Best Rock Docs

Films about concerts and musicians are essential viewing for any respectable rock fan. The mix of genius and absurdity that comes along with pop stardom makes musicians a natural subject for filmmakers. And at least since the 1980s, music’s been almost equally a visual medium. Although many of the most celebrated examples of the genre hail from the 60s and 70s, we are living through a golden age of pop music docs. Here are some prime examples of the genre in chronological order. They run the gamut from biographies to concert films to tour diaries.

‘Gimme Shelter’ (1970)

The beauty of the Rolling Stones came from their hedonistic embrace of rock’s sex-and-danger ethos. The horror of this documentary comes from its clear-eyed view of the band’s kinetic live power, which could be both hypnotic and terrifying in its intensity. The Directors craft a spellbinding sense of the band’s dark energy, which suggested liberation and nihilism. The urgent account moves inexorably toward chaos and tragedy as hippies and Hells Angels converge upon a desolate speedway track where the sunny dreams of the 60s come to an ugly, violent end. 

‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’ (1973)

Doc legend D.A. Pennebaker knew little about David Bowie’s music before he captured what would be his last performance as glam god Ziggy Stardust — but he certainly knew a star when he saw one. Bathed in a red spotlight, and voguing via scarlet hair, dark raccoon eyes, and an assortment of feathers, knee highs, black mesh and bangles. Pennebaker sticks to the stage to present a near-complete record of the show, witnessing several mind-melting solos by sideman Mick Ronson.

‘The Song Remains the Same’ (1976)

Dream sequences involving pastoral reveries, swords, horses, Tommy guns and wizards aside, for years, this was the best live document we had regarding the mighty Led Zeppelin, and it  captures the experience of seeing a huge band fill a huge auditorium with an even huger sound. It also doubles nicely as a time capsule for overall Seventies rock excess, down to the Golden-God bulges, lengthy drum solos and guitar solos with bows.

‘The Kids Are Alright’ (1979)

From Maximum R&B-playing mods to arena-rock anthem makers: Jeff Stein’s scrapbook of the Who’s career collects tidbits from the band’s TV appearances, Woodstock performance footage and interviews  in an attempt to pay tribute to one of rock’s greatest (and loudest) groups. Like the quartet themselves, the movie is often disjointed, totally chaotic, and hits with the force of a Fender Stratocaster being smashed on a stage. It also inspired the “This one goes to 11” scene from This Is Spinal Tap.

‘Rust Never Sleeps’ (1979)

By 1978, punk rock, new wave and disco were ascendant, and most Sixties rock icons were acts were already coasting on nostalgia. One very large exception: Neil Young. He’d just recorded a near-perfect collection of new songs called Rust Never Sleeps that raged against the idea of growing old gracefully, and even lashed out at his former CSNY bandmates for trying to hold him back.

He took the music on the road with Crazy Horse and filmed a gig at San Francisco’s Cow Palace for this concert movie. It captures Young at the peak of his live powers as he thrashes out proto-grunge tunes like “Welfare Mothers, ‘”Sedan Delivery,” and “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black).”

‘Heavy Metal Parking Lot’ (1986)

A sociological study of headbangers, this 17-minute short consists of interviews with Judas Priest fans tailgating outside a Maryland show. The Directors emphasize their subjects’ party-hearty, shit-faced shenanigans, but while it’s tempting to mock these mullet-afflicted metalheads, there’s an undeniable sweetness that permeates this mini-documentary. These kids may occasionally be inarticulate, sexist and obnoxious, but their innocent quest for rock & roll kicks is unfiltered youth personified. We can all relate to that. 

‘The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years’ (1988)

Director Penelope Spheeris discovers what happens when money, swimming pools and poodle perms are dropped into the mix, taking a deep dive into late-80s heavy metal. The result is a Roman orgy of posturing, hairsprayed madness, featuring the likes of Aerosmith, Kiss, and Poison, alongside lesser-known rock-god wannabes. Ozzy Osbourne showcases the lovable domestic persona that would later define the reality TV hit The Osbournes, while W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes floats drunkenly on a lilo, watched over by his quietly disapproving mother. Tragicomedy at its most absurd.

