamh36:
I liked Dreamgirls.
JoyceH
@Origuy:
Was just gonna say.
Oh, and how about Trick? It’s actually a sweet little romance about a couple young gay guys who meet and roam around NYC looking for a place to have sex, but can’t find a place but wander around all night and fall in love – but the naive young hero wants to write musicals and the scenes from his musical class are pretty hilarious.
Richard Fox
I loved “Topsy Turvy” –think it came out 10 years or so ago, about the genesis and first production of the Mikado. Truly beautiful to look at and listen to.
Omnes Omnibus
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, anyone?
Captain Goto
“All Dolled Up”, about Arthur “Killer” Kane and the reunion of the New York Dolls for a gig after 30 years. Enlightening, entertaining and surprisingly poignant.
Captain Goto
Oops. That shoulda been “New York Doll”… Who’d a think there would be two docs about them in the same year (2005)?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436629/
Teddy Salad
@Villago Delenda Est: Yep. Still funnier than hell. How about “The Kids Are Alright?” Your headline came from a Who song after all.
Pharniel
OH hey. “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” anyone? Depressing as hell.
There was that biopic of Ray Charles a few years back as well.
If I’m allowed to go a little…weebawoo there’s the Miyazaki tearjerker Whisper of the Heart. Also Too, K-ON for the sillyness.
Sebastian Dangerfield
Tony Gatlif’s Latcho Drom. Tells the story of the Roma people’s journey from Rajastan through the Middle East and North Africa and into Europe, using no dialog, no voice-over, no titles. Just music and great mise en scene.
Montysano
Already mentioned, but yes to Hard Day’s Night, Searching for Sugarman, A Band Called Death and Almost Famous.
How about The House That Ahmet Built, a documentary about Ahmet Ertegun. The guy had an amazing life, made a huge impact on modern music, and died after falling and hitting his head…. backstage at a Stones show….. at age 83. Making a proper exit: that’s how it’s done.
I enjoyed The Devil and Daniel Johnston, as well as You’re Gonna Miss Me (about Texas psych rocker Roky Erickson), although both bordered on voyeuristic/exploitative, as they were focused on the mental illness of both musicians.
Downpuppy
Roadie is the greatest movie ever made, period.
The Thing Called Love, Baja Oklahoma and Songwriter are good, but not Roadie.
The Boys & Girl from County Clare is also pretty good.
Villago Delenda Est
@kindness:
“What’s for dinner?”
“NOT MEATLOAF AGAIN!”
Eric k
Lots of great ones already named, one I don’t think anyone has brought up: Bird
Mike E
I always bookmark these threads. Got some catching up to do!
Searching for Sugarman is the epitome of a great docu, because it astonishes. That’s all you ever need to look for in the pursuit of art, and life, really.
LT
His singing makes me weep. God almighty.
Omnes Omnibus
loudQUIETloud
MikeJ
How about Gus van Sant’s Last Days, a thinly veiled Cobain pic?
Omnes Omnibus
@MikeJ: Does it blame Courtney?
Marina
Robert Frank’s documentary (never authorized for release by the Stones), Cocksucker Blues, the T.A.M.I. Show in its entirety, except for Leslie Gore, Les Blank’s documentary about Lightnin’ Hopkins, and, I know this sounds tacky, but the first song in Grease. Also the opening chords to Fever Pitch. And West Side Story.
SFAW
@MikeJ:
If DougJ were policing the comments, he might issue a stinging retort for that one.
SFAW
And with everyone gettin’ all misty for Sid and Nancy, wot wiv it bein’ a biopic and all, no love for Immortal Beloved? I think the main character might have had maybe a touch greater impact on music. Plus, it has some British guy in the lead, but I can’t remember his name ’cause I’m an old man.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: And Valeria Golino.
While Ludwig van had more influence on music than Sid V., IB didn’t have the romantic kissing while garbage falls scene that S&N did.
Kbeagle
Tape heads. John cusack and Tim Robbins making crazy music videos. I loved the dancing to the swanky modes.
Downpuppy
In the event anyone is starting to think it’s impossible to make a really bad music movie : Eddie & the Cruisers: Eddie Lives , Streets of Fire, White Christmas…
Omnes Omnibus
@Downpuppy: Grease II.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good point. Nor did it have Ludwig shooting that verdammt mynah, so there’s that.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
FSM will smite you for that one.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Downpuppy mentioned bad. I provided bad.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, but there are certain lines one does not cross.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Sorry.
JerryN
While The Buddy Holly Story was a pretty standard biopic, Gary Busey was just amazing in it. Also, I have a soft spot for Light Of Day since it was (very loosely) based on my favorite bar band, The Generators, and at least some of it was filmed in the Euclid Tavern, home of The Mister Stress Blues Band as well as a frequent gig for The Generators. The Numbers Band, and iTal.
Omnes Omnibus
@JerryN: Light of Day? Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox as brother and sister? I was unable to suspend disbelief.
JerryN
@Omnes Omnibus: The movie’s a guilty pleasure of mine because of the time and place that it came from. For a $2 cover you got a band like this playing in a biker bar that needed to be fumigated before it would qualify as a dive. I miss those days :-)
Omnes Omnibus
@JerryN: As long as we are doing Ohio memories, this was my place in Columbus while I was in law school – early to mid 90s.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Link fail. And when it’s unsnarled it goes to that Emotions video you linked earlier.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: @Steeplejack: Retry.
ETA: Hipster music snob stuff, but you knew that. Horrible smelly venue with an iffy sound system, but it booked great bands.
KS in MA
“Amadeus”
“Meeting Venus”
neoconstantine
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains” about a girl punk band with Diane Lane, Laura Dern, Fee Waybill, Paul Simonon written by Nancy Dowd who wrote Slapshot, photographed by Bruce Surtees about whom. you know, directed by Lou Adler who produced Rocky Horror. The tour bus driver was a black guy called Lawnboy.
Ahead of its time
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Interesting.
handsmile
When you show up this late to a party, you gotta expect that most of the good ones – be it potables, pharmaceuticals, potential partners – or in this case movies about music – will have already been taken.
Let me just add a +1 to: Cocksucker Blues; The Death of Western Civilization; Mo’ Better Blues; Nashville; Round Midnight; Topsy Turvy; and 20 Feet from Stardom.
But here are a few more that have caught my eyes and ears over the years (some, admittedly, a little or a lot obscure):
Aria (opera at its cheesiest)
Carmen Jones
The Fabulous Baker Boys
Fitzcarraldo
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
Orchestra Rehearsal
The Piano Teacher (also The Piano)
Quartet
Straight No Chaser
Three Colors: Blue
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
And I’m so eager to see the Coen Brothers latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, about the folk music scene in 1960s New York City. Early reviews have been rhapsodic, with claims it might be their best one yet.
Omnes Omnibus
@handsmile:
That trilogy may well be my favorite set of movies. Oddly, I never thought of Bleu as a music movie, yet it is – when viewed on its own.
handsmile
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m pleased to know that. Whatever Kieslowski intended with the trilogy – its thematic connection to liberte, egalite, fraternite – I’ve always viewed/appreciated each one as a separate film. And Blue is my favorite. Or it is until I see Red. (and oh yes, there’s Julie Delpy in White – but as she’s a French blonde, perhaps not your tasse de the).
Omnes Omnibus
@handsmile: Irene Jacob in Red is gorgeous. Blue is probably the the best stand alone movie of the three. Although The Double Life of Veronique, also starring Mlle Jacob is damn good.
handsmile
@Omnes Omnibus:
On the matter of la belle Irene and on French brunettes in general, I can but defer to your expertise and sophistication, mon ami.
Turner Hedenkoff
@Omnes Omnebus: You know, it’s one of the great lapses in my cinematic education that I never saw “Westway to the World.” I’ll have to fix that.
Nancy B
Smithereens, about a punk scene hanger-on exploiting whoever she can, is worth a viewing. Richard Hell has a prominent role, and music by the Feelies is used to great effect.
scottinnj
It’s about Music involving lip syncing in drag but I would give a big shout out to “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”. Hugo Weaving is great in this film and you won’t look at Mr Smith or Elrond the same way again.
Porco Rosso
I made the mistake of showing a Bowie/Roxy fan Velvet Goldmine. He didn’t like it.
Todd Haynes later made the Dylan bio pick I’m not there which gave us this lovely number by Mira Billotte:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIYlAdxlIzI
There are a couple of fun musical anime shows out there I can recommend (Though I’d almost count FLCL for the soundtrack alone–go Pillows). Beck: Mogolian Chop Squad — a series about a kid who wants to play his telecaster in a band, and The Kids On the Slope — a bittersweet look at teens obsessed with Jazz in the ’60s.
Graham
Tom Dowd and The Language of Music
Ron Thompson
The Ramones in “Rock And Roll High School”, and of course an early rock and roll all-star cast in “The Girl Can’t He’p It”