In a piece written for The Guardian on Friday past, Alexis Petridis yacked about the current state of the Rockumentary, and how a film like Let It Be, what captured The Beatles at the arse-end of their career, could never be made in this day and age, don't you know.
Presumably, Petridis was looking further than the fact that two of the main protagonists are dead, and was in fact referring to the "aesthetics" and "the tone" of the carry-on. A film like Tupac : Resurrection, Petridis argues, an objectionable marketing exercise masquerading as "cinema", is much more in tune with contemporary attempts at putting rock back in the cinemas, DVD players, BBC4 etc.
To some extent, one can certainly see a point shimmering somewhere amidst all the yacking about "the state of the world in this day and age" and "you don't know you're born" (possible paraphrasing on my behalf). In an era of MTV and VH1 and The Box and 24 Hours Of Continuous Garbage and so on, is there really any need for anyone to take a camera and point it at a bunch of guitarists, singers, harpsichordists, other musicians?
Whereas The Resurrection Of Tupac, says The Guardian writer, is little more than an attempt to add to the somewhat dubious claims of sainthood that have been flung at the fella what got shot ever since those bullets riddled his torso in Vegas, a film like Let It Be was something more, a glimpse of a band in some kind of creative doldrums, a vision of sniping, disconcerted fellas not very happy with their lot, something which would be immediately annexed by the "Corporations" were it to be attempted with, say, Coldplay.
I hate to say this, Alexis Pertridis, but that assumption is a sack of motherfucking horseshit, is what The Duke would suggest.
Pertridis does mention two recent or soon to be released flicks what have something of a spiritual connection to the likes of Let It Be, or Eat The Document, or Take That - Live In Berlin; The upcoming Metallica film, Some Kind Of Monster, and Ondi Timonder's critically acclaimed Dig!, what concerns itself with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.
But these are not the only examples of fairly recent, candid, warts n' all type rockumentary shenanigans. Elton John threw hissy fits left and right in Tantrums And Tiaras, Robbie Williams worried about life, direction, other existential concerns in Nobody, Someday, Wilco fell out with their record company in Are You Trying To Break My Heart, and GG Allin flung shit with abandon in Todd Phillips' Hated - GG Allin And The Murder Junkies.
It's true that these things don't come along every couple months, but they never have done.
And this is without even mentioning the likes of Pantera or Machine Head who consistently fill their DVD releases with all manner of backstage shitting, pissing, drug consuming and what not. Also, The Marilyn Manson Family or whoever, they did some stuff about tearing pages from a bible, crying and so on.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
Nice work on an interesting film Duke. I saw Let It Be during a midnight showing many years ago and have not seen it since. I can recall the audience hissing when the Bobbies make an appearance on the rooftop during The Beatles' final show. It's a sad documentary, detailing the end of one of the greatest bands in history, and most certainly an era. I thought the film had never been released on DVD or video for a number of reasons, but I have the album and listen to it regularly.
As for rock documentaries, the best detail bands from the 1960s for some reason, and I love the varying versions of Woodstock and Monterey Pop. The greatest rock documentary of all time in my opinion is X - The Unheard Music, a brilliant film detailing the LA punk/rock/rockabilly band and their attempts to break into the mainstream after their third album Under the Big Black Sun. There were great interviews, concert footage from the Whiskey A Go Go and battles with the corporate record companies who felt Point Blank was a better bet for heavy promotion. I saw Point Blank in concert, and X a few years later and can say in all confidence the record companies were complete idiots.....
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Chris, that sounds like a flick i'd like to be seeing. A lot of the classic rock-docs are bieng exhumed for DVD, so hopefully the X flick will make an appearance.
As to the availability of Let It Be, i believe it was released on video in the mid-90's for a time, although i've never saw it in a store. There have been yackings about a special edition DVD, but as the Amazon link above testifies, nothing is confirmed. Which is odd, all being told. The Beatles have certainly never been adverse to a bout of re-releasing, and yet only three of their films are available on DVD, not counting the Anthology. Hopefully Help!, magical mystery tour and this right here will be granted a release shortly.