Rock and roll biopics have been all the rage in recent years, but Rocketman and A Complete Unknown are hardly the only great ones out there. Actors and directors have been making great ones for years. Movies like The Doors, The Buddy Holly Story, and Sid & Nancy have been rocking audiences for years. Here is our list of some of our favorites from the '70s until today.
The Doors
Oliver Stone's The Doors is one of the trippiest rock n' roll bio-flicks out there, for sure. Appropriately so, given the band (and the lead singer) the movie is about. Val Kilmer completely disappears into one of his best roles as Jim Morrison, the legendary and enigmatic singer in the '60s band that defined acid rock for pop fans everywhere. Even if you don't like the band, there is so much going on in the movie, that you'll love it.
Love & Mercy
2014's Love & Mercy has a unique structure that features both Paul Dano and John Cusack playing The Beach Boys' musical genius and leader, Brian Wilson. Cusack does an amazing job portraying Wilson in the '80s, struggling with his mental health. Dano is simply brilliant as Wilson at his most creative in the '60s as he is writing and recording Pet Sounds, which is considered by many to be one of the greatest – if not the greatest – albums of all time.
Elvis
Sure, Austin Butler took some heat for his Elvis Presley impression in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, but that's unfair, he's great in the unconventional biopic. Elvis is so well known and so widely impersonated, that it was almost impossible for Butler to win over all of The King's fans, but he won over audiences of the movie and the Academy, earning an Oscar nomination.
Sid And Nancy
Sid Vicious was more of a spectacle than a musician, which made him, and his wild story, perfect for a biopic that focused less on music and more on his combustible relationship with his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Gary Oldman is, as always, amazing as Sid, and Chloe Webb is equally great as Nancy.
What's Love Got To Do It
Tina Turner's nickname was "The Queen of Rock and Roll" and she certainly deserved the title. Not only did her amazing career last more than half a century, but her ex-husband, who was not a good person, basically invented rock n' roll with his song "Rocket 88" in 1952. The gripping biopic about her career and their relationship earned an Oscar nomination for Angela Bassett, who, incredibly, is one of the many deserving actors who has yet to win an Academy Award.
Bohemian Rhapsody
2018's Bohemian Rhapsody, about the legendary Freddie Mercury and Queen, is not the most historically accurate movie, but it is a super fun movie that does get a lot of the story right. Even if it's not a perfect version of the true story, the music is fantastic and the performances by the entire cast are incredible.
Cadillac Records
Cadillac Records is a little different than most of the movies on this list because it's really about Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), who wasn't a musician, but the founder of Chess Records. Chess was one of the most important labels in the early days of rock n roll. Still, it features some fantastic performances of legendary rockers and blues singers like Mos Def as Chuck Berry, Beyonce as Etta James, and especially Jeffery Wright as Muddy Waters.
La Bamba
Richie Valens is one of the more tragic stories in the early days of rock. Valens was just 17 when he was killed in the infamous plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. La Bamba tells that story, plus so much more, and features a fantastic performance from a young Lou Diamond Philips as the first Mexican-American rock star.
Back To Black
2024's Back To Black wasn't all that well received by critics or fans, but that isn't fair. Sure, it's not a perfect retelling of Amy Winehouse's all-to-short life (Winehouse is portrayed wonderfully by Marisa Abela), but it is a great movie and features much of the singer's best songs from her brief career.
Ray
Ray Charles is a titan in American music history and the biopic about his life, simply called Ray is not only a great way to learn about the legend, but it's great for longtime fans too. Jamie Foxx is simply spectacular playing Charles, in all the highest moments, and the lowest.
A Complete Unknown
For decades, people have been trying to tell Bob Dylan's story on screen and in books. A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as the enigmatic legend, might finally have come the closest to doing Dylan's story justice.
The Buddy Holly Story
If you're only familiar with the Gary Busey of the last couple of decades, you may be amazed to learn he was once nominated for an Oscar. Busey stars in The Buddy Holly Story as the titular rock pioneer and his performance and the movie are both top-tier. The 1978 film is one of the earliest entries on this list and it helped kick off the whole genre.
Rocketman
Taron Egerton is the reason Rocketman is great. The story is believe it or not, actually a little sanitized, as Elton John's partying was absolutely legendary. The movie, done with the blessing of the English rocker, doesn't completely shy away from the darker moments of his career, but it is tamed down a bit. Of course, the music is amazing and the partnership between John and Bernie Taupin is wonderful to see on screen.
Great Balls Of Fire!
Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the most controversial stars in the early days of rock and roll. He was the original bad-boy rocker. In Great Balls of Fire, Dennis Quaid portrays Lewis, who rightfully drew criticism for marrying his 13-year-old cousin, played in the movie by Winona Ryder, when he was 22. Yeah, that really happened, and the movie tells the whole story.
The Dirt
Motley Crue is legendary for their completely over-the-top lifestyle and in the book The Dirt, it's all laid bare. It's one of the wildest reads in all of rock and while the movie based on the book, released by Netflix in 2019 is a little cartoonish, it's still a really fun movie.
Control
Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, was one of the most tortured souls in rock history. The movie based on he and his band doesn't hold back in portraying just how rough he had it, too. Joy Division has taken on near-mythic status in the decades since Curtis' death and this movie will explain exactly why.
