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50 greatest music films ever
Top 50 index | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-6 | 5-1
40 The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
(Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub, 1968)
Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub’s extraordinary debut film is a unique period drama, a ‘day in the life’-style portrait of Johann Sebastian (Gustav Leonhardt) and his amanuensis, essential helpmeet and wife Anna Magdalena Bach (Christiane Lang). Their use of now fashionable, then shocking, minimalist methods allowed a demystification of their subject – giving the lie to such notions as ‘lone genius’ – and a sublimely temporal evocation of it, using ‘real time’, unedited performance of his glorious work to produce one of the most revolutionary cinematic meditations/representations not only of a musician and music but Western cultural history itself. Wally Hammond
Greatest hit The undemonstrative cut from Johann Sebastian conducting the stately ‘Magnificat’ to an intent Anna playing a partita from ‘The Little Clavier Book’ for her child.
What Time Out critics have said about the film
39 Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid
(Gimpo, 1995)
Not even The KLF themselves quite understand why they set fire to £1 million, apart from the fact they couldn’t work out what to do with their royalties. If you want to see it, you’ll have to make an effort – the master of the film was cut into individual frames and given away to audience members at a screening in Brick Lane in 1996. But it’s not going to answer any of your questions, unless you’re most interested in how flammable £50 notes are (A: surprisingly flame-retardant). Still, as heart-rending cinematic moments go, watching them burn £1m is right up there with watching Bambi’s mother getting shot. Eddy Lawrence
Greatest hit Band cohort Gimpo applies accelerants to the lolly, fretting that it is too damp to burn.
38 'Round Midnight
(Bertrand Tavernier, 1986)
The boundaries between art and life are neatly blurred in Bertrand Tavernier’s downbeat tale of fictional American tenor sax player, Dale Turner, as played by actual bebop saxophone legend Dexter Gordon (1923-90). It follows Turner – battling in vain to save both himself and his muse from the ravages of alcoholism – from 1950s New York to Paris. Gordon is extraordinary as the resigned musician, while Herbie Hancock’s fabulous score (which won an Oscar) is so evocative of smoky Parisian jazz clubs, it makes your eyes smart. Sharon O’Connell
Greatest hit Martin Scorsese’s cameo as a gruff NYC club owner, Goodley.
What Time Out critics have said about the film
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| Boys just wanna have fun: Cliff Richard and crew enjoy a 'Wonderful Life' |
37 Wonderful Life
(Sidney J Furie, 1964)
From
the moment the cruise ship that contains Cliff Richard and the Shadows
– in the guise of on-board entertainers – steams into view in the
opening scene we are, without doubt, in the presence of a giant
ocean-going turkey. But what a glorious turkey. Thrown off the ship
after Hank Marvin’s ‘amp’ (the first use of the word in a British
film?) shorts out the electrical system, the musicians, plus chums
Melvin Hayes and Richard O’Sullivan, come ashore in the then far-off and
mysterious Canary Islands. So far so Cliff, but unlike the leaden
‘Summer Holiday’ of 1962, this is no mere star vehicle.
In fact, ‘Wonderful Life’ is nothing short of a revolutionary film that
sets out to destroy the corrupt and commercialised edifice of
institutionalised rebellion that rock ’n’ roll had become by 1964 and
replace it with a mixture of British music hall and the inclusive
family entertainment values of Hollywood. This is a film that says to
the nation’s youth that aping American rock ’n’ roll is nonsense if you
are British and, in so doing, set a template that would be later
followed by The Beatles, The Kinks and Madness.
Simultaneously, it is a film so camp that surely the careers of David
Bowie and Marc Bolan would have been impossible without it. The
theoretical love interest is button-nosed Susan Hampshire, but the
real erotic frisson comes not from York but from Una Stubbs in
polka-dot pedal-pushers in the set-piece scene on the beach. Inventing
vogueing 25 years before it hit New York, in one angular head-shaking
performance the woman who would become Aunt Sally signals the last
burst of beatnik fun before the inanities of 1960s rock and
psychedelia overcame genuine pop music. Poignant and, dare I say it,
groovy. Michael Hodges
Greatest hit Cliff hollering ‘Come on everybody, stamp your feet’ as Stubbs segues madly from the twist to the bossa nova.
