subject: Best Musician Biopics To Watch on Satellite TV [print this page] Best Musician Biopics To Watch on Satellite TV
Americans are, for the most part, endlessly fascinated by the lives of celebrities. These days, the supermarket check-out stands are filled from end to end with celebrity gossip magazines. These weekly rags tend to cover the most mundane aspects of B-list celebrities their stops to Starbucks, their plastic surgeries, their weight gains and losses, their love lives. It can almost be easy to forget how interesting some of the absurd antics of those in the entertainment industry can be. Only a few stars these days really do anything wild or attention worthy, and even then it is usually just drug-fueled antics of stars who became famous too soon, like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.
For those looking to get an insight into the sex, drugs, and rock & roll side of the existence of celebrities, watching biopics on satellite TV that feature the lives of your favorite musicians is probably the way to go. These films demonstrate brilliantly in high definition the wild lives that musicians live from often difficult childhoods in broken homes, to living hand-to-mouth in the early, struggling years of their career, to the excesses and wild behavior they experience once they taste success. So next time you are watching your satellite TV, here are some of the best rock & roll biopics to watch.
1. Sid & Nancy
This 1986 biopic stars Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious, the bassist of the Sex Pistols, a wild heroin-addicted punk, and his crazy girlfriend Nancy. It is a passionate love affair, but a dark, co-dependent one as well, which eventually leads to both of their deaths.
2. Walk the Line
This 2005 Academy Award-winning film features Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and Reese Witherspoon as his second wife, June Carter Cash. It tells the story of the Man in Black from his tough childhood in rural Kentucky, through his struggles in the early years, until the depths of his fame. Alcoholism, an aggressive temper, and a deep heart are evident in Cash/Phoenix throughout. There are also many great musical sequences you will be surprised at how well Joaquin and Reese can sing! And the old-school country costumes are fun to see in high definition, as well.
3. 8 Mile
This is Eminem's semi-autobiographical oeuvre. While it is not a bio-pic per se, it stars the famous white rapper as Jimmy Smith or "B Rabbit", an up-and-coming emcee in the Detroit rap scene. The now deceased Brittany Murphy plays his girlfriend, and Kim Bassinger plays his absentee mom. The grittiness of his past is only made moreso in HD.
4. Coal Miner's Daughter
This great 1980 film features Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn, one of the first great female country stars. You get to see Loretta from her barefooted childhood in the hills of eastern Kentucky to the beginnings of her career when she was taking care of 6 children while writing music and playing guitar to her successful streak at the Grand Ole Opry. As is the case in most of these films, Sissy Spacek amazes with how well she can sing.
