When rockumentaries get real – starring Metallica, Madonna and Bob Dylan

With Penelope Spheeris’s 1981 landmark The Decline of Western Civilization set for a long-overdue DVD release, what other music documentaries have dared to show more grit than glamour?

Alot of people must enjoy watching tawdry glamour and alienated youth. As soon as it was announced in March that Penelope Spheeris’s cult The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy would finally be released on DVD, it immediately entered the Amazon pre-order chart. They can’t all be musicians watching on the tour bus.

The three films certainly set a standard for realism and bleakness in rockumentary, probably only surpassed by the work of Lech Kowalski, chronicler of junkies and skinheads, whose grey DOA captured England in 1977, Year of Punk, and made the opening titles of The Office look like the colour sections of The Wizard of Oz. The original film follows LA’s early punk scene, the second and most famous segment is a celebrated overview of late-80s metal in its Sunset Strip, poodle-haired pomp, and 1998’s final instalment follows the lives of homeless street punks – in Rumsfeldian terms then, that’d be the known unknowns, the known knowns and the unknown unknowns.

The Punk Years (1981) gave audiences worldwide an early glimpse of what would soon become known as hardcore, the frantically paced West Coast variation on punk, in the hands of Circle Jerks and an early iteration of Black Flag. X, LA’s great gothic rock’n’roll band, steal the movie, while the hapless, ill-fated Germs hurtle around the stage, the nearest they ever got to a career. It might be sunny but the kids are bored and angry. Spheeris, already experienced in filming live performance as a pioneer of promotional clips, knew she was on to a winner. “When something walks in your path, do something about it.” She recognised something in punk straight away: “Growing up, I came from total chaos and that’s what the punk scene was. I had to make structure out of chaos.”

Penelope Spheeris and some of the musicians featured in the Metal Years look back at the making of the film at a 2014 event.

Yet it’s 1988’s The Metal Years that left a deep mark on popular culture. A parade of motormouthed wannabes (one gobshite guitarist remains known as “Wet Cherri guy” on YouTube to this day) and superstars live every pre-grunge rawk cliché. Success seems more about luck than talent. The sight of WASP guitarist Chris Holmes attempting to drink vodka in a floating chair while his mother sits impassive at poolside is notorious. The always amiable Ozzy Osbourne stole the show though, frying some eggs, then (maybe – it always looked staged) missing a glass while pouring orange juice. This truly was his audition for the massively popular The Osbournes. Had it not been made, we may never have seen Sharon O squabble with Simon Cowell.

That wasn’t the only unintended consequence. Spheeris has since said she suspected the reason she was signed up to direct Wayne’s World in 1992 was her position as the only director in Hollywood with an “in” with the “heavy metal crowd”, a rock chick breaking the glass ceiling. (She had already turned down the chance to direct This Is Spinal Tap, telling the producers: “I love heavy metal music so much I can’t make fun of it”). Its unexpected success meant she was now considered a safe pair of comedic hands. So she took some incompatico if well paid studio gigs, and used her own money to make 1998’s Decline Part Three, barely seen at the time.

She now calls it the favourite of all her movies, though she admits “it’s kinda depressing. Well, it’s profoundly depressing.” Stranger still, she suspects the behaviour of the LA gutter punks she observes was directly inspired by the characters in her own scripted 1983 indie Suburbia. That wasn’t a smash hit either, but its influence has lasted. As Spheeris says, “I’d rather have 30 years of someone giving a crap. You don’t know if something’s good or bad until some time has passed.”

Here are some other key rockumentaries in which the veneer of music-biz glamour has been scraped away…

DONT LOOK BACK (1967)

Dont Look Back official trailer.

Fifty years on, DA Pennebaker’s film of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England remains the template for every tour documentary. All the necessary elements are present: women with exotic accents (Geordie, Scouse), an antagonist to be ridiculed (Donovan), showbusinessmen doing deals and exuding tacit threat (Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman and agent Tito Burns), some great music, several confused interviewers and plenty of interaction with the eccentric inhabitants of a nation that’s changing week by week, as the 1940s finally give way to the 1960s. Along the way Dylan invents the modern pop video with the famous “cue card” clip of Subterranean Homesick Blues, filmed round the back of the Savoy Hotel (and, charmingly, also available as a flickbook). Even then it was obvious that this beautifully edited movie had an underlying message, that these are the fun bits and this life is anything but glamorous.

