Listen to the Sound
by sheyenne | created - 14 Apr 2014 | updated - 21 Mar 2018 | PublicMusic in movies about bands fictional and not, and other musical ingenous
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Boat That Rocked (2009)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that wanted classical music, and nothing else, on the airwaves.
Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Michael Hadley
Votes: 116,073 | Gross: $7.99M
2. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Music
Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, David Krumholtz, Nat Faxon
Votes: 77,243 | Gross: $18.32M
3. The Rocker (2008)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Music
In the 1980s, a drummer is abandoned by his band just before they become rock superstars. Twenty years later, the drummer sees his second chance at stardom arise when he is asked to perform with his teenage nephew's high school rock band.
Director: Peter Cattaneo | Stars: Rainn Wilson, Josh Gad, Christina Applegate, Teddy Geiger
Votes: 40,212 | Gross: $6.41M
4. Stoned (2005)
R | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of the sordid life and suspicious death of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones, who was found in the bottom of his swimming pool weeks after being let go from the band.
Director: Stephen Woolley | Stars: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, David Morrissey, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 4,163
5. Hearts of Fire (1987)
R | 95 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A reclusive musician, once a huge rock star, takes a young female protegee. While on a tour she meets a younger, more popular rocker and switches her loyalties.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Bob Dylan, Fiona, Rupert Everett, Julian Glover
Votes: 529
6. Brothers of the Head (2005)
R | 93 min | Drama, Music
In the 1970s a music promoter plucks Siamese twins from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock'n'roll act. A dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music.
Directors: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe | Stars: Luke Treadaway, Harry Treadaway, Jonathan Pryce, John Simm
Votes: 1,874 | Gross: $0.04M
7. Breaking Glass (1980)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Musical
A rock singer is determined to rise to the top of the profession, letting nothing stand in the way of that goal.
Director: Brian Gibson | Stars: Phil Daniels, Hazel O'Connor, Jon Finch, Jonathan Pryce
Votes: 1,543
8. Tonight You're Mine (2011)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Two feuding rock stars get handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival where they are both due to perform.
Director: David Mackenzie | Stars: Luke Treadaway, Natalia Tena, Rebecca Benson, Mathew Baynton
Votes: 4,821 | Gross: $0.01M
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund
Votes: 163,506 | Gross: $13.24M
10. Amadeus (1984)
R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice
Votes: 428,113 | Gross: $51.97M
11. The Runaways (2010)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A coming-of-age biographical film about the 1970s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways. The relationship between band members Cherie Currie and Joan Jett is also explored.
Director: Floria Sigismondi | Stars: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Stella Maeve
Votes: 50,949 | Gross: $3.57M
12. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Music
A confined but troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson, Eleanor David
Votes: 85,393 | Gross: $22.24M
13. 24 Hour Party People (2002)
R | 117 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
In 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Steve Coogan, Lennie James, John Thomson, Paul Popplewell
Votes: 39,701 | Gross: $1.13M
14. Backbeat (1994)
R | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A dramatization of the Hamburg, Germany phase of The Beatles' early history.
Director: Iain Softley | Stars: Stephen Dorff, Sheryl Lee, Ian Hart, Gary Bakewell
Votes: 6,583 | Gross: $2.39M
15. Nowhere Boy (2009)
R | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of John Lennon's first years, focused mainly in his adolescence and his relationship with his stern aunt Mimi, who raised him, and his absentee mother Julia, who re-entered his life at a crucial moment in his young life.
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson | Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, David Threlfall
Votes: 38,880 | Gross: $1.45M
16. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A small-town band hits it big, but it must battle a nefarious plot in the music industry.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
Votes: 6,987 | Gross: $20.38M
17. The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 76 min | Comedy, Music
Charts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.
Directors: Eric Idle, Gary Weis | Stars: Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, Neil Innes
Votes: 6,946
18. The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 84 min | Comedy
Twenty-six years after the release of the original Rutles documentary, famous artists, actors, and musicians speak out on how the Rutles influenced them.
Director: Eric Idle | Stars: Eric Idle, Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar, John Halsey
Votes: 582
19. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Music
Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Kimberly Stringer
Votes: 147,374 | Gross: $4.74M
20. A Mighty Wind (2003)
PG-13 | 91 min | Comedy, Music
Mockumentary captures the reunion of 1960s folk trio the Folksmen as they prepare for a show at The Town Hall to memorialize a recently deceased concert promoter.
Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer
Votes: 29,540 | Gross: $17.51M
21. Notorious (2009)
R | 122 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The life and death story of The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.
