Have you ever imagined meeting your hero? How did it go? Did you both really hit it off, discover some obscure shared event from your past and end the meeting vowing your loyalty to the other in a hushed and sombre blood brother ceremony? Or perhaps was it a little more disappointing, your hero caught up in a series of alcohol-related distractions, leaving you feel empty and robbed? Either way, coming face to face with someone who you have idolised throughout your life is tricky ground. Never quite fitting the picture that you had built up of them, they can fail you without even knowing what they have done, shattering your dreams with the uttering of a single word.
Of course, as with everything, there is a way around the whole hero-shattering snagoo, a method which enables you to venture further than the social veneer created around the hero, whilst maintaining enough distance to keep the legend intact. Enter the documentary. Specifically, the band documentary. Ever since there were celebrities to spark our interest, there have been accompanying documentaries, promising to probe far enough into our idol’s personal life to make us feel as if we knew them personally. Crucially, the documentary perpetuates the star myth, presenting to us the vulnerable character of our hero within the tangible confines of the cinema screen.
The hero is shown to us fully but caged behind the screen. Think of it like a zoo for celebrities. The band documentary is a particularly unique phenomenon, giving the warbling hero a spoken voice, an earthly persona, fallibility. And yet, whilst showing this human side to us, the documentary somehow manages to perpetuate the myth further, showing us just enough of the star to leave us desperately longing for more.
The band documentary is a mighty force. Making the celebrity a friend, then propelling them even further into the deepest realms of stardom, it seems that we simply cannot get enough of them. But what are the best ones? Fear not. Read on and face the most famous, most personal of all of the band documentaries, ever. (Plus add in any ones which I may have missed).
1). Year of the Horse – Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Jim Jarmusch plus Neil Young answers every single hipster dream around the world. Documenting the band’s 1996 tour, Jarmusch intercuts his current footage with that of the band’s performances in the ‘70s and ‘80s, taking us on a trippy, philosophising journey. Jarmusch’s film is not so much a documentary as an homage to the band’s timelessness and persistent popularity. Sweeping through their history, Year of the Horse is as much a study in time as it is of the band. Throwing clips and scenes of years of footage in a big, temporal pot, Jarmusch proves how, even when we think we know a band, they can completely undercut our expectations.
2). A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles
If ever there was a birth of celebrity culture, then surely it began with The Beatles. Filmed during the height of Beatlemania, A Hard Day’s Night sits somewhere between the feature film and documentary genres, containing images of the escaping hoards of fans, entertaining school girls and generally larking around. The film is surprisingly self-referential; whilst everything shown about the members of the band seems in line with our social perception, their open awareness of their statuses as international sex symbols seems done somewhat tongue-in-cheek. By playing on-screen versions of themselves, The Beatles seem to poke fun of the personas created for them by the ‘60s media. Whilst they do not show enough of themselves to warrant the film a documentary, there are elements of their true personas as seen through the eyes of society.
3). Benda Bilili – Staff Benda Bilili
A little-seen documentary about a group of paraplegic African musicians, Benda Bilili goes somewhat against the traditional band documentary. Following the band’s steady progression from local heroes to international music stars, the film works in reverse, constructing the celebrity around a group of seemingly normal men. Even when we see the band begin to achieve the acclaim they work so hard for at the beginning of the film, they still feel like friends. When the myth is created in their success, there is no question that they are the same people as they were when we first met them.
4). Buena Vista Social Club
Wim Wenders reignites a fading myth in his documentary, bringing together the eponymous Cuban band for a two-time only run of performances in Amsterdam. After having faded somewhat into normalcy, Wenders brought the ageing band to the attention of international audiences, propelling them into a similar kind of fame experienced by the Staff Benda Bilili. Unlike Benda Bilili, though, which contained its stars very much within their origins, Wenders created a sort of legendary fame for the Buena Vista Social Club. By confining their performances for two nights only, he mythologised their coming together, cataloguing it within the stuff of legends.
5). Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones
If ever there was a band a legends, then it was clearly The Rolling Stones. Despite their continued existence and sometime performances today, they exist as living legends. Much like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones have always been aware of their own mythology and Gimme Shelter is perhaps the best representation of this. Filmed at the end of the ‘60s, the film not only acts as a look-back for the band upon their early success but also, as a documentation of the end of an era. Whilst we see the band in the ‘60s onscreen, their off-screen presence is very much felt, the real men who watch themselves as the pin ups of a lost moment in time. Gimme Shelter simultaneously shows us the men and the myths; the ultimate band documentary for the most lasting band of all.