Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Music is the subject of a fair percentage of the more than 1500 documentaries scheduled for release this year according to IMDb — and that number only includes those who have gotten their shit together enough to list their productions on IMDb. If even half of them follow through with their visions, 2015 should be a banner year for music documentaries. This year, filmmakers will explore topics including old-school audio formats like cassettes and 78s, the rise and fall of the brick and mortar retail business and the impact of the boombox on society at large. Megalithic acts like Kiss and Grateful Dead will net yet more screen time (the latter thanks to Martin Scorsese), but pioneering female artists like Filipino-American R&B singer Sugar Pie DeSanto and early electronic film composer Suzanne Ciani will also get a turn in the spotlight that may have eluded their careers.
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You can expect more than a few “rapumentaries” and at least one “documusical” to come out, too, but you won’t find those on this list of the year’s most anticipated music docs. Maddeningly, most of the release dates are TBA unless otherwise indicated, but patience is a sound virtue.
The House That Chicago Built
Montage of Heck
The first Kurt Cobain documentary authorized by his family (and executive produced by daughter Frances Bean) is expected to air on HBO this year. “Once I stepped into Kurt’s archive, I discovered over two hundred hours of unreleased music and audio, a vast array of art projects (oil paintings, sculptures), countless hours of never-before-seen home movies, and over 4,000 pages of writings that together help paint an intimate portrait of an artist who rarely revealed himself to the media,” director Brett Morgen told Rolling Stone.
The Damned
Following his 2010 film Lemmy, Wes Orshoski turns his lens to UK punk/goth legends The Damned for his second music documentary. His interview subjects include original members Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible, former member Rat Scabies, and Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders fame, who was once in a group with the three.
808
Blackhearts
Christian Falch, director of the 2012 documentary The Exorcist in the 21st Century (about exorcisms in the Catholic church), says he hopes his film about the Norwegian black metal scene as seen through the eyes of fans in Iran, Columbia and Greece helps to change the genre’s dark image. “My impression of Norwegian black metal today compared to the infamous early ‘90s is that today the focus is on the music and not all the other stuff that used to be related to the genre,” he told Black Reich Shop. “I think that is a good thing because the music deserves to get this positive attention and the musicians don’t have to become criminals to get PR for their bands.”
Stretch and Bobbito
The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show was the radio beacon of the halcyon daze of ‘90s hip-hop in New York, a place where artists like Jay-Z, Nas and Biggie became legendary before they released any albums. This very personal project (written and directed by Bobbito Garcia, with music supervision by Armstrong) delves into the program’s history and impact as well as the unexpected cult followings it garnered in the prison and fashion worlds.
Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of Behind The MusicIndustrial Soundtrack For The Urban Decay
Billy Anderson: God of Thunder
Despite an extensive discography and decades of work, the producer and engineer behind acts like The Melvins, Sleep, Neurosis and Brutal Truth feels like he’s just beginning. This film, which features archival recording footage from Anderson, has been in production since 2010, but director/producer David Hall of Handshake Inc. vows to complete the interviews with Anderson and collaborators this year.
Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents
Theory of ObscurityTamara Palmer is looking up documusicals on Twitter.