‘Hype!’ (1996)

This history of Seattle grunge might be the best portrait ever of the rock and roll boom-and-bust cycle, following the rise of the city’s indigenous rock scene from hopeful nascence in the form of bands like Green River, the Melvins, Tad and Seven Year Bitch, to the Nevermind-engorged corporate/mass media feeding frenzy that came later, as well as the confused, tragic fallout. Few rock docs do such a good job of capturing not just the music, but the ethos behind it.

‘Metallica: Some Kind of Monster’ (2004)

If Metallica had a love of the absurd, you could accuse them of staging their sessions with band therapist Phil Towle as an attempt to make their own This Is Spinal Tap. But when Lars Ulrich starts fielding grievances from his longtime bandmates with couples-therapy mirroring — “What I hear you saying is…” — it’s no longer clear who the joke is on. 

Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were only tapped for a making-of featurette, but when it became clear that one of the world’s biggest rock bands was in the midst of a collective existential crisis, they stuck around and captured an indelible record of the live-wire dynamics that make any creative enterprise work, and often doom them to failure. 

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi, 2008)

Sacha Gervasi gives us a real-life Spinal Tap in the form of these never-quite-made-it Canadian heavy metal grafters. There’s palpable Tufnel-and-St-Hubbins energy in the relationship between Robb Reiner (yes, really) and Steve “Lips” Kudlow, love-hating heroes still harbouring dreams of stadium success while holding down day jobs delivering school meals in the snow. How much more brilliant could it be? None more brilliant!

‘Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage’ (2010)

Few bands have had such a divide between critical praise and fan adulation as Rush. Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen’s straightforward doc chronicles the Canadian group from its beginnings as a high school band to the arena-filling prog behemoths they would become. Trent Reznor, Les Claypool, Jack Black, Kirk Hammett, Gene Simmons and Billy Corgan all appear to laud the group’s music and influence, but this one makes the list for the treasure trove of archival footage geared toward the Rush completist (including a teen Alex Lifeson fighting with his parents about not finishing school). 

Queen: Days of Our Lives (Matt O’Casey, 2011)

The fact that director Matt O’Casey is himself a talented musician allows Brian May and Roger Taylor to dig beneath the surface and get to the heart of what made Queen great – in terms of their showmanship and their songwriting skills. Broadcast in two parts on the BBC, this is the real story, and offers a fascinating counterpoint to the altogether more fanciful Oscar-winning drama Bohemian Rhapsody.

‘History of the Eagles’ (2013)

The tempestuous band behind “Take It Easy” may have this really soft sound but then you have these aggressive alpha males talking about the journey to get it. That’s what makes it interesting.  

That journey involved no shortage of physical altercations, drug busts, firings, and bruising lawsuits — and thankfully all seven past-and-present Eagles aren’t shy about re-living it on camera. It culminates with Glen Frey and Don Felder actually threatening each other during a 1980 fundraising concert.

 Most sanctioned documentaries shy away from unflattering scenes like that confrontation, but the Eagles wanted a warts-and-all documentary…and that’s what exactly Ellwood gave them. 

Murder in the Front Row (2019)

Based on the excellent book of the same name It chronicles the origins of the San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal scene, enlisting both fans and bands to tell the tale. It succeeds in putting the Bay Area on the map and giving the also ran bands credibility in the genre. Its told through powerful first person testimony and stunning animation and photography. A beautifully put together documentation of the movement.

The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson, 2021)

This three-part TV series (which runs to nearly eight hours) draws on a treasure trove of unseen footage originally shot for Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s fractious 1970 doc Let It Be. The result plays like a meditative slow-cinema exploration of the creative process, creating an uncanny illusion of intimacy. 

Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal (2024)

 Based on the book of the same name and  directed by Jeff Tremaine, best-known for  Jackass TV and the controversial Motley Crue biopic The Dirt. The series delivers a fresh and candid behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most iconic eras. Itis a celebration of the most outrageous decade in rock’n’roll. Musicians interviewed for the show include Poison’s Bret Michaels, Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Skid Row’s Dave “Snake” Sabo and Corey Taylor.