Rockumentary
see all genres ›The "devil's music" arrived as a musical form in the 1950s and cinema almost immediately jumped on the bandwagon. Rockumentaries have provided invaluable annotation to its history from the very beginning. In the years since, the neologism has expanded beyond the confines of its titular rock and roll origins and the conventions of those early efforts have stretched from "pop" artists to include classical and world music as well.
Watch Rockumentary Films
Genres / Music / Rockumentary
SUB-GENRES · Popular Music · Classical Music · World Music · Folk Music
-
Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Hailed by Cameron Crowe as "one of the greatest rock movies ever made," HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT documents the parking lot tailgating at Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland, in the hours before (and the moments after) a Judas Priest concert in May 31, 1986 (the "JUN 23 1995"...Watch Movie
-
Be Here to Love Me
As a musician, Townes Van Zandt was legendary, perhaps one of the greatest who ever lived, inspiring a range of artists from Bob Dylan to Norah Jones to Steve Earle. As a man, a husband and a father his life was as tragic as the songs he wrote. Van Zandt was an enigma to his...Watch Movie
-
Brian Eno: The Man Who Fell to Earth
Brian Eno: musician, composer, producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist. Probably best known for his early work with Roxy Music, his production duties for U2 and Coldplay and as one of the principal innovators of ambient music. This first-ever documentary film about...Watch Movie
-
Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man
In 2005, music producer Hal Wilner staged an all-star tribute concert in Australia in which a handful of major artists offered their interpretations of Cohen's songs, including Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Rufus Wainwright, Beth Orton, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and many...Watch Movie
-
This is Bossa Nova
Paulo Thiago's acclaimed documentary THIS IS BOSSA NOVA tells the story of Bossa Nova, the Brazilian music born in the early-1950s that would attain definite international recognition a decade later with a memorable concert at New York's Carnegie Hall. This film includes...Watch Movie
-
Ornette: Made in America
ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA captures Ornette Coleman's evolution over three decades. Returning home to Fort Worth, Texas, in 1983 as a famed performer and composer, documentary footage, dramatic scenes and some of the first music video-style segments ever made chronicle his...Watch Movie
-
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise
Years ahead of his time, composer, keyboard player, bandleader, poet and philosopher Sun Ra coupled images of outer space with those of ancient Egypt, acoustic instruments with electronic ones and modern American musical genres (jazz, soul, gospel, blues, swing) with the...Watch Movie
-
Artifact
Telling harsh truths about the modern music business, this riveting and award-winning documentary gives intimate access to singer/actor Jared Leto and his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, as they fight a relentless lawsuit with record label Virgin/EMI and write songs for their album "This Is War."...Watch Movie
-
Rebel Scum
The Bible Belt and Punk Rock collide in the most controversial documentary of the year, chronicling two years in the life of Knoxville white trash punk band the Dirty Works. Centered on self-destructive frontman Christopher Scum, take a peek inside a seedy underworld where mental illness,...Watch Movie
-
X: The Unheard Music
The iconic L.A. band X changed the face of punk music with their vibrant, original style. We see the band at its peak in this legendary film, which took five years to make. As vital today as the day it was released twenty-five years ago, X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC, preserved by the...Watch Movie
-
Salad Days
An examination of the early DIY punk scene in the Nation's Capital. It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi and others released their own records and booked their own shows-without major record...Watch Movie
-
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
As our country continues to embroil itself in foreign wars and once again pins its hopes on a new leader's promise for change, the feature length documentary, PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE is a timely tribute to an unlikely American hero. Phil Ochs, a folk singing legend,...Watch Movie
-
Art Tatum: The Art of Jazz Piano
ART TATUM: THE ART OF JAZZ PIANO is still the only documentary portrait of the greatest jazz pianist ever. Using photographs and some rare footage of Tatum and his contemporaries, the film reconstructs his genius. Included are interviews with musicians who played with him or...Watch Movie
-
My Career as a Jerk
From the beginning, Los Angeles punk band the Circle Jerks were rooted in controversy. Formed by ex members of Black Flag and Red Cross (now Redd Kross) in late 1979, the band came to encapsulate the image, sound and energy of California Hardcore Punk. Filmmaker David Markey...Watch Movie
-
Elektro Moskva
Welcome to a weird and definitely wired world of avant-garde rock musicians, DIY circuit benders, vodka-swilling dealers and urban archaeologists/collectors, all fascinated with obsolete Soviet-era electronic synthesizers: primitive and ungainly beasts like the Polyvox, ESKO, Yunost and the...Watch Movie
-
Black Wax
BLACK WAX is a musical-political entertainment film produced and directed by Robert Mugge in 1982. It was the first American film to be fully funded by Britain's then-brand-new Channel 4 Television and also likely the first film to use Steadicam from first frame to last. BLACK WAX centers on the...Watch Movie
