movies about people starting bands

i watched "on-gaku: our sound" yesterday (incredible, highly recommend) and it reminded me that one of my favorite movie genres is "some people start a band." i loved "we are the best!" and need to rewatch it as it feels like the most accurate movie i've seen about starting a band, especially when you're a teenager. but i even have a fondness for the cheesier variety of the genre, from "the commitments" (loved as a preteen, haven't seen in 30+ years) to "sing street" (fine).

what are some other movies about people starting bands?

just to speak more about on-gaku - it's a japanese, hand-rotoscoped movie about three teenage hoodlums who decide to start a band despite knowing literally nothing about music or playing instruments. for some reason it reminded me of wild dada ducks books by daniel pinkwater. the animation is incredible, it's short, it is very funny in a deadpan way, the music is great.

Ladies and gentlemen, the fabulous stains — Diane lane and Laura dern, young Ray winstone, ringers from the Sex Pistols and the tubes.

A mild stretch as the band has already started by the beginning of the movie's timeline, but 'That Thing You Do!' is really underrated imho.

Of course, it's a rise-and-fall story so the events are pretty compressed but the level of detail is stunning, the band is great, the syncing is good for those that care and there's a good director's cut version.

We are the best! is my fave of this genre maybe though

On-gaku sounds great. Love We Are the Best!, I've recommended that to many people.

It's total ridiculous satire but I've been watching The Plateaus on youtube, CBC shorts made by a young Alexis from Schitt's Creek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DZ4mQtE_Fk

Ooh, how about Frank? I remember loving this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_(film)

i really need to rewatch fabulous stains, i only saw it once a long time ago

frank was good iirf

if i remember forrectly

Anyone seen this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Used_to_Be_Famous

I've never seen Josie and the Pussycats and was unaware of the plot:

Meanwhile, MegaRecords CEO Fiona, in a meeting with world government representatives, details how the United States government has conspired with the music industry to hide subliminal messages in pop music to brainwash teenagers into buying consumer products. Musicians who discover the hidden messages in their music are made to disappear via staged plane crashes, drug overdoses and similar disasters.

A bit Q-adjacent

The Britpop/MTV/early-'80s moment is not really my thing, but even so, I really enjoyed Sing Street. Rolling Stone had a list last week of the 40 best songs by fictional bands, many of which were from the movies.

josie & the pussycats is a classic but does not really approach the mechanics of starting or being in a band in any realistic way

We should probably mention School of Rock, so now it's been mentioned.

Down And Out With The Dolls!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283323/

This looks potentially fun (Bollywood movie about a grunge band?):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_On!!

Brothers of the Head has a somewhat realistic early 70s British feel to it (if you ignore the fact it's about conjoined twins forming a band).

Once is adjacent to this genre, and has some great sort of faux-doc scenes of hashing out the music itself (iirc, it's been a long time)

It's a TV show, but "We Are Lady Parts" is/was great.

is The Commitments still good? haven't seen it since about 1995.

Linda Linda Linda is another Japanese example... I don't remember much about it though, except that it had a Jarmusch vibe to it iirc.

Anyone seen Thunder Alley (1985) with Leif Garrett?

The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star

Rock Follies

SATISFACTION!!!!!
LIGHT OF DAY!!

TS: movies from the late 80s about bar bands SATISFACTION vs LIGHT OF DAY

The Runaways movie is enjoyable, mostly bc of the cast

My personal absolute favorite is SATISFACTION. I could write an essay about the reasons I love that movie. It is also very technically about trying to get a band launched and also has the most amazing all star cast ever.

And good songs aside from the one Liam Neeson's character wrote, which is truly abysmal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pybFz8Ns0

The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star was on TV around the same time as Boyz Unlimited, which I remember as being kind of the same show, but about a boy band

also let us not forget Pugwall and his Summer

Wow, Julia Roberts was in Satisfaction? I need to rewatch both that and Light of Day – don't think I've seen either of them since they came out.

When you do you can post to the thread above about your favorite.

Will do!

kind of interested in Daisy Jones & the Six on Amazon Prime which appears to be a Roman a clef about Fleetwood Mac

Rockula

A vampire with sunglasses and a retainer forms a band to save his girlfriend from being bludgeoned to death by a hambone wielding pirate on Halloween.

Cast includes Bo Diddley, Toni Basil and Thomas Dolby.

Also, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Slade in Flame is a great one.

Ex-Drummer

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Drummer

The Punk Syndrome is pretty great, but it's a doc so not sure if it's what you're after...

I just want to add a note that "Down And Out With The Dolls" is really really great and everyone itt should watch it somehow, not sure if it's on any streaming platforms. Kinny Starr as the drummer who treats her boyfriend like garbage! Sooo many Portland OR in-jokes. Lemmy as a homeless guy that lives in the band's closet! Seriously, it's great cheesy fun.

Not a movie, but Landry's band in Friday Night Lights, Crucifictorious, is great (sometimes because they're ridiculous, sometimes not), especially when Devin joins up.

i was thinking yesterday that the movies i love in this genre share a lot of structure with heist movies: they involve recruiting a diverse array of oddball specialists, then there's practice/rehearsal for the main event, there's always an unexpected last-minute obstacle, but then we get to watch the team pull off the goal with skill and aplomb. sometimes there are even double-crosses!

The garage band episode of Freaks & Geeks was as close to reality as I've seen this portrayed.

This is Mission Control requesting permission to rock out.

Haven't seen it in a long time, but the Wonder Years episode where Kevin joins a band made a big impression on me as a kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIbGGwx5CS0

If we are talking TV shows let us not forget Degrassi's ZIT REMEDY

Everybody wants something they'll never give up -- especially if they only have one song and it is dragged out over multiple seasons

DRIVE SHAFT

The garage band episode of Freaks & Geeks was as close to reality as I've seen this portrayed.

That stuff was great too. Weirdest thing was that, musically, the whole episode was centered around the extremely non-garagey Cream.

If we were talking TV shows, let us also not forget Square Pegs and “Open 24 Hours.”