Rock movies: Head, Gimmie Shelter, etc....

If anyone names "Meeting People Is Easy", I will cry...

when i meant it wasn't flattering i really wasn't talking about the music; i meant *them*. personally. i had a similar feeling watching don't look back... just thinking... what a dick.

Amazingly enough there were some very funny moments in it:

Dee Dee Ramone(!) joined the band and they asked him what it was like to be in GG Allin and the Murder Junkies. He gets this weird look on his face and says "I thought it was going to be called the GG Allin band".

Narrator says "Dee Dee quit the next week".

Well, I guess you had to be there.

If you like circus sideshows you'll like this one.

I vote for _The Rutles_ as well, and of course That Other Comedy Rock Movie. Straightforward appreciation? _The Cure in Orange_. Good recording, good visual, grand show.

The Song Remains The Same is repellant, but I've said that before.

Spinal Tap. Dude... Spinal Tap...

Penelope Spheeris' "Suburbia" - featuring great live footage of classic L.A. hardcore bands TSOL, D.I. and The Vandals.

Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow-Up" - Not necessarily a 'rock & roll' movie, but features an electrifying performance of "Stroll On (Train Kept a Rollin')" by the Beck/Page-era Yardbirds.

"The Hunger" - Another not-necessarily-a-rock-movie, "The Hunger" features Bowie as an ill-fated vampire and Bauhaus opens the film with a nightclub performance of "Bela Lugosi's Dead"

"This is Spinal Tap" - Self-explanatory.

"Ladies & Gentleman...the Fabulous Stains" - Bizarre film about a fictional band starring Diane Lane (pre-"Streets of Fire"), featuring supporting roles by Steve Jones of the Pistols, Paul Simenon of the Clash and Fee Waybill of the Tubes.

"Repo Man" - Another cult classic, the Circle Jerks make a bizarre cameo as a plaid-tuxedo-clad lounge act. Fabulous.

"KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park" - A new frontier in bad ideas, Kiss's made-for-television film debut is a huge gem on the "so bad it's almost sheer genius" crown.

"Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" - Yes, it is indeed gawdawful in virtually every respect, but Aerosmith (still druggy & dangerous, pre- clean & sober, "Permanent Vacation" era) playing "Come Together" in the guise of The FVB (Future Villain Band) is entertaining (despite the fact that they get their asses handed to them by Peter Frampton & the Bee Gees. Alice Cooper's cameo, singing "Because" is kinda kool as well.

"Tommy" - Ken Russell's way-too-long and way-too-odd adaptation of Townshend's pinball odyssey does have its moments, although Ann Margaret rolling around in baked beans (I think) is decidedly not one of them.

"Magical Mystery Tour" - I'm personally very creeped out by this film, although I couldn't tell you exactly why. Some parts of it (the spaghetti nightmare/dream, "Blue Jay Way") are just inexplicably bizzare. Still, it does feature a great performance of "I Am the Walrus."

"Tapeheads" - Great Tim Robbins/John Cusack film featuring Fishbone playing Country-Western Ska in the guise of Ranchbone and the Lords of thew New Church handing in a ribald performance as The Blender Children ("Dick, Don't be a Cunt!") Classic.

....I'll think of more...

i was probably about 15 when i saw it first, but i wonder if, had i been older when i saw it first, whether i would have thought it a load of old toss.

"Abba - The Movie" is also great. The makers correctly realise that straightforward concert movies are dull, so they intercut the live footage with a wafer-thin narrative about some journo following Abba around Australia trying to get an interview with them. Also, any film which tries to claim Abba are a psych band has to be loved.

Do "Quadrophenia" and "Easy Rider" count? They're both top, anyway.

And saying so to some means nothing, and to others leaves nothing to be said.

Heads up to anyone who lives in L.A., the misguidingly named Silent Movie Theater (on Fairfax betw. Melrose & Beverly) is screening a bunch of great-looking music documentaries every Thursday night this summer. This week is "Celebration at Big Sur", next week is a doc on the Wrecking Crew, and... you know, they pretty much all look really interesting. Here's the full rundown.

Years ago I started collecting rock DVDs, but so many of the concert movies were so excruciatingly boring (couldn't finish Last Waltz, Meeting People Is Easy, etc.) that I stopped, especially since I started using Netflix. I have a list somewhere though. I do prefer stuff with a story. Will I be lulled asleep if I rent Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii?

Here's the list.

yes, yes you will be lulled to sleep by live at pompeii. in the most awesome way possible. the interviews, the pacing, hell, a lot of the music is positively soporific. i still highly recommend it.

Tryin' to update my list since 2004. What am I missing?

Concert Films, Documentaries
Dig! (2004) - Insufferable doc on Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dandy Warhols
Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues (2004) - Excellent doc on Hank.
Kill Your Idols (2004) - Muddled doc on post-punk
Some Kind of Monster (2004) - Metallica in therapy!
The Fearless Freaks (2005) - Flaming Lips
New York Doll (2005) - New York Dolls
No Direction Home (2005) - Scorsese's long-lost doc of Dylan's 1966 tour
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2005)
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)
Punk: Attitude (2005) - Another Don Letts rehash of archival footage
We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)
Afro-Punk (2006) - I got to see the premiere with director James Spooner on hand. More about current black musicians growing up in punk scenes rather than a history, it's interesting though a bit amateurish.
American Hardcore (2006)
Glastonbury (2006) - Julien Temple on one of the world's longest running festivals.
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) - Jonathan Demme concert film, who cares. Wish he'd done that CBGB's movie he planned since 1987, before it was too late.
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007) - RIP Joe. DVD comes out July 8, 2008.

Movies, Biopics 'n' Mockumentaries

Ray (2004) - Jamie Foxx does right by Ray Charles
9 Songs (2004) - Grungy, hairy, skinny couple have softporn sex to music
Walk The Line (2005) - Johnny Cash, RIP
Stranger Than Fiction (2006) - Will Ferrel does Spoon!
Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny (2006) - Jack Black
Black Snake Moan (2007) - Samuel Jackson does some blues and keeps half nekkid Christina Ricci chained to radiator
Once (2007) - Glen Hansard of The Frames
I'm Not There (2007) - Extremely pretentious as-ever Todd Haynes has six actors portray Dylan or characters inspired by Dylan's lyrics
Across the Universe (2007) - Musical set to Beatles Tunes
Control (2007) - Joy Division
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) - John C. Reilly in mockumentary plays a mix of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, and bad puns

SLC Punk
24 Hour Party People
Ghost World
Filth and the Fury
Heavy Metal in Baghdad

Neil Young: Greendale

neil young: journey through the past

rock movie fans! the film site http://www.notcoming.com is doing a series called "Rock Follies" which starts up today. I'm contributing -- should be fun.

lol, i am updating this again, exactly two years later! we're doing this thing again, with even more wild & weird music movies. http://notcoming.com/features/rockfollies2/

Two NYC retros that may be of interest: punk/new wave doc & concert stuff showing Thursdays and Fridays (starting this week) at the Museum of Art & Design, and girl punk movies at BAM (in May):

http://www.madmuseum.org/series/go-nightclubbing-archive

http://www.bam.org/film/2014/punk-rock-girls

Cool. Saw the Fabulous Stains movie that's part of the BAM fest. Have not seen all that "Nightclubbing" footage of bands at CBGBs and Danceateria and elsewhere that's at MAD

http://www.cmj.com/feature/qa-gonightclubbing/