# movies and documentaries with connection to pop music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938 "2009-02-15T11:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/21 "2009-02-15T22:28:23Z")
What’s the movie about the four high school KISS fans that go to Detroit for the big show? I think they steal one of the kids’ moms car? Not a great film, but it had some pretty good scenes… ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/22 "2009-02-15T22:30:38Z")
Great suggestions so far! The ones that I’ve seen I can certainly agree with, the others mentioned seem interesting. Just to add more to the collection, there is also the bio-pic genre that was popular a couple of years ago, with movies like \*\*Ray \*\*and **I walk the line**. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/23 "2009-02-15T22:43:58Z")
**Absolute Beginners** –the dawn of 60s Rock in England. Features David Bowie, Ray Davies and Sade. **Back Beat** –The Beatles, in their Cavern Club days **The Commitments** –Oh man I love this movie! Kids in Dublin form a Soul band **The Boys and Girl of County Clare** –Trying to win a contest, Ceile bandmates try to find love, resolve their pasts and stay relevent in 1968 Ireland. Particularly amusing is the young Irish boys’ reaction to American hippie chicks. If you’re not already in love with Andrea Corr, you will be after watching this. **American Pop** –Ralph Bakshi animation. Not great. **Head** –The Monkees, free of their TV obligations and eager to prove themselves as serious revolutionary Rock n Roll gods, effectively ended their movie with this. Worth watching for a cameo by a very young Teri Garr. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/24 "2009-02-15T22:47:53Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > What’s the movie about the four high school KISS fans that go to Detroit for the big show? I think they steal one of the kids’ moms car? Not a great film, but it had some pretty good scenes… \*\* Detroit Rock City\*\*, with Edward Furlong and Natasha Lyonne. I seem to have a false memory of Ashton Kutcher being in this… ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/25 "2009-02-15T22:48:22Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > **The Commitments** –Oh man I love this movie! Kids in Dublin form a Soul band Yup, quality. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/26 "2009-02-15T23:33:41Z")
Now say it with me- “I’m black and I’m proud!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/27 "2009-02-15T23:46:22Z")
**Control** - Anton Corbijn’s biopic about Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. (Anton Corbijn is a leading music photographer who was responsible for the imagery of bands like Depeche Mode and U2, among others.) It’s a very powerful movie, and among the best music-related movies I’ve seen. I’d say it’s worth watching **24 Hour Party People** and **Control** back to back, as there is a crossover of the people portrayed, and it’s interesting in seeing different directors and actors take on similar subjects. **Hype!** - If you were at all interested in the early 90s Seattle music scene, Hype is the best straight-up documentary I know of that time and place. Perhaps most interestingly, it’s not just a collection of clips about the most well-known bands of the time. Sure, you get Mudhoney, the Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, etc., but you also get some perennial Seattle-scene bands like the Fastbacks or the power poppy Flop that few outside the region have heard of. It’s a smart, witty documentary, and an absolute must-see for any music fan, even if you’re not a big fan of Sub Pop and the bands that emerged from that scene. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/28 "2009-02-15T23:51:54Z")
What about **Stardust** and **That’ll Be The Day**? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Falling_Reverend)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/29 "2009-02-15T23:55:49Z")
Damn EJsGirl, I was going to suggest The Future Is Unwritten. But If you like The Clash, I suggest either “Westway To The World”(documentary) or “Rude Boy” (not quite a documentary but has some amazing concert footage.) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/30 "2009-02-16T00:01:24Z")
I do indeed love my Clash- I will look at both of them. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/31 "2009-02-16T00:03:44Z")
Godard’s **Sympathy for the Devil** has great footage of The Rolling Stones working on and recording the titular song. > **[The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil (1968) ⭐ 6.2 | Documentary, Music](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063665/)** > > 1h 51m | Not Rated ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/32 "2009-02-16T01:23:12Z")
My favorites are out of print but might be possible to find with some concerted effort: **[URGH! A Music War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgh!_A_Music_War)**: just live performances for the most part, but from a staggering variety of early-80’s artists, including Gary Numan, Oingo Boingo, Joan Jett, Dead Kennedys, the Police (!) and about a dozen more. This movie is pretty much responsible for my musical taste. [**The Decline of Western Civilization Pt. II: The Metal Years**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_Western_Civilization_Part_II:_The_Metal_Years): a phenomenal and often tragically hilarious documentary of the 80’s L.A. Music Scene. An absolute must-see. **[Tulsa, Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere](http://www.amazon.com/Hanson-Tulsa-Tokyo-Middle-Nowhere/dp/630516598X)**: follows Hanson in their first blush of MMMBop-related fame, as they do a worldwide publicity tour. It certainly helps if you’re already a fan of Hanson (or at least mildly interested in them) but I think it shows that these were bright, highly-motivated and talented kids, who gained fame based on their own genuine talent, not through the machinations of a Svengali or controlling stage parents. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/33 "2009-02-16T01:24:55Z")
I know you’re specifically after movies, but may I please mention what I think is the finest novel about a fictitious rock and roll band? Espedair Street, by Iain Banks. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/34 "2009-02-16T03:30:25Z")
Good recs all. I am a fan of all things 80s and Manchester, so along with 24HPP and Control I will also add the Joy Division documentary that got a theatrical release in the last year or two. Really well done. The book “Touching from a Distance” by Deborah Curtis (Ian’s widow) is a great read. Control is loosely based on it. It’s out of print, but “The New Order Story” is even more about the band that rose from the ashes of Joy Division. “Starshaped” is a Britpop-era Blur documentary that I quite liked. “Everyone Stares” is a documentary about The Police as they were making it big filmed by Stewart Copeland. The soundtrack is epic - “derangements” of classic Police songs by Stew. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938/35 "2009-02-17T17:09:29Z")
**Still Crazy** , a 1998 British dramedy about a fictional 70’s glam-rock band called Strange Fruit, some of whose surviving members go about trying to reassemble the band in the present day. This could prove difficult, though, because the lead singer [Bill Nighy] suffers from debilitating stage fright, and because the band’s greatest genius [Bruce Robinson, writer and director of the cult fave **Withnail & I**] has been in a mental institution for the past fifteen or twenty years or so (shades of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett). It’s got a great cast (Billy Connolly, Stephen Rea, Timothy Spall are the other “fruits”) and mixes up the laughs and pathos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-documentaries-with-connection-to-pop-music/485938.md?page=1)