We love watching movies about musicians. Or at least Hollywood thinks so.
From “Ray” to “Walk the Line” to the recent “Control,” which follows post-punk Joy Division throughout the band members’ truncated careers, there has been an influx of films tracing the personal dramas behind immortalized sounds.
The infatuation with the lives of these performers is understandable, and is one that I share. As rock stars or other musical idols, people such as Ray Charles and Johnny Cash live completely outside the confines of the typical path.
While we drudge through college, they tour Europe. While we sit behind desks, sipping coffee from plastic cups, while typing up TPS reports, they hit the studio. While we get up in the morning to the sound of a bleating alarm clock, they sleep until noon. While we follow deadlines, they spurn journalists, fans and friends at any whim.
What could be more interesting than an inside perspective on this kind of life, or a chance to watch it develop from unlikely beginnings?
And what is more fascinating than watching the volatile forces that only rock stars know ““ the crushing pressures of fame in the face of trying to live a normal life combined with an unending supply of drugs and a touch of artistic depression ““ destroy the very people we love but will never be?
One thing these films have in common, though, is that they follow the lives of individuals: single personas who amassed some sort of musical empire.
And while music will always come down to the actions of individuals, the transition into the age of independently produced artists is likely to challenge the very existence of rock stardom.
The nauseatingly discussed realities of the modern music industry ““ leaks and downloading leeching profits from record sales as well as do-it-yourself ideology loosening the hegemony of large record labels ““ are going to affect the ways we idolize musicians.
The main difference as I see it between the rock of the present and the rock of the past is that we now have more musicians who are more independent and less famous.
So if we want to idolize the musical lifestyle, which is turning into some sort of musical middle class, single personas may not have what it takes to cut it as a movie premise. There has to be some way to anthologize those people who rock harder than ever but actually have to pay the bill after taking a motorcycle to a hotel lobby.
A project that looks to accomplish just this is Atlanta rockers Black Lips’ film “Let it Be,” set for production some time in 2008. Far from the Beatles tribute its name might suggest, the film aims to chronicle a fictional band’s New York attempts at creating their own musical product. What’s interesting about the whole idea is that this film is, in some sense, an inversion of the films mentioned above.
Rather than using actors to portray musicians, the film uses musicians to represent the sort of musical archetypes that we are left with in the absence of rock stars.
The Black Lips are a typical example of the musical middle class. Their shows draw crowds, and they’re well regarded by the press and blogosphere but they aren’t the sort of worldwide personalities the other films commemorate.
While their music might be distinctly recognizable, the individuals themselves aren’t massive in the sense of their predecessors. That is, for this type of musician the music outstrips the performer. So while a film specifically about the Black Lips might garner approval from haters of the mainstream, a film about the sort of people they are and what the experience of a musical career is like now, is something much more broadly valuable.
When it comes to me, Hollywood is right ““ I don’t want to stop watching films about what the musician class is like, even if that class changes and relies less upon the cult of stardom. I’m happy that films can be made about it in another form.
And while we can always look to the past for more individuals to apotheosize ““ there’s sufficient material, such as Fela Kuti or Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davis ““ it’s good to know that filmmakers will be able look to the contemporary for inspiration as well.
Wanna spurn a journalist too? E-mail LaRue at alarue@media.ucla.edu.