Movies About Music / Musicians

Alex-B-Broadway · 2012-07-07T16:22:36+00:00

A list of movies about music / musicians - some are concert films, some are straight documentaries and others are fiction. These are only the ones I've seen...

Movies About Music / Musicians

IceCreamMan

Squonk wrote: Cadillac Records - all about Chess Records. I enjoyed it, maybe not 100 percent accurate, but a good watch.

+1 . loved that flick

Jack-Flash-Jr

Gimme Shelter is a must watch:

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And this is a blast:

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Great Balls of Fire!

Let's Get Lost about Chet Baker... awesome:

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End of the Century about Ramones, also good:

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Townes Van Zandt doccie, must see:

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Psean

I enjoyed this:
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Nitebob

+1 on great balls of fire...well played by Dennis Quaid....

Funny nobody has mentioned the run of the mill stuff....Ray, La Bamba....

LooneyAtTheGate

Averatu wrote: Eish, Some kind of monster got painful, those guys had massive opinions about themselves. Not a Metalica fan at all, so I did not expect much and lost what little respect I could have had for them as people. And showing Dave Mustaine crying like that was pretty lame.

I generally enjoy the added bonus parts of live dvds as much as the show. The on tour behind the scenes stuff of bands ludicrous drunken antics, my favourite being = the dvd has crudloads of live bootleg live videos.

That Mastodon clip is hilarious!! ?
And very informative!

Alex-B-Broadway

X-rated Bob wrote:At home I have a doccie on DVD about the "Voelvry" tour in SA in the 80s. It came inside a book about the tour. Some great interviews - recent and "at the time".

I'd love to get to see that one. Never knew there was a DVD about it. I saw some videos of the Voëlvry Tribute Show on YouTube a few days ago, which was cool. Bit off-topic, but I'd like to get my hands on a copy of Koos Kombuis' autobiography too, always thought it should be an interesting read.

X-rated Bob wrote:IMO the best documentary about Hendrix is the one simply titled "Jimi Hendrix".

Been meaning to watch that one again. I'm going through a bit of a Hendrix-phase. Digging out all his albums and listening through them. Lately trying to play along with some of them too (often at 3 in the morning - unplugged, of course, just in case the rest of the house doesn't appreciate it as much as I do).

Nitebob wrote:Funny nobody has mentioned the run of the mill stuff....Ray, La Bamba....

I mentioned those in my original post, I think.

Scorched wrote:And one that every wannabe rock star must see is Spinal Tap.

It's a nightmare to find.

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. ?

Nitebob

Alex B Broadway wrote:
Nitebob wrote:Funny nobody has mentioned the run of the mill stuff....Ray, La Bamba....
I mentioned those in my original post, I think.

My bad Alex...you did... ?

Watched Crazy Heart two nights ago....not too gripping for me, but a lot of insight into songwriting and inner workings of the music industry...

Alex-B-Broadway

I guess Music & Lyrics could count too, if that's your thing.

I started watching a six part BBC documentary now called "I'm in a Rock 'n Roll Band". The whole thing is about six hours long. It seems cool so far.

Skylark

Some good stuff to watch , the Bb King one looks interesting...

V8

IceCreamMan wrote:
Squonk wrote: Cadillac Records - all about Chess Records. I enjoyed it, maybe not 100 percent accurate, but a good watch.
+1 . loved that flick

Thank you both gents! I watched this solely on your reccomendations, no imdb checks beforehand and I was completely surprised - Should have clicked "Chess Records" and the Chess boxsets I've got...Muddy, Howling, Etta - some great acting (and performances) imo - great watch.

a two fiction movies we might have not yet mentioned :

Dreamgirls - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443489/
Black Snake Moan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/ - One of my favourites, maybe because Samuel L Jackson is really playing guitar in this one ? Or perhaps Christina Ricci....errrrr :-\

Bob-Dubery

V8 wrote: Black Snake Moan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/ - One of my favourites, maybe because Samuel L Jackson is really playing guitar in this one ?

Some actors are musicians too. Bruce Willis and Russell Crowe both have bands. Johnny Depp and Stephen Segal are both good guitar players. Clint Eastwood is a very fine piano player.

And, these days, when the actor can't play he gets taught. The first instance of this I recall was the guys who acted in Olive Stone's "The Doors". They all got tuition so that the concert scenes would look realistic.

