"20 Best Music Movies Ever"

NME.com picks the 20 best music movies ever. They are:

That’s a great list of movies. Great to see Dylan on their twice. But how could you possibly omit this movie:

The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorcese, featuring one of the greatest bands ever The Band. Also A Hard Day’s Night, Saturday Night Fever, and Mad Dogs & Englishmen:

What other great music movies come to mind?

UPDATE: We can add this to this list:

When I was a kid, my friends and I tried to out-lore each other with massive pronouncements about rock ‘n’ roll matters we knew little about. I was a “T.A.M.I. Show” guy — meaning, I had managed to see a VHS tape bootleg relic of the 1964 all-star extravaganza concert film that hardly anyone had seen since the days of “Beatles for Sale” and “Another Side of Bob Dylan.” Which is to say, when the Beatles were still in black and white and Dylan had yet to plug in. I avowed that there was no finer rock concert film — never mind that the Beach Boys had made sure that their segment was excised — and I stumped for it as though I had a hand in future royalty payments. “Woodstock,” “Monterey Pop,” “The Last Waltz” — mere aperitifs compared to the full-on whisky kegger that was “The T.A.M.I. Show’s” artistic bounty. I didn’t care that its full name — Teenage Awards Music International — sounded both awful and totally made up.

One tends to be a bit of a moron at 13 or so when you’re going on about your own personal canon, but “The T.A.M.I. Show” is now out on DVD, the Beach Boys are back in place, and I think I probably undersold the whole thing, actually. The film was directed by Steve Binder, who was later responsible for that 1978 Star Wars holiday cartoon special, the delight of many a YouTube-trawling stoner. “The T.A.M.I. Show” is a mess in its way, too, but in the manner of a rugby scrum or a goal line battle — the energy is intoxicating. And it looks like it was shot inside out — that is, the front of the stage might as well be backstage for all the attendant chaos, with bands setting up as other bands perform, and people racing in all directions for their marks.

James Brown. Rolling Stones. Chuck Berry. Sounds like great stuff.

12 thoughts on “"20 Best Music Movies Ever"”

Let's see… "School of Rock," "Woodstock," "It Might Get Loud" (great doc. featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White, & the Edge), "Velvet Goldmine," "Beatles Anthology," "The Commitments," "Bound for Glory" (Woody Guthrie story), "Ray," "Walk the Line," "American Graffiti," "Fabulous Baker Boys," "The Wall," "I'm Not There" and "Crazy Heart." How's that for a start?

Megadittos (sorry for this Limbaugh-ism) to THE LAST WALTZ.

Back when I worked a video store, I played this movie DAILY for over a year. Got so customers were either trying to stop in during their favorite songs OR were pleading with me to move on and play something else for a change!

Either way, it's one of those films that you can honestly say is a true celebration of American music.

And don't forget to "play this movie loud!"

I thought they missed 24 Hour Party People, until I got to the end of the list that is. Good to see they didn't overlook the best music movie ever.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tommy
Harold and Maude

I recently watched "It Might Get Loud". It's a great doc if you have not seen it. They close the film with the 3 musicians playing a cover of "The Weight". The Last Waltz is probably a tie for Woodstock for me in terms of best music film…

Amadeus! and I'm Not There.

Purple Rain.

donnie darko. without that score and soundtrack that movie would've went straight to mini-dv.

NME is staffed by morons. Garden State??? I don't remember any of the music in that film. And really, the band Anvil sucks big time (fantastic doco, though).

Other glaring omissions of the NME list:

School of Rock
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Almost Famous
Once (won an Oscar for chrissakes!)