Sixto Diaz Rodriguez starred in the 2012 documentary Looking for Sugar Man
Death of musician Sixto Rodriguez, star of the 2012 film The Quest The 81-year-old Sugarman has been drawn to the most obnoxious of movie genres: rock doc.
Love them — or consider them intolerable hagiographic nonsense — our appetite for musical films seems to be insatiable, whether they're a loving tribute or a murderous depiction of pettiness and squalor. On our list, we've largely ditched straight concert documentaries in favor of those that get under the skin of the artist or band. However, there are one or two concert films that are not to be missed, we couldn't resist.
31. bam! (2023)
Director: Chris Smith
Shine! Blonde bouffant! A triumph of light-heartedness over chic, camp energy over icy chill… take you back to the glory days of the 80s with this Netflix documentary. Oddly enough, the film touches on perhaps the most interesting aspects of Wham! history, not least the death of George Michael in 2016 and the life of Andrew Ridgeley after their breakup in 1986.
However, the heady ardor of their four years in the spotlight is well shown, as is Michael's paradoxical everyday stardom. And of course the songs are still playing.
32. Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
Director : A new discovery by Wim Wenders
Ray Coudera on aging Cuban musicians and the subsequent concert at Carnegie Hall became a global phenomenon after its release in 1999.
Wenders' cinematography is great, especially when he shoots in Cuba, and the rogue octogenarians are very cute, but the ruthless presence of Cooder and his son is controversial in the long run. Review still needed.
30. The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead (2015)
Director: Wes Orszosky
Following on from Lemmy, his unexpectedly candid anthem to the Motörhead frontman, director Wes Orszoski's next film unravels the twisted saga of The Damned, hardy punk bastards who, like most real bands, never achieved the success they initially thought they were unenviable.< /p>
Convoluted, funny, and sometimes bittersweet, his film shows a career beyond the reach of the easy life.
The Damned : Don't You Wish That We Were Dead Credit & Copyright: Kaleidoscope Entertainment. 29. Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)
Director: Michael Rapaport
Eighties/Nineties New York hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest were part of a generation of rap that wanted to de-stereotype the genre , creating something unusual and positive.
The film delves deep into this, but also shows with depressing accuracy how the band's personalities, backstories and the vagaries of the music business get in the way of the mission.
28. Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970)
Director: Denis Sanders
While this is partly a concert film shot at Presley's Las Vegas residence in August 1970, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and reporting, which can raise this film out of the ordinary.
Elvis is at the stage of his career in a jumpsuit, but he is still sexy and far from bloated, and the film perfectly combines the energy of rock and roll with the decline of show business (Presley's group of sycophants, the «Memphis Mafia», there).
A wonderful, living documentary of the US tour of a group of gypsy artists from all over the world — two Balkan brass bands, a brightly costumed Rajasthani ensemble, a Spanish flamenco group and sixty-year-old «gypsy queen» Esma Rejepova.
Traveling also through their home villages and enjoying their fiery personalities, the film highlights the village romance of wild holiday folk music. It became especially acute after the death of Rejepova in 2016
26. In the Shadow of Motown (2002)
Director: Paul Justman
You don't have to be a Motown fan to appreciate the Funk Brothers. As the label's own band, they've had more hits than The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys combined.
These often uncredited musicians, led by prominent bassist James Jamerson, helped define the pop sound of the sixties. This is a tribute to the forgotten heroes.
25. 1991: The Year Punk Broken (1992)
Director: Dave Markey
There is a tendency to retrospectively focus on Kurt Cobain in particular, and grunge music in general, as deeply serious, laced with tragedy. But this document, filmed on the fly during Sonic Youth and Nirvana's 1991 European tour, featuring performances by key early musicians such as Dinosaur Jr, revels in what a wacky, punk explosion the whole thing really was.
< img src ="/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bf03c6fd18e5675caae562c93c6281b8.jpg" /> 24. Be Here to Love Me: Townes Van Zandt Movie (2004)
Director: Margaret Brown
< p> “Many of my songs are not sad, they are hopeless,” the hero of this film once explains.
Deployed with rigor and emotional poise, Townes Van Zandt's biography of country music's Who's Who reveals the underdog Texas singer-songwriter as charming, charming and brilliant, but with a truly dangerous edge to him.
23. In Bed with Madonna (1991)
Director: Alex Keshishian
A curiosity from another era, presented at the time as a candid window into Madonna's world. Filmed during the Blonde Ambition tour of the 1990s, at the height of its success, it shows a corny, caustic, kitschy, selfish otherworld that is oddly addictive.
Includes diva interactions with Warren Beatty and Antonio Banderas, and an infamous cameo by Kevin Costner. She famously brushed him off by angrily sticking her tongue out at him after he called one of her backstage shows «neat». You know what they say about the despised Madonna…
A still from the 1991 documentary In Bed with Madonna. Photo: Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo 22. Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire (1974)
Director: Tony Palmer
Shot during Cohen's 1972 tour. Europe, this film was shelved after one screening when the singer objected to it, and only reappeared in 2010, just in time for the revival of his later career.
Cohen has had a reputation for being a curmudgeon and does crack at some point, but mostly he hums with his flamboyance and artistry amid the aftermath of the sixties. And since Cohen's death in 2016, it has become even more important as a portrait of the indefatigable artist.
21. Style Wars (1983)
Director: Tony Silver & amp; Henry Chalfant
This seems to be a documentary about music only indirectly, and not strictly a documentary about rock, since it is mainly about graffiti. This TV doc talks about the roots of hip hop and then trinkets and gangsta posing.
It showcases dynamic, creative and raw New York street culture, where rap is just one facet, along with DJing, breakdancing and urban art.
20. Anvil!: The Story of Anvil (2008)
Director: Sacha Gervasi
An ode to the absurdities of rock and roll life. The Canadian band Anvil was an eighties metal musician; this movie follows the band's main sibling-like duo on a comically seedy contemporary European tour.
While their saga is supremely comical, even Spinal Tap-like, it is also surprisingly touching.
Steve 'Lips' Kudlow in a scene from Anvil!: The Story of Anvil. Jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, released a month after the musician died of drugs at the age of 58, looks amazing.
Baker was once a pin-up, and his heroin-dried adult personality retains sharp, insidious charisma. The film has the same charm, softened by the delightful laid-back West Coast jazz.
18. In Search of Sugar Man (2012)
Director: Malik Benjellul
This Oscar-winning film proved that no matter how obscure the subject, a good story is a good story. American folk rocker Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums in the early seventies that didn't get much recognition and then disappeared. However, his music became extremely popular in South Africa, where all his fans thought he was dead.
This documentary is a smart, gripping detective story that turns into a triumphant celebration of a possible career rebirth. The death of Benjellul, and now his subject, adds a touching, unresolved coda to this extraordinary story.
17. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994)
Director: Steven M. Martin
There are some decent papers on electronic music and, incredibly, none on decades of rave culture. But go back a little in history and you will find yourself in the life of Leon Theremin, the Russian inventor of the original electronic instrument, around 1919.
His story makes an amazingly touching impression connected with the tragedy of Stalin; it is intertwined here with the life and haunting prowess of the theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore. As can be seen from this document, it remains an otherworldly tool: a look into the future, despite being over a century old.
16. Don't Look Back (1967)
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
Fifty years on, it's hard to understand why the gray-haired old Bob Dylan is still considered a key figure in the history of pop music.
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Pennebaker's film of his 1965 visit to Britain is the closest cinematic epiphany, presenting him as a fickle, razor-sharp 23-year-old. Also includes the original video for Subterranean Homesick Blues. That the titanic singer-songwriter is still going strong at 82 is a testament to the vitality captured here.
Bob Dylan in the 1967 documentary Don't Look Back. Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo 15. Glastonbury (2006)
Director: Julien Temple
Instead of following an obvious chronological narrative. , Temple tells the story of the world's greatest festival in a format that mimics the event itself, from packing to camping and leaving full.
It works invigoratingly, interspersing the utopian hippie past with today's wild, hedonistic gigantism, and includes great performances from Pulp, David Bowie, and more.
14. Dig the ground! (2004)
Director: Ondi Timoner
Ondie Timoner's film follows the career paths of two bands, Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre, but focuses on the latter's vocalist, Anton Newcomb. His vision and talent are in an epic, drugged conflict with notions of honesty, while Dandy Warhols are somewhat tempered by the market. n-roll in progress.
2004 excavations! documentary 13. The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
Director: Peter Jackson
Epic, exhaustive and perhaps tiresome, Peter Jackson's maximalist tribute to the Fab Four includes over 200 hours of footage recorded during the making of their 1970 Abbey Road Let It Be album. He turns this passage into a gripping three-part series told over the course of almost eight hours.
Only for finishers? Perhaps: there are many random little things captured here. But perhaps that's the point — this film shows some of the most famous faces on earth, portrayed in human, believable hues.
12. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)
Director: Martin Scorsese
The Beatles : Get Back, a tribute to Peter Jackson to the Beatles (see below), could be longer. But in over three hours, Scorsese's study of the Beatles' «quiet» is exhaustive.
Of course, there is a contemporary Fab Four document, Let It Be (1970), but where it captures a moment in time, it offers a comprehensive portrait of a man who, being spiritual, enjoyed every day.
11. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Successful bands live with each other, recording and touring for decades. Marriage is the only comparable relationship. How is their chemistry going?
This candid description of two years with Metallica offers a rare attempt at an answer that turns out to be: with difficulty. Screaming matches, ugly egos, a rehab center and a ridiculous group therapist make it a compulsive watch.
James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich in Metallica : Some Kind of Monster Credit: Cinematic/Alamy Stock Photo 10. Bros: After the Screaming Stops (2021)
Director: Joe Perlman, David Sutar
«We created mayhem and mania wherever we went, but we didn't have to learn,» says Matt Goss in this intimate portrait of life after fame. Matt and his twin Luke became the youngest musicians ever to sell Wembley in 1980, in a wave of fame that hit the ground just six months later, dividing band and brothers.
This document follows their reunion after 28 years. It's touching, of course, to see the effect of age on both men, but what's most touching is their clumsy attempts to strengthen family ties.
9. Marley (2012)
Director: Kevin McDonald
Kevin McDonald has already won gold thanks to the 2003 mountaineering documentary Touching the Void. His two-and-a-half-hour tribute to Bob Marley is a very different creation, an in-depth assessment of a rising reggae star built in traditional documentary style. becomes extremely exciting. Be sure to watch it before Kingsley Ben-Adir's biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, comes out next year.
8. Summer of the Soul (2021)
Director: Questlove
1969 is known for one landmark festival — Woodstock. But, as this glorious, inspiring document shows, it should be recognized by others as well. The Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place over six weekends in New York City, brought together some black music luminaries such as Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and BB King.
However, the record was buried for half a century. However, thanks to Questlove's immersion, its vibrant excitement comes back to life as it contextualizes the festival as a seismic lane change moment for black culture and music.
7. Gimme Shelter (1970)
Director: Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zverin
Gimme Shelter is a portal to the past as to another country where countercultural ideals rule, but calling women «chickens» is okay. The Rolling Stones' infamous concert at Altamont, which ended in the death of a man at the hands of a Hells Angel security guard, is often referred to as «the death of the sixties».
Film as a Whole is less witty, instead documenting a broader hippie utopianism rambling randomly into commercial realities.
Mick Jagger in Gimme Shelter 6. Filth and Fury (2000)
Director: Julien Temple
Temple is the king of musical documentaries: this Sex Pistols opus is almost on par with his Dr. Feelgood film, Oil City Confidential (2010).
But about that earlier film, Temple had unique insight and access to the Pistols, and he tells an excellent and comprehensive history of punk rock's igniters. John Lydon has been known to shed a tear over the late Sid Vicious, a display of camaraderie towards his bandmates that recent interviews show is all too rare.
5. Miss Americana (2020)
Director: Lana Wilson
Taylor Swift seems to have an unshakable place in popular culture — one of those rare artists who has enough clout to rock entire industries, like when she took it out on Ticketmaster for speculating tickets for her Eras tour.
Yet the genius of Lana Wilson's document is the chill of loneliness that permeates everything that happens. This finds Swift isolated as she attempts to create a more uneven public image and, against the wishes of her irascible management, to be more politically active. She appears as a charming, cheerful figure.
4. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
Director: Penelope Spheeris< /p >
The scene in which WASP guitarist Chris Holmes swims in the pool drinking vodka while his mom scolds him is worth the money.
A fun celebration of LA hair metal's demented glory years, in which many the now forgotten poodleheads boast widely.
3. Peter Green: Man of the World (2009)
Director: Steve Graham
A comprehensive, tragic and intensely compelling BBC4 biography of guitar prodigy and founder of Fleetwood Mac Peter Green, a generous virtuoso whose life has descended from on the rails, ending up on the fringes of psychedelic culture in the 1960s.
It is important to watch whether you are interested in the subject or not: it is undoubtedly a sign of impeccable production.
2. The Last Waltz (1978)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Is this the best live performance ever filmed? Of course, that final Thanksgiving 1976 concert by American-Canadian rockers The Band still gives goosebumps more than 40 years later. This turned out to be very influential. Many musical tastes have been formed after the band went all out with guests such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Unsurprisingly, this is Scorsese's second appearance on this list. He was suggested as an ideal director by Jonathan Taplin, who was also his producer on Mean Streets. And he proves his worth: shot with a subtle, unobtrusive hand, he never forgets that he is here to serve the music, and not vice versa.
Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson at the Cannes Film Festival, where they presented their documentary The Last Waltz. Photo: AP Photo, File 1 Moonage Daydream (2022)
Director: Brett Morgen
How much David Bowie can you fit into one full-length documentary? Morgen pays his wild creative homage to artillery pieces, raising the bar for cinematic fan service to the sky and managing to tip his hat to everything this most mercurial of musicians has accomplished in four and a half decades.
About 45 Bowie songs, including a compelling live performance featuring a young Mick Jagger in the crowd, is a hypnotic vision of the troubled fortieth artist.
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