
Compiled by Chris Fralic over many years but mostly since 2020. I like music and I like documentaries, and I've been keeping a list of all the good music or rock documentaries or "rockumentaries" that I've seen. Going into lockdown on March 13th, 2020 I decided to share a version that contained 90 music documentaries, and that seemed like a lot at the time. I got a bunch of feedback including ones that I still needed to watch, and since I had some extra time that year and kept at it, it's now reached these "good to great" ones that I definitely recommend. Most are easy to find, but some are really hard to track down - and that is part of the fun. What else am I missing? Let me know at the link at the bottom of the page.
BEST OF THE BEST (20)
1971 (2021 Documentary)
The Black Godfather (The story of Clarence Avant)
Beware of Mr. Baker (Cream drummer Ginger Baker)
The Beatles Get Back (2021)
David Crosby: Remember My Name
DEVO (2024)
Tom Dowd and the Language of Music
Defiant Ones (Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine)
ENO - (2024)
Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin)
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Laurel Canyon - A Place In Time
Muscle Shoals (a special place for music in Alabama)
Runnin' Down a Dream (Tom Petty)
Quincy (Quincy Jones)
Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story
Rumble - The Indians Who Rocked The World
Summer of Soul (Directed by Questlove)
TINA: Tina Turner
The Greatest Night in Pop - making of We Are The World
GOOD TO VERY GOOD - WATCH IF YOU LIKE THE ARTIST (355)
1991: The Year Punk Broke (Sonic Youth, Nirvana, etc)
20 Feet From Stardom (Backup Singers)
808 (history of the Roland TR-808 synthesizer)
A-Ha The Movie
If These Walls Could Sing (Abbey Road Studios)
All the Streets are Silent - NYC Hip Hop and Skating scene
Aerosmith - The Making of Pump
Air Guitar Nation
Laurie Anderson Homeland
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead - Steve Aoki
The Apollo (history of NYC's Apollo Theater)
Duane Allman - song of the south Duane Allman and the Rise of the Allman Brothers
Allman Brothers - After the Crash
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Keeping Time - LA Pan African People’s Arkestra (The Ark)
Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues
A Song For You - the Austin City Limits story
May it Last - (A Portrait of the Avett Brothers)
Bad Company
Joan Baez - I Am A Noise
The Last Waltz (The Band)
Once Were Brothers - Robbie Robertson and The Band
Pet Sounds (Beach Boys Classic Albums w/ Brian Wilson, Wrecking Crew**)**
Beach Boys - Disney+
The Beastie Boys Story
Awesome; I F*in' Shot That! - Beastie Boys
Beatles - Eight Days A Week
Beatles - Get Back (2024 release of the original 1970 Let It Be film by Michael Lindsay-Hogg)
Let it Be (Beatles)- Disney+
Beatles ‘64 - Disney+
Joan Baez and BB King at Sing Sing (by David Hoffman)
Jeff Beck - Still On The Run
The Bee Gees - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?
BANG: The Bert Berns Story
Homecoming (Beyonce)
Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me
Biggie - I Got A Story To Tell
All up in the Biz - Biz Markie
The Ritchie Blackmore Story
All I Can Say - The Shannon Hoon Story Blind Melon (by Danny Clinch)
What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?
