Last Music Documentaries Watched

[drew]

STAY HUMAN (2019) (Michael Franti)

I saw the Beatnigs play once and thought they were great. Unique and confrontational in the best way. And I really like the Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy album when it came out. I still love the lyric: "Sometimes I feel like a socio-genetic experiment, a Petri dish community's token of affection. You see, I'm African, Native American, Irish and German. I was adopted by parents who loved me; they were the same color as the kids who called me n***** on the walk home from school. I cried until I found out what it meant. Then I got me some equipment, my fists man. I was a hitman with no friends." I thought the first Spearhead album was decent, but didn't like the second one much, outside of "Why Oh Why (The Basketball Song)", which I thought was really good. After that, I kinda lost track of what Franti was up to.

This movie is not a straight documentary about him, which I think would be a better movie. It tells some of his story, but is mostly centered around Franti visiting with a few different people and telling their stories. This is obviously set up to pull the tears out of you, in addition to highlighting some cool things. The guy dying of ALS was was particularly a tough story.

Despite this being somewhat obvious and blunt, and at times seeming like a Travel Channel show it was pretty well done. Now I'm wondering if there is anything Franti has done over the last 20 years that I should check out.

My ex-gf loved Michael Franti's music, I had no idea he was the Beatnigs-Disposable guy until a while later. Saw DHOH & PRIMUS open for U2(!!) at Giants Stadium on the Zooropa tour....LOL Last minute free seats in the wheelchair section and we got to move pretty close. U2 covered "Dancing Queen" so there's that.....

[version sound]

Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records

Pretty good history of not only the label, but Jamaican immigration to the UK and the early skinhead culture (“fashion, not fascist,” as Don Letts puts it). Ends in 1975 with the folding of the original label with no mention of its later incarnation, which was a little dissatisfying. Even just a note at the end about how it was resurrected (and by whom) would have been nice. Still, definitely worth a watch if you have any interest in ska, reggae, or Jamaican culture in general.

[the mean]

MONSTERMAN (2014) (Lordi)

Being an American, I'm not very familiar with the Eurovision Song Competition, and had never heard of Lordi. Partway through this, I had to google and see if this was a real band or if this was actually a mockumentary about a fake band. The whole thing was just so ridiculous. Given that it's real, it's pretty funny/fascinating. Comparable to the Anvil documentary.

Lordi is a Finnish metal/rock band that dresses in monster costumes. Imagine GWAR with just the costumes (no real stage show) sounding like a keyboard dominated Kiss. The movie starts with about two minutes showing them playing a huge outdoor show in Finland after winning the 2006 Eurovision Song Competition. It then quickly cuts to a couple years later where they are closing their theme restaurant because nobody goes to it anymore. Main guy talks about being in debt. Label convinces him to go on some reality show. Drummer dies, keyboard player quits. Dude hangs out at the house near the Arctic Circle where he lives with him mom. It's pretty dark.

It gets better, but it's pretty crazy to watch having never heard of this band. They never show the band members' faces until they are out of the band. This is short (less than an hour) but well worth your time.

[Knutsen]

PuNk
(produced by John Varvatos + Iggy Pop)
1. part the birth
2. part the wave
3. part hardcore
4. part heritage

It was ok. The old stuff about the New York Dolls was really interesting.
The 77 stuff was well know. Hardcore was way too much emphasis on the violence.
The last part about the Offspring + Green Day was interesting about the marketing angle.

The wisest interviewees were Ian MacKaye and Kathleen Hanna.

[JGJR]

SWANS- Where Does a Body End?

Excellent, full career covering doc. Tons of live footage and much more participation from former band members the I would expect.
Michael Gira & Jarboe really open up about their relationship both musically and romantically.
Watching in one sitting is like the long march to the sea. My wife asks dme to lower the volume more then once, the bass in some of the concert scenes is house-shaking.



KILLING JOKE- The Death & Ressurection Show.

Amazing, interesting & totally batshit story of IMHO, the greatest Post-Punk band next Joy Division and later an amazing metal band.
Still great livened now I'm even happier that I had a chance to see them a small venue like Saint Vitus before this past year......

Do yourself a favor and check out this hugely entertaining doc

I watched the KJ one a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never seen em play. You're fortunate. I have been, however, fortunate enough to see the 2010-2016 Swans lineup play, albeit only once back in 2011. I watched the Swans doc yesterday and made sure to lower the volume during the concert scenes for the reason you said. Anyway, for a 2 1/2 hour documentary, it seemed to go by very quickly and it's pretty easy to watch it in one sitting.

