So we had another idea for a movie canon.
After blinking our way through The Moment – the recent mockumentary about Charli XCX by director Aidan Zamiri – we got thinking about a certain kind of music film that exists between the margins of biopic and rockdoc. Not real, not exactly fake… and all the more incisive for it.
We came up with a handful of movies – some of them HIGHLY recommended! – which dramatise rather than document the artist’s status as a ‘star’: their negotiations with fame and celebrity, their discomfort with being the centre of attention, their feelings of being trapped inside the machine.
In our conversation about these films – including Pavements, The Nowhere Inn, Spice World, A Hard Day’s Night and Slade in Flame – we think about the irreversible vibe shift that marks 21st century humour, and identify the influence of film and TV comedy, from the Goon Show to Charlie Brooker.
The canon is a slim one so far – at least compared to our adventures in Big Beat Cinema, the made-up movie niche coined by Finn and mapped out over two NT episodes and a list last year. But we’ve built a Rockufiction Letterboxd list nonetheless and are all ears for your suggestions – what are we missing? A reminder of the criteria: A film about a musician or band in which they play themselves, generally to comic effect. A blurring of reality and fiction. Not a biopic. Not a documentary.
This episode contains some spoilers but not too many. If you need to skip the Charli chat for any reason, it’s from 17:00–29:00.
In other news! Earlier this week we visited the Devon Turnbull audiophile listening room at 180 The Strand to listen to vinyl with Call Super and Parris. They surprised us with some truly stonnin’ records – from El-B to LDR to Arvo Pärt – and the recording of the first session will be online imminently. We’ll send out a post with complete tracklists from both sessions then.
And a plug for Chal’s club night: Get A Grip returns on Good Friday at cool new venue Distillery N17, with sets from man-of-the-meauxment Olof Dreijer and Ponyboy diva Miss Cabbage. Should be good! Tickets here.
As this episode surely confirms, we do this podcast for the love, and we do it around day jobs. We have no sponsorships, no backing and no product placement from Skims. So if you want to show some love back, do consider subscribing to our paid tier. A subscription gives you a discount on our books, plus mate’s rates tickets when we put on live shows.
