Author : Jennifer Stone
Image Source: ticketfairy
As a music enthusiast, many people have some serious interest in their favorite genre, style, solo artist, or bands. Some might just fulfill their curiosity by listening to the music created by their favorite bands; some might search around the web to get some additional information. But there is a large pool of music enthusiast who takes this passion and seriousness a bit higher than the rest by watching nicely done music documentaries on their favorite artists. If you are one of those people then this blog might come in handy as in this blog, you will be provided with a list of music documentaries that are set to release in 2024-25. Let’s start then.
1. The Beach Boys
Celebrating the American boy band ‘The Beach Boys’ which started in Hawthorne, California, Disney+ has released a new documentary on May 24. The musical documentary is directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimmy. It showcases brand-new interviews from members of the band like Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, and Bruce Johnston. Along with these, there is also some archival footage of Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson. The documentary portrays the story of the formation of the band up until the mid-1970s with guest appearances from Janelle Monae, Lindsey Buckingham, Ryan Tedder, and Don Was. With the development of the narration, the documentary takes the direction towards the creative aspect and the process behind their legendary album ‘Pet Sounds’ which highlighted the friendly rivalry of the band with The Beatles and Brian Wilson’s vision and style of music. The interviews featured in the documentary with the surviving members and other artists showcase the dynamics of the band and the challenges the band had to face throughout their course of performance.
2. Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story
The new musical documentary to commemorate 40 years of rock and roll of the band Bon Jovi, is called ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’ which portrays the legendary past and the uncertain future of the band. The musical documentary is directed by Gotham Chopra and features never-before-seen photos, unreleased demos, personal videos, and original lyrics. Their achievements, biggest hits, and a lot more are also highlighted in this musical documentary. It is a docu-series with its first season containing four episodes. The first episode showcases the teenage Jon Bon Jovi who is seen performing in bars and then rushing back to school. The name of the first episode is ‘New Jersey Vs Everybody’. The second episode covers the band shooting into the limelight and becoming a hit overnight but with quite a bit of tension escalating in the background and is called ‘Nowhere to Everywhere’. The third episode is called ‘Brothers in Arms’ where the band is seen to be introducing themselves to a new group of fans with their music revived and regenerated. And the final episode called ‘Legendary’ where Jon is seen to be reflecting on whether he has been able to become the man he wanted to be.
3. Long Live Montero
This musical documentary is focused on ‘All Town Road’ famous rapper Lil Nas X. The documentary has been released on HBO and is directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada and Zac Manuel. The main focus is on the queer rapper and his first on-the-road 2022 Long Live Montero Tour in the US. Through this musical documentary, the fans of this openly gay rapper, singer, and songwriter get a glimpse of the personal space and life routine of this iconic rapper. The documentary features the journey of self-discovery of Lil Nas X and interviews conducted with his family members. The Grammy-winning young star has become an inspiration to many queer kids of this generation and the documentary is produced with keeping the aim of encouraging acceptance towards these people in mind.
4. Let It Be
For the first time ever in fifty years, a musical documentary regarding the recording of ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles is set to be released for the fans to watch. The documentary was originally directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg but with Peter Jackson’s magic, the remake is set to be released on Disney+ with the name ‘Get Back’. The original documentary mainly focused on the rehearsals of the band and their announcement of an unknown rooftop concert. Seeing ‘Get Back’ after ‘Let It Be’ can make the people understand the narrative more clearly and they will see the difference the remake version has created to the tight and balance-theatrical elements incorporated by Jackson. The document has premiered on May 8. For many decades the original documentary had been kept quiet but with the new restored version, the documentary is set to be back for the fans as it is a huge deal due to ‘Let It Be’ being the last album of this legendary band. Peter’s Park Road Post Production with the support from the original directors has been able to do so.
5. Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza
One of the most popular music festivals on the planet is the Lollapalooza. This music festival runs for 4 days straight, with legendary artists, bands, and DJs performing for more than 200,000 audiences. The musical festival features performances of different genres like alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music along with visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. A docu-series created focusing on this music festival featuring old and new footage from performances at the festival is set to hit Paramount+ on May 21 in Canada and the USA. The docu-series is directed by Michael John Warren. The premiere of the docu-series was done at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. This music festival was first created by Perry Farrell, from the group Jane’s Addiction in 1991 as a farewell tour before making Chicago its permanent home.
6. Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
The Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour is ongoing right now which began on February 1 of 2023 and is set to end on July 3 of 2025 in Milan and a new documentary is set to release on Disney+ and Hulu, following the band throughout the tour. This will be the first tour of Bruce Springsteen sing 2017 with the other members of the band. The director of this musical documentary is also the frequent collaborator of Springsteen, Thom Zimmy who also serves as the producer along with the ‘Dancing In The Dark’ singer. Other producers of this documentary are the rock singer and songwriter on Landau, Sean Stuart, and Adrienne Gerard.
7. ABBA: Against the Odds
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s victory at the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974 which was won with the song ‘Waterloo’ which was the first time that Sweden had won this contest, a new documentary is set to be released on The CW. The documentary is directed by James Rogan and co-produced by many European Broadcasting Union members like BBC of the United Kingdom, SVT of Sweden, DR of Denmark, RUV of Iceland, VRT of Belgium and so much more. This made it the largest collaboration of EBU member stations on a documentary film. The documentary was premiered at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival on March 23 of this year. The main focus of this musical documentary is on the huge success ABBA received, including the bad parts that came with fame like being objectified as women and dealing with fame as parents.
8. Let the Canary Sing
This music documentary is a biopic of the iconic Cyndi Lauper. In regards to this documentary the singer said that for many years she had been asked to do a documentary about her life and her work and finally, she can trust someone to do it for her with honesty. The documentary is available on Paramount+. One interesting fact about the documentary is its name. The name came from a quote. After Cyndi went solo with her new manager David Wolff, she was sued by her former manager and had to go to court and suffer through bankruptcy to be set free from the former manager. In the end, it was the judge who said the quote of letting the canary sing. The documentary focuses on Cyndi’s early life as a catholic school girl and her dramatic change in appearance when she became a head turned in the 80s while performing. The magnifying portrayal of someone who is all about ruling and changing the world has been beautifully portrayed in this musical documentary. Cyndi shared that it was the director Alison Ellwood from whom she got the feeling that her documentary would be in good hands.
Apart from these top picks, there are several musical documentaries that are set to be released this year, so if you are looking to get some knowledge about your favorite artist or band or if you want to know a bit more about the musical evolution some of the legendary artists have cause then it is a good choice to keep your eyes peeled for this iconic musical documentaries.
Check out For More News Updates on Google News