[the mean]

MINNESOTA HARDCORE (2020)
PBS

Can we do one of these for every city over a certain size? This was pretty great. Focused on 1980-85. Good interviews with most of the major players from the era, including Greg Norton, Dave Pirner, Tommy Stinson, Tom Hazelmyer, etc. Good to see some women get interview time as well, including Lori Barbero from Babes in Toyland (who got to tell a story about bringing Minor Threat to town and how her party house toned it down when they were there.)

This originally ran as seven 15 minutes (or so) episodes, but I watched it as a complete film with the episodes squished together. It was a little strange to have distinct chapters and it screwed with the flow a little bit. That's really my only complaint.

Husker Du gets a segment of their own, but there were segments about different venues that I had only seen on flyers, which was cool. Some kinda basic "hardcore culture" shit, but it didn't really detract. There was some typical old guy stuff, like "why is this second generation still doing hardcore? Booooring." Seems to be the case in every city. At least the people saying that in this film were still doing music, that while it may not be "hardcore" was still sometimes challenging, even if not mentioned in the film (Halo of Flies for example.)

Definitely worth watching.

[drew]

SWANS- Where Does a Body End?

Excellent, full career covering doc. Tons of live footage and much more participation from former band members the I would expect.
Michael Gira & Jarboe really open up about their relationship both musically and romantically.
Watching in one sitting is like the long march to the sea. My wife asks dme to lower the volume more then once, the bass in some of the concert scenes is house-shaking.



KILLING JOKE- The Death & Ressurection Show.

Amazing, interesting & totally batshit story of IMHO, the greatest Post-Punk band next Joy Division and later an amazing metal band.
Still great livened now I'm even happier that I had a chance to see them a small venue like Saint Vitus before this past year......

Do yourself a favor and check out this hugely entertaining doc

I watched the KJ one a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never seen em play. You're fortunate. I have been, however, fortunate enough to see the 2010-2016 Swans lineup play, albeit only once back in 2011. I watched the Swans doc yesterday and made sure to lower the volume during the concert scenes for the reason you said. Anyway, for a 2 1/2 hour documentary, it seemed to go by very quickly and it's pretty easy to watch it in one sitting.

LOL Too much Netflix, I watch everything in pieces.

[xxxMidgexxx]

SWANS- Where Does a Body End?

I really liked this one a LOT. I am very pleasantly surprised that they got Jarboe to participate. Similar to Kim and Thurston, I was really fucking bummed when Gira and Jarboe parted ways. She went up on stage in Atlanta and sang 'Blood on Your Hands' a few years ago. That sounded and felt great to see. I still teared up a bit.

Something tells me that they toned down Michael being a real demanding prick to his band members. And now this configuration of SWANS is done.

I saw Norm Westberg and Algis Kizys play individual solo shows on the same bill a few short years ago. Enjoyed both performances. Algis does NOT want to talk about SWANS. I am shocked that he participated in the documentary. Norm was nice when I met him but he had no idea who Michael would be playing with going forward.

Both Gira AND Jarboe DISSED 'The Burning World' LP big time. Not even close to being their best, but after a few listens its tolerable in a 4AD records way. When I saw that tour they played CBGB. With ALL, Lemonheads and Bullet LaVolta. CMJ show. People were like .."THIS is the fucking SWANS???"

AND...I will say that Phil Puleo is EVERY BIT AS GOOD of a drummer as Ted Parsons is. Magnificent player. I saw him RULE that kit.

[the mean]

HEAVY METAL ROAD DOG (2016)

This is a movie about a roadie that takes is job veeeery seriously. You don't find out who he is actually roadie-ing for until a few minutes into the movie. Turns out its an all-woman Iron Maiden cover band called The Iron Maidens. The whole thing is pretty funny. Dude fiddles with German fire extinguishers, tapes up the singer's ass when she rips her pants on stage, dresses up as the various monsters during the set, and does other roadie stuff. He also acts basically as a road manager, but never uses that term. The whole time he talks very seriously about his job.

I'm not sure what the target audience for this was. If you've been on tour before, you have probably done a lot of the same things as he does. But it doesn't seem interesting enough for non-music people.

The women in The Iron Maidens poke their heads in every once in awhile, and come off as really cool. They also shred pretty hard.

Not really sure why this was made, but ok.

[the mean]

THE LIFE, BLOOD AND RHYTHM OF RANDY CASTILLO (2014)

This one was a bit a sleeper. Didn't go into it expecting too much, but ended up pretty impressed. It's a basic rock-biography, but it seems clear that Castillo was one of the nicest dudes in rock and the amount of love everyone has for him is pretty overwhelming.

