Cause we’re inveterate listophiles, and just to get a little midweek argument started, we direct your attention to the latest entry in Tom Roston’s Doc Soup column over at PBS’s POV blog, wherein he – inspired by a recent re-viewing of Dont Look Back (which we recently reviewed ourselves) – picks his all-time top 10 (er, 11) rock docs.
It’s a fairly orthodox roster, but then, there’s a reason why canons become canons, and why D.A. Pennebaker’s classic Dylan portrait so routinely heads the one for music docs. And I like how Roston offers a personal reason for each pick, considers the way music docs so often “play easy cards” in exploiting our fandom (by way of a devastating dis of the White Stripes flick Under Great White Northern Lights), and bucks the received critical wisdom by slotting Anvil! The Story of Anvil ahead of Some Kind of Monster (I concur).
But – as one commenter points out – what, no Dig!? And, of course, there’s the age-old question: is it fair to count Spinal Tap count as a documentary? Or Truth or Dare, for that matter? Discuss. And head over to the MusicFilm Database to rate your own favorites (or add them if they’re not there).