All of the Spinal Tap References on the Clapton thread has reminded me how amazing that movie is. How can something so completely obsurd be such a true reflection on real life. Tap really captures the sights, the sounds, THE SMELLS of a hard working band on the road.

Hey all you axe slingers, what are your favorite R'N'R movies?

As Marti DeBurghi would say:
"LET'S BOOGIE"!

Rock and Roll High School has to be my favorite. I mean what more could you want in rock and roll movie. I also really dig Quadrophenia and The Wall.

Man, I don't know if you'd call it a rock and roll movie BUT, One of my favs has got to be HEAVY METAL. The soundtrack to that cartoon just KICKS ASS!!!

A Hard Day's Night

<- Lays Potato Chip Syndrome: Can't (choose) just one!

In no particular order:

1. Hard Day's Night

2. Help

3. Rocky Horror Picture Show

4. Grease (to this then 11 year old, Olivia Newton-John was the hottest
babe on the planet in 1978!)

5. Spinal Tap

6. The Wall

7. Crossroads (BAD movie, but music by Ry Cooder and a little known
shredder by the name of Steve Vai?)


Neil

"Stop Making Sense" (Talking Heads) Not sure if it counts as a movie, more of a documentary.

What?? No votes for "Light of Day"?!?!?! HA HA HA!!! Yeah, Michael J. Fox is a true American rock hero!!

"The Girl Can't Help It", circa 1956. Great footage of Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Fats Domino, others.

I can't believe there hasn't been a vote for Blues Brothers!!!!

Forget about "Spinal Tap"... check out "200 Motels".

Almost Famous wasn't bad. I don't mind a few of the "stories of" genre. The Richie Valens one wasn't bad. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of "Let It Be".

Generally, though...I haven't been impressed with too many rocknroll movies.

There's a new Jimi Hendrix movie coming out... I think this summer.

guitplayer

gotta be the TAP.

Do any of you guys and gals remember a series on MTV called the young ones. Simon you will remember this, it was a Brit comedy.

That show was the tits.

I wish I could get my hands on some copies...

BK

Oh... my... god...!

(As a native Chicagoan, I'm embarrassed to have named so many and forgotten this classic.

And how many other movies feature a cameo by Joe Walsh as a Joliet Prison inmate???

Neil

BK wrote:
>> gotta be the TAP.

Do any of you guys and gals remember a series on MTV called the young ones. Simon you will remember this, it was a Brit comedy.

That show was the tits.

I wish I could get my hands on some copies...

BK >>

Yep dude I remember it well, its a hoot!! I have all the videos of the series and I still love it... Almost as good as Spinal Tap for making a crap day feel good.
If ya want a copy of the series email me your address and I'll send it accross or I'll bring it over to LA when we come over on tour... OK?

Neil

Tut Tut!! Hang your head bro Blues brothers is epic... love it to bits shame they never made a sequel... But then again all sequels suck right!!

The other one thats missing from the humour hall of fame has to be "Bad News" great film had my sides aching... and it featured some of the guys from The Young Ones....

' Young ones dodododo young ones, young ones shouldn't be afwaid' HAHAHAHAHA !! HAW HAW HAW!! What a killer Rick Mayall is a top guy my brothers!!! Actually ( ahem ahem, Looks embarrased ) I'm supposed to do a pretty good impression of him myself!!

Simon

Vivian has to be my favorite in The Young Ones. He almost had you believing those stars on his forehead were really nailed in there.

My favorite episode is the one where the house is under water and neil is taking a mud bath.

Or the one when the bomb falls in the kitchen..

Simon- thanks man I will email you my address.

-- OH yeah fantasic - I just watched the blues brothers last night. Funny I didnt think of that. I love that scence with John Lee Hooker playing on the street. That fret buzz is the Shit.

BK

you've got to include documentaries: The Last Waltz (!), Woodstock, Let It Be

what about Yellow Submarine!

Tommy
Sid and Nancy
and a sappy, sentimental favorite (my wife likes it): That Thing You Do

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash. Best parody ever.

Spinal Tap. Second Best.

Hard Day's Night, Help and Yellow Submarine all stand up to repeated viewings, and have great music video sequences. Magical Mystery Tour doesn't work real well as a movie, but has some great Music Video moments.

The Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus would have been a great movie, if they hadn't waited 30 years to release it. Some tremendous filmed performances, and an incredible historical document.

The Wall is an incredibly disturbing, disturbed, dark movie, absolutely no fun at all. And yet, great. There are some great combinations of visual and song.