Blue Note Records - Beyond The Notes
Bluebird (Cafe in Nashville)
Born to Boogie (Marc Bolan and T. Rex)
Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful
The Sound of 007 - James Bond movies
Cracked Actor: A Film About David Bowie
David Bowie: Last 5 Years
David Bowie: Finding Fame
David Bowie - Serious Moonlight
Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World
The Sigma Kids (David Bowie making Young America at Sigma Studios in Philadelphia)
Moonage Daydream ****- David Bowie
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown
Jackson Browne: Going Home
Jeff Buckley: Fall In Light
Buena Vista Social Club
Desperate Man Blues - bluegrass collector Joe Bussard
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Cachao - Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos
Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me
Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection
Jimmy Carter - Rock and Roll President
Tricky Dick and the Man in Black (Johnny Cash and Richard Nixon)
20,000 Days On Earth - Nick Cave
A Life In Waves (electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani)
Rise and Fall of The Clash
Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am
Dave Chapelle’s Block Party
Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago
The Last Band On Stage - Chicago
Eric Clapton - A Life in 12 bars
Coachella: 20 years in the desert
Record Safari - Digging in the Crates of America (Coachella Record Store Guy)
Cobain: Montage of Heck (Kurt Cobain of Nirvana)
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song
Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man
Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams
Chasing Trane (John Coltrane)
Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul
The Two Killings of Sam Cooke
Super Duper Alice Cooper
Credence Clearwater Revival - Traveling Band at the Royal Albert Hall
CREEM: America’s Only Rock Magazine
In the Court of the Crimson King
Crowded House: Farewell to the World
Crowded House: I Like To Watch
CSNY: Fifty by Four (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
A Tuba to Cuba - Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
A Band Called Death
DEVO: The complete truth about DE-EVOLUTION
Dig! The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massicre
Count Me In (Drummers)
Doobie Brothers - Let The Music Play
When You're Strange (The Doors)
The Decline of Western Civilization (the birth of punk in 3 parts)
Depeche Mode 101
Freakscene - The Story of Dinosaur Jr.
I Am - Celine Dion
Disco’s Revenge (2024 on DOC NYC)
Dread Zeppelin - A Song of Hope
Duran Duran: There's Something You Should Know
Don’t Look Back - (Bob Dylan)
No Direction Home (Bob Dylan)
Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorcese
History of the Eagles (Part One and Two)
Echo in the Canyon
Billie Eilish - The World’s A Little Blurry
Brian Eno - 1971-1977: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Our Latin Thing - Fania All Stars
Finding Fela
Festival Express (1970 Canadian Rail Rock Show)
Danny Says (Danny Field managed Doors, Lou Reed, Ramones)
Flaming Lips Space Bubble Film - Criterion Collection
The Story of Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac Rumours (Classic Albums)
Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah (2011)
Like a Rolling Stone (magazine) - Ben Fong-Torres
Foo Fighters: Back and Forth
David Foster - Off The Record
Instrument - 10 years with the band Fugazi
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Story of the backup band The Funk Brothers)
Music Box: Listening to Kenny G
Gaga: Five Foot Two
Inventing David Geffen
Genesis: Sum of the Parts
Inside Genesis - The Peter Gabriel Years 1970-1975
The Go-Go's
Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me
Supermensch - the Legend of Shep Gordon
Long Strange Trip (Grateful Dead)
Norman’s Rare Guitars about the famous LA store ****
Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away
George Harrison : Living in the Material World
An Accidental Studio - George Harrison
Concert for George (George Harrison)
Blondie's New York and the Making of Parallel Lines (Debbie Harry)
Heartbreakers Beach Party Tom Petty (2024 and 1983, Cameron Crowe)
Jimi Plays Monterey - Jimi Hendrix (by D.A. Pennebaker; recorded in 1967, released in 1986)
Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)
The Hollies - Look Through Any Window
Whitney (Houston) - The untold story for the first time (2018)
Alone with Chrissy Hynde (Pretenders)
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
Immediate Family - The world’s best session players (Wrecking Crew director Denny Tedesco)
Imogen Heap - Everything In Between
Jason Isbell - Running with eyes closed (Music Box)
Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child
Jimi Hendrix: At Last... The Beginning: The Making Of Electric Ladyland
HIP HOP - THE SONGS THAT SHOOK AMERICA
Hired Gun (“first call, A-list” musicians)
Jaco (Jaco Pastorius, the greatest bass player ever)
Being Mick: You Would If You Could (Mick Jagger)
Bitchin - The Sound and Fury of Rick James
Jazz - Ken Burns
Bad Reputation (Joan Jett)
Billy Joel: A Matter of Trust
ReMastered: Devil at the crossroads (Robert Johnson Story)
Janis: Little Girl Blue (Janis Joplin)
Chasing Happiness (Jonas Brothers)
Carole King: Natural Woman
The Kinks: Life on the Road
Biography: KISStory
American Dream / American Knightmare (Suge Knight Story)
Let The Canary Sing - Cindy Lauper
Shut Up and Play the Hits - LCD SoundSystem
The Song Remains the Same (Led Zeppelin)
Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused
Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)
Lemmy (Motorhead bassist Lemmy Kilmister)
The U.S Versus John Lennon
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story John Lennon and May Pang
John Lennon - Murder Without a Trial (series)
John and Yoko - Above Us Only Sky (John Lennon)
Imagine - John Lennon and Yoko Ono and Gimme Some Truth on DVD
Huey Lewis and the News: BEFORE!