Director: George Tillman Jr. | Stars: Jamal Woolard, Anthony Mackie, Derek Luke, Momo Dione
Votes: 46,065 | Gross: $36.84M
22. What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of singer Tina Turner's rise to stardom and how she gained the courage to break free from her abusive husband, Ike Turner.
Director: Brian Gibson | Stars: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, RaéVen Kelly, Virginia Capers
Votes: 24,585 | Gross: $39.10M
23. The Blues Brothers (1980)
R | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Jake Blues rejoins with his brother Elwood after being released from prison, but the duo has just days to reunite their old R&B band and save the Catholic home where the two were raised, outrunning the police as they tear through Chicago.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, John Candy
Votes: 214,508 | Gross: $57.23M
24. Control (2007)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to die by suicide at the age of 23.
Director: Anton Corbijn | Stars: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson, Alexandra Maria Lara
Votes: 68,560 | Gross: $0.87M
25. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003)
TV-14 | 110 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
The story of the punk rock band The Ramones.
Directors: Jim Fields, Michael Gramaglia | Stars: Rick Rubin, Tommy Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone
Votes: 3,889 | Gross: $0.39M
26. Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.
Director: Jim McBride | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, John Doe, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 18,889 | Gross: $13.74M
27. Still Crazy (1998)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Fame, fortune and fornication drove the British rock band in the '70s until a divine end. 20 years later, Strange Fruit reunites and goes on a tour with ups and downs on the continent.
Director: Brian Gibson | Stars: Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall
Votes: 8,856 | Gross: $0.48M
28. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Musical
Over two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Votes: 48,090 | Gross: $13.78M
29. Help! (1965)
G | 92 min | Adventure, Comedy, Musical
Sir Ringo Starr finds himself the human sacrifice target of a cult, and his fellow members of The Beatles must try to protect him from it.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Votes: 21,119 | Gross: $13.08M
30. Beyond the Sea (2004)
PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A swooning study of "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin and specifically his relationship with wife Sandra Dee.
Director: Kevin Spacey | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins
Votes: 15,542 | Gross: $6.32M
31. De-Lovely (2004)
PG-13 | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Inspecting a magical biographical stage musical, composer Cole Porter reviews his life and career with his wife, Linda.
Director: Irwin Winkler | Stars: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin McNally
Votes: 11,846 | Gross: $13.34M
32. Almost Famous (2000)
R | 122 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand
Votes: 293,442 | Gross: $32.53M
33. Impromptu (1991)
PG-13 | 107 min | Biography, Comedy, Music
In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.
Director: James Lapine | Stars: Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters
Votes: 5,514 | Gross: $4.08M
34. Copying Beethoven (2006)
PG-13 | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode, Ralph Riach
Votes: 14,119 | Gross: $0.35M
35. Cool as Ice (1991)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A rapper gets stuck in a small town and falls for a local girl whose family is in witness protection.
Director: David Kellogg | Stars: Vanilla Ice, Kristin Minter, Naomi Campbell, Deezer D
Votes: 10,450 | Gross: $1.19M
36. Across the Universe (2007)
PG-13 | 133 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
The music of The Beatles and the Vietnam War form the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist.
Director: Julie Taymor | Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs
Votes: 114,273 | Gross: $51.66M
37. The Sapphires (2012)
PG-13 | 103 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
In 1968, four talented young Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when their all-girl group The Sapphires entertains the US troops in Vietnam.
Director: Wayne Blair | Stars: Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens
Votes: 15,175 | Gross: $2.45M
38. Satisfaction (1988)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Justine Bateman rocks out as the leader of an all-girl band that struggles with men and drugs during a summer resort gig.
Director: Joan Freeman | Stars: Justine Bateman, Liam Neeson, Trini Alvarado, Scott Coffey
Votes: 3,858 | Gross: $8.25M
39. Top Secret! (1984)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
An American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Val Kilmer, Omar Sharif, Jeremy Kemp, Warren Clarke
Votes: 73,060 | Gross: $20.50M
40. Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music
Prey For Rock & Roll is the story of Jacki and her all-girl rock and roll band, Clam Dandy, who are trying to make it in the LA club scene of the late 1980s. After ten years of being ... See full summary »
Director: Alex Steyermark | Stars: Gina Gershon, Lori Petty, Marc Blucas, Drea de Matteo
Votes: 2,059 | Gross: $0.06M
41. La Bamba (1987)
PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biographical story of the rise from nowhere of early rock and roll singer Ritchie Valens who died at age 17 in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.
