As music fanatics, there’s one thing we love almost as much as the live experience, and that’s a compelling music documentary.
Every so often we scour the internet to piece together a nice shortlist of music inspired docos that you can watch at home, whether it be a focus on up-and-coming artists, the story of the greatest names in music, industry focused pieces or just oddities of musicians, we strive to provide you with something interesting that you may not have seen before.
In saying that, we’ve got more brilliant docos we think you’re really going to dig, so kick back, relax, and enjoy some top-tier music edutainment from the comfort of your desktop… unless of course you’re at work, in which case bookmark and watch later at your leisure.
Shut Up and Play The Hits
Of course we now know that they eventually reunited to play Coachella and a string of other tour dates, but when LCD Soundsystem originally announced that they would be bowing out of the music scene after one final gig in New York City, it was a shock.
Arguably one of the most intimate concert films ever made, Shut Up and Play The Hits follows LCD Soundsystem chief James Murphy over a period of 48 hours, covering the lead up to the band’s final performance and the morning after.
Dig!
One of the most notorious music documentaries ever released, Dig! tells the story of the love-hate relationship between one-time commercial darlings The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, whose mainstream success was repeatedly sabotaged by their volatile frontman.
But what on the surface looks like a mere tale of two bands is so much more. Under the surface bubble still relevant issues like artistry vs commercial success, the power of the auteur, the indefinable and ephemeral nature of youth culture, and the volatility of artistic creation.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
We all know names like Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye, and we all know the label that made them stars. But standing in the shadows of Motown was a generation of musicians that made those artists, those songs, and that label what it is.
This 2002 documentary recounts the history of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians whom Motown founder Berry Gordy hand-picked as his label’s house band back in 1959.
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
The debut album by this Memphis outfit is still regarded as amongst the most underrated yet influential of all time. In their review, Billboard famously said of the ironically titled Number 1 Record, “Every cut could be a single.”
But the story of the group belies the well-known reputation attained by their debut album. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me doesn’t do much do dispel the air of mystery that surrounds the band and that’s precisely what makes it such gripping viewing.
Madonna: Truth or Dare
At one point the highest-grossing documentary of all time with worldwide earnings of $29,012,935, Truth or Dare set a standard still adhered to by other concert films to this day, including films like Shut Up and Play The Hits.
Intimate and confessional, Truth or Dare features spectacular footage of the pop icon’s 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, but it’s what goes on behind the scenes that makes it so groundbreaking. The warts and all doco covers Madonna’s personal struggles, backstage chaos, and reveals how often international tours skirt disaster.
We Jam Econo
The Minutemen were a movement unto themselves. One of the most respected bands to come out of the American hardcore punk scene in the ’80s, the band defied every convention they came across and did it with a smile on their faces.
When everyone was distorted, they played clean tone. As everyone embraced 1980s excess, they revelled in living ‘econo’. We Jam Econo is a heart-warming yet melancholic chronicle of how three friends from San Pedro, California became the band that could be your life.