It starts with his roots as an Apache growing up in New Mexico and finding the drums. Playing with local bands and ultimately moving to Denver and then L.A. to make it as a drummer. He ended up playing with Al Stewart, The Motels and Lita Ford before ultimately joining Ozzy's band. Of course, he was a monster on the drums, and a super heavy hitter. Everyone loved playing with him, not just for this reason, but because he seemed like lots of fun to be around. He moved on and played in Motley Crue for awhile before being hospitalized (he was replaced by the woman from Shift.)

Ultimately, he died in 2002 at the age of 51 from mouth cancer, likely as a result of smoking. His mom said that was the day she stopped believing in God, because there is no way that a God would allow him tot die at such a young age. His fiance was interviewed a bit and other people talked about how great they were for each other and how helpful she was as he was dying.

My favorite story was from some random non-rock friend he made at some point. This guy had no idea that Castillo was Ozzy's drummer at the time (because Castillo didn't bring it up until asked.) Ultimately, Castillo hooked him up with passes to a show, and during a long guitar solo, Castillo went backstage, saw him, and told him to go sit on the drum stool for a bit just to check it out.

Other Castillo family members were interviewed as well, sometimes together, and it was pretty fucking sad how tore up they still were about his death. He never seemed to drift away from his family or his Apache roots.

This was low budget, but really well done.

[the mean]

FOREVER AND A DAY (2015) (Scorpions)
Amazon Prime

This was formatted the same way as that Michael Jordan documentary. Basically, two different timelines, one with the bands' entire career and then a second with the final tour. Big budget, nice looking film.

This was really just pretty non-offensive. Some interesting band history, but nothing really exciting. This will always be a band that put a naked underage girl on an album cover and called it "Virgin Killer."

If you think "Rock You Like A Hurricane" is the best song ever, you probably already watched this. If not, I'm not sure this is worth your time.

[version sound]

Watched about half of the KJ doc. Very interesting. I had no idea those guys were so...unusual.

[scannest]

I watched THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT again recently. It still holds up as one of the best rock documentaries of all-time, mainly because it doesn't even try to tell a story. It's just a bunch of moments of the Who being the best band in the world.
And it features what may be the best live TV performance ever. I don't know who many times I watched this before I noticed Moon hurling his floor tom after playing it on its side (around the 4:27 mark):

[the mean]

THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION SHOW (2013) (Killing Joke)

I can see why people couldn't make it through the whole thing. Within the first half hour or so, I'm thinking "is this movie just going to be Jaz talking about witchcraft/Satanism for two hours while psychedelic videos play?" But I actually warmed up to it as it went on. There was an actual band story in there, which is what I like in a band-focused documentary.

Looks like this was "based on" on Jaz's book, which explains his stilted-sounding voiceovers about weirdness and conspiracy theories. In 2021, I kinda miss the time when the realm of conspiracy theorists was populated by weirdo artists instead of alt-right dopes. It's hard to say how much of Jaz's personality is just being an oddball vs. mental illness vs. studied persona. He seems like he'd be annoying to be around. The movie also touched on Jaz being teased as a child in England for his somewhat darker skin,which likely contributed to who he is. The interviews of Jaz for this movie were close ups of his mouth only.

Can we have an artist's mother in every documentary? Jaz's mom was excellent, and arguably the best part of this movie.

Mixed in with the pyramids and Nazca Lines was a pretty solid history of the band. Interviews with most members. Geordie was mostly silent, which seems like an accurate representation of who he is. "Music should speak for itself." The other member interviews were solid. Cool that they went back to the OG lineup in the 00s. Killing Joke was such an interesting band, musically (I'm not going to spend extra time digging into their post-80s stuff, but still.) I really liked the parts about Jaz's classical work, which I thought was fascinating and that I was not really familiar with.

Somewhat over-long, but I think the studied weirdness was a good representation of this band.

[lewdd]

Did they mention the part about Jaz going MIA for months and people not knowing whether he was still alive?

[the mean]

Did they mention the part about Jaz going MIA for months and people not knowing whether he was still alive?

Yes

[matt]

CLEVELAND'S SCREAMING (2007)

This was basically just an unorganized set of interviews with people from the Cleveland punk scene in the early 80s. Lots of bands I had never heard of, along with The Pagans and ODFX. Fun fact: ever since getting the PEACE comp in 1987, I pronounced ODFX, well, "O-D-F-X." It was only a couple years ago that I realized it was "Zero Defects."

