I just watched "Edgeplay" a rockumentary on The Runaways. I really liked it. Some of the best film's I've seen recently have been documentaries. So . . . I'm trolling for more stuff to watch!
What are the best Rockumentaries you've seen?
I'd have to start off with "D.O.A." Its a British documentary on the early punk scene.
Penelope Spheeris, Decline of Western Civilization; Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years (I never get tired of watching a shaky Ozzy making himself breakfast)
Finally got to see Wattstax for the first time tonight. This soulumentary was relased on dvd last fall (with extra songs both included and excluded from the original theatre version). As I own both the official "Wattstax" soundtrack and the 3 cd UK release "Music from the Wattstax Festival & Film", I had hoped for much more concert footage than was actually featured in the film. What was shown was a mix of stage music, live performances from other locales, on-the-street interviews, as well as the comedic genius of Richard Pryor. The clothes may be outdated but the music never is. My favorite clips: The Bar-Kays "Son of Shaft", Luther Ingram "If Loving You is Wrong (I Don't Wanna Be Right)", Rufus Thomas "The Breakdown" and Isaac Hayes "Soulville" (plus the song that started the film, The Dramatics "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get"). Very enjoyable film, even if it should have had more stage scenes.
I'm always searching for good Rock Docs. Here are a few that I've seen:
1. Radiohead - Meeting People is Easy 2. Wilco - I'm Trying to Break Your Heart 3. Flaming Lips - Fearless Freaks 4. Bob Dylan - No Direction Home 5. Punk: Attitude (I bought this recently. It's a good one to watch to learn about Punk roots, starting with the Stooges and Velvets, of course)
And another one I've seen recently, Moog, is dreadful. It's about the man who invented the Moog Synthesizer. I thought I might enjoy this since I'm a pretty big electronica fan. I couldn't even make it to the end. Buyer beware.
I recently watched Lightning in a Bottle, a documentary of a blues concert (on-stage and behind the scenes) filmed at Radio City Music Hall. I liked the clips of the blues giants best- Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, etc. The concert acts were hit and miss. Myself, I could have done without David Johansen as well as Tyler & Perry from Aerosmith. The show was held as part of the "Year of the Blues", named by the US Congress in 2003. So where are the blues artists on Alligator, Fat Possum, Blind Pig, Black Top and other indie blues labels? Okay, I know that would be asking too much but more clips of the pioneer, authentic blues artists would have been nice, or let Odetta sing a couple more songs.
Dig! is brilliant. I had no interest in either the Dandy Warhol's or Brian Jonestown Massacre's music before or after watching it, but it was the most captivating, entertaining, awesome music documentary I've seen. It's like watching a train wreck in the best way.
Dig! is good, but right after I watched it I immediately wanted to beat Courtney Taylor-Taylor with a bat. What a prick. My least favorite parts are when he pats himself on the back for "releasing a psychedelic record (Thirteen Tales) in an era of boy bands" and the segment where they play a festival and they show a bunch of indie-cred bands (e.g., Breeders, Mercury Rev) telling the Warhols how much they loved their set. I like Thirteen Tales and all, but Jesus Christ. Or anytime they show them sitting in the Odditorium and Taylor-Taylor has that rancid mohawk and they talk about how cool and original they are and how many drugs they do.
But it was cool how much access Ondi had, and how she was pretty much there for everything: BJM's possession arrest in Georgia, Anton's various heroin-related collapses, Anton being a total jerk, etc. I just kept cheering for BJM to make it big and for the Warhols to fail because I found Anton to be infinitely more likable, despite being portrayed as a moody junky asshole.
And since I just saw it this year, it was hard to take the ending seriously, which makes it seem that the sun is rising on a brand new era of totally fucking awesome music from the Warhols (if you don't believe me, just ask them). But did you hear their album last year? Me neither.
Dig was a horrible advertisement for both bands. The thing is, if that were a movie about, say, Radiohead and Oasis (Radiohead as the Dandy's, Oasis as BJM), it would be so much more watchable just because the music would be actually good, but the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who seriously seems to be lauded in the movie as the second coming of The Beatles, just put out cd after cd of boring reverb rock with horrible cover art, and the Dandy's, while it may be fun, entertaining music, are putting on one of the biggest acts of rock posteuring in history. I challenge the Dandys to put a three song run on a cd that doesn't contain lyrics about how they are so awesome, or how many drugs they do.
You can't watch Dig! hoping to gain respect or even learn to like these two bands. And yes, the constant praise thrown at Anton of BJM was borderline ridiculous. He's obviously not the second coming of John Lennon/Jim Morrison or whichever tortured genious you wish to insert. I just loved the dynamics between them and the Dandy's. The frontman from BJM who didn't sing but just played tambourine and wore the huge sunglasses and laughed at the idiots in his band cracked me up.
I thought that guy was an ass-clown, but he was pretty funny. I respect him for finding a way to make playing tambourine and doing drugs a career. I liked the part when he was like the best member of BJM they could send to meet with the major label guys. You'd think they'd catch on when no one but the tambourine player is fit to show up; I'd have held out for Anton, the only one who's been a member of the band for longer than like 18 months. I'd have enjoyed the dynamics between the two bands except that the Dandys were so totally gay. Think if you had a huge party and totally wrecked your own house and some people that weren't even there showed up early in the morning with like twenty people to do publicity pictures so everyone would think they were cool enough to have a party. That was the lamest move ever and Taylor-Taylor thought it was so funny.
I've not heard anything by BJM, and what I heard in the movie didn't make me want to. I'd say that the Warhols are good (they can certainly write a catchy pop song) and that BJM is original, but neither is both. I think the movie would have worked better if the bands had been both, because it would have been easier to like both of them when Taylor-Taylor is talking about how totally cool and awesome both bands are.
Recently picked up the dvd, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. It's Johnston's story told through interviews with his family and friends, old home movies and cassettes of conversations and observations throughout his life. Much of the film deals with his mental illness, going off his meds before those rare gigs and of course, his obsession with the devil. Nice tie in to Brian Wilson (I wondered when that would come up). Daniel's reunion with his muse, Laurie, is a highlight in the extra features. Highly recommended.