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind
Gordon Lightfoot - if you could read my mind
Feats First - The Life and Music of Lowell George (Little Feat)
Get Back - The Story of Liverpool
My Generation - Michael Caine, Beatles, London music + culture scene into the British Invasion
Art Dealers - Low Cut Connie
Lynyrd Skynyrd - If I Leave Here Tomorrow
Truth or Dare - Madonna
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt ****and The Magnetic Fields (2010)
Bob Marley: The Making of a Legend
Who Shot The Sheriff? (Bob Marley)
Produced by George Martin (Beatles and much more)
McCartney 3,2,1 Paul McCartney and Rick Rubin
Crock of Gold - A Few Rounds with Shane McGowan
John Mellencamp: Plain Spoken
Melody Makers: Should have been there! Photographer Barrie Wentzell story and pics
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Metallica - Apple Vision Pro 2025
Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart & Mind
Mixtape - the media that launched Hip Hop
Once In A Lifetime Sessions - Moby
Monterey Pop
Lou Adler and D.A. Pennebaker (on the Monterey Pop festival)
The Importance of Being Morrissey
Music Box - Jagged (Alanis Morisette)
Hitsville - The Making of Motown
Mumford & Sons - We Wrote This Yesterday
How Music Got Free - The rise of digital downloads (2024 Paramount)
It All Begins With A Song - The Story of the Nashville Songwriter
Mistaken for Strangers (The Nationals roadie brother)
New Order: Decades
New York Doll (Arthur “Killer” Kane) - New York Dolls
Personality Crisis - One Night Only (David Johansen and New York Dolls)
Hate to Love: Nickelback
Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC
Who Is Harry Nilsson (and Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)
Gary Numan: Android in La La Land
Nothing Compares - Sinead O’Connor
Oasis Knebworth 1996
Oasis: Supersonic
God Bless Ozzy Osborne
Other Music Documentary of NYC store
Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape (History of the cassette with inventor Lou Otten)
It Might Get Loud - Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White
Dolly Parton - Queen of Country
Here I Am - Dolly Parton
Les Paul - Chasing Sound
Pearl Jam 20 (by Cameron Crowe)
The Pedal Movie
Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free - The Making of Wildflowers
Philadelphia: The Way It Was (Val Shively, Jerry Blavet, Billy Harner)
P!nk: All I Know So Far
Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii Director’s Cut
Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon (Classic Albums)
Pink Floyd The Story of Wish You Were Here
Chit Chat with Oysters - Pink Floyd (1971)
I Am What I Play (story of rock radio with 4 DJs)
Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police (from Andy Summers)
aka Doc Pomus - Save the last dance for me ****
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
The Public Image is Rotten
The Story of Queen: Mercury Rising
RECOLLECTIONS - Val Shively and 50 Years of Selling and Collecting Music in Philadelphia
Funky Monks - Red Hot Chili Peppers making of Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Shake! Otis (Redding) at Monterey (Pop Festival)
Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart
Lou Reed: Transformer (Classic Albums)
Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements
Randy Rhoads - Reflections and a Guitar Icon
Little Richard - I Am Everthing
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Take Me To The River (the Memphis music scene)
Long Live Rock - Celebrate the Chaos (hardcore metal and their fans)
Rock Camp
Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm
Searching for Sugar Man (the search for mysterious '70s artist Rodriguez)
Rolling Stone: Stories From The Edge
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
In Exile - Rolling Stones
Crossfire Hurricane (Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary)
Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones at Altamont)
Shine a Light - Rolling Stones (Scorsese at Beacon 2008)
The Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole: A trip across Latin America (and Cuba)
Rolling Stones - Cocksucker Blues