None of this was super interesting or well done. My favorite part were the sisters that started showing up and hanging out, and then people later realized that one of the sisters was in fact their mom. Solid parenting. Not that this was bad. It was fine for what it was, and I'm sure is interesting for people from Cleveland, but it needed someone to structure it into an actual movie with a story.

When I got sober, I was reading a lot of books to help me normalize my drastically changed way of life. The book that affected me the most was "Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality" written by Brad Warner. The book starts with a quote from Bill Stevenson and goes on to explain Buddhist/Zen philosophy through a punk rock lens ("question all authority, starting with your own"). I have bought probably 10 copies over the years to give to people that are newly sober and in the same position I was and it's still an incredibly important book to me.

Brad Warner was in Zero Defex. They made a documentary about him, and he came with the director when it played in Denver. I met him and we geeked out about stupid punk rock stuff. Interesting guy, for sure.

http://hardcorezen.info/

[the mean]

RUDEBOY: THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS (2018)

I feel like this was a missed opportunity. A lot of the major players (artists / label people) are here, but it was so full of reenactments that it felt more like an basic cable true crime documentary at times. It was really distracting and unnecessary. Could have used that time to show live footage under the interviews instead.

It did tell the basic story of the label, beginning with what was going on in Jamaica in the 60s to the influx of Jamaican immigrants in England to the formation, success and ultimate crash of the label. I don't think I realized the label only lasted about 7 years. I also always associated Trojan with ska more than reggae, but after watching this I'm not sure that was the case.

I enjoyed seeing a couple of British second wave people (Pauline Black and Neville Staple) talk about how Trojan influenced them.

This was not bad, but it felt really surface level and cheap (despite the high production quality.)

[Hal]

RUDEBOY: THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS (2018)

I feel like this was a missed opportunity. A lot of the major players (artists / label people) are here, but it was so full of reenactments that it felt more like an basic cable true crime documentary at times. It was really distracting and unnecessary. Could have used that time to show live footage under the interviews instead.

Couldn't agree more. It was a real let down for me. The reenactments were so cheesy. I was hoping for much more old live footage.

[the mean]

NEIL YOUNG: UNDER REVIEW 1966-1975 (2007)

This was pretty mediocre. A bunch of nerdy music critics analyze the beginning of Neil Young's career. They don't offer much insight beyond what anyone moderately paying attention to Neil Young doesn't already know. The stuff that was new to me was some of the details about the post-Harvest tour and live album of new material. Some pretty good live footage mixed in throughout.

Hilariously dated, in that there's a few minutes devoted to one critic talking about how Neil must not like a certain album because he hasn't released it on CD. And one guy is interviewed in front of a wall of CDs. Robert Christgau and his grumpiness was probably the best part of this.

I would probably pass on this if I were you.

[scannest]

NEIL YOUNG: UNDER REVIEW 1966-1975 (2007)

There's a huge series of 'critical documentaries' under the UNDER REVIEW banner. I thought they didn't have the rights to use any actual songs by the artists, but you say there's live footage?

Since Christgau and Neil are both on my list of essential artists, I may have to check this out despite your review. Thanks!

[the mean]

NEIL YOUNG: UNDER REVIEW 1966-1975 (2007)

There's a huge series of 'critical documentaries' under the UNDER REVIEW banner. I thought they didn't have the rights to use any actual songs by the artists, but you say there's live footage?

I watched this on Amazon Prime, and it listed it as 2019, not 2007. Maybe they got the rights at some point and edited in the live footage.

[JGJR]

INSTED: PROUD YOUTH (2004)

This is a short, 35-minute or so documentary that was included with the Insted discography of the same name on Indecision Records. I'm not sure when it was filmed as some of the interview subjects (most notably, Pat Dubar and Brett Gurewitz) look a lot younger than more recent photos and whatnot that have surfaced, but obviously the footage is at least 15-20 years ago, so that makes sense. All the band members are interviewed and it goes over their history from their formation in the mid '80s until their breakup in 1991. The highlight, for me, was the live footage, especially the version of "We'll Make the Difference" that opens this. It makes me wish I could've seen them, but I was just starting to go to shows right when they broke up. Anyway, I'd recommend this for fans or those curious about '80s West Coast sXe hardcore. It's on YouTube (just click on the below link).

[the mean]

LONG STRANGE TRIP (2017) (Grateful Dead)

I actively did not pay attention to the Grateful Dead during their late 80s resurgence. I was in high school at the time, and wondered why kids my age weren't into something new, but instead started dressing like hippies and taking acid. I have pretty much tried to ignore them since then as well.

