Music Stories

While watching the first episode of The Beatles Anthology, I thought about the movie Backbeat. At 14, I loved that movie and was in love with the idea of becoming a photographer like Astrid Kirchherr. Even though I wasn’t able to experience Beatlemania and the 1960’s, I still felt connected to it because of all the beautiful black and white photography. I wanted to be able to do that for my own era.

It got me thinking about music biopics and how an amazing biopic (or good documentaries for that matter - a la Beatles Anthology, No Direction Home, and hopefully the new George Harrison one by Martin Scorsese) can allow you feel like you’ve been there.

These are my favorite music biopics.

5. The Doors

I don’t care what anyone says, Val Kilmer played an amazingly hot Jim Morrison. Maybe the movie was way over the top, but then again, isn’t all of our visions of Jim Morrison?

4. I’m Not There

This movie was so original. I love how they played with all of the tall tales of Bob Dylan. It was fun and quirky, and I wouldn’t expect anything less. If you are really into Bob Dylan, I suggest seeing No Direction Home; it is great for giving this movie some Dylan context as well.





3. Control
When I watched this, I didn’t know a lot about Ian Curtis or Joy Division, but afterwards I was completely hooked. As depressing as this movie is, it is beautiful. Sam Riley was amazing. I worship the simple beauty of black and white




2. Backbeat
I love the time period and the intimate portrait of the Beatles lives before they were so super famous. I loved being able to watch the love affair before Stuart and Astrid.








1. A Hard Day’s Night

This one feels like cheating because it’s The Beatles playing the Beatles in this farce, which after watching footage of their lives, actually seems to portray them really well. I love getting to see George and Pattie on screen together too. This is a must see for any Beatles fan. I would also suggest seeing Help! and Magical Mystery Tour, but they are really different types of movies.



I actually came up with a huge list of these types of movies, but I limited this list to the ones that had a strong impact on me. I also found a bunch that I haven’t seen that have been added to my Netflix queue.