10 Rock Documentaries Every Music Fan Should See ASAP

This 2014 Oscar winner for best documentary explores the singers who've backed some of the greatest rock and pop bands of all time. While you may not know the names of the "stars" of this documentary (almost all women of color), you most definitely know the songs they sang on by mostly male rock artists like The Rolling Stones, Sting, and Bruce Springsteen. It's heartbreaking that these incredible voices never achieved stardom, but 20 Feet From Stardom does a great job showing us why they deserved it.

Watch it on iTunes.

Must-see scene: When Merry Clayton sits alone in a studio listening to her isolated vocal track from "Gimme Shelter," which gives me chills every time I watch it.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary is part concert film, part band biography. The Last Waltz chronicles the final concert by The Band, which was held on Thanksgiving at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. To bid farewell, the band invited basically every musician who had ever influenced them to join them on stage, including Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, and more. If you aren't already a fan of The Band, this documentary will probably make you one.

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Must-see scene: When the Staples Singers join The Band onstage for the famous song "The Weight." It's a truly epic, richly textured performance, and it's always delightful to see Levon Helm owning the drums and vocals at the same time.

I'm also partial to the appearance by a very 1970s Neil Diamond, singing "Dry Your Eyes" while wearing a purple suit.

A rock promoter decides to organize a three-city music festival, wherein artists like The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, and The Band travel by train across Canada. The venture lost massive amounts of money, and even after seeing the footage in Festival Express, you'll find it hard to believe it ever happened. At one point, the musicians who are more accustomed to drugs than booze stop at a liquor store and basically buy out its inventory, then proceed to get plastered while jamming in the train cars.

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Must-see scene: Janis Joplin singing her f*cking heart out on "Tell Mama" mere months before she died will make you realize why she's such a legend.

Perhaps no band has had more books written about them or movies made about them than The Doors, but this documentary, narrated by Johnny Depp, is one of the best breakdowns of the band's legendary story. Presented in a matter-of-fact style that contrasts with the mystical, worshipful aura surrounding frontman Jim Morrison, When You're Strange will make you appreciate the band even if you aren't a fan. For fans, it will make you reexamine Jim's mysterious persona as hopeless substance abuse.

Buy it on DVD.

Must-see scene: Aside from the killer concert footage, this scene where the band members are introducing themselves at the airport always charms me — Jim's grin at the end will help you understand why he inspired so much obsession.

Made by legendary documentarian D.A. Pennebaker (The War Room), Don't Look Back offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective of a young Dylan during his 1965 UK tour. The baby-faced 20-something singer-songwriter in the movie is just as difficult and enigmatic as he is today as a 75-year-old Nobel Prize winner. As with The Last Waltz and The Band, Don't Look Back will make you appreciate Dylan if you don't already, especially seeing him performing on stage during this pivotal point in his career.

Watch it on iTunes.

Must-see scene: Any scene where Dylan is being a weirdo with journalists or other visitors. Much of the behind-the-scenes footage depicts the singer deliberately being difficult when meeting with journalists and, later, with fellow singer-songwriter Dion, and it's highly entertaining.

For musicians, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama has a magical reputation, and not just for the deep, swampy sound you'd get from cutting a record there. More importantly, it was a haven for black artists to record in the racially charged 1960s South. To both the Motown artists and the white country-boy session musicians, nothing mattered but the music. As a liberal white Southerner, I get especially emotional watching this one.

Watch it on Netflix.

Must-see scene: When Aretha Franklin walks in to a room full of strangers and — without any discussion — the group of musicians come up with the arrangement and cut her first commercial hit, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," in under 20 minutes.

This documentary by the Maysles Brothers (who also made Grey Gardens) chronicles the tragic story of Altamont, the free music festival that was meant to be "Woodstock West" but which now symbolizes the end of 1960s idealism. The concert organizers hired members of the Hell's Angels to handle security, but the security went too far when the Angels killed four audience members. Gimme Shelter is part Rolling Stones concert film and part cautionary tale. I'd recommend pairing it with Woodstock, another excellent rock doc.

Buy it on DVD.

Must-see scene: When the Stones are listening to a playback of their song "Wild Horses," recorded, coincidentally, at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. In one of the few quiet moments of the film, we get to watch as the band hears the new song you can tell they know is damn good.

Like Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sound City was a studio with a mythical reputation among musicians, including Nirvana, who recorded Nevermind there. Like Muscle Shoals, this movie will appeal to anyone with a passing interest in studio recording. Plus, this movie stars the infinitely charming Dave Grohl, who also directed. He tells the story of the studio and the many legends who've recorded there, then brings back some of the biggest names (like Stevie Nicks and Rick Springfield) to cut new tracks on the legendary sound board.

Watch it on iTunes.

Must-see scene: When Grohl gets to record with one of his idols, Paul McCartney, and the footage reminds us that all these famous people just started out as kids who love to play music. The scene ends with Grohl adorably pulling McCartney into his lap and maybe tickling him?

Like 20 Feet From Stardom, this documentary tells the story of the people behind the scenes — in this case, the ubiquitous group of studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, who played backup on hundreds of hit songs throughout the '60s and '70s. Admittedly, this isn't as good a movie as 20 Feet, but its characters are equally colorful and inspiring.

Watch it on Netflix.

Must-see scene: When the world's coolest lady bass player, Carol Kaye, and The Beach Boys's Brian Wilson have a mutual admiration lovefest, with Wilson calling her the greatest bassist in the world and Kaye picking out a few basslines of his that awed her.

Like The Doors, the Beatles have had countless books written and documentaries made about them, and even starred in their own movies. The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is like the real-life version of A Hard Day's Night, which was a fictionalized version of what Beatlemania was like. This documentary, also made by the legendary Maysles Brothers, gives a rare, candid glimpse at a band that soon became larger than life. Though it's harder to find than the others on this list, it's worth tracking down, because watching it feels like spying on history.

Buy it on DVD.

Must-see scene: Any scene when the Beatles are doing interviews or just goofing around in their hotel room, and you realize that not only were they funny as hell, but they were also just regular young dudes, despite their now-legendary status.