Key moment In drab 60s provincial England, when the effusive Newcastle High Sheriff’s Lady invites Bob and crew to stay at her official residence next time they visit, centuries of history are telescoped into a single exchange.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (ONE PLUS ONE) (1968); GIMME SHELTER (1970); COCKSUCKER BLUES (1972)

An excerpt from Cocksucker Blues.

The three films that trace the Rolling Stones’ journey from incendiary to institutional, across half a decade. Jean-Luc Godard’s 1968 period piece captures the band in the studio recording the title track. Intercut with, um, important contemporary footage, the enduring image is the sight of a floundering Brian Jones clinging to a guitar, struggling to contribute anything. Soon he would be gone for ever. Gimme Shelter was intended to capture their triumphant return to touring in 1969 after a two-year hiatus. Instead it ended in murder at the hastily arranged Altamont free festival (in chilly December!) when the Hells Angels, invited as stage security, exceeded their critical remit by beating up support act Jefferson Airplane onstage and stabbing a punter to death. When film-makers the Maysles brothers show Mick Jagger footage of the actual assault in the cutting room, his horror is palpable. It was back to Us and Them for the 1972 US tour, filmed by photographer Robert Frank. But the unvarnished drug use and general listlessness did nothing to promote the brand, and the Stones refused to release it. A disgruntled Frank complained and in an unusual compromise it can be screened only if he is present.

Key moment Ennui abounds, but the sight of Jagger’s switch from Dionysian rockstar to scared little man at Altamont still chills.

MADONNA - TRUTH OR DARE (1991)

Madonna: Truth or Dare trailer.

While her 80s contemporaries were at pains to appear larger than life, by working with top directors (Michael Jackson) or short actors (Prince), the lady chameleon of pop was already way ahead, putting together a concert tour film including all the things that didn’t work. Known in the UK as In Bed With Madonna (and inspiring comic Bob Mills’s early clip show In Bed With Medinner – geddit?), Madge’s attempt at cinema verite featured a genuine cast of Hollywood A-listers such as her then partner Warren Beatty (and, notoriously, the hapless Kevin Costner, who made an ill-advised visit to the pit of vipers that was Madonna’s dressing room). Yet it was as grey as the story of any hairy bunch of fellas on the road. Only with more leg warmers. Still, the switch from black and white for backstage scenes to colour for live performance was a good idea, albeit one guaranteed to remind any older watchers of a rather better movie about a young woman’s journey.

Key moment Could that be the sound of underground rotation when Madonna, camera crew in tow, visits her mother’s grave? Had no one warned her about Spinal Tap’s visit to Graceland?

BLUR - STARSHAPED (1993)

Blur at Stonehenge, from Starshaped.

Before the determined Damon Albarn took control and forced sobriety (and better material) on his colleagues, Blur were better known for their, er, sociability than anything as prosaic as music. Guitarist Graham Coxon, for instance, was more often spotted asleep in the dressing rooms of other bands than on Top of the Pops. Luckily their alcoholic education was captured on this shambolic, rather endearing home movie of four nice lads from good homes going to work with a hangover every day. They stand around in fields and wait around in airports and cafes and do the same interview again and again. Also Coxon’s accent sounds exactly like Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, offering gems such as his opinion of Stonehenge (“It’s a bit like going to see Morrissey. It’s not as big as you think”). And they look so young too! This was surely a key influence on The Inbetweeners Movie.

Key moment Sporting a crumpled mod suit, Damon loses contarct with the contents of his guts behind an unspecified stage for an unspecified reason.

TURBONEGRO: THE MOVIE (1999)

Turbonegro: the Movie.

Most rockumentaries like to suggest the artist is getting somewhere, even if it’s just Nick Cave staring out of a tour bus window or Radiohead looking uncomfortable at a meet-and-greet. But this astonishingly drab documentary following Norwegian “deathpunk” jokers Turbonegro captures life lower down the food chain, in that hinterland between arenas and the European circuit of municipally approved squats and cultural centres. The singer is a junkie. The band’s most recent and best record has been largely overlooked. Every year they visit the same local radio stations to plug their annual local show. They play small festivals in daylight and are about to split up. Yet a miracle happened. During their hiatus, word of mouth spread about their 1998 album Apocalypse Dudes, which was picked up for the Jackass soundtrack. They became a name to drop and made a triumphant return in 2002, more popular than they’d ever been. The follow-up documentary was called Turbonegro: The Resurrection. They’re still going: part soap opera, part rock provocateurs.