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36 Last Days
(Gus Van Sant, 2006)
The
depressed rocker who wanders around his shabby mansion is never
explicitly called Kurt but the lank blond hair and baggy jumper fit the
profile. Mike Pitt as ‘Blake’ looks and acts as one might imagine the
Seattle legend may have in the week before shooting himself in the head
in April 1994 and so, indirectly, Gus Van Sant offers a microscopic
portrait of the final week in Cobain’s life. What action there is gives
way to spooky sound-design and a possessed, near-silent performance
from Pitt. Provocative stuff. Dave Calhoun
Greatest hit Blake curls on the floor, semi-conscious, as Boyz II Men sing on the TV.
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| 'Coal Miner's Daughter' |
35 Coal Miner’s Daughter
(Michael Apted, 1980)
The
story of country singer Loretta Lynn is elevated from biopic formula by
Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar. The coal miner of the title,
incidentally, is played by Levon Helm of The Band, while telemovie
queen Beverly ‘Ellen Griswold’ D’Angelo is great as Patsy Cline. Peter
Watts
Greatest hit Husband Tommy Lee Jones taking Lynn’s first press photo.
What Time Out critics have said about the film
34 A Joyful Noise
(Robert Mugge, 1980)
Robert
Mugge’s film serves Sun Ra’s mind-blowing music admirably. There’s
space aplenty for wild Arkestra soloists like John Gilmore, Marshall
Allen and singer June Tyson to shine, while adopting a ambivalent
attitude to their late leader’s claims to hail from Saturn. Expounding
eccentric theories with a twinkling eye, Ra, in lurid cosmic garb, is
also shown among Philly’s black community, between performing
barrelhouse blues, big-band bebop and wailing astral funk. Geoff Andrew
Greatest hit Ra’s avant-galactic headwear. Think tea-cosy with knitting needles.
What Time Out critics have said about the film
33 Magic Fire
(William Dieterle, 1955)
For
hilarity value: Wagner’s life and loves envisioned by director William
Dieterle with musical help from composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who
earns the undying gratitude of opera-goers by condensing the ‘Ring’
cycle into three minutes. Alan Badel glowers as Wagner, the women in
his life include Yvonne de Carlo and Rita Gam. Learned musical
references include ‘You wanna me to believe there’s nothing between you
– after that day in the greenhouse?’, a delicately-nuanced allusion to
the song ‘Im Treibhaus’. Martin Hoyle
Greatest hit Wagner
seizes some paper and promptly heads it ‘The Mastersingers of
Nuremburg’, in the way one does when a four-hour opera is casually
suggested.
32 Charlie is My Darling
(Peter Whitehead, 1966)
Like
‘Cocksucker Blues’, Peter Whitehead’s portrait of the Stones in
Ireland, 1965, still can’t be seen. Odd, really, as there’s nothing
incriminating about his unfussy footage of the band on trains, in the
dressing-room, killing time… The live scenes, with lads and lasses
invading the stage either to kiss or take a swipe at Mick, is
entrancing and there’s a great scene where the band sing drunkenly in
their hotel late at night. Dave Calhoun
Greatest hit Teenage girls in Dublin going weak at the knees.
31 Stop Making Sense
(Jonathan Demme, 1984)
Successfully
challenging the conventions of the concert movie, Jonathan Demme’s 1984
Talking Heads film opens with just David Byrne and a beatbox, gradually adding
band members until the screen’s filled with sight and sound. It takes
the nuts and bolts of performance and turns them into something poetic.
The Big Suit is cool, too. Graeme Thomson
Greatest hit ‘Burning Down The House’, the first song to feature the full nine-piece line-up.
What Time Out critics have said about the film
Top 50 index | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-6 | 5-1
Author: Dave Calhoun. Written by Derek Adams, Geoff Andrew, Dave Calhoun, Wally Hammond, Michael Hodges, Martin Horsfield, Martin Hoyle, David Jenkins, Trevor Johnston, Eddy Lawrence, Sharon O'Connell, Chris Parkin, Graeme Thomson, Peter Watts
User comments on this story
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- Eddie Carnihan said...
