The Graveyard in Matrix - May 2007

The Graveyard - By Scott W. Gray
May 2007

Writing about music documentaries is like dancing about a film about architecture. However, over the last few months I have watched close to two dozen music documentaries and several warrant discussion. While none of the films listed below rival my all-time favourites (such as Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, recording the final performance by The Band, or Stop Making Sense, which is essentially a Talking Heads concert film), the five films I’ve listed offer insight into the creative spirit, and empathy for musicians who are often the victims of themselves and conditions they engender. I recommend you see each of the films listed below.

Gimme Shelter (1970), by Albert and David Maysles. The death of the 60s is often accredited to the Rolling Stones’ concert at the Altamont Speedway in San Francisco. This free concert, meant to be a successor to Woodstock, brought tens of thousands of music fans to an inadequately equipped outdoor venue, and became disastrously policed by the Hell’s Angels who were hired as security. The result was a “very uncool” time, resulting in the stabbing death of one attendee, and countless beatings of others at the hands of the Hell’s. Growing up a Record Store Snob (to be kind) I had heard the Altamont story, but seeing the Maysles’ documentary showed me how little I actually knew about the concert at Altamont. The film utilizes a slightly fractured narrative, showing first the events Altamont is most known for, and then showing the long lead-up (including most of the Stones’ tremendous set) to those famous moments. The filmmakers also interject scenes of the Rolling Stones in the film’s editing room, watching the raw footage from the concert for the first time, offering a unique perspective on the whole disaster. Gimme Shelter is probably one of the greatest music documentaries of all time because like all great documentaries, it shows so much more than only what is on film.

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2005), by Margaret Brown. This film tracks the (so-called) rise and precipitous fall of Townes Van Zandt, one of the few “songwriter’s songwriter” chosen by actual songwriters (including Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, an extremely manic Kris Kristofferson, and strangely, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth). We follow Townes Van Zandt’s booze-, drug-, and finally shock-therapy-laden career as he becomes the most respected but least known songwriter outside of Nashville. This is an absolute heartbreaker of a film, but one that vibrates along the slender nerve of an artist’s troubled creativity. It is inspiring to watch a musician put his artistry above everything else in his life, but it is ultimately tragic to watch as his personal demons find him again and again in the process.

loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies (2006), by Steven Cantor (who also made “Of What Remains” about Sally Mann) and Matthew Galkin. This documentary follows the Pixies’ 2004 reunion tour, and reveals some of the internal workings of one of the most important and famously dysfunctional indierock bands ever. It is rumoured the singer broke up the band by faxing the other members – now they’ve had therapy, are in rehab or raising families, and are back on tour after an 11 year disbandment. Of course, in that span of time the band’s maximum impact has been felt, with legions of bands being inspired by (read: blatantly stealing) the band’s sound, and many new Pixies fans reaching puberty and discovering the albums in their older sibling’s wake. It becomes evident early in the film that the band really does not understand how influential they are, and loudQUIETloud presents the Pixies as they grapple with addiction, their reputation, and most critically, each other.

Fearless Freaks (2005), by Bradley Beesley. Fearless Freaks is a documentary about the Flaming Lips, now in the late stages of their prolific, exceptionally weird, career. The film does a good job of giving the Lips’ overview, bringing a series of great albums to new fans, and bringing insight and understanding to long time listeners. Essentially coming from dirty blue collar (sometimes: no collar) backgrounds, the film follows the three remaining members of the group through the highs and (near-constant) lows of band member turnover, financial ruin and most notably, drug dependency. Watching Fearless Freaks, I found myself laughing at the band’s idiosyncrasies, but also feeling empathy for a group that has only endeavoured to be unique unto themselves, often to the detriment of their commercial success. This is a worthwhile documentary because it gives an unblinking view of the rock and roll lifestyle, from the point of view of guys whose circumstances and creativity offered no other choice than to pursue it.

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. This documentary tracks Metallica in 2001 through 2003, as they try to record a new album (which becomes St. Anger), find a new bass player (which becomes former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo), and not be complete dicks (which becomes impossible, clearly). Incongruously, the group solicits the help of a professional therapist, consistently clothed in tan Cosby sweaters, to help them work out their professional and personal differences. The therapist adds a performance-art level of surprise to an already extravagant rock band burnout, and we watch a group that ordinarily tightly controls its empire (witness: Napster lawsuit) have no choice but to yield to talking about their very un-metal feelings in the camera’s omnipresence. Metallica’s aging band members have hundreds of acres of ranch land, literally millions of dollars in the bank, priceless contemporary art, unparalleled support from their fans, and yet ironically it seems its because of these privileges that they are unable to communicate anything (creatively or otherwise) of real substance to each other. This is a phenomenal film whether you are a Metallica fan or not (I am not, particularly), as the unguarded vantage point offers a fascinating, non-sentimental insight into all of rock and roll’s royalty, via the example of this band. Plus, great footage of some seriously heavyweight bass players.

Have a great summer, getting your doggone doc on. See you next time in The Graveyard (or visit online at http://urbancamouflage.blogspot.com/).