Turn It Up To 11. Great Music Movies

Today is one of those typical spring days in Cleveland. Dreary, cloudy grey overcast skies with rain predicted for the next couple of day. Woo hoo… Don’t have to work outside in the yard!!!

But what am I to do to pass the time. I guess now that I actually have to work on the website and do some writing? You know what I’ll put on a movie to play in the background while I’m writing but not just any movie, since I am writing about music why not put on one of the great movies about music.

Which one you say? I don’t know yet, there are some great ones that I have watched over and over and over where I can almost quote the lines. The problem with putting these movies on in the background. I end up stopping my writing and end up 2 hrs later still on my first line…

So here are some of my favorites that I’ll watch again over the next few days.

Almost Famous (2000 Cameron Crowe)This movie could have been my life story except I didn’t write for Rolling Stone magazine at 15 years old or get to meet the great Lester Bangs or travel across the country with rock band in my teens but I did read Cream and Rolling Stone magazine all the time in study halls and study music lyrics and in general was a music geek at a young age. I can relate a lot to William Miller in the movie and how he grows as the music in his world evolves around him. Cameron Crowe (who did write for Rolling Stone magazine at 15 years old and got to meet the great Lester Bangs and traveled across the country with rock band in his teens) took us back to a time when the innocence of music seemed it would never fade away. Some great lines about music came out of this movie.

Lester “What are you like the star of your school?
William “They hate me.”
Lester “You’ll meet them all again on the long journey to the middle”

“Bowie’s doing Lou and Lou doing Bowie, Lou is still doing Lou”

“Of course I'm home. I'm always home. I'm uncool.”

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.”

“Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you?”

“If you think that Mick Jagger will still be doing the whole rock star thing at age fifty, well, then, you are sorely, sorely mistaken.”

“You're not there to party. We've already got *one* Hunter S. Thompson.”

And probably the most poignant exchange of the movie for me and one that I actually was talking to Matt from addictedtovinyl about the other day was when the Russell Hammond character tells William about what makes a song memorable “It’s not what you put into it, it’s what you leave out” “That’s what you remember the little things, the silly things, the mistakes. There’s only one of them and it makes the song. It’s what you leave out, that’s rock and roll” That line alone really hits home when I seriously think about music I’m listening too.

High Fidelity (2000 – Stephen Frears) I read the book High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby and in one of those rare cases, the movie far exceeds the book. I love this movie. This is every music geeks dream. Own a record store, produce an album, sleep with an exotic musician (of course she will have to look like Lisa Bonet), just hang out all day listening and talking about music. (Wait, I do listen and talk about music all day. Now I just need to open a record store and hire Jack Black and I am living the movie, except for the Lisa Bonet part)
How can this movie not be great, John Cusack and Jack Black together! How many of us have not categorized our live with our Top 5 lists like John does throughout the movie. Plus it gave us some more great lines to quote to our friends and it has a cameo by Bruce Springsteen giving advice to John’s character. Com’n the Boss!

“Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians”

“I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week and they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago.”

Barry “OK, buddy, uh, I was just tryin' to cheer us up so go ahead. Put on some old sad bastard music, see if I care.” “Here's the thing. I made that tape special for today. My special Monday morning for *you*... special.”
Rob “Well, it's fuckin' Monday afternoon! You should get out of bed earlier!”

Customer “I’m looking for a record for my daughter, for her birthday "I Just Called To Say I Love You?" Do you have it?”
Barry “Yea we have it.”
Customer “Great, Great, can I have it then?”
Barry “No, no, you can't.”
Customer “Why not?”
Barry “Well, it's sentimental tacky crap that’s why not. Do we look like the kind of store that sells “I Just Called to Say I Love You”? Go to the mall.”

Bruce Springsteen "Give that big final good luck and goodbye to your all time top-five and just move on down the road."
Rob "Good luck, Goodbye. Thanks, Boss."

This Is Spinal Tap (1984 – Rob Reiner) This mock “rockumentary” follows the fictional rock group Spinal Tap as they tour America. I think it is a take off a little bit of “The Last Waltz” with interviews interspersed in the film but the behind the scenes action is what makes the movie for me. The funny thing is that even though this is a comedy per say, they remind me of so many bands I worked for in the late 70’s and early 80’s and its how they acted at times. I love the part where they are lost backstage trying to find their way to the stage in Cleveland. On note that probably makes the film ring true feeling is that except for the songs and an occasional line or two the entire movie is ad-libed. So turn your amps up to 11 and watch it again. Want some great lines…

“Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful”

“You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like - I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's sort of...” “What do you call this?”“Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump".”

“May I start by saying how thrilled we are to have you here. We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll.”

"This pretentious ponderous collection of religious rock psalms is enough to prompt the question, 'What day did the Lord create Spinal Tap, and couldn't he have rested on that day too?'"


The Last Waltz (1978 - Martin Scorsese) Speaking of The Last Waltz. This documentary of the last concert played by The Band at the Winterland Ballroom is an amazing piece of music history. Not only does it show one of originals of American music, The Band, at its peak but the guest artists that came out to play that night are the who’s who of music during that time. Dylan, Clapton, Ringo, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Dr John and one of the best performances on the film, Van Morrison. The performances are fantastic to watch and listen to but Scorsese’s behind the scenes interviews with The Band are classic. The guys were relaxed (helped by substances I am sure, just look at them) and gave great stories of being on the road in the early years of the group and how they came to make some great music. If you haven’t seen it, go rent it and as the opening image of the film says “THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD”


The Commitments (1991 – Alan Parker) I love this movie about a bunch of out of work Irish musicians that try to form a soul band. They have the talent and the dream to be big but that’s not enough to overcome the obstacles of each other to get there. What got me about the film outside of the acting is the great soundtrack. Mustang Sally, Take Me To The River, Chain Of Fools, Try A Little Tenderness, to name a few. The actors in the movie were actually musicians hired based on their musical skills over their acting skills and both shine thru. Just a good movie to throw on when you need a little injection of soul.



Detroit Rock City (1999 – Adam Rifkin) This movie was a flop at the box office but one of those classic DVD releases that you stumble across every so often. I am not a big fan of Kiss but this movie is really good. Four guys from Cleveland in a Kiss cover band try to scam and do whatever they can to get to see their idols live. It’s a pretty good representation of growing up in the 70’s except it’s a lot funnier than my teenage years. What people forget is that this movie was produced by Gene Simmons, it sure surprised me plus a killer soundtrack featuring Van Halen, Black Sabbath, James Gang, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, Bowie, The Donnas, and of course Kiss.

Well that’s just a couple of movies. I know, I know I didn’t put in Hard Days Night, Purple Rain (actually a good movie folks), The Doors, Last Days, School Of Rock, La Bamba, The Wall but the sun is peeking out and I see some yard work to get done before the next rain shower hits us, so maybe next time I’ll get to those.

If I missed your favorite let me know. I’m always up to watch a good movie about music “LOUD”

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear