The 10 Greatest Rock Documentaries of All Time, Part 2

With its flash and power chord panache, rock and roll has always been ripe for cinematic exploration. From the fictional stories based in the medium to the concert films that find emotional epiphanies in the strangest of song couplets, music makes for memorable movies. There is just something universally unreal about someone — or group of someones — who can transform mere words and arranged notes into an anthem, a ballad, or the soundtrack of your life. Even more amazing are the backstories involved. Some of these people are barely passable as human. Instead, they are a surreal combination of person and performance, their onstage act meshed with this doubts and disconnects of their everyday existence to form that most mighty of myths: the rock god.

Okay, we’ve been through this already. Twice. Yet there are still at least 10 more memorable rock documentaries that need to be mentioned. If you remember, the first time around, we featured films like the ones offered here: examples of the format which features rock bands (or their personal offshoots) in both fact and performance mode. Again, it’s a question of intent. Is the film featured meant to be a mere accounting of a group’s existence, or does it want to simply showcase them doing what the supposedly do best (or at the very least, better than others). In this case, we’ve made allowances for those titles who take a blatantly bifurcated view. Most of the movies listed have extensive onstage/screen material, but it also doesn’t dilute the story being told. After all, any overview of any artist would have to feature their art, right?

Let’s begin with a cult classic…

 
#10 – The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle

This is not really a documentary as much as a document, a testimonial to the marketing hyperbole of manager Malcolm McLaren and the gullibility of the British public circa the mid-’70s. Today, the antics of the Sex Pistols would barely register a mention in the media. Back then, they were the end of civilization as they knew it. Mixing interesting performance footage with interviews, anecdotes, and leftover material from the first go at the film, the result is a scrapbook to a scandal that really was nothing more than music as merchandising.

 
#9 – Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

What would you expect from the seminal Canadian power trio that’s managed nearly five decades in the limelight without a single significant scandal or split? Rush have always been the nice guys of proto prog-rock, and this indepth look at their entire career cements said reputation. But it also offers intriguing details like Geddy Lee’s connection to the Holocaust and the horrible tragedies that befell drummer Neil Peart. With a collection of testimonials from current, “cool” musicians and a wealth of rare footage, this film is actually cited as the reason for the band’s recent induction into the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 
#8 – Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

One of the great things about the documentary is that it can introduce audiences to heretofore overlooked individuals who’ve either struggled for the recognition they deserve or showcase how some who once had fame are now struggling to recapture said lightning in a bottle. Such is the story of Scott Walker, a famous ’60s singer who turned wildly experimental in his later life, resorting to the kind of sonic eccentricities that would make Brian Wilson look sane. Executive produced by David Bowie (who lists the musician as a major influence) and showcasing the production of his 2006 release, The Drift, the results are a revelation.

 
#7 – Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways

Frankly, this film deserves higher placement on this list. The only reason why we’ve knocked it down a bit is because, without the participation of Joan Jett, we’re only getting a percentage of the story. The rest of the band is present and accounted for, along with the eternally lecherous legend (and manager) Kim Fowley. In fact, some of the revelations about the wildly eccentric behind the scenes Svengali border on the criminal. Mixing the more sensational with the straight forward sales pitch the group presented (jailbait sex to hormonally driven males), we get a backstage peek that’s both shocking and, sadly, very, very familiar.

 
#6 – The Legend of Leigh Bowery

Leigh Bowery was not a rock star. He played in a few bands and lent his likeness to other acts. But for his iconic persona, an image and symbol of the growing New Romantic/Blitz movement in England circa the early ’80s, he’s a god. As a peculiar performance artist who used his body as a canvas, he pierced his cheeks and bound himself in outrageous costumes, all for the purpose of being the bigger than life of the perpetual club scene party. The sequences showing off Bowery’s skill as a designer and adamant agent provocateur provide the kind of historic proof that no collection of complimentary talking heads can.

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#5 – The Nomi Song

Another outstanding biography of another oddball performer. Presenting a kind of future shock harlequin facade and singing contemporary songs in a castrati’s operatic falsetto, Nomi became a fixture of the underground club scene both in New York and, later, the rest of Europe. He even made an unsettling appearance during the 1979 season of Saturday Night Live. Laden with amazing performances from the man (his stage work always resembled a weird horror show sci-fi experience if imagined by a Germanic Parliament/Funkadelic) as well as insights into his troubled life (as a gay man, he was witness to the AIDS epidemic first hand), it’s a stunning story of an amazing artist.

 
#4 – Made in Sheffield

You think punk was the real wake-up call the dinosaur sodden music industry needed? Keep dreaming. As proven by this provocative overview of the rise of synthesizer-based pop in England, the most experimental and in your face sounds were coming from the tiny title community. Bands like ABC, the Human League, and Heaven 17 merged with avant-garde acts like Cabaret Voltaire and Comsat Angels to create the definitive post-modern movement. Sure, anyone could pick up a guitar and bash out three monotonous chords. But the Sheffield sound revolutionized the entire industry, an influence that can still be felt in today’s high tech Auto-tuned world.

 
#3 – The Wrecking Crew

It’s a shame that massive rights issues are keeping this amazing film from a wide release. Those who remember the sunny Summer of Love and the music that came both before and after will instantly recognize the sound created by this collection of seasoned studio musicians. Heck, they were Brian Wilson’s “house band” during his time as the Beach Boys mastermind. Without them, there’d be no Pet Sounds or “Good Vibrations”. With interviews featuring the surviving members as well as rare performance footage, the result is a revelation, a window into a world which crafted the soundtrack for an entire era.

 
#2 – Let It Be

It was meant to be a return to basics, a chance for the Beatles to toss off the trappings of their late ’60s psychedelia and ‘get back’ to being a rock band. What it turned into was a celluloid testimonial to a once great act slowly falling apart. The cameras were supposed to be there to capture the magic of making music. What it caught instead were squabbles, sadness, and the certainty that the Fab Four weren’t going to stick around much longer. Sure, the guys came together to make one more amazing album (Abbey Road), but this is the real story of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

 
#1 – The Clash: Westway to the World

They were the rock star answer to the Sex Pistols, a band that broke the pure punk mold to become a movable feast of genres and approaches. By the time Mick Jones was “fired”, the Clash had conquered the pop charts as well as the concert stadiums. But as this timeless documentary illustrates, there was so much more to their story than “White Riot” or “Rock the Casbah”. With infighting and personal problems in abundance (including drummer Topper Headon’s drift into heroin addiction), we see that, as much as they succeed onstage, they struggled behind it. It’s a truth that makes their talents all the more epic.