Rolling Stone (magazine) - Stories from the Edge (2018)
The (Rolling) Stones and Brian Jones
Catching Fire - the story of Anita Pallenberg , Rolling Stones muse and Keith Richards wife
Watch The Sound with Mark Ronson (6 episodes)
Linda Ronstadt - The Sound of my Voice
More Than This - Roxy Music
Shangri-la: Rick Rubin documentary
Todd Rundgren Healing (filmed at The Franklin Institute)
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
A Poem is a Naked Person (Leon Russell)
Carlos - Carlos Santana
Scratch (history of DJs)
The Harmony Game - Simon and Garfunkel
Sinatra - All or Nothing at All
Sinatra in Palm Springs
Sisters with Transistors - Electronic Music’s Unsung Heroines
Slash: Raised on Sunset Strip
Bunch of Kunst: A Film about Sleaford Mods
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) Sly and the Family Stone - 2025 by Questlove
Patti Smith: ****Dream of Life
Ladies and Gentlemen- 50 Years of SNL Music (by Questlove)
Songbirds - guitar museum in Chattanooga since 2015
Sound City (LA Sound Studio with David Grohl)
The Sparks Brothers
Britney vs Spears
The Story of Rod Stewart
Gimme Danger (the story of The Stooges and Iggy Pop)
Meet Me In The Bathroom - Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Sundsystem, NYC bands
Springsteen and I
Springsteen on Broadway
Bruce Springsteen’s Letter To You
Western Stars - Bruce Springsteen
Backstage Springsteen ABC
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Mavis! (Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers)
Steely Dan: Aja (Classic Albums)
Note By Note - The Making of Steinway L1037
Bring On The Night (Sting)
Sting - All This Time (preparing for concert on Sept 11 2001)
Style Wars (the story of Graffiti and Hip Hop and Break Dancing in 1982 NYC)
Donna Summer - Love to Love You
Sun Ra - Brother from Another Planet
Resynator - the story of Don Tavel who helped invent the synthesizer
Miss Americana (Taylor Swift)
folklore: the long pond studio sessions (Taylor Swift)
Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads)
The T.A.M.I. Show (1964 TV special)
Thin Lizzy - Rocker On The Loose (featuring Phil Lynott)
Only the Strong Survive - Rufus Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Sam Moore
Timbuk 3 - Espace Ornano
Beats, Rhymes and Life - ****The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
All Things Must Pass (The Tower Records story)
Steven Tyler - Out on a Limb
Rattle and Hum - U2
U2 Bono & The Edge - A Sort of Homecoming, with David Letterman
Uncropped - The Story of James Hamilton Rock Photographer (and more)
The US Festival 1982: The US Generation Documentary (Steve Wozniak, Bill Graham concert)
Lost Weekend - Partying with Van Halen (Tribeca Short Film)
Luther - Never Too Much 2024 (Luther Vandross)
Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple
Rise of a Texas Bluesman: Stevie Ray Vaughan 1954-1983
Velvet Underground (2021)
Vinyl Nation (2020 Record Store Day documentary by Kevin Smokler)
Under The Volcano - the story of George Martin’s Air Studio Montserrat
Louden Wainwright III Surviving Twin
Scott Walker - 30th Century Man
The Weezer Documentary - a (mildly) full compilation of the Weezer timeline
His Way - The Jerry Weintraub Story
The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir
Jeen-yuhs - Kanye West
Wham!
Dancin’ Outlaw - the story of Jesco White
The Kids are Alright (The Who)
Quadrophenia - Can You See The Real Me? (The Who)
Lambert and Stamp - (Managers of The Who)
Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Brian Wilson - Long Promised Road
Paul Williams - Still Alive
Amy (Amy Winehouse)
Woodstock: 3 Days That Changed Everything
Woodstock 99 - Peace, Love and Rage
The Wrecking Crew (LA session musicians by Denny Tedesco)
The Quiet One (Bill Wyman of ****the Rolling Stones)
XTC At The Manor (1980 BBC)
Yacht Rock - a Dockumentary (2024 HBO)
YesYears
Neil Young’s Music Box: Here We Are In The Years
Neil Young - Harvest Time
Roxy: The Movie (Frank Zappa)
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words
Zappa (2020)
Worst to First The True Story of Z100 New York
ZZ Top: That Little Old Band from Texas