Thursday, July 12, 2007

Rock Biopics

I have a love-hate relationship with rock biopics. I hate them though I still watch them so it is a kind of self-imposed torture. Today I watched 'Stoned', the film by Stephen Woolley on the life and death of Brian Jones. There were lots of anachronisms and musically it was pretty lame - no actual Stones music and what was there was pretty inappropriate (though there was a smattering of Robert Johnson they failed to connect the fact they were both members of the 27 club) but I carried on watching it as I like seeing history being served up as entertainment and titillation. So what makes a good rock biopic? Recently we have had a Ray Charles pic getting critical appraisal - also Oliver Stone's The Doors getting more than its fair share of good reviews. Bad biopics go straight onto daytime tv - like 'Daydream Believer' the Monkees story - or the Karen Carpenter Story (now up on tv links). My personal favourites include 'And the Beat Goes On; the Sonny and Cher story' and of course the Beach Boys one on the other day. They usually have a cheesey subtitle - just off the top of my head something like 'Purple Haze; the Jimi Hendrix story' - actually I am gobsmacked noone's done that one. The one I hate most is 'Tina; What's Love got to do with it' - as an Ike Turner fan I feel completely let down by that film.
If I ever get the money I will do a rock biopic - who needs doing? Maybe there needs to be some discussion on the subject - someone, preferably dead would do - if the music is readily available even better - how about the 'Something Else' the Eddie Cochran story? They usually start at the end and work backwards so Scene 1 Bristol Hippodrome - EC gets into a taxi - 'C'mon Gene get in - I want to get to London fast''but the weather Eddie..and these English roads...' - the rest you can imagine. How about 'London Calling - the Clash story'? 'Stone the crows guv - them 101ers are far out'. Feel free to suggest suitable stories and titles. How about this one, my last word on the subject '20th century boy...the Marc Bolan story....''C'mon Grace you drive, I feel like I am going to live forever'
List of Biopics