Hand-Picked Music Docs

An up-close cinematic walkabout through the life of Gary Young, the original (and highly unlikely) drummer of indie rock royalty Pavement. His booze and drugs-fueled antics (on-stage handstands, gifting vegetables to fans) and haphazard production methods (accidentally helping launch the lo-fi aesthetic) were both a driving force of the band's early rise and the cau...Read More

This captivating documentary traces the evolution of blues through pivotal moments in American history. Director Jon Brewer (B.B. King: The Life of Riley) lovingly defragments the history of not only blues music but also the plight of the people in America's deep south, bringing the story of blues to life through powerful interviews, live musical performances and sw...Read More

Out of Time: The Material Issue Story examines the tragic story of a rock band on the cusp of superstardom cut short by front man Jim Ellison’s suicide. The film tells the story of Material Issue, a power pop trio from Chicago that was literally out of time, sandwiched between the post-punk era of the 80's and the alternative rock movement of the 90's searching for ...Read More

Scott Walker: 30th Century Man shows a rare glimpse into the creative world of the most enigmatic figure in rock history. Tracing the undeniable impact Scott Walker has had on popular music through casual interviews with some of his biggest, highest profile fans, we explore his fascinating trajectory. From jobbing bass player on LA's Sunset Strip, to his domination ...Read More

Funk Queen Betty Davis changed the landscape for female artists in America. She "was the first..." as former husband Miles Davis said. "Madonna before Madonna, Prince before Prince". An aspiring songwriter from a small steel town, Betty arrived on the 70's scene to break boundaries for women with her daring personality, iconic fashion and outrageous funk music. She ...Read More

This feature documentary organically arose after the passing of King in 2015, when a legion of his past band members, family and companions reached out in an effort to share these stories from the numerous Tours over decades, recounting the journey they shared with 'B.B.' through civil unrest, historical moments in music and in stage, from 'Chitlin' Circuit to Stadi...Read More

From acclaimed producer/director Jon Brewer, with exclusive voice over contributions from David Bowie, this feature documentary is an unprecedented celebration of the life and works of guitar virtuoso Mick Ronson – a rock hero virtually uncelebrated despite his direct contribution and involvement in countless compositions, lyrics and recordings that changed the face...Read More

Syd Barrett - Under Review features rare live and studio performances from this hugely influential and legendary musician, interspersed with the independent review and criticism from a panel of esteemed experts. These include; Melody Maker contributor during the 1960s and early champion of Syd Barrett, Chris Welch ; Barrett biographer and all round expert, David Pa...Read More

a-ha -The Movie follows the band over their entire career, telling the full story of how three young men followed their impossible dream of becoming worldwide pop stars and what happened after that. a-ha still creates magic on stage with their melancholic and timeless music. They tour the world but drive in separate cars and stay apart backstage. They only meet on s...Read More

At the height of its fame in 1977, the popular southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, was struck with tragedy--a plane crash that killed the band's founder and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant along with Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. I'll Never Forget You: The Last 72 Hours...Read More

The official fully-authorized feature documentary on the life and music of Chuck Berry, the absolute instigator of Rock and Roll, directed by Jon Brewer. Chuck Berry was a prolific craftsman of word and chords; an undisputed and stunning combination of talent and charisma. Award-winning Film maker Jon Brewer (BB King The Life of Riley, Nat King Cole: Afraid of t...Read More

Desolation Center is the previously untold story of a series of early 80s guerrilla music and art performance happenings in Southern California that are recognized to have inspired Burning Man, Lollapalooza and Coachella, collective experiences that have become key elements of popular culture in the 21st century. The feature documentary splices interviews and rare p...Read More

A group that effortlessly straddles the gap between avant-garde improvisation and accessible groove-based jazz, Medeski, Martin & Wood have simultaneously earned standing as relentlessly innovative musicians and as an enormously popular act. Emerging out of the New York downtown scene in the early '90s, MMW soon set out on endless cross-country tours before returnin...Read More

