Your Top Five Rock Documentaries of All-Time

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In ascending order:

10) Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing (Dir. ?) {Air}
9) I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Dir. ?) {Wilco}
8) Sympathy For The Devil (Dir. Jean-Luc Godard) {Rolling Stones}
7) The Filth and The Fury {Dir. Julien Temple} {Sex Pistols}
6) Instrument (Dir. Jem Cohen) {Fugazi}
5) Meeting People Is Easy (Dir. Grant Gee) {Radiohead}
4) The Last Waltz (Dir. Martin Scorcese) {The Band}
3) Don't Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker) (Bob Dylan)
2) Gimme Shelter (Dir. Maysles Bros.) (Rolling Stones)
1) Benjamin Smoke (Dir. Jem Cohen) {Smoke}

I regretfully had to omit "Lucky Three", Jem Cohen's portrait of Elliot Smith, because it was a short. I haven't seen the new Jandek documentary yet--has anyone?

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Friday, 19 November 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry, the thread title should be "Top 10".

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Friday, 19 November 2004 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

A friend of mine has me so excited over the Jandek doc, it's really eating away at me. Gotta see it soon or bad things might happen.

Gimme Shelter, Don't Look Back, The Last Waltz, Sympathy For The Devil and Instrument without a doubt make my list. Can't forget Woodstock and Monterey Pop, though. I also remember liking the Half Japanese doc The Band That Would Be King, although it's been a while since I've seen it. My number one, however, is without question Stop Making Sense. You know when you've seen something so many times that you start picking up on all the little nuances, and even the most mundane details become little classics? Yeah, it's like that for me.

― Anthony (Anthony F), Friday, 19 November 2004 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Two semi-unreleased flawed masterpieces : Eat The Document and Cocksucker Blues (which is showing in London at the Tate Modern in December).
Let It Be.
Rude Boy.

Theres a list-posing-as-an-article in this months Mojo magazine on the "Essential" rock dvds which mentions most of these...

― David N (David N.), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Eat the Document" and "CS Blues" probably would have made my list if I'd been able to see a better copy than the two nearly-unwatchable bootleg VHS's I own.

I've never seen "Stop Making Sense" but it's been on my list for awhile.

Has anyone seen "Should I Fall From Grace: The Shane McGowan Story" yet?

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Stop Making Sense
The Last Waltz
Don't Look Back
Monterey Pop
The TAMI Show

I've never seen Woodstock, or Rude Boy (isn't that half-fic?).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 November 2004 04:21 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

The TAMI Show is being presented in DC tonight (Monday November 20th) for free at the Library of Congress Pickford Theatre at 7.

The T.A.M.I. Show (Electronovision/AIP, 1964). Dir Steve Binder. Hosted by Jan and Dean. (111 min, 35mm)

"This rollicking film, the acronym stands for “Teenage Awards Music International,” features Chuck Berry, James Brown, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye with the Blossoms, Lesley Gore, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, The Barbarians, and others. Watch for a teenage Terri Garr as a go-go dancer!"

Library of Congress Madison Building, Pickford Theatre
101 Independence Ave. SE
James Madison Building,

― curmudgeon (DC Steve), Monday, 20 November 2006 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

I feel like pure concert films like Stop Making Sense shouldn't be on the same list with something like Gimme Shelter. It's just a different animal.

Also, Storefront Hitchcock is awesome.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

My top ten, no particular order. Attempting to avoid straight-up concert films

- The Filth And The Fury
- MC5: A True Testimonial
- Dig
- 101
- Don't Look Back
- Slade In Flame (not quite a documentary, but not quite fiction either)
- New York Doll
- Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii
- No Direction Home
- Westway To The World

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

(No love for Hail Hail Rock and Roll?)

― The Redd And The Blecch (Ken L), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

(or Nico Icon?)

― The Redd And The Blecch (Ken L), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

(or Nico Icon?)

I honestly forgot that one. Definitely put that one on my list...

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

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