- "STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN" about the legendary Motown house band THE FUNK BROTHERS. Not in the top 50. you're having a laugh. Posted on Jun 12 2008 14:26
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- Harry said...
- The Chuck Berry film Hail Hail Rock'n'Roll is a great documentary about the contrary genius. And your admiration for Keith Richards can only increase - he displays inifinite patience when Chuck corrects his playing. Posted on Mar 29 2008 20:49
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- A Sad Man said...
- What about the Monkees film "Head" its a surrealist, psychadelic classic. And Velvet Goldmine too. Posted on Jan 31 2008 15:22
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- Holly said...
- Nice...personally, i like "Raise your voice!", "Confessions of a teenage drama queen"...something more modern :D:D Posted on Jan 31 2008 14:22
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- KevinT said...
- I would have to include the documentary 'A Great Day In Harlem' - one of the best films about jazz musicians. Posted on Oct 17 2007 17:20
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- Brendan Thorpe said...
- How about "Born to Boogie"? Marc Bolan at the height of TRextasy - the arty bit may not be great, but the concert stuff is excellent! Posted on Oct 16 2007 15:37
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- J said...
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Taste is subjective, so we'll cut you some slack... But how could you snub "Ray" or the Cash film "Walk the Line?" "Rockers" was pretty amazing. "The Wall..." and the new release of "The Grateful Dead Movie" is hot. The bonus features (esp. the performances uncut) kick ass. AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock" & come on... "Yellow Submarine."
Personally I think "Spinal Tap" & "Hedwig & The Angry Inch" should be included. The bands may have been born out of the movies (the original play in Hedwig's case), but they are rocking bands nonetheless. Posted on Oct 14 2007 12:52 - Report as inappropriate
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- Alex Murillo said...
- Just to correct a common mistake..."This Is Spinal Tap" is not "Christopher Guest's mockumentary", as you said...it was directed by Rob Reiner. Guest was indeed a co-writer, and of course the film bares a resemblance to Guest's later films, but I think it's unfair to both Reiner and the other members of Spinal Tap (McKean, Shearer) to label the film as Guest's alone. Posted on Oct 11 2007 02:49
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- alex said...
- Actually I'm positive Spinal Tap did a few novelty shows back in the L80's/E90's (8 in all I believe) one at the lamented CBGB/OMFUG in NYC. Even one novelty show brings a band into the plane of existence as anyone knows who has ever been in bands. I've been in a lot, some did only one show, and they ALL existed even if no one but the three of us knew it. So Spinal Tap existed. QED. Posted on Oct 10 2007 16:23
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- Graz said...
- I also forgot to metion the Rock n' Roll, Australian Japanese Surfing Road Movie " Bondi Tsunami". 2004. Check it out. Posted on Oct 10 2007 04:32
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- Graz said...
- What about B.Middler in t"The Rose". Garland and Striesand in thier versions of " A Star is Born" . The briilant "Hair" and now also "Hairspray". But absoutley " Once" is brillant. Who compiled this list? Posted on Oct 10 2007 03:28
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- kay said...
- where the hell is PURPLE RAIN?!?!?! this surely has to be in the list?! Posted on Oct 08 2007 14:58
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- Don said...
- You've missed some of the truly great performances by real bands while playing up other performers imitating the stars. And some are as much fantasy as reality based on someone's interpretation of what happened. That is not a true documentary, just fiction passed off as one. Posted on Oct 08 2007 13:42
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- kanna77 said...
- this is great ! Posted on Oct 08 2007 03:47
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- Vince said...
- this list is horse shit, wot's the deal, because the brits hate the irish you can't out "the commitments" or "once" up in the top 50? and did you forget about a movie one of your own made called "the wall"? and the number one film listed is a bloody movie about the world's worst singer karen carpenter? wot the hell???? Posted on Oct 06 2007 05:04
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