We love a good music doco ’round here at team Tone Deaf, whether it’s of the homegrown variety or the world-travelling film festival kind. But we think you’ll agree that there’s probably none more awesome than those we can view for free from the comfort of our computer screens.
Enter then, our third edition of cherry-picking awesome music documentaries from various corners of the web for you to enjoy with little more than a few mouse clicks – no credit card or dodgy sign-ups required.
So if you’ve got a spare few hundred minutes – or bookmark for later, when you do – this latest batch has got something for everyone, from blockbuster features starring Jack White, Jimmy Page, The Doors, and Jeff Buckley, to smaller-screen focuses on Metallica and Jeff Buckley, plus a couple of record label profiles for good measure. We don’t wanna brag, but it might be our best free docos column yet.
It Might Get Loud (2008, Dir: Davis Guggenheim)
What do you get when you put Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and The White Stripes’ Jack White together to talk shop? “A fist fight?” jokes White.
Hell no! You get three guitar virtuosos who delve deep into their love and adoration for the their lifeblood: music. This 97-minute doco features the legends casually discussing each of their respective careers, tracing the roots of where they first fell in love with the guitar as well as the rise to fame in each of their musical endeavours.
From sharing the secrets to their distinct sounds and nerding out over gear, to swapping war stories of epic gigs moments, and having a jam together (of course), this is an informative and at times hilarious insight not only into each man and his work, but the six-stringed instrument as a whole.
Don’t palm this one off as a super technical hour and a half about guitars, amps and effects pedals, It Might Get Loud is so much more, providing a rare window into the unique personalities of each of these iconic rock stars and their incredible emotional attachment to music. (The scene where Page starts air shredding along to an old record is worth the price of non-admission, alone.)
Classic Albums: Metallica (2001, Dir: Matthew Longfellow)
Today, Metallica are one of the most recognisable bands on the planet but back in the early 90s they were a thrash metal band who’d arguably conquered the scene and were waiting for their massive mainstream breakthrough. Their iconic self-titled fifth album from 1991 is the record that did it, making Metallica a household name, and this making-of feature goes some way to prying open the process behind one of the best selling albums of all time.
Part of Eagle Vision’s ongoing Classic Albums direct-to-vide series, this 50-minute doco centres around talking heads interviews, archival footage, and plenty of in-studio reflection. Though it begins with simply glorifying the band and their soon-to-be blockbuster album (the first 10 minutes alone are solely dedicated to ‘Enter Sandman’), things do get more insightful. Such as the terse relationship between the young metal hotshots and their producer, Bob Rock, or Hetfield’s own struggles with “going soft” in order to reach a wider audience. The misty-eyed sequences focussing on the album’s powerful ballads – ‘The Unforgiven’ and ‘Nothing Else Matters’ – with orchestrator Michael Kamen are probably the highlight (including the anecdotal tale about the seed for 1999’s S&M collaboration being planted backstage at an awards ceremony). (Al Newstead)
Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You (2002, Dir: Serena Cross )
It’s almost too hard to believe that Jeff Buckley’s Grace turns 20 years old this month, but it’s definitely harder to believe that this incredible artist was taken from the world 17 years ago. Everybody Here Wants You, aptly yet so ironically entitled after the strongest track from what would have been Buckley’s second record Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk, is a 60-minute feature that documents the story of the late and great one-of-a-kind melancholic artist.
Directed by BBC mainstay Serena Cross, this production follows a chronological order of Buckley’s rise to prominence to his tragic passing, with a multitude of interviews with the artist himself, his family, then-girlfriend, and footage of his also-late father, the 60s folk-psych legend: Tim Buckley
There is a stunning list of notable artists who weigh in on their sheer adoration for Buckley, including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, The Pretender’s Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, and, umm, Brad Pitt. Jeff Buckley was a raw talent that should forever be appreciated and this documentary does his name and legacy justice, and his closing quotes at the end of this film will break your heart all over again. (JH)
Too Old To Be New, Too New To Be Classic (2013, Dir: Max Joseph)
Produced by the Red Bull Music Academy last year, this oral history of ’12 years of DFA Records’ is a fun, frank look at the iconic indie label that defined the New York dance-punk scene and birthed bands like The Rapture, The Juan Maclean, Holy Ghost!, and of course, LCD Soundsystem.