Director: Luis Valdez | Stars: Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, Elizabeth Peña
Votes: 36,443 | Gross: $54.22M
42. That Thing You Do! (1996)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A local Pennsylvania band scores a one-hit wonder in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as they can, with lots of help from their manager.
Director: Tom Hanks | Stars: Tom Hanks, Liv Tyler, Charlize Theron, Tom Everett Scott
Votes: 73,585 | Gross: $25.81M
43. Heartbreak Hotel (1988)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A teen tries to set up a band at his school, when his mother, who was a big fan of Elvis Presley, gets in a wreck. He and his band members decide to kidnap Elvis to meet her.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: David Keith, Tuesday Weld, Charlie Schlatter, Angela Goethals
Votes: 1,533 | Gross: $5.51M
44. Light of Day (1987)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Music
A pair of siblings must choose whether to pursue their dream of touring with their rock band or support their family and stay in Cleveland, Ohio.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Gena Rowlands, Joan Jett, Michael McKean
Votes: 3,217 | Gross: $10.49M
45. Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2008)
R | 119 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A music-infused drama about Joe Meek, the flamboyantly gay, tone deaf, songwriter-producer behind the '60s hits "Have I the Right," "Just Like Eddie," "Johnny, Remember Me" and "Telstar."
Director: Nick Moran | Stars: Con O'Neill, Kevin Spacey, Pam Ferris, JJ Feild
Votes: 1,934
46. I Saw the Light (2015)
R | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the country-western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his rise to fame and its tragic effect on his health and personal life.
Director: Marc Abraham | Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Maddie Hasson, Bradley Whitford
Votes: 8,266 | Gross: $1.65M
47. Tender Mercies (1983)
PG | 92 min | Drama, Music
A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley
Votes: 12,026 | Gross: $8.44M
48. Brassed Off (1996)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
The coal mine in a northern English village may be closing, which would also mean the end of the miners' brass band.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Tompkinson
Votes: 20,941 | Gross: $2.56M
49. The Commitments (1991)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 38,795 | Gross: $14.92M
50. Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album.
Director: Martin Davidson | Stars: Tom Berenger, Michael Paré, Joe Pantoliano, Matthew Laurance
Votes: 8,466 | Gross: $4.79M
51. Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys (1990 TV Movie)
R | 90 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Dramatization looks at the tumultuous relationship that existed between rock group The Beach Boy's Brian and Dennis Wilson and their father, Murry. It also examines their struggles with drugs and alcohol.
Director: Michael Switzer | Stars: Bruce Greenwood, Greg Kean, Arlen Dean Snyder, Casey Sander
Votes: 508
52. Empire Records (1995)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Twenty-four hours in the lives of the young employees at Empire Records when they all grow up and become young adults thanks to each other and the manager. They all face the store joining a chain store with strict rules.
Director: Allan Moyle | Stars: Anthony LaPaglia, Debi Mazar, Maxwell Caulfield, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 61,884 | Gross: $0.30M
53. High Fidelity (2000)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
Votes: 189,796 | Gross: $27.29M
54. Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010)
Not Rated | 135 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A glimpse at the life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg, from growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris through his successful song-writing years in the 1960s to his death in 1991 at the age of 62.
Director: Joann Sfar | Stars: Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Doug Jones
Votes: 10,305 | Gross: $0.23M
55. Once (I) (2007)
R | 86 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.
Director: John Carney | Stars: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh, Gerard Hendrick
Votes: 121,280 | Gross: $9.44M
56. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
The media and disaffected teens mistake the acerbic rants of an obnoxious teenage punk rocker as a rallying cry for the women of America, launching her and her talentless group to national stardom.
Director: Lou Adler | Stars: Peter Donat, Diane Lane, Marin Kanter, Laura Dern
Votes: 3,047
57. Begin Again (II) (2013)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A chance encounter between a down-and-out music business executive, and a young singer songwriter new to Manhattan, turns into a promising collaboration between the two talents.
Director: John Carney | Stars: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld
Votes: 166,962 | Gross: $16.17M
58. Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
PG-13 | 111 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson
Votes: 59,591 | Gross: $27.38M
59. Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Music
A girl group find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy to deliver subliminal messages through popular music.
Directors: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan | Stars: Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming
Votes: 24,933 | Gross: $14.25M
60. We Are the Best! (2013)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Music
Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band -- despite not having any instruments and being told by everyone that punk is dead.
Director: Lukas Moodysson | Stars: Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne, Johan Liljemark
Votes: 11,325 | Gross: $0.18M
61. The Filth and the Fury (2000)
R | 