Featuring performance footage and commentary from musicians, fans and critics, this in-depth analysis of alternative rock band the Cure examines the influence of the unique group that came of age in the post-punk era and continues to draw fans today. A rare archival interview with lead singer Robert Smith sheds light on the Cure's music and history, and footage of t...Read More

Frank Zappa published a record of his most important influences on the inside cover of his debut album. This film explores the musical roots of Frank Zappa by putting The Freak Out List under the microscope and tracing the lineage from the most pivotal names therein to the recordings and performances of the man himself.

"Silence is the most powerful instrument I have. Spirit is everything, and technique is always secondary." Mark Hollis, Talk Talk Thirty years after the release of Talk Talk's fourth album Spirit of Eden, Gwenaël Breës, a Belgian journalist and longtime admirer of the 1980s British art-rock band, found himself crisscrossing the UK in an attempt to unravel the myster...Read More

Do you remember the long lost era of sharing your feelings with someone through a "mix tape?" Analog Love is an analysis of why this ritual of communication through music still continues to be so important. With the insights of Henry Rollins, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), Kim Shattuck (The Muffs), Jennifer Finch (L7), Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence), Chantal Cla...Read More

Don't Go Gentle is a film about finding strength in vulnerability. It journeys through determination, friendship and adversity of IDLES' as they fight for a place in a divided socio-political environment, unexpectedly inspiring and unifying an international community along the way. In a time when the ground is shifting beneath our feet, where open communication and ...Read More

Other Music was an influential and uncompromising New York City record store that was vital to the city’s early 2000s indie music scene. But when the store is forced to close its doors due to rent increases, the homogenization of urban culture, and the shift from CDs to downloadable and streaming music, a cultural landmark is lost. Through vibrant storytelling, the ...Read More

"God gave me this rock career to keep me busy. Back in 1991 I used to hit old people with folding chairs. Suddenly, I moved to the north side of Chicago, Illinois in 1992. It made a rock star out of me at last. I'm the daddy of rock 'n' roll! I'm Wesley Willis, I'm 36 years old. I play music and do art. I have schizophrenia. I have chronic schizophrenia. Roger Lee C...Read More

WILD COMBINATION is director Matt Wolf’s visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art. Now, over fifteen years since his passing, Art...Read More

As the lead singer of The Clash from 1977 onward, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In The Future Is Unwritten, from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as a true communicator of our times. ...Read More

A NIGHT FLIGHT PLUS STREAMING EXCLUSIVE: This is the story of Jan Terri, an irrepressible and delightfully perplexing musical personality. As a child, Jan would dance and sing for anyone who would listen. As a teenager, she began writing and performing her own songs. In her 20’s and 30’s, she used the income from her job as a full-time limo driver to hire a freelanc...Read More

It Came from Aquarius Records explores the San Francisco-based independent record shop that helped shape the tastes of Bay Area residents and beyond for nearly a half a century. The store influenced and enriched countless peoples' musical tastes with their curated selections -- but this film also shows the realities of an indie record store trying to survive in an i...Read More

D.O.A.: A RIGHT OF PASSAGE is the ground-breaking classic "rockumentary" about the origin of punk rock. Centered around the Sex Pistols 1978 tour of the United States which ended with the group breaking up, the tour was the only one the Pistols played in the United States. Director Lech Kowalski (East of Paradise) followed the band with handheld cameras through the ...Read More

This 90-minute film reviews the music and career of one of the world's most influential performers, singers and songwriters; arguably the most unique female artist ever. It includes rare musical performances never available before on DVD. It also includes obscure footage, rare interviews and photographs of and with Kate Bush from all periods of her astonishing caree...Read More