An oral history of the label’s influence as told by its roster, staff, and co-founders Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy, Too Old To Be New is also narrated to perfection by WTF Podcast comedian Marc Maron, joining the dots of history together to find how the soundtrack of the early ’00s blossomed from a small NYC office and the minds of some willing music revolutionaries. Though short in length, the film is broad in scope, and Joseph must be commended for his snappy direction and insightful interviews. The counterpoint between a clearly worn-out Tim Goldsworthy, holed up at DFA HQ, and a now world-famous James Murphy, lounging in wayfarers and a sun hat on a yacht, are priceless. (AN)
The Doors: When You’re Strange (2010, Dir: Tom DiCillo)
In the rich artistic tapestry that is music, there is but a very small number of bands that have amassed to such a cultural status and ever-lasting influence as the infamous 1960s outfit, The Doors.
When You’re Strange is an incredible feature-length documentary, narrated by none other than Johnny Depp and directed by award winning Tom DiCillo (see Delirious) that recounts this band’s illustrious story with never-before-seen footage of the band from 1965 right up until the untimely death in 1971 of frontman and notorious ‘American Poet’ bad boy Jim Morrison, one of rock’s greatest icons.
This provocative documentary details the history of each band member in a manner that is equally comprehensive as it is entertaining. From the group’s first days where Morrison and Ray Manzarek first met at UCLA’s Film School, the insane antics on and off the stage, the storm of controversy that surrounded the group, the incredible rise and fall of the tortured frontman as well as the creative legacy they left upon the world.
Even if you’re not a diehard Doors fan, this is still a must-see. We must warn you though, after watching this film you’re going to wish you were a Cali kid, getting high at a Doors gig. (JH)
Keep On Running: 50 Years Of Island Records (2009, Dir: Stuart Watts)
“In 1959, one man’s passion for Jamaica and its music gave birth to the most diverse and influential independent record label in history.” The introductory narration kind of says it all, except for mentioning the founder in question, Chris Blackwell, the UK music fanatic who started it all on the island country while in his mid-teens.
As this feature captures in fascinating strokes, with each successive decade Island grew from strength to strength in respect and genre with enormous scope; hosting emerging hip rock (Free, Traffic, Roxy Music), prog heroes (King Crimson, Jethro Tull), and singer-songwriters (Cat Stevens, Nick Drake) in the 70s to helping launch Bob Marley to superstardom and making reggae fashionable in the eyes of a then-dismissive rock audience.
The 80s brought even greater success, largely thanks to a little Irish band by the name of U2, before enlisting some of the modern era’s most influential figures in Portishead, DJ Shadow, Amy Winehouse, and many, many more. With such an enormous family of music-makers, there isn’t time in the span of 90 minutes for Keep On Running to cover every Island Records favourite (eg. Morrissey, The Orb, Jah Wobble) but it’s hard to fault this flick when it does such an excellent job elsewhere. As both a primer for schooling novices and as festive retrospective, it’s a fitting tribute to the legacy of one of music’s most consistently important record labels. (AN)
All Tomorrow’s Parties – End Of An Era with Civil Civic (2014, Dir: Ben Strunin)
This bite-sized feature follows the exploits of Aussie ex-pat twosome Civil Civic as they perform at All Tomorrow’s Parties last ever End Of An Era camping festival in the UK. The high-energy instrumental band are two parts human (Aaron Cupples, Ben Green) and one-part machine (their sound-looping, beat-making stage counterpart ‘the box’) and 100% “fucking awesome” as ATP co-promoter Deborah Kee Higgins says of the decision to have Civil Civic tear up the stage alongside the world-class likes of Mogwai, Ty Seagull, Fuck Buttons, and Goat.
The band’s friend Ben Strunin is the man behind the lens, managing to capture the life of a band on the road, the unique style of the festival itself, as well as snatches of awesome live performances – all in the length of time of one of Civil Civic’s numbers. It totally leaves us wanting more, which is no bad thing. (AN)