All of the preceding are worth owning.

Most under-rated (and most unseen): One Trick Pony. Paul Simon has a great band, including Tony Levin on bass and Steve Gadd on drums, all of whom "act" in the film. Some funny bits, including Lou Reed as Paul's producer.

It's hard to do a good, serious movie about rock n roll. Maybe you shouldn't even try. There have been some classic comedies with a rock n roll related plot:

Airheads
Wayne's World
The Doors (that WAS a comedy, right?)
High Fidelity (a must-see)

I can't believe I missed another classic!!!

My wife bought this from the Beatlefest organizers long before it was available on video.

Check out this site:

http://www.getback.org/rutles.html

You'll love it.

Neil

GIMME SHELTER. Sheeesh... amazing film. Just got the DVD version that has a bunch of outtakes and stuff, too.

Speaking of which, does anybody have TAP on DVD? There's like an hour of outtakes and most of them are just as funny as what ended up in the movie!

Tap is way up there on my faves list of course, as is the Rutles. When the Rutles first came out I could NOT stop laughing. My favorite line was just kinda casually tossed off in such a way that you might miss it if you weren't totally paying attention: "Leggy's father was such a snob that he wore swim trunks in the bath to prevent him looking down on the unemployed."

What else... A Hard Day's Night is awesome. And Don't Look Back, a documentary of Bob Dylan in his prime, on tour in England in 1965. There are some hilarious scenes of Dylan totally tearing apart some lame interviewers.

I liked That Thing You Do, too. And High Fidelity is killer. The Last Waltz... The Kids Are Alright... Rock'N'Roll Circus... geez, too many to list!

And how about the L.A. punk documentary "The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization"? 'Course most of the subjects are dead now, but...

--Lee

Lee said:
>>>Speaking of which, does anybody have TAP on DVD? There's like an hour of outtakes and most of them are just as funny as what ended up in the movie!
======================================

The part where Bruno Kirby brings the pizza to the hotel room and is forced into smoking his first joint and ends up singing "All The Way" in his underwear had me rolling on the floor.

This message has been edited by KHAN on 04-21-2001 at 12:25 AM

Excuse my ignorance, but what is Spinal Tap?

Fire away...

Rod

words alone can't describe This Is Spinal Tap

run, don't walk, with $3 in hand to your nearest Blockbuster and rent it tonight (what the hell else is there on TV tonight...the XFL Championship?!?)

watch it 2 or 3 or 50 times and laugh your ass off

we could start a thread just on favorite scenes from Spinal Tap alone...

Am I the only person on Earth who didn't find Spinal Tap to be that good?

Take Mzeger's advice, but if you must know, Spinal Tap is a documentary of a fictitious band.

If memory serves, it was directed by Rob Reiner, and starred Harry Shearer (Most notably, the voice of Principal Skinner and many others on The Simpsons, but he's been in a lot of TV and some movies.), Michael McKean (Let's see.. Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, cast member on Saturday Night Live, lots of movies.), Chrisotpher Guest (Also from Saturday Night Live, The six fingered man from the movie Princess Bride and Bruno Kirby(man he's been in a LOT of great movies, including [i]The Freshman, Good Morning Vietnam {as the dj who THOUGHT he was funny, classic}, Biloxi Blues.. I could do a whole page on him.)

It follows the band on tour. Classic scenes for anyone who's ever been in or worked around touring musicians.

But like the man said, plunk down yer $3 and see it yourself.

Oh, and yes Scott from MA, you ARE the only person to think Spinal Tap isn't hilarious. (From my experience.)

Neil

Check out THIS THREAD from last year on Craig's Forum about music movies.

"This is Spinal Tap" & "Blues Brothers" simply cannot be beat with "Almost Famous" a close third in my book, but what a disaster "Blues Brothers 2000" was...they tried to copy just about ever scene from the original and the little kid & John Goodman were simply awful.

How about "American Pop"? Even though it was a cartoon, I liked the way the movie went thru all the different musical eras.

Enter my votes for:

Spinal Tap
Song Remains The Same
The Kids Are Alright
Quadrophenia
Gimme Shelter
Woodstock
Blow Up (the one with the Yardbirds, not the Travolta flick)

Break out the popcorn....

Oh, DAMN! How could I have forgotten Quadrophenia? A classic!

--Lee

Does it count if the movie has "music scenes" in the movie, but isn't a "rock movie"?

How about the one that has Jeff Healey playing some songs in a bar, I forget the name, but it has Patrick Swazie as the karate chopping bouncer who saves the town!

