Rock 'n' roll picture show series: docs and mockumentaries

For an in depth look at bands and artists, many music fans turn to documentaries, usually which either act as biographies of the artist with interviews from those who were there or as concert documentaries, which help you relive every moment of the concert experience from the parking lot to the party backstage. Then there are the mockumentaries who take a fake band and all the cliches they can fit into two hours to make an obscenely funny comedy that only true fans will appreciate.

 

Perhaps the beginning of the rock concert on film idea came from the legendary film Woodstock, which chronicled the concert boasting three days of peace, love, and music in upstate New York. The concert features all the sixties artists you could want in a three hour film. The 40th anniversary edition of this film has recently come out, ensuring that there will be many years of reliving the Woodstock experience for generations to come.

 

For a less happy look at the end of the Sixties, one can watch Gimme Shelter, the Rolling Stones' film about their tour in 1969. Released the same year as Woodstock, Gimme Shelter focuses on the unrest in the Stones' last tour of the Sixties, particularly on the disastrous concert at Altamont, which was supposed to be the Woodstock of the West Coast. The film was later used as evidence in the murder trail of  Meredith Hunter, who was killed by one of the Hell's Angels guards during the performance of "Under My Thumb." Hell's Angel Alan Passaro was later acquitted of the crime as the concert documentary showed he only pulled a gun on Hunter after Hunter pulled a knife on him.

 

Trying to unravel another tragedy of the Sixties is the documentary Janis Joplin Slept Here, which goes back to Joplin's roots in Texas and tries to separate the myths from the realities of the singer. The film not only explores the history of Janis in Austin, Texas, but the legacy she left behind, including ties to the SXSW music festival, which is held every year in Austin from mid to late March.

 

Legendary singer songwriter Bob Dylan is no stranger to documentaries himself. Martin Scorsese's 1978 documentary The Last Waltz follows Dylan, Eric Clapton,Neil Diamond,Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, and the members of The Band on their last concert tour. The memorable performances of this concert footage will have you watching them over and over again, intermittent with tales from The Band about how they came to be and their musical achievements.

 

 

Glam rocker David Bowie brings his famed album to life in the concert documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The 1973 concert was supposed to be Bowie's last as his alter-ego persona Ziggy Stardust, with mixed references to death and suicide in his lyrics explaining the fall of Ziggy. When Bowie famously said at the end of the show "Not only is this is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do" it left many fans confused as to whether he meant it was his last performance totally or his last performance as Ziggy Stardust. We now know that the tour marked the end of the Ziggy Stardust alter-ego

 

The 2005 documentary New York Doll is the story of Arthur "Killer" Kane who, after suffering from alcoholism and converting to LDS, is given an opportunity to reunite with his punk band The New York Dolls. The film features footage of the Dolls themselves, along with personas like Bob Geldof, Iggy Pop, and Morrissey. The film stars in 1972 with the formation of the band and follow them through a spiral of drugs, alcohol, and death until the present day. Kane is recruited by Gedolf and Morrissey to perform a reunion tour with his band in London, which can only happen if Kane can make amends with his former band members.

 

For the fans is the 1986 film Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a documentary about Judas Priest fans waiting for a concert in Landover, Maryland. The film gained success underground and has long been a cult classic, depicting what really goes on in the parking lot as fans are gearing up for the show. For a long time, only bootleg copies of the film were attainable until the film was shown in Washington D.C. in 1997. A 20th anniversaray DVD verison is now available.

 

A look into the worlds of punk rock and heavy metal were documented by filmmaker Penelope Spheeris films The Decline of Western Civilization and The Decine of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. The first film documents the L.A. Punk scene, following bands like X, the Germs, the Mutants, the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Catholic Disciple, and Alice Bag Band through series of concert footage. The scene film is perhaps the more famous, documenting the excessive lifestyle of the players in the heavy metal scene of the 1980s. Featuring Aerosmith, KISS, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, WASP, Odin and others, using more interviews than concerts to get the story behind the scenes.