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. 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. 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. What Lester created just three years before is murdered, dismembered, and reassembled into a psychedelic Frankenstein in the flashing frames of Head. 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. The movie is a collection of absurdist shorts that flow in and out with an airy stream of consciousness. The film was directed by Bob Rafelson and co-written by Jack Nicholson, who would collaborate again on Five Easy Pieces. 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. 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. The film boasts a soundtrack loaded with new songs, orchestral arrangements and concert footage and features cameos from Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, and The London Philharmonic Orchestra. The story references real conflicts that were arising in the group, and much of the dialogue comes from secret recordings Zappa took of his bandmates. It’s no surprise this pioneer of music ended up on our best Rock and Roll movies list. Scenes are loaded with experimental effects, acidic color manipulation and speed changes abound, giving the film a flavor of the wild and grating flare Zappa was known for. The plot is a literal slide into insanity as Frank and his band go crazy whilst cooped up in the small town of Centerville in the middle of a long tour. Like much of Zappa’s music, the film is completely absurd and has no real target audience other than perhaps the creator himself. Frank Zappa’s autobiographical Surrealist tribute to the special kind of insanity that comes with life on the road in a Rock band. Next on our rock movies list and cited as the first feature film to have been shot on video, 200 Motels.
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