I figure their story must be interesting, though, so I checked out this six part documentary. Each of the six episodes are about 40 minutes long, plus a pretty long credit roll. For a band that was around for as long as the Dead, this seems appropriate.

This was pretty much a straight chronological history of the band. From the late 60s scene in San Francisco, to Jerry Garcia's death. There was some shit that really rubbed me the wrong way. At at least one party, the band dosed people without their knowledge. They also talked about money not being important while blowing through record amounts of cash to record an album. Also, there was this really nice thread about Jerry writing an old girlfriend and telling her he still loved her, and then taking her to Hawaii and them getting married (ignoring that he was living with someone at the time and they had to pretend the first meeting was an interview.) So, at some point, she told him she was aware that he was using heroin again and she told him it was his choice, and that she was there for him.He told her to leave and then never spoke with her again.

Best thing was the "Wall of Sound", which was the the huge sound system they took on tour with them in the early/mid 70s. The crew would construct it for each show by bolting in each speaker. It also seemed like they paid their crew really well. The band members said (somewhat convincingly) that the Dead kept going when they wanted to stop because so many people were living off the band and they didn't want to make them unemployed.

Lots of eyerolling hippy stuff about acid and expanding your mind and Dead shows being mandalas, etc. At one point, they talk about doing two sets a night. The first one with more actual songs, and then the second one with the jams. Sounds dreadful. I assume people took acid at Dead shows because of how boring the music was? The only song I thought was listenable was "Touch of Grey" from the late 80s ("I will survive"). The rest was booooring, no matter how much talk about time signatures and tribal drums there was.

I enjoyed this documentary much more than I've ever enjoyed the band itself.

[JGJR]

Bumping this because I added the YouTube link for the Insted documentary in my earlier post about it in this thread in case anyone else is interested in watching it. I'll repost it here because why not.

[version sound]

Has anyone seen the Poison Idea doc?

[the mean]

BIG COUNTRY: PLAY AT HOME (1984)

I guess this was part of a British Channel 4 series, where the band is given total control of a 60 minute documentary. I'll start this off by saying that I REALLY FUCKING LOVE early Big Country, so this may be more interesting to me than to you.

What the band did with this was to intersperse some 1983 live footage with interviews with their management and crew and ask them "what do you do, exactly?" It's a fascinating look at the music business circa 83/84. This focuses on touring, and details the finances of doing a UK tour in 83. How much does a tour cost? How is the ticket price set? How does the light show work?

The opening band talks about paying for the right to open the tour. The local promoter talks about renting the hall and paying security. The booking agent talks about how touring the UK for the forth time in 1983 might be overkill.

Big Country always had an adversarial relationship with the music industry, and although that's not on the surface of this film, it definitely lurks in the background. Especially if you are already aware of this.

This is just a random upload on youtube, so the quality is not great. I've seen most of the live footage before, and some of it can be found outside of this documentary in better quality. If you are looking for live footage, I recommend the early 84 set televised as part of The Tube program.

I loved this.

[JGJR]

BIG COUNTRY: PLAY AT HOME (1984)

I guess this was part of a British Channel 4 series, where the band is given total control of a 60 minute documentary. I'll start this off by saying that I REALLY FUCKING LOVE early Big Country, so this may be more interesting to me than to you.

You'll appreciate this story then. My friend Jack Rabid once told me that he and our mutual friend Tim Sommer saw Big Country's first New York (and I think American) show in (I think) late '82 and Tim (who later became an A&R man who discovered Hootie, so he had great ears for what sold) said immediately that they'd become massive (which they did, at least for a bit). Jack was skeptical, saying that The Skids didn't exactly light the world on fire commercially, though I think they were both big fans. Of course, Tim ended up being right. Funny, huh?

[the mean]

BIG COUNTRY: PLAY AT HOME (1984)

I guess this was part of a British Channel 4 series, where the band is given total control of a 60 minute documentary. I'll start this off by saying that I REALLY FUCKING LOVE early Big Country, so this may be more interesting to me than to you.

You'll appreciate this story then. My friend Jack Rabid once told me that he and our mutual friend Tim Sommer saw Big Country's first New York (and I think American) show in (I think) late '82 and Tim (who later became an A&R man who discovered Hootie, so he had great ears for what sold) said immediately that they'd become massive (which they did, at least for a bit). Jack was skeptical, saying that The Skids didn't exactly light the world on fire commercially, though I think they were both big fans. Of course, Tim ended up being right. Funny, huh?