Key moment The sight of several grown men standing in an anonymous German shopping mall trying to find the venue, somehow defineds the quixotic quest for rock stardom.

METALLICA - SOME KIND OF MONSTER (2004)

Some Kind of Monster trailer.

The metal megaliths have long had a confrontational relationship with their endlessly loyal fanbase, not so much idols and disciples as big brothers bullying their siblings. Suing teenagers for downloading old albums was breathtaking. But getting them to foot the massive cost of an endless course of corporate therapy by making and selling a documentary feature on the subject was genuinely innovative. The cash cow faltering as intra-band relationships crumble and the bassist having quit, concerned management bring in one Phil Towle, self-described “performance enhancement coach”. Towle would like to keep his lucrative gig going, but he at least creates a sense of unity in the band, who all agree he should be canned. And a new bass player is appointed. Honestly, it’s like watching the pope arguing about cost overruns with the scaffolders at the Sistine Chapel, except the result is the disappointing St Anger album. Which is definitely not one of the glories of western art.

Key moment Too many to count, but the sight of a warehouse full of identical guitars owned by a musician under rehab orders to work no more than four a hours a day screams: this is business, not pleasure.

The four-disc box set of The Decline of Western Civilization is released on 27 July on Second Sight

Steve Jelbert

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
‘Who knew Kurt Cobain was that funny?’
For his new documentary, Brett Morgen was given unrestricted access to the Nirvana frontman’s archives. He talks about his unflinching portrait

Kathryn Bromwich

08, Mar, 2015 @8:45 AM

Article image
The best films and books about music to watch out for in 2015
From a Kurt Cobain documentary to Grace Jones’s autobiography, Observer pop critic Kitty Empire chooses the forthcoming film and book highlights of the year

Kitty Empire

25, Jan, 2015 @9:00 AM

Article image
Great rock-docs need blood on the floor
As three forthcoming films attest, music biographies are at their most compelling when warring egos are intrinsic to the tale, writes Dorian Lynskey

Dorian Lynskey

01, Oct, 2011 @11:06 PM

Article image
One fan's mission to Lars

His dream was to meet Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich. But Tom Spicer has a rare form of autism and lives in a care home. So in 2009, his brother and sister packed his bags and set out with him on a road trip across America, capturing the journey in a remarkable, moving and funny film. Kate Kellaway reports

Kate Kellaway

02, Jun, 2012 @10:01 PM

Article image
Penelope Spheeris: 'I sold out and took the money'
She made her millions as the director of Wayne’s World and The Beverly Hillbillies, but the film-maker would rather be remembered for her riot-causing punk series The Decline of Western Civilization

Ann Friedman

23, Aug, 2015 @4:00 PM

Article image
From the Band to Beyoncé: concert films to fill the live music black hole
Ahead of what would have been Glastonbury weekend, we pick the documentaries that best recreate the magic of gigs and festivals

Dorian Lynskey

21, Jun, 2020 @7:00 AM

Article image
The 20 best music documentaries – ranked!
We rate the best films on the music scene down the decades, from Bob Dylan to Blur, Anvil to Amy Winehouse

Ryan Gilbey

20, Sep, 2018 @3:15 PM

Article image
Thurston Moore on Madonna: ‘She had credibility, she was really ahead of the game’
The musician, formerly guitarist and vocalist in Sonic Youth, on Madonna’s emergence from the New York underground scene

As told to Kate Hutchinson

15, Jul, 2018 @7:00 AM

Article image
Shane Meadows: 'This is the closest thing to a love letter I've ever made'

Director Shane Meadows tells Miranda Sawyer about his Stone Roses documentary Made of Stone – and what it was like to work with his heroes

Miranda Sawyer

26, May, 2013 @7:00 AM

Article image
The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians
Anna Calvi, Neil Tennant, Nadine Shah, Wayne Coyne, Nitin Sawhney and Anna Meredith pick their top five music movies

Interviews by Jude Rogers and Killian Fox

18, Aug, 2019 @6:59 AM