Worst music films ever made

Proof that music and film aren‘t always in perfect harmony

The Doors
(Oliver Stone, 1991)
Val Kilmer famously fattened up to play Jim Morrison in his beefy final days, and there’s something similarly bloated about Oliver Stone’s film. Stone mixes in some sub-Freudian nonsense and the obligatory references to ’Nam, man.
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Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story
(Allan Moyle, 2004)
If every pop star gets the biopic he or she deserves, this tawdry, self-aggrandising account of Michael Jackson’s trial for child abuse is a masterly fit.

De-Lovely
(Irwin Winkler, 2004)
Given that Cole Porter helped provide the soundtrack to the golden age of Hollywood musicals, you might question the need for a biopic. Especially in the form of this dire 2004 film, which features Kevin Kline’s worst-ever performance.
What Time Out critics have said about the film

Kurt & Courtney
(Nick Broomfield, 1997)
Broomfield’s film about the shady circumstances of Kurt Cobain’s death attempts to say something about the corrosive effects of rock superstardom but instead works up its own grisly kind of sensationalism.
What Time Out critics have said about the film

A Song to Remember
(Charles Vidor, 1944)
This 1944 film of the life of Chopin sees Cornel Wilde play the pianist as part dashing romantic hero, part firebrand Polish nationalist and part Liberace tribute act.
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Spice World
(Bob Spiers, 1997)
This wretchedly over-extended Spice Girls video now looks much more dated than the film it strains to emulate, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
What Time Out critics have said about the film

Grand Theft Parsons
(David Caffrey, 2003)
There’s a great movie to be made of the short life of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons but this witless comedy in questionable taste isn’t it.
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The Song Remains the Same
(Peter Cliftton, Joe Massot, 1976)
Baffling blend of Led Zep concert footage and the personal fantasies/delusions of each band member, which see Plant rescuing a medieval babe on horseback and Page scaling a mountain to meet a wizened mystic.
What Time Out critics have said about the film