My StudyBass
Music Movies Part 6: Fictional
Fictional Movies
Now for some fun. These are some of my favorite fictional music movies.
Quadrophenia
Based on the rock opera by The Who, this movie takes you into the world of Mods and Rockers—two rival teen cultures in the UK. It has a great soundtrack, and Sting has a starring role.
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The Blues Brothers
This movie is hilarious and full of spectacular musicians like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and many others. Duck Dunn plays bass (he even gets a line in).
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The Jerk
This is one of the top comedies of all-time, and it has held up really well. Very little in this movie has to do with music, but there is one scene which does. When you're learning rhythm, you may often think of this scene.
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Rock 'n Roll High School
This is a fun high school movie from 1979 featuring The Ramones. It's true that people would camp out for days to get tickets to see a live show. I guess times have changed because now people only camp out to get a TV on Black Friday.
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The Commitments
This is a fun and inspiring movie about putting together a soul band in Dublin.
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This is Spinal Tap
Every musician has to watch this movie. It's silly and hilarious. All of your musician friends will reference it. Note: When they play the song Big Bottom, pay attention to the instruments. Also, if you can listen to the DVD audio commentary, you should.
Another silly movie you may like is The Rutles—a spoof on The Beatles.
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Crossroads
This classic is about a young guitar player discovering the blues and Robert Johnson. It has a great soundtrack by Ry Cooder and features Steve Vai.
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Mr. Holland's Opus
This is another classic movie. Mr. Holland's Opus is about a high school music teacher creating music and inspiring his students.
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The Sound of Music
In this classic, music helps heal a family. Beyond this being a great movie, you need to learn the solfège system. Solfège is a system assigning singable syllables to the notes of scales to help you better hear them. No doubt, you've heard do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, and this film has a great song to teach it to you.