\n\tM<\/span>usic films don\u2019t get much respect \u2014 most of the older ones are basically brand extensions, and many of the new ones are extended ads. These days, most biopics and \u201crockumentaries\u201d are made at least partly to introduce older artists to a new generation and boost their stream counts in the process. Considering these constraints, as well as those imposed by songwriters and artists in exchange for the use of their work, it\u2019s amazing that the best music films \u2014 think D.A. Pennebaker\u2019s 1967 Bob Dylan<\/a> documentary, Don\u2019t Look Back<\/em>,<\/strong><\/a> and Martin Scorsese\u2019s 1978 swan song for The Band<\/a>, The Last Waltz,<\/em> as well as <\/strong>the best concert films\u00a0\u2014 are as good as they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWe now live in a golden age of music documentaries \u2014 as well as a glut. It\u2019s never been more practical to make a cool documentary like What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?<\/em> But we may also have reached Peak Documentary. Not every artist has a great story, and not every filmmaker can tell that story well. This became obvious to me when I watched HBO\u2019s new two-part Billy Joel: And So It Goes<\/em><\/a>, as well as the newish Becoming Led Zeppelin<\/em> and Pavements, <\/em>which are streaming on Netflix and MUBI, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\tPersonally, I really love Pavement<\/a>, I love Led Zeppelin<\/a> and I like Billy Joel<\/a>. (Pavement is the most consistent of the three; Zeppelin soared the highest; and I think Joel\u2019s Turnstiles<\/em> and The Stranger<\/em> are masterpieces, but his later albums suffer by comparison.) So I was surprised to find that I liked So It Goes<\/em> the most by far \u2014 especially since Joel was never as mysterious as Zeppelin or as effortlessly cool as Pavement. After seeing all three movies, I spent a few days listening to Joel\u2019s albums, but I wasn\u2019t tempted to put on Pavement, even though I listen to the band\u2019s music far more often. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tI wasn\u2019t alone in this. In the three weeks since the first part of the documentary premiered on HBO, Joel\u2019s on-demand streaming in the U.S. is up more than 24% compared to the three weeks before its debut, according to Luminate. That\u2019s up from about 16% in the week the first part of the movie came out, indicating that interest in Joel\u2019s music only accelerated in the weeks following its premiere.<\/strong> In the three weeks after the release of Becoming Led Zeppelin<\/em>, the band\u2019s on-demand streaming in the U.S. rose 17% compared to three weeks in January, and the boost is even higher compared to late 2024. (Anticipation for the movie seemed to boost streams before its release, which didn\u2019t happen for Joel.) Even Pavement, whose music and film are less popular, saw a 14% increase in the three weeks after the release of Pavements<\/em> compared to the first three weeks in April.<\/p>\n \n\tThis tracks how much I liked the movies. I found So It Goes<\/em> incredibly compelling. It\u2019s not especially innovative \u2014 it switches between shots of Joel sitting at his piano, telling his story and archival photos and videos \u2014 but he\u2019s an engaging storyteller. He looks back at his past with honesty and a certain self-deprecating humor: \u201cI did a lot of my own research for \u2018Big Shot,\u2019\u201d he says, after calling it \u201ca hangover song.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tParts of Joel\u2019s story are much less funny. He struggled to find a style that worked for him, and he seems to carry some wounds from childhood: His father, the son of Jewish refugees from Germany, left his family and returned to Europe. Joel eventually found him, but they struggled to reconnect emotionally, and he vows to be a better dad. The movie implicitly makes a case for Joel as the heir to a certain songwriting tradition \u2014 a pop auteur who brings rock instrumentation and attitude to classic pop songwriting. It made me curious enough to listen again to some of his older albums. If I didn\u2019t know his music, I think it would have the same effect. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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