The Runaways
All-girl bands were still very rare when The Runaways hit the scene in the late '70s. In the movie, with the same name as the band, audiences learn just how cool the group was and it includes a fantastic cast including Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett. It wasn't as well received as some of the other movies on this list, but any music fan will love it.
Beyond The Sea
Bobby Darin wasn't a typical rock n roller, he was more like a bridge between the jazz singers of an earlier era and the early rock stars. He falls somewhere in between, and his tragic story is at the center of the biopic Beyond The Sea starring Kevin Spacey as Darin. Spacey even did most of his own singing in the performance.
I'm Not There
I'm Not There isn't a straight biopic, and the artist it's loosely based on, Bob Dylan, isn't even mentioned by name. It's an experimental biopic, so to speak with multiple actors playing a fictionalized version of Dylan, including an incredible performance by Cate Blanchett as one version of the legend.
Nowhere Boy
There have been quite a few biopics about The Beatles and individual members of The Beatles. Some have been good, others quite bad, and Nowhere Boy is definitely the latter. It tells the story of a teenage John Lennon (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his struggles with his family, as well as the very early days of The Beatles and his first band, The Quarrymen. It's a touching story and Taylor-Johnson is convincing as the icon, and it's a pretty faithful telling of Lennon's early life.
24 Hour Party People
Not all great rock bios need to be about rock stars. Sometimes it is the guy behind the scenes who has a story worth telling. Such is the case with 2002's 24 Hour Party People, about the early days of the "Madchester" scene in the 1980s in Manchester, England that launched bands like The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. The movie is about Tony Wilson, who owned The Hacienda nightclub where many of those bands started, and the record label that signed many of the bands.
Backbeat
Most of the movies about The Beatles focus on the very early days of the band, and Backbeat is no different. The movie is a little cheesy, but it does take a different angle and focuses a lot of the attention on the friendship between John Lennon (Ian Hart) and the band's original bassist, Stu Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff), which is the heart of the band's formation before Sutcliffe left (and ultimately died young) and the Lennon/McCartney partnership took over.
Last Days
Like a couple of other entries on this list, director Gus Van Zant's Last Days is a fictionalize version of the final days of Kurt Cobain's life. Though the main character, played by Michael Pitt, looks just like the legendary musician, his name is different, as are all the main characters in the story. Frankly, it's a pretty dark, but well-made film, that didn't really need to hide under the veneer of a "true" story.
Jimi: All Is by My Side
This is a complicated entry. Jimi: All Is by My Side, about the great Jimi Hendrix, isn't a great movie. The biggest problem is that the producers didn't get the rights to use Hendrix's music, so it's a music biopic without the most important part. It's worth mentioning here, though, because Andre 3000 is actually really great in the movie, capturing Hendrix's essence perfectly.
Jersey Boys
Based on the wildly popular Broadway jukebox musical by the same name, Jersey Boys is all about the originals of Frankie Valli and his band, The Teenagers. If you live musicals, this one is a great one features tons of hits by the band, and the performances are fantastic.
CBGB
This one is a little weird to have on the list because it's not for everyone. CBGB tells the story of Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman), and his famous nightclub, CBGB on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Any music fan knows the club as the birthplace of punk rock where bands like The Ramones, Television, Blondie, and The Talking Heads all got their start. All those bands, and more, show up in the movie and while it's a little cartoonish, if you love that music, you'll love the movie.
Elvis
Austin Butler may be the most recent star to appear as Elvis Presley, but Kurt Russell has the honor of playing him in the first biopic of the legendary King of Rock and Roll. The made-for-TV isn't as good as the more recent Baz Luhrmann flick, but Russell is fantastic and worth watching for his performance alone.
Stoned
The Rolling Stones are one of the biggest rock bands of all time, but there haven't been many movies made about them. One of the few that has been made, Stoned, is about the tragic and short life of the band's original lead guitar player, Brian Jones. It isn't the best movie on this list, as it feels a little more than half-baked, but it's on the list because it's a rare movie about The Stones.
We blurring the lines here between rock and hip hop, but we're hardly the first as the two have been intricately connected ever since Run DMC teamed up with Aerosmith for "Walk This Way" in the mid-'80s. Straight Outta Compton is easily the best hip-hop bio flick, about the legendary LA group N.W.A. It even features, O'Shea Jackson Jr., playing his father, Ice Cube.
Bound for Glory
Woody Guthrie is definitely not rock and roll, but without the legendary folk singer, we might not have rock and roll, so his biopic, starring David Carradine, definitely belongs on the list.
Telstar: The Joe Meek Story
One of the most under-told stories in rock history has to be the life of Joe Meek. Meek was an early producer who is most famous for writing and hiring the band to record the song "Telstar," which became the first #1 rock record by an English band in America, a year before The Beatles played Ed Sullivan. Telstar: The Joe Meek Story tells the whole, tragic story of Meek's life and work.
Bob Marley: One Love
Once again we're blurring some lines here, as Bob Marley is obviously a reggae artist, but there is no artist in music who blurs the lines more - or has the universal appeal - than Marley. Bob Marley: One Love is a fairly tame telling of Marley's life and music, but it's a worthwhile watch for any music fan.
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