[scannest]

I wore out my VHS copy of this show:

[JGJR]

BIG COUNTRY: PLAY AT HOME (1984)

I guess this was part of a British Channel 4 series, where the band is given total control of a 60 minute documentary. I'll start this off by saying that I REALLY FUCKING LOVE early Big Country, so this may be more interesting to me than to you.

You'll appreciate this story then. My friend Jack Rabid once told me that he and our mutual friend Tim Sommer saw Big Country's first New York (and I think American) show in (I think) late '82 and Tim (who later became an A&R man who discovered Hootie, so he had great ears for what sold) said immediately that they'd become massive (which they did, at least for a bit). Jack was skeptical, saying that The Skids didn't exactly light the world on fire commercially, though I think they were both big fans. Of course, Tim ended up being right. Funny, huh?

Oh snap. Thank you. I'll forward this along to him!

[the mean]

BIG COUNTRY: RIVER OF HOPE (1989)

This was basically a sequel to Big Country's 1984 "Play At Home" episode. Instead of focusing on a UK tour, this one is about Big Country's 1988 show in Moscow. They brought about 250 press and label people with them from the UK. There is some talk about how this is a money loser for the band ("nobody buys records in the USSR") but the focus is more on interviewing the press and label people, along with some of the Russians involved in promoting the show.

Like "Play At Home" there is an undercurrent here. Big Country didn't like the press that much, and they are portrayed here as buffoons. Making fun of the Russian food and generally behaving like obnoxious Westerners.

There is some live footage of the show, as well as Big Country playing at the Russian Embassy in England, which was weird. This era was the beginning of Big Country's downfall, musically. Trying to write American keyboard-heavy radio hits. 1988's "Peace In Our Time" has a few decent songs buried in bland production. Most of the songs performed here are from that album. The clips of the weird-ass Russian opening bands were awesome.

One dude interviewed on the street said, "Bring more hardcore here! Bring The Meatmen."

Of course, a Western band playing Moscow in 1988 was a big deal, and there is talk about the importance of this as a way to open up communications between the East and West, and this looks to be Big Country's reason for doing it, which goes along with the theme of "Peace In Our Time."

Worth checking out.

Some random Big Country facts not necessarily related to this documentary:
1. None of the four members of the classic Big Country lineup were born in Scotland.
2. Four Big Country singles charted higher than "In A Big Country" in the UK. Nine did in Ireland.

[scannest]

I'm looking at their discography and I'm surprised to see that Big Country put out so many records after I stopped paying attention (which was with "The Seer" in 1986). So, are any of the...lemme see, 6(!) studio albums they put out after that one worth a listen?

[the mean]

I'm looking at their discography and I'm surprised to see that Big Country put out so many records after I stopped paying attention (which was with "The Seer" in 1986). So, are any of the...lemme see, 6(!) studio albums they put out after that one worth a listen?

I haven't heard the last two with Stuart or the one without him. I've got the expanded edition of "Why The Long Face" somewhere on its way to me now.

The other three (from 88, 91 and 93) have occasional tracks, but don't really stand up, front to back.

[xxxMidgexxx]

THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION SHOW (2013) (Killing Joke)

I can see why people couldn't make it through the whole thing. Within the first half hour or so, I'm thinking "is this movie just going to be Jaz talking about witchcraft/Satanism for two hours while psychedelic videos play?" But I actually warmed up to it as it went on. There was an actual band story in there, which is what I like in a band-focused documentary.

Looks like this was "based on" on Jaz's book, which explains his stilted-sounding voiceovers about weirdness and conspiracy theories. In 2021, I kinda miss the time when the realm of conspiracy theorists was populated by weirdo artists instead of alt-right dopes. It's hard to say how much of Jaz's personality is just being an oddball vs. mental illness vs. studied persona. He seems like he'd be annoying to be around. The movie also touched on Jaz being teased as a child in England for his somewhat darker skin,which likely contributed to who he is. The interviews of Jaz for this movie were close ups of his mouth only.

Can we have an artist's mother in every documentary? Jaz's mom was excellent, and arguably the best part of this movie.

Mixed in with the pyramids and Nazca Lines was a pretty solid history of the band. Interviews with most members. Geordie was mostly silent, which seems like an accurate representation of who he is. "Music should speak for itself." The other member interviews were solid. Cool that they went back to the OG lineup in the 00s. Killing Joke was such an interesting band, musically (I'm not going to spend extra time digging into their post-80s stuff, but still.) I really liked the parts about Jaz's classical work, which I thought was fascinating and that I was not really familiar with.

