Top Of The Pops: The 20 Best Rock and Roll Movies Ever Made

Old Rock N Roll Movies

17. Head (1968)

In a way, Head is a celebration of the end of The Monkees, a sort of death trip in the collective mind of the group that inspired one of the best Rock and Roll movies ever. It came at a time when the band was beginning to pull apart, and the craze that they were once a part of was waning.

The film was directed by Bob Rafelson and co-written by Jack Nicholson, who would collaborate again on Five Easy Pieces. The movie is a collection of absurdist shorts that flow in and out with an airy stream of consciousness.

Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night featuring The Beatles was widely considered to be the first ever music film, a new way for studios to showcase their golden boys without the hassle of a global tour.

What Lester created just three years before is murdered, dismembered, and reassembled into a psychedelic Frankenstein in the flashing frames of Head. The skits and music numbers feature ink film coloring, crazy jump cuts, and nonsensical Surrealist struggles before the band comes right out and denounces their own legacy.

This entry on our Rock movies list is every Teen-Rocker’s fantasy as told through the story of young Riff Randell, a student at Vince Lombardi’s high school. Riff wrote a song for her favorite band the Ramones, and is dying to get it to them, but her tickets are confiscated by the evil principal Togar. She eventually succeeds in reaching them and the band helps Riff lead a student rebellion that ends in an altercation with the police, a student walkout, and a performance of the film’s title track as the kids burn their school to the ground.

The tone comes with a twinge of absurdism, and the movie may not be as polished as say, Grease, or other high school-set Rock music movies. It’s a spunky, youthful musical filled with high energy sequences and lots of fun slapstick “Rock Out” gags: glass shattering from amplifiers, portraits of administrators shaking off the walls, and Marky drumming on a rolling plywood platform down a locker-lined hallway flanked by an army of rocking adolescents.

The rebellious students’ wardrobes pops against the uniformity of the school colors. This aesthetic clash against the establishment underscores the rebellion against the institutions hellbent on stopping the Rock. Most of the shots are framed tightly, and they’re usually jam packed with actors filling every moment in this exaggerated Rock-world with frantic energy, all coming together to make one of the best rock movies of the '70s.

Detroit Rock City is a staple on any Rock and Roll movies list. It’s about four friends in 1978 who are desperate to see Kiss play in Detroit and are willing to die trying. The film is a pretty standard stoner adventure set in their golden period; a coming of age story projected through the lens of Rock and Roll values.

The visuals are nothing to write home about, but the story is a fun romp and a celebration of adolescent defiance. The “us and them” feeling that fueled so much of the Rock and Roll movement. The journey is filled with disco-era rivalries, head-shop humor, and a masterfully shot striptease from a young Edward Furlong. This film is a snapshot of rebellion when the going gets tough, and reminds its viewers that when you want something you can’t let anything stop you.

Basically a spoof of every rock bio-pic that had ever been made, and some which hadn’t yet, The Dewey Cox Story (2007) covers the prolific career of a fictional rockstar who essentially had some hand in every significant moment of the genre’s history. The widely-scoped tale spoofs scenes from Ray, Walk The Line, and The Doors, while borrowing inspiration for jokes from the lives and works of The Beatles, Brian Wilson, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, and Elvis.

The film is part genre spoof, part straight up comedy, and part love letter to the legacy of classic rock. The film stars John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox, with Chris Parnell and Tim Meadows as his bandmates, with Jenna Fischer. The story touches on just about every genre trope in the book; crazy drug abuse, megalomania, a rise, a fall, heartbreak, childhood trauma, and reconciliation upon the realization of an artist’s opus.

The film was directed by James Kasdan and co-written by Kasdan and Judd Apatow, who had worked together previously on Freaks and Geeks. Reilly is perfectly cast to take the audience on the emotional roller coaster that is the life of Dewey Cox, and he performs all of the original music written for the film. All in all, it’s an incredibly ambitious comedy, but works well enough to earn its place as a classic.

“Be Excellent To Each Other,” a simple teaching from simple men. These are the words of Bill and Ted; two high school rockers who receive the help of a time traveler to pass their History class. They also learn it’s their destiny to write a song that will unite the world in peace. The plot sounds complicated, but it’s surprisingly easy to absorb, making for one of the best Rock and Roll movies ever.

The titular duo collect significant historical figures like Joan of Arc and Genghis Kahn to help them study for their final. The journey is filled with air guitar moments, punctuated with non-diegetic shredding solos, and the 2nd Act builds to one of the best comedy montages of all time. 

Based on the life of Prince himself, Purple Rain is a highly emotional musical film about a young rocker known as “The Kid” and his band The Revolution. The Kid suffers under the weight of a difficult home life with his physically abusive father, also a former musician, and his emotionally abusive mother.

Cinematographer Donald Thorin, known for Midnight Run, The Golden Child, and Head of State, captures every bit of flare and charisma through the lens. The lighting reflects the film’s somber atmosphere perfectly, giving way to bursts of triumphant light as The Kid seeks the solace that being on stage will provide.

Prince is one of the greatest performers of all time and he pulls no punches on screen. The theme is established in the opening number with a quick cut montage with lyrics that underscore the protagonist’s outlook (“In this life, you’re on your own”). 

The wardrobe is immaculate on Prince and his compatriots, and his signature purple motorcycle and the the film won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score. It proved to have one of the best Rock and Roll movie soundtracks, and housed some of Prince’s most successful tracks: “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” and of course, “Purple Rain.”

Rock And Roll Films

8. Wild Zero (1999)

Wild Zero is about a Japanese rock band Guitar Wolf fighting off an army of alien-created Zombies with their young blood, Ace, and his girlfriend, Tobio. The band is composed of leather clad greasers forever fueled by the power of Rock and Roll, and they don’t let you forget it. They scream it at you.

The movie plays mostly as a B-horror movie with all the blood, monster make up, and more blood to boot. There’s motorcycles, explosions, throwing star guitar picks, and more than a few exploding heads all set to a hard, fuzzy soundtrack. The movie has also been praised for its tasteful handling of some plot points involving a transgender character which was unfortunately rare in many films of that period and genre.

Part late-night comedy, part monster movie, and part musical extravaganza, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) follows Brad and Janet played by Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. When their car gets a flat, their only option is to use the phone at a nearby mansion hosting a “Transylvanian Convention.” Upon meeting the host, Dr. Frankenfurter (Tim Curry), a self-proclaimed “sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania,” their world turns upside down. 

The set and costumes really steal the show, often juxtaposing the high energy musical scenes against a drab and dusty haunted mansion. The film’s well known musical number, “Let’s Do The Time Warp Again,” captures the many Transylvanians flail stiffly through a line dance, like a low-budget Broadway show performed by reanimated corpses.

Cutaways explaining dance moves and Frankenfurter’s peppered direct addresses to the audience lean into the B movie element and further the otherworldly style. The movie’s macabre and silly sexuality developed a well known cult following, still booking theaters for midnight shows all over and even inspired a TV remake with Laverne Cox in 2016.

Brooding on the darker philosophical side of the Rock World, Pink Floyd: The Wall is a feature length dramatization of Floyd’s masterpiece of the same name. The Wall is a snapshot of a breakdown at the peak of an artist’s career. It starts here, and it ends here, and every moment in between plays like a recovered memory amidst an iowaska trip.

The film stars a fiery Bob Geldoff as the psychotic protagonist Pink, who is slowly slipping into a manic state of disillusionment. The scenes mix mediums, showcasing detailed animated sequences from illustrator Gerald Scarfe and extravagant, moodily-lit sequences from director Alan Parker. Parker worked extensively in musical film, known for directing many well known titles including Fame, Evita, and The Commitments.

The violent imagery creates a dark visual psyche through which we ponder the effects of war on society, trauma on children, isolation on sanity, and the power of man’s idols. Geldoff performs vocals on many songs from the album, stocking the soundtrack with unique renditions made just for the film, and giving it a life of its own outside the studio album it was based on.

This film is the perfect visual realization of everything their music is about — the helplessness of the individual in a broken world, the sickness of society at large, and the madness that lies inside us all.

Rock Opera Movies

5. Tommy (1975)

Though the concept existed previously, The Who is the first band credited with marketing an album as a “Rock Opera.” The distinction being that it tells a story, and all dialog is communicated through song. The story is about a young boy named Tommy who is rendered deaf, dumb, and blind as a boy. The plot follows his mother and her boyfriend’s failed attempts to cure Tommy until he becomes a national celebrity for his exceptional pinball skills.

Soon, Tommy’s senses return and he becomes an evangelical figure who tries to pass wisdom onto a mass of thankless followers. He eventually blinds and deafens them all, in hopes that the inward journey will help them find peace. Instead, they riot and murder his parents and Tommy flees into the mountains. 

It’s an age-old tale, one I’m sure everyone can relate to, but it’s done in magnificently over the top style. The soundtrack is filled with covers of The Who’s songs from exceptional artists like Elton John, Tina Turner, and Eric Clapton. The elaborate costumes and sets evoke classic studio musicals of the Golden Age, and the shots whip pan their way through roaring crowds giving every moment the energy of a traveling rock show. Packed with commentary on religion, society, and idolatry, Tommy is a powerful visual and musical experience.

In every best rock movies list I’ve read, there is one exceptional classic that gets passed over time and time again: Tenacious D’s origin story masterpiece, The Pick of Destiny. Directed by Liam Lynch, who got his start directing the D’s music videos and TV show, the story starts with a young Jack Black being thrown out of his parents’ home for rocking too hard and too often.

Jack forms an alliance with an exceptional guitar player named Kyle Gass and the two embark on a quest to find a legendary guitar pick. The pick is made from the devil’s tooth and fabled to contain the very spirit of rock and roll, all in hopes of selling a record and paying their rent. The adventure is laced with signature Jack Black physical comedy, a phenomenal rock training montage, hilarious chase scenes, and a sensationally colorful and indulgent mushroom trip musical number.

The plot is laden with references to cinematic masterpieces and rock legends, classic jokes and moments from the band’s self-referential musical lore, and the soundtrack is produced to perfection containing all original compositions made for the film.