As much a testament to the band as it is to the city and inhabitants of Sheffield, PULP weaves exclusive concert footage with man-on-the-street interviews and dreamy staged sequences to paint a picture much larger, funnier, moving, and life-affirming than any music film of recent memory. Though culminating with the farewell concert the band played to thousands of a...Read More

From "Lemmy" filmmaker Wes Orshoski comes the story of the long-ignored pioneers of punk: The Damned, the first U.K. punks on wax and the first to cross the Atlantic. "THE DAMNED: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead" includes appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones (The Clash), Lemmy and members of Pink Floyd, Black Flag, Depeche Mode, the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Buz...Read More

Here comes DEATH's probing and pulsing rock doc, DEATH BY METAL, pulling back the palm fronds of DEATH's origins in Altamonte Springs, Florida, and latching a narrative hook into the headstrong Chuck Schuldiner juggernaut for fifteen gratifying if sometimes frustrating years. As the baby steps become giant leaps, the stable of supporting players grows and continuall...Read More

The Rolling Stones - Under Review 1962-1966 is a 90 minute film reviewing the music and career of one of rock music's true giants during their formative years. The Stones are unquestionably one of the most influential bands the world has ever known; this film acknowledges and reinforces this fact while revealing insight anecdote and opinion not previously considere...Read More

This 70-minute documentary covers the entire career of Joy Division, one of Manchester and Post-Punks most respected bands. It charts the entire short lifespan of the group, from their origins in their days as Warsaw to the more well known incarnation of Joy Division. Features include rare musical performances, obscure footage of rare interviews and rarely seen ph...Read More

Ignited by punk’s invasion of the Great Plains, America’s gawkiest and greatest lost rock band battles conformity in Reagan-era Kansas. The Embarrassment played Chicago, D.C., and New York, drawing the attention of influential figures like Allen Ginsberg, John Cale, and Jonathan Demme — but their independence and refusal to sell out sparked tension within the group ...Read More

The Dicks started out as an Austin, Texas poster band in 1979 and once formed, took off like a hardcore rocket. The Dicks only released one 45 and two LP's and were the house band at legendary Raul's Club. Every hardcore punk act that came to Austin demanded the Dicks play with them from Fear to Black Flag to Dead Kennedys. This is their story told by die-hard lifel...Read More

American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late 80s, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. T...Read More

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 sounds of Africa and the Caribbean. He also combined his music with dance, poetry, colorful co...Read More

The Reverend is a raucous concert film as well as an intimate portrait of Reverend Vince Anderson's spiritual and musical journey. After coming to New York in the 90's to enter seminary, Vince dropped out to follow his second calling - music. With his band The Love Choir, he has played a now-legendary weekly show for over twenty years. Reconnecting with his faith an...Read More

A monumental documentary about the rise of punk rock in the town that needed it most... Washington D.C. When punk rock erupted in Washington DC, it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships, and clear minds. This film is the first to explore the incredible challenges that this subculture faced when it took root in the Nation’s Capital in the late 1970’...Read More

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 sounds of Africa and the Caribbean. He also combined his music with dance, poetry, colorful co...Read More

With unprecedented access to previously unseen archive footage, MADE OF STONE is a revealing journey through the life of one of the most revered and influential bands in British music history. Acclaimed film-maker Shane Meadows brings his unique directorial style, humour and emotional depth to the film, capturing the band at work and in their everyday lives as they ...Read More

The Ramones had it all; the attitude, the music, the raw sound, the stage act. Many years after they disbanded, their influence can still be heard on the new generation of music makers. This documentary combines powerful rare performance footage of The Ramones in action, poignant archive interviews with Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone and new interviews with Tommy Ramone.

An in-depth study and review of THRASH music featuring performance footage of all the pivotal bands plus interviews with Metallica, Megadeth and many others. In the early 1980s, Lars Ulrich was taken by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, that he came to England to track down obscure records, take them home, listen to them and helped come up with a genre of their o...Read More

Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones is the new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Danny Garcia. Exploring the rise of Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones as well as the untimely death of Jones, Garcia paints an interesting and revealing picture of doomed pop star.

The documentary "ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project" follows the life of Angelo Moore of Fishbone featuring appearances by members of the band. Angelo Moore devotes his life to weaving a legacy; crafting art through spoken word, music, and fashion. As an African American forerunner in the early 80's LA punk rock scene, he inspired others to embrace nonconformity. Livi...Read More

In the early 1980's, a small group of dedicated Bay Area headbangers shunned the hard rock of MTV and Hollywood hairspray bands in favor of a more dangerous brand of metal that became known as thrash! From the tape trading network to the clubs to the record stores and fanzines, director Adam Dubin reveals how the scene nurtured the music and the music spawned a move...Read More

Triumph Of The Underdog is the first comprehensive documentary about jazz bassist, bandleader and composer Charles Mingus. A lucid involving portrait showing the many faces and tortured heart of a music genius, the film also features an abundance of clips of Mingus in performance.

Fueled by a ferocious soundtrack, director Paul Rachman's American Hardcore gives fans an all-access pass to the rise and fall of the U.S. punk scene, an explosive musical and cultural phenomenon that shaped everything from the grunge movement to the emo and pop/punk music currently riding the charts. Set against the conservative early '80s political landscape, Amer...Read More

Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the rock band Blind Melon, filmed himself religiously from 1990-1995 with a video camera, recording up until a few hours before his sudden death at the age of twenty-eight. His camera was a diary and his closest confidant. In the hundreds of hours of footage, Hoon meticulously documented his life—his family, his creative process, his tel...Read More

Johnny Thunders was the legendary hard-living rock'n'roll guitarist who inspired glam-metal, punk and the music scene in general. 'Looking For Johnny' is a 90-minute film that documents Thunders' career from his beginnings to his tragic death in 1991. The film examines his career as a member of the New York Dolls, the punk scene with The Heartbreakers in New Yor...Read More

A NIGHT FLIGHT PLUS EXCLUSIVE: From music film director Tony Palmer comes an extraordinary inside look at the life and music of VANGELIS. It’s hard to escape the music of VANGELIS. His music for the cult movie Blade Runner is among the most influential film music ever written. And, of course, the music for Chariots of Fire (for which he won an Oscar) is still used ...Read More

Written and directed by San Diego based musician and filmmaker Jason Blackmore, Records Collecting Dust documents the vinyl record collections, origins, and holy grails of alternative music icons Jello Biafra, Chuck Dukowski, Keith Morris, John Reis, and over thirty other underground music comrades.

This documentary is a critical review of The Clash's London Calling, featuring rare live performances, alongside interviews with legendary filmmaker and DJ Don Letts (who toured with The Clash), and analysis from a leading team of rock journalists and critics.

1956 was Elvis Presley's breakthrough year, and this program takes you back, including his early television performances on the Dorsey Brothers Show and the Ed Sullivan Show (where the cameramen were instructed not to shoot the lower half of his body!). This DVD has an entire hour of rare footage and performances captured during the amazing year when Elvis Presley b...Read More

American Artifact chronicles the rise of American rock poster art since its birth in the '60s. The film explores the history and rise of the current rock poster movement in America, and features a cast of quirky, interesting, and extremely talented rock poster artists talking about their work and telling the story of their underground art movement. Featuring intervi...Read More

Annunzio Mantovani was the most successful orchestra leader ever. Known for his unmistakable cascading strings and hits such as “Charmaine,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Greensleeves,” Mantovani enthralled the world with his sublime arrangements. Featuring exclusive footage from the original Mantovani TV show, this documentary tells the story of Monty’s success as leader of ...Read More

Tonight's new arrival puts the album under the spotlight with the help of those who worked on the record, friends of Scott, AC/ DC biographers and others who were there at the time. Featuring rare and classic footage of the group, interviews with Bon Scott and Angus Young, and much more.