Somewhat over-long, but I think the studied weirdness was a good representation of this band.

Watched it tonight. Most of all this is right on the money. As dark as it may have been, I LOVED all the witchcraft/paganism/Satanism stuff. They were very convincing. Shame that he eventually would wind up in a psychiatric facility, but he came back strong. They still make great music. Jaz's mom was indeed on point. Supportive and articulate.

[JGJR]

The Sex Pistols vs. Bill Grundy (2018)

This isn't a documentary, but rather a 20-minute episode of the British TV show Urban Myths that is a scene-by-scene re-enactment of the famous Sex Pistols interview with Bill Grundy from December 1976. The actors who play the band, Malcolm McLaren, and some of their fans in the background (particularly Siouxsie Sioux) look a lot like their real-life counterparts. I'm not sure why this was made, but I did enjoy it.

[drew]

BIG COUNTRY: PLAY AT HOME (1984)

I guess this was part of a British Channel 4 series, where the band is given total control of a 60 minute documentary. I'll start this off by saying that I REALLY FUCKING LOVE early Big Country, so this may be more interesting to me than to you.

What the band did with this was to intersperse some 1983 live footage with interviews with their management and crew and ask them "what do you do, exactly?" It's a fascinating look at the music business circa 83/84. This focuses on touring, and details the finances of doing a UK tour in 83. How much does a tour cost? How is the ticket price set? How does the light show work?

The opening band talks about paying for the right to open the tour. The local promoter talks about renting the hall and paying security. The booking agent talks about how touring the UK for the forth time in 1983 might be overkill.

Big Country always had an adversarial relationship with the music industry, and although that's not on the surface of this film, it definitely lurks in the background. Especially if you are already aware of this.

This is just a random upload on youtube, so the quality is not great. I've seen most of the live footage before, and some of it can be found outside of this documentary in better quality. If you are looking for live footage, I recommend the early 84 set televised as part of The Tube program.

I loved this.

I’ll def check this out. I was a really Big(Country) fan from The Crossing to The Seer. Got to see them live in ‘86 at Pier 41 outside on a beautiful night. The Rainmakers opened, they were very good I picked up their album the next day.
I remember they played “Fields of Fire” in the middle of the set and as the last song of the encore. That was the first time I’d seen a band play a song twice In a set.

[scannest]

I was a really Big(Country) fan from The Crossing to The Seer. Got to see them live in ‘86 at Pier 41 outside on a beautiful night. The Rainmakers opened, they were very good I picked up their album the next day.

I was at that show and had a similar response to the Rainmakers. Bought that record soon thereafter. I found the follow up for 3 bucks at Vintage Vinyl not too long ago.

[JGJR]

I remember they played “Fields of Fire” in the middle of the set and as the last song of the encore. That was the first time I’d seen a band play a song twice In a set.

You're forgetting when The Stooges did the same thing at Roseland in 2003 with "No Fun." I remember you saying you were there as well, right? Anyway, that said, that's the only time I can remember seeing that happen.

[the mean]

CANNIBAL CORPSE: CENTURIES OF TORMENT: THE FIRST 20 YEARS (2008)

This is a typical metal band documentary, which means that it's insanely detailed, covering every single move the band made during their career. This clocks in at just about three hours. It was originally released as a three disc DVD, with a disc of live shows and another with outtakes. I enjoy this type of band history, so it worked well for me, despite not caring much about Cannibal Corpse.

I didn't know Cannibal Corpse (or "Cannibal" as those in the know seem to call them) was from Buffalo. I think they were four albums in before they moved to Florida. I've said this about most of these metal docs, but it's kinda funny how seriously these dudes are about music with such goofy lyrical content. I guess it makes sense from a musical perspective because of the super-technical playing. You have to be supremely dedicated to get that good.My favorite scene in the movie was the producer who had the lyrics in front of him when vocals were being recorded and couldn't stop laughing, so he had to duck his head so Corpsegrinder wouldn't see him.

Although the only OG members are the rhythm section, there haven't been lots of people in and out of the band over the years. They've been pretty steady and seem to be friendly with the ex-members, except for the OG guitarist, who quit playing guitar after he was booted and was never heard from again. Google tells me he is now a golf pro. Kicking your friend out of the band after three albums because you think he's not a good enough player is brutal.

This band is so over the top ridiculous with their artwork and lyrics that they come off as more of a joke to me, as opposed to the more artistic seeming Death, but they've stuck around for quite awhile. Corpsegrinder's headbanging built neck muscles are pretty impressive, though.

[the mean]

JOAN JETT: BAD REPUTATION (2018)

Joan Jett is pretty rad, but I'm not sure that anyone is quite as rad as she is made out to be in this film. I get it, it's a film about Joan Jett, but it's somewhat uncomfortable for a recent film to gloss over Kim Fowley being a creep. Jett says in a Rolling Stone interview, "Well, I don’t really see things the way the other girls see things. I happened to get along with Kim very well. We were very good friends. He never made me feel uncomfortable. I never felt exploited by him. Maybe that’s another thing that wasn’t clear enough in the film."

This is a good documentation of her career, though. Starts with the Runaways and brings us up to modern times. At the heart of the film is Jett's relationship with her long time manager, and little bit of everything, Kenny Laguna. He's been with her from the start of her solo career, and they bicker like an old married couple. It's pretty cute. Makes sense that his daughter made the film.

I enjoyed Jett talking about punk and being a woman in the industry. Her take (which makes sense given how she feels about Fowley) is to be a strong woman and don't let people fuck with you. It's worked for her, but it's obviously not always the reality for other women. I loved hearing her talk about Bikini Kill and The Gits. Was disappointed when Lungfish never came up, though.

This isn't always the case with these music docs, but you probably need to be a big Joan Jett fan to really enjoy this one.

[xxxMidgexxx]

Corpsegrinder's headbanging built neck muscles are pretty impressive, though.

He is on record for being a huge fan of straight edge NYHC. Plus he's got a rep for being a really friendly down to Earth dude. I only saw them once (with Slayer and Marilyn Manson) but they were really good and they pulled off their extreme music just fine.

[version sound]

Pink Floyd: Behind The Wall

Decent documentary about The Floyd from the ‘60s up to the 2010s. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was pleasant enough. Strangely enough, despite the title, they didn’t really spend much time on The Wall.

[xxxMidgexxx]

Pink Floyd: Behind The Wall

Decent documentary about The Floyd from the ‘60s up to the 2010s. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was pleasant enough. Strangely enough, despite the title, they didn’t really spend much time on The Wall.

Yup. I watched it around a week ago as well. I was hoping for start to finish track by track coverage of The Wall (a perfect double LP) but it was nowhere near it. The Black Sabbath 'Paranoid' rock doc was fantastic and sequenced. Pretty sure the same film company did PF's Behind the Wall, so I have no idea why the title is so misleading.

The one part that I LOVE about when they were mixing The Wall, was them placing the master tape in the machine and then stretching it out so that it runs around a broom on the other side of the room so that the samples and drop ins show up at just the right time. In a time when sampling technology was years away. That was hilariously excellent.

[xxxMidgexxx]

Punk's Not Dead (Amazon Prime)
Fun primer for kids having their own investigation into punk rock.
Focus on the early UK scene and US hardcore. I could have done without the drop in from Good Charlotte and their like. Whatevs.

[xxxMidgexxx]

The Damned: Don't You Wish We were Dead

Finally watched this in its entirety. Very enjoyable. Had no idea that Nick Mason produced some of their music. Bizarre, but the band admitted to liking psychedelic rock. A nice (albeit brief) journey through their history. I never had a problem with the 'Phantasmagoria' period. Always liked the goth thing that they went through. Dave and the Captain look very good. Took care of themselves.

[drew]

I remember they played “Fields of Fire” in the middle of the set and as the last song of the encore. That was the first time I’d seen a band play a song twice In a set.

You're forgetting when The Stooges did the same thing at Roseland in 2003 with "No Fun." I remember you saying you were there as well, right? Anyway, that said, that's the only time I can remember seeing that happen.

I was def at Roseland for The Stooges.....I said Big Country was the FIRST time I saw a band do a tune twice, not the only time. It was 1986.

[jaybird]

Worthwhile, even if you don't really care for her music, just for how she kept going in the face of endless reams of bullshit... I was always a fan since my parents used to listen to ike and Tina alot when i was little, and back in the early days of MTV when they used to play old 70s clips like this, as they were still pretty starved for content until 1984 or so:

[xxxMidgexxx]

Worthwhile, even if you don't really care for her music, just for how she kept going in the face of endless reams of bullshit... I was always a fan since my parents used to listen to ike and Tina alot when i was little, and back in the early days of MTV when they used to play old 70s clips like this, as they were still pretty starved for content until 1984 or so:

Yes on both. Terrific, even if he was a POS.

[lewdd]

Ike was born in my wife's hometown and lived there for a while.

I am planning to go visit a Tina Turner museum/old school house in Tennessee this month.