Pretty lame movie, but Jeff's parts were very cool!

How about LAME Rock movies...

Like... Any movie starring Elvis...

guitplayer

200 Motels

Frank Zappa

That would be Roadhouse Guitplayer!

Truly crummy, inbetween the Jeff Healey Band and the fight scenes.. oh.. most of those coincided!

Neil

Checked out blockbuster today, they do have the DVD version but it was out... :-(

I'll keep checking... Thanks for the info.

Rod

rutles and tap by far top the list. watch "a face in the crowd" from the 50's starring mayberry's own andy griffith for a truly scary portrayal of the music biz. "still crazy" was cute. prince's "sign of the times" is one kickin' concert film. the new sex pistols film "filth and the fury" is excellent. "punk rock movie" shot by don letts (who later ended up in big audio dynamite) is a very interesting film. "desparate teenage lovedolls" shot on super-8 in the 80's and starring a punk rock who's who of los angeles is cool. better yet is "1976" with rob reiner, redd kross and david cassidy. don't forget those "decline of the western civilization" movies...lot's of good stuff there. "gimme shelter" and "cocksucker blues" are always fun/scary looks into the stones. "hype" is a really funny documentary look at the whole seattle music explosion. chuck berry's "hail hail rock and roll" is fascinating. i can watch that over and over. (and if you've ever seen the bootleg hotel room video "johnny b. bad" with chuck naked with some white girl groupie well...it ain't citizen kane).... help/hard days night go without saying.... the zep movie "the dong remains the same" is a crappy show by a great band with a never ending closeup of robert plant's penis bulge in his jeans.... the joan jett/michael j. fox/michael "tap" mckean movie "light of day" was a real dog (my old roommate and i actually got called to read for parts in that film!).... 'rock n roll high school" was a fun goof (if you like roger corman films, which i do).... the "blues brothers" is such a overwrought mess, but you gotta love it just for the way the talent outshines john landis' idiotic direction... those early "devo" films are beyond wild... "woodstock" is a lot better when you have the luxury of a "fast forward" button as is zappa's "200 motels" and "baby snakes"....the best part of "the last waltz" is neil young with that giant cocaine booger hanging out of his nose... and then of course there's the super bizarre "monkees" jack nicholson scripted LSD film "head."... it's cheesy. but i liked the jerry lee lewis "great balls of fire" flick.. starring wynona "i'll sleep with any musician that's why my nickname is 'ride her'" ryder, and with the backup band being john doe from x, jimmie vaughan of the t-birds, and mojo nixon! rock on.

-d. gauss

Another movie that has a great "music interlude" is Twins, with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. As part of the plot, there's a bar scene, and a fight breaks out. The guitarist in the band playing that's in the background is none other than Jeff Beck. For those that had seen Blow Up, the scene is somewhat reminiscent of what went on during the Yardbirds' scene in that movie. Put those on your list of movies to watch on a rainy day.

Don't forget "Crossroads." Remember that piece of crap starring, of all people, the Karate Kid, as an alleged blues guy?!?

Let's get the whitest of white boys, and the most lame and least cool, and have him follow in Robert Johnson's footsteps.

The movie was notable only for Steve Vai's cameo as the Devil, dueling with little Karate boy--although what they played can hardly be called blues.


p.s. Want to see a great concert film? The Who at the Isle of Wight, 1970. (Not the "Aisle of White," which is what they should have called "Crossroads.") A tour de force. They were paradoxically very sloppy and very tight. Along with their performances at Monterey (1967), the Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus (1968), and Woodstock (1969), when you watch this, and then think about the hype back then about the Stones being the Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World, and it's pretty laughable.

Can't believe no one mentioned "Get Crazy" great parody: "I said a Blues band not a Jews band!" All those 60's acid exploitation flix were great too! Jack Nicholson as Stoney, the bass player with a "Lee-Press-on" ponytail playing what sounded like backwards Hendrix. This film also featured The Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds, great stuff. And who can forget Max Frost and the Troopers big hit "Shapes of Things to Come" from Wild in the Streets....Cheers...Cristofe

Great one´s, too see over-and-over again:

1. Bad News on tour

2. The Rutles "All you need is cash!"

3. Talking Heads "Stop making sense"

4. Leningrad Cowboys go America

5. Sex Pistols "The filth and the fury"

6. Still Crazy

7. Not really a movie: Grace Jones "A one man show"-videos.

8. Tie: Residents "Video Voodoo" & "The Eyes Scream". Some amazingly sick stuff that stays in your head forever.

9. No music, but very Rock&nRoll-ish: Luc Godard´s first movie "À bout de souffle" (aka Breathless). Quite simply one of the greatest movies ever IMHO.

