We’ll put the band back together, do a few gigs, we get some bread. Bang! Five thousand bucks. (Blues Brothers, 1980)

There are lots of movies about music. Most common are the character-driven biopics that follow the same plot (talented but troubled youngster gets into music, gets into drugs and then finds redemption later in life, with variations: Walk the Line, 2005; Ray, 2004). And then there are the tragic-arc narratives that memorialize performers brought down before their time (Selena, 1997; The Doors 1991; Notorious, 2009). We even have nostalgic fantasy pieces (That Thing You Do 1996; Dreamgirls, 2006;, Rockstar 2001), musicals and humor based in and around being in a band or a near a band (Blues Brothers, 1980, This is Spinal Tap, 1984; Wayne’s World 1991; The Rocker, 2008). Continue reading →