Hey fans,
2024 has certainly been quite a year. Quite a year of music documentaries that is. Here are my top music documentaries I watched in 2024.
- Stax: Soulsville USA: This three-part docu-series is all about the history and impact of a record label in Memphis, Tennessee called Stax Records. Stax released popular music from black artists like Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes.
- Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza: This is a three-part docu-series about the Lollapalooza festival. Lollapalooza is a big punk and rock festival that used to be a huge touring festival, but now only happens in Chicago.
- Listening to Kenny G: This is a documentary about Kenny G, and it tries to figure out the mystery of why everyone hates his music so much. Fun fact: Kenny G grew up in Seattle and went to the same elementary and high school as I do.
- Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary: This one is all about a genre of music out of California called Yacht rock. Yacht rock groups include Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers and Toto.
- Gimme Danger: My dad and I watched this documentary on The Stooges after hearing about it on the first episode of my favorite podcast The Cobain 50. It goes deep into the very influential Detroit punk band.
- Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis: This is about the famous duo Storm and Po, known as Hipgnosis, who designed some of the most famous album cover art. They designed the iconic cover of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, the cover for Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin, and many more.
- Quincy: This is about a famous music producer named Quincy Jones, who worked with people like Michael Jackson, Harry Belafonte and more.
- Fanny, the Right to Rock: We always love a good documentary about a cool rock band that has been lost to history. Fanny, a 70s all woman rock band whose story is told in this documentary is certainly one of those bands.
- The Shield Around the K: This was also recommended to us by the Cobain 50 podcast. It’s about an influential record label in Olympia, Washington called K Records. K Records is run by Calvin Johnson, who was also part of a band called Beat Happening.
- Wham!: This is about the history and huge popularity of the ‘80s band Wham! It talks about the duo’s music as well as George Michael’s personal struggles.
Those are just ten of the great music documentaries I watched this year. I hope you check some of them out, or even make it a New Year’s resolution to watch some of these in 2025. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. See you then (on HBW at least.) 😊.
You are becoming a true connesieur of rock music! It’s way cool that your dad is also into it.
My budget doesn’t allow for cable or streaming services, but I have a good friend who might be interested in the one about the artists, and she has almost everything. I’m going to ask her if we can watch it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hey Lucas,
Great list as usual – and this time, I’ve only seen one (Gimme Danger) so I have a lot of catching up to do (Stax, Fanny and Squaring the Circle were already on my short list to watch). Cool that Kenny G went to the same school as you. I actually saw Kenny G in concert a loooong time ago, before he was well known. He opened for the amazing guitarist George Benson at a gig in Ft. Lauderdale. I didn’t love his set, but he was still in an improvisational mode and thus it was much more interesting than the soft “jazz” he became famous for. I may have mentioned this before, it’s my only Kenny G story 🙂
I think I may have mentioned this before too, but if you have not seen it yet, check out Wattstax. It’s a film about a massive 1972 concert of Stax artists in Los Angeles. It features Richard Pryor at the beginning, who is funny, but also in his earlier very crass days, so maybe check with dad! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070902/
Thanks for the list and have a great new year!!
tom
oops. the list has a technicality oversight. since it’s an annual watching requirement – This is Spinal Tap – erroneous missed the top spot. you can fix it for next year. itsrealtomedamnit.gif
Thanks so much for this list – I haven’t heard of or seen any of them. Definitely will be checking this out.
I had no idea that Kenny G went to Orca. Is that true? Wonder if Mrs. Marletta had him?
Hope you had a great Christmas and happy New Year!
lucas. thanks for this list! did we talk about this documentary- it is amazing and shows the power of a drummer in a band- and the awful underside of the music business. i am a big big hole fan (and courtne love)…..check it out: “hit so hard- the life and near death of patty scheme”l. if you wanna watch together, let me know! happy new year
Hi Lucas, thanks for these recs!
I can say right away I’m going to see if I have the channels I need to watch Stax, Lolla, Gimme Danger, Squaring the Circle
The Fanny & Shield docs: I have no knowledge of or frame of reference for these bands, except for yours and that’s plenty motivation, so consider me showing up excited and intrigued for class on these two.
And lastly.. for this year’s line-up anyway, I feel compelled to watch the Kenny G doc. Love the premise and might also benefit from a better explanation of why I also recoil at his music. I mean, he’s clearly talented.. right? And yet, I just.. I’m allergic to it or something. Idk 😂
Thank you again and Happy New Year, Lucas and family!
Love from NM, Heyward
P.S. I forgot to tell you that I watched some of the other ones you recommended in the two previous years:
Tom Petty
Joan Jett
Summer of Soul
Band Called Death
808 (loved this hidden treasure)
Fight the Power
Jimi Hendrix
Salad Days (possibly.. I have check on that)
And now that I’ve just looked through your previous posts, I realize there were more I had hoped to get to yet didn’t/haven’t yet!
I have to add a suggestion that I just watched!
Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple on HBO, it’s a really amazing biography/documentary.