Top rock movies, and top rock-movie disappointments
What are the best rock movies of all time? The question’s on my mind because I’ll be cohosting an evening devoted to the theme Friday at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee with my "Sound Opinions" colleague and Chicago Sun-Times counterpart Jim DeRogatis. We’ll discuss our favorites and show clips of key scenes. Mine include those listed below. Further down, you’ll find the rock movies that I definitely won’t be endorsing.
My top five rock movies, listed chronologically:“Don’t Look Back” (1967): D.A. Pennebaker documents Bob Dylan’s 1965 solo tour of the U.K., and illuminates the inscrutable poet-rock star like no movie or book has since. Dylan’s in the midst of a career turning point, and he’s in a prickly mood, jousting with everyone from journalists to Joan Baez. He emerges as a driven genius who sometimes acts like a jerk.
“Gimme Shelter” (1970): Harrowing account of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 North American tour and its climactic free concert at the Altamont Speedway in California. The on-screen slaying of a fan at the hands of the Hell’s Angels biker gang, hired as concert “security,” still sends chills. Directors Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin lay out the evidence without pontificating or judging, yet no one – including the Stones -- is exonerated.
“Stop Making Sense” (1984): It’ll make you want to jump out of your seat and dance. This is the Talking Heads at the height of their powers, with the concert as a journey that incrementally builds in audacity and physical impact. Jonathan Demme captures the infectious interaction of the large band by situating his cameras at a comfortable distance to provide perspective, instead of resorting to the jumpy cuts, close-ups and audience reaction shots that bog down so many concert films.
“This is Spinal Tap” (1984): Rob Reiner’s mockumentary of a fictional heavy-metal band on the way down tells us more about Rock Inc. than any movie ever made, with a punch line nearly every minute: “It's such a fine line between stupid and clever”; “Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year -- it's just not really widely reported”; “These go to 11.”
“Some Kind of Monster” (2004): Metallica is led by two opposites -- gruff, macho James Hetfield and garrulous, frequently full-of-himself Lars Ulrich. They fight, their band nearly unravels, and a $40,000-a-month “performance coach” is called in to mediate. Metallica financed this warts-and-more movie, which is either perversely courageous or akin to sanctioning a “Spinal Tap”-like evisceration of your own career. In any case, it’s a jaw-dropper in this era of micro-managed, spin-the-message celebrity.
A scene from "Shine a Light."
And here are five rock movies that fell flat:
“The Song Remains the Same” (1976): Golden gods (Led Zeppelin) on a less-than-god-like night.“U2: Rattle and Hum” (1988): Bono on a mission to rescue America.
“Imagine: John Lennon” (1988): In response to Albert Goldman’s scathing biography of her late husband, Yoko Ono hatched this fawning snooze-fest.
“Meeting People is Easy” (1998): Radiohead is a terrific band, but this documentary reduces them to dull whiners.
“Shine a Light” (2008): I suppose it’s silly of me to expect a great movie out of the Rolling Stones at this late stage, but with Martin Scorsese directing I was hoping for the best. I was wrong.
greg@gregkot.com