10. Most of Jim Jarmush´films


Runner-ups:

11. A Hard Days Night

12. Blues Brothers

13. Madness Video collection

14. Cheech & Chong: "Up in Smoke"

15. Tie: Musicals rather than R&R, but never the less rockin´: "Priscilla, Queen of the desert"/"Hair"

Nearly made it to the list: Both Austin Powers movies, Almost famous, High Fidelity, Colors, That Thing You Do, Let it Be, Help, La Bamba


Rather boring R&R films, still worth seeing once but maybe not twice:
Spinal Tap, 200 Motels, Almost any Elvis movie, Yellow Submarine, Woodstock, Phantom of the Park (feat. Kiss), TGIF, Car Wash, American Graffiti, Abba The Movie, In bed with Madonna, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Great Rock & Roll Swindle, What´s love got to do with it,

Worst speculative kind of crap ever made: Waynes World 2, Blues Brothers 2000, Pink Floyd live in Pompeii, Spice Girls the movie,


/Mats

This message has been edited by mats.olsson@rockfile.se on 04-27-2001 at 09:43 PM

Rust Never Sleeps, the concert film with Neil Young and Crazy Horse was great IMO. I always felt it came out right at the peak of his career. 1979 I believe.

Don't flame me for this. I know the movie was lame, but the final battle of the bands in "Blues Brothers 2000" is worth the price of the DVD by itself. Even Dan Aykroyd's goofy version of Funky Nassau, with Erika Badu was pretty good.

What about Repo Man? I'll take Punk themed Sci Fi comedies whenever I can get them. certainly the best role I've ever seen Emilio Esteves play.

BTW - I haven't seen it myself (yet,) but has anyone seen "Six String Samurai". It sounds like a pretty funny flick.

Anyone remember a movie with Roy Orbison in it called something like "The Fastest Guitar In the West"? A cheesy western about some dude who had a gun hidden in a guitar kicking the bad guys' butts...

Without a doubt, it would be "The Wizard of Oz" with the sound turned off and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" playing. Has anyone else tried that?

My bass player keeps raving about that...I'll have to try it.

try watching "american psycho" while listening to the soundtrack to "wizard of oz"....

-d. gauss

I used to watch the end of "Crossroads" over and over again. Steve Vai was great! Did you know he wasnt supposed to be in the movie? He did the soundtrack and was on the set as a technical advisor. The second the director saw him, he fired the actor and had Steve play the part. Wonderful! No one could of done that like the man himself!

Man, I miss the Young Ones. I watched that religiously!

Michael McKean (Let's see.. Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, cast member on Saturday Night Live, lots of movies.),

Actually, Michael McKean played Lenny on Lavernve and Shirley


And NO ONE has mentioned Pink Floyd, "Live From Pompei"! OK, so, I just happen to be a huge Floyd fan, so this just leap into my mind.

And ... How about "Black and Blue" Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult live.

QUOTE FROM NEIL OF THE YOUNG ONES:
"I tried to kill myself by crucifiction but you can never nail the other hand"

"Live at Pompeii" !!! I love that movie!! They show all the clips of them in the studio recording "Dark Side of the Moon". And the live performance.....Classic!

Don't forget Kelly Preston walking into the room adjacent to the bathroom, just in time to catch a towel wrapped Arnold Schwarzenegger sing, "Yakity Yak, DON'T TALK BACK!"

Neil

Ouch! Can't believe I goofed that one! Point, Sylver!

Neil

I remember seeing that movie as a kid and thinking "man, look at all of that gear! That is SOOOO cool!". Little did I know I would one day not only know what that gear was, but know how to use it and even owned some of it. Apparently the Beastie Boys thought that was neat as well: one of their videos is shot ala Pompei, complete with traveling pan camera shots of Hiwatt 4x12s with "Pink Floyd - London" stenciled on the back.

Gilmour sitting there, twisting knobs, closeups of his fingers - the magic of it was very enthralling to a young Pink Floyd fan. Even the sans serif font they used for the titles - there was obviously a Kubrick influence going on, ala 2001 - I love that font, the thinner Swiss Inserat series.

Great performances, live playing minimalist production... Great version of "Echoes", Mason losing his stick in "One of These Days" and keeping on, the studio stuff (which I understand was staged). Every young musician should see it.

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