Nitebob

X-rated Bob wrote:
V8 wrote: Black Snake Moan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/ - One of my favourites, maybe because Samuel L Jackson is really playing guitar in this one ?
Some actors are musicians too. Bruce Willis and Russell Crowe both have bands. Johnny Depp and Stephen Segal are both good guitar players. Clint Eastwood is a very fine piano player.

And, these days, when the actor can't play he gets taught. The first instance of this I recall was the guys who acted in Olive Stone's "The Doors". They all got tuition so that the concert scenes would look realistic.

Okay, but blues guitar isn't a easy thing to play. How can he just "learn to play" in a way it takes other people years to invest into? You think it was actual in depth learning and understanding, or "here's the lick, learn how to play it"?

Bob-Dubery

Nitebob wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote:
V8 wrote: Black Snake Moan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/ - One of my favourites, maybe because Samuel L Jackson is really playing guitar in this one ?
Some actors are musicians too. Bruce Willis and Russell Crowe both have bands. Johnny Depp and Stephen Segal are both good guitar players. Clint Eastwood is a very fine piano player.

And, these days, when the actor can't play he gets taught. The first instance of this I recall was the guys who acted in Olive Stone's "The Doors". They all got tuition so that the concert scenes would look realistic.
Okay, but blues guitar isn't a easy thing to play. How can he just "learn to play" in a way it takes other people years to invest into? You think it was actual in depth learning and understanding, or "here's the lick, learn how to play it"?

Good questions.

Of course there is the possibility that Jackson, like Depp, who did his own guitar playing in the movie "Chocolat", is actually a good guitar player.

I don't know. They may not have to play entire songs. They may get taught specific parts for planned close up shops. The Commitments looked pretty real, but a lot of the playing was recorded by session musicians and a lot of the vocals were done by the actors but not in front of the cameras. They may not have to perform, just look like they are.

The publicity won't tell you this, so I'm guessing. The publicity will just say that so-and-so was taught such-and-such an instrument.

V8

X-rated Bob wrote:
V8 wrote: Black Snake Moan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462200/ - One of my favourites, maybe because Samuel L Jackson is really playing guitar in this one ?
Some actors are musicians too. Bruce Willis and Russell Crowe both have bands. Johnny Depp and Stephen Segal are both good guitar players. Clint Eastwood is a very fine piano player.

Stephan Segal? Heh, would never have guessed - Didn't Tom Hanks have a band? I've seen footage of Steve Martin playing a banjo like a demon. It helps having multiple talents to call on in the entertainment industry - so much competition.

Nitebob wrote: Okay, but blues guitar isn't a easy thing to play. How can he just "learn to play" in a way it takes other people years to invest into? You think it was actual in depth learning and understanding, or "here's the lick, learn how to play it"?

I sat through the 'making of' - He did invest some time - apparently 8mths on the guitar alone and with his history & experience in the industry I reckon he knows a little bit about the blues which I thought he did express with some autheticity?

Alex-B-Broadway

Johnny Depp's a pretty decent player. He originally wanted to pursue music before he settled on acting, if I remember right.

I watched "When You're Strange" today, another documentary on The Doors. Here's the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_You%27re_Strange

jt

How Music Works with Howard Goodall

great little 3 part series, i found it very informative. There are some other series by him that I am yet to watch.

Shibbibilybob

Metalocalypse ?

Doomsower

What, no one mentioned the mighty Electric Apricot ?
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On a more serious note there is Heavy Metal in Baghdad

It's a pretty sad film but also really inspirational, especially looking at what happened after the film.

doc-phil

Shibbibilybob wrote: Metalocalypse ?

+1... best thing Adult Swim has ever aired. The Klok Opera was also fantastic.

I haven't read through this whole thread, but I assume somebody would have mentioned Sound City, quite an enjoyable documentary, apart from the fact that the focus was more about Dave Grohl and how awesome he thinks he is from about 35 minutes in.

Another great movie is Empire Records, an excellent movie for those who get all nostalgic about the 90s, starring, amongst others, Liv Tyler.

Edit: I saw The Story of Anvil mentioned. That is definitely the best music documentary I have ever seen. It nearly brought me to tears it was do depressing in parts.

V8

A necro-bump for this thread - it's great to dig through these and re-visit a few gems...

Also wondering what musical related fiction/non-fiction movies/doccies have ying'ed your yang lately?