Last Music Documentaries Watched

[xxxMidgexxx]

Rozz Williams/Christian Death documentary
What a real piece of work that guy was.

[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.

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.

I misread that, so oops!

[xxxMidgexxx]

Looking for Johnny: The Legend of Johnny Thunders.
What a sad mess. Some good to great moments, but I never thought that the drugs made him a better writer/player. It was his influences and attitude.
The drugs only ruined everything over and over. Even trying to re-discover some of his solo albums, I didn't find a lot that kicked my ass, but the handful of 'hits' are quite excellent.

[the mean]

MEAN MAN: THE STORY OF CHRIS HOLMES (2021)

At this point, Chris Holmes is probably best known for being the drunk guy in the pool in Decline of the Western Civilization Part II. He was, of course, the guitar player in WASP as well. His current band is called Mean Man.

The movie follows Holmes on a recent European Tour with Mean Man, while dipping into his past. Most of the past is not explored in much depth, but the movie does keep coming back to Holmes getting screwed by Blackie Lawless. There are a few things here that are familiar at this point from watching these docs. Bickering couple (Joan Jett, Ozzy reality show), current Euro tour in small venues (Anvil), current tour mixed in with past history (Scorpions), etc. But all of this is generally good.

Holmes comes off as a lovable dope, which may or may not be accurate. He does seem to really love just hanging out with fans. He moved to Europe because people still love him and WASP there (his wife is French.)

What was funny to me was Holmes talking about how Blackie would never let him get any publicity while he was in WASP. Wouldn't let him do interviews with guitar mags or anything like that. But here in this documentary, Holmes is touring with his band Mean Man, but the rest of the band are not named, and get almost zero screen time off the stage. I think one of them was asking for directions when they got lost. That was about it.

As a side note, there are promos online for a TV series called "Holmes Sweet Holmes". I'm not sure that ever actually aired, and that series may have been turned into this movie.

[the mean]

I STILL BELIEVE IN THESE WORDS (1986) (7Seconds)

7Seconds was my favorite band, beginning when I was about 13 or 14. This documentary was released on VHS around that time, but I've never even seen a copy. Have wanted to see this ever since, but it was never available online, and I never found a copy anywhere.

While I would have been waaay more stoked on this if I found it in the 80s, this was still awesome to watch. Basically, a roadie brought a video camera on tour with 7Seconds in 1985. The tour got them to the East Coast, where they recorded at Inner Ear and then they drove straight home after that. It's basically pieced together home movie snippets with little narrative. It hints at what touring was like back then, but there isn't enough narrative to really get the feel.

There is some great live footage from all or most of the shows along the way. What's interesting is that this film immortalizes a very short lived 7Seconds lineup. Ron Doig (RIP) on guitar and Belvy Klein on drums. No Troy.

My favorite part of this movie was near they end, where they are at Inner Ear with Ian recording what became about half of "New Wind". Drums in the living room, and Kevin doing vocals in a woodshed in the backyard. I listened to "New Wind" thousands of times as a teenager. Looking back it's an odd album because the other half was recorded on the other coast with a completely different lineup. It was cool to see tapes of the first part being recorded.

I'd watch this if you like 7Seconds at all, or if you are just interested in getting a glimpse of a punk tour in 1985.

[lewdd]

Where did you find that 7 Seconds comp? And what happened, did you take a break from documentaries for a month?

[the mean]

Where did you find that 7 Seconds comp? And what happened, did you take a break from documentaries for a month?

The 7Seconds doc is now on YouTube.

It's baseball season (I like to watch my Reds) and I coach competitive youth soccer (today will be day 24 in row with soccer), so my documentary intake has slowed down a bit.

[the mean]

Not seeing 7Seconds on YouTube anymore. May have been taken down already.

[JGJR]

Where did you find that 7 Seconds comp? And what happened, did you take a break from documentaries for a month?

I didn't even know that documentary existed and I've been a fan for 30 years. It's too bad that it got taken down.

[version sound]

I watched the Creem doc on Prime. Definitely worth watching if you were a fan of the magazine. I am also about halfway through the Biggie doc on Netflix. Pretty good so far.

[JGJR]

I watched the Creem doc on Prime. Definitely worth watching if you were a fan of the magazine.

Thanks for the tip; about to watch it in a bit.