Some of the most powerful movies star not overpaid Hollywood actors but gloriously gifted singers and musicians. They're rock documentaries, great entertainment if you’re a fan of behind-the-music stories.
One of the most moving and suspenseful rock documentaries is Searching for Sugar Man, about a Mexican-American singer-songwriter from Detroit. A 2012 Academy Award-winner for Best Documentary Feature, the movie sets out to solve the mystery of Rodriguez, who released two critically acclaimed albums that went nowhere in the U.S. and who was rumored to have killed himself onstage in the 1970s. The music of Rodriguez, interspersed throughout the film, is frequently haunting and beautiful, as is this movie filled with jaw-dropping twists.
I watched another Academy Award-winner for Best Documentary Feature, 20 Feet From Stardom, expecting to be blown away by Darlene Love, and I was. But this documentary about backup singers more gifted than many of the stars they support also introduced me to Lisa Fischer, a great artist who happens to sing backup, and the amazing Merry Clayton. “I don’t know why she wasn’t a superstar,” Love says of Clayton, whose voice is such a presence on the Rolling Stones song “Gimme Shelter” that for years I thought it was called “It’s Just a Shot Away”—one of the lines Clayton sings backup on, soaring over Mick Jagger and lifting the song up into the stratosphere. To hear the unadorned backing track of just Clayton, who sang the part on short notice in the middle of the night in just a few takes, is one of those moments you don’t forget.
I came away from the Joe Strummer documentary, The Future Is Unwritten, dying to get my hands on a copy of “Johnny Appleseed,” a buoyant song Strummer co-wrote and recorded with his post-Clash band, The Mescaleros. The heartfelt documentary, which features interviews with friends and fellow musicians, also increased my respect for a man who, although sometimes difficult, was also capable of great generosity and idealism: “We were one with our audience. You should never feel above anyone.”
If you like to experience your music documentaries with like-minded fans, join us at the Bezazian Branch for our ongoing Rock Docs series on the second Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. December’s selection is about the making of a New York artist's solo album following the demise of his band, one of the most influential in rock history. The album, released in 1972 and co-produced by a glam rock pioneer, included songs about the seedier side of New York City, and the documentary features compelling performance footage and interviews with the artist and others. For additional information, including the title of the documentary, please call the Bezazian Branch at 312-744-0019.
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