NEW YORK (AP) — As soon as you have made your manner by means of AP’s record of 2024’s finest movies and dried these tears after bingeing “I Am: Celine Dion” — we cannot choose — it is time to hand over the distant.
Listed below are 10 of The Related Press’ favourite music documentaries of the yr, that includes artists spanning genres and generations. Most are on streaming providers and Amazon, Apple TV+, Disney+, MAX and Netflix all have choices.
They’re introduced in no explicit order, together with the place to seek out them:
“Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.”
Otis Redding. Isaac Hayes. Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The Staple Singers. These bulwarks of American music historical past have been on the coronary heart of Memphis’ music scene within the ’50s and ’60s by way of Stax Data, one of many best and most influential file labels in U.S. historical past. Not solely that, however Stax embraced interracial inventive endeavors at a degree within the nation when doing so was life-threatening. The multi-part “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.” is a celebration of the label, an extended overdue doc of the establishment, and affords viewers the chance to look at with that historical past.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on MAX.
“The Beach Boys”
“The Beach Boys,” by director Frank Marshall, tells the story of three Wilson brothers — Brian, Carl and Dennis — along with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, and how their sunny Southern California sound became beloved the world over through classics like “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” and “God Only Knows.” The movie contains intensive new interviews in addition to attracts from archival footage to offer the views of Carl Wilson, who died from most cancers in 1998, and Dennis Wilson, who drowned in a Los Angeles-area harbor in 1983. Brian Wilson makes current-day appearances within the movie, together with in an emotional scene on the finish, as AP cleverly refused to spoil in its story. Simply … go watch.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Disney+.
“Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood”
It’s an astonishing show of transparency within the music enterprise: In 2019, music supervisor Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings introduced that it was buying Huge Machine Label Group, which launched Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums and owns her masters. On the time, Swift stated she realized in regards to the deal when the general public did; consequently, she started re-recording these data with a view to personal her new variations. A brand new two-part documentary, “Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood” interrogates the deal — and affords digestible particulars for these hoping to study extra about what went awry, from various views.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on MAX.
“Highway D
iary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Avenue Band”
It looks like there are innumerable Bruce Springsteen documentaries out on the earth, and most of them are value viewing. However those that wish to dive deep into the stay expertise of seeing Springsteen and the E Avenue Band — and let’s be trustworthy right here, the stay present is a key part in loving the boss — a brand new movie makes an attempt to scratch the itch. “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band” is directed by Thom Zimny, who was also behind the docs “Western Stars” and “Springsteen on Broadway.” This one candidly captures the band on their 2023-2024 tour, with archival footage combined in.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
“Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour”
Final yr, pop’s main gamers launched blockbuster live performance movies. Each “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” and the non-narrative “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” topped AP’s 2023 better of record, for breaking the fourth wall (within the case of the previous) and artfully created a near-replica of the stay expertise (within the case of the latter). This yr, the current pop phenom Olivia Rodrigo takes the mantle together with her Netflix particular, “Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour.” For those who missed her on the highway, don’t be concerned. This movie captures the magic.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix.
“Elton John: Never Too Late”
Elton John, Time’s 2024 Icon of the Yr, appears to be like again at 5 many years of his profession in a brand new documentary, “Elton John: Never Too Late.” Directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish, the movie options by no means earlier than seen footage and new interviews. Ever surprise how Reginald Kenneth Dwight grew to become Elton John? Here is a possibility to study.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Disney+.
“The Greatest Night in Pop”
Almost 40 years in the past, superstars Michael Jackson, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Stevie Surprise, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, underneath the unimpeachable tutelage of the late nice Quincy Jones, got here collectively to file “We Are the World, a 1985 charity single for African famine relief. A new Netflix documentary, “The Greatest Night in Pop,” takes a behind-the-scenes have a look at the complicated start of an surprising megahit — and simply what it was wish to have all that expertise in a single studio, for one night time.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix.
“Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words”
For her followers, Megan Thee Stallion is a larger-than-life determine; a fearless Houston MC that preached “hot girl s—-” and self-empowerment. Behind the scenes — and fairly frankly, in entrance of it, too — her expertise has been all however shiny. Who may neglect the onslaught of criticism she obtained throughout Tory Lanez’s assault trial, what specialists described as a transparent instance of misogynoir, a particular kind of misogyny skilled by Black ladies? In her Amazon documentary, Megan Thee Stallion candidly discusses the highs and lows of her expertise with fame, social media, psychological well being and every thing in-between.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Amazon Prime.
“Luther: Never Too Much”
Luther Vandross — the R&B crooner with a voice like silk and a penchant for timeless melodies — died in 2005. His legacy is well known in a brand new movie, “Luther: By no means Too A lot,” a dive into his life story. For diehard followers and curious, informal listeners alike.
WHERE TO WATCH: At the moment in theaters and can premiere on CNN on New Yr’s Day.
“ABBA: Towards the Odds”
It is perhaps laborious to imagine in 2024, however there was a time period the place ABBA, the Swedish pop group of epic proportions, have been thought of… type of tacky, schmaltzy, simply throughout uncool. “ABBA: Against the Odds” particulars their journey, starting with the 1974 Eurovision Track Contest. They gained, gave the world “Waterloo,” and, properly, launched into their ascent to world domination. Mamma Mia, watch it unfold.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+.
