Terrible Music Documentaries

Seems like streaming/the internet means there are so many of these now. Documentaries featuring no music, no archival footage, no involvement w the musicians, etc. - just random interviews/talking heads. Why do these get made? I tried to watch this "Color Me Obsessed" doc about the Replacements and had to turn it off once Matt Pinfield showed up. It was the kind of thing that would make sense as an oral history (maybe) but had no business existing *on film*. Seems like there are tons of these about canonical acts (the Beatles, Zep, the Clash etc.), with a smaller subset devoted to more cult acts the 'Mats.

There's a Brian Eno doc that's so slapped-together that there's no director listed. I guess no one wanted to take the blame?

has anyone watched the ATCQ doc? because I've heard enough about its director and the circumstances to think it's got to be kind of bad

that one is good!

much, much better than I expected, so much so that I've been meaning to re-watch it since Phife passed

Yeah, that one is good

the ATCQ doc also has all the major people participating, the music, videos/live footage/tv clips etc. it is v well put together. It's a pretty different beast from these other lower-budget, lower-profile ones that have no reason for existing.

cool!

I will continue to mock Michael Rapaport though

perfectly reasonable

I remember the Scott Walker doc being disappointingly unremarkable and plodding, but I haven't watched it in a while.

all the "In Review" docs belong here

Youtube videos where you think you're going to hear a full album but it's somebody yammering about nothing for clicks

Soaked In Bleach? anyone see it?

Those "In Review " ones usually have some insufferable pedantic music journalist types and the occasional cool insight. But mainly they're just excuses for these dudes to blather on and on...

I think crappy animation - or just animation in general - in documentaries should be outlawed. Nearly ruined "Gimme Danger" for me.

idk why anyone would think watching a critic talk is somehow preferable to reading a critic's writing - it's not like these people are born performers

lol I haven't seen Gimme Danger (yet)

I think crappy animation - or just animation in general - in documentaries should be outlawed. Nearly ruined "Gimme Danger" for me.

Not seen Gimme Danger but this is a real bugbear of mine, especially if it's an animation of a) an album cover or b) a crap drawing Kurt Cobain did as a teenager.

gimme danger was pretty bad. should've just released the iggy interviews with no editing or anything bc that was the best stuff in the movie.

I had assumed that was all there was to it tbh :(

lord knows there's like no footage of those guys

Recent Chrissie Hynde one probably belongs on here. There's usually one of these on BBC4 every week.

Last week it was Springsteen, three minutes of his gormless rictus, unchanging throughout the decades, was enough for me.

I'm glad that recent book came out as it did, because that type of oral history/talking head Color Me Obsessed angle when focusing on that band....after years of "the last great rock 'n' roll band" and "..they changed my life" hyperbole...not knocking the commitment involved but, for someone who owns all the albums, I almost pretty much hate talking about the Replacements

Bob Dylan - Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years

http://www.moviehabit.com/review.php?story=rol_bt06

Soaked In Bleach? anyone see it?

― piscesx, Wednesday, February 22, 2017 12:41 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, it's a lot of fun, in a campy Unsolved Mysteries kind of way.

worst music doc i ever saw was the Nick Drake one. there are like two existing still photos of him, so it was nothing but talking heads and stock footage.

BBC 4's on The Stone Roses and Pulp's "Common People" are incredibly well-made. Also, I think they made
an amazing one on Joe Meek.

I love Soaked in Bleavh and the animated segments from. Montage of Heck by Hisko Hulsing. An animated Young Kurt Cobain show
would be terrific

Neil Young's Muddy Track (1987) is pretty excruciating, even by his standards. He makes a really
homophobic remark in it that make me wince, too

The Gene Clark one (The Byrd That Flew Alone) was a big letdown. Virtually no footage of him playing live or even being interviewed, I guess his estate didn't cooperate.

agree w beamish that the Stone Roses doc was unexpectedly great

The Gene Clark one

Yes, that was rough. The one thing I remember most from it was that photograph from his last show. He did not look good, to put it mildly.

I love the Nick Drake doc, if your'e talking about A Skin Too Few

@anthonymiccio 2 hours ago
Tonight I will finally watch the Chris Gaines Behind The Music & Warren Beatty's 2010 Dick Tracy special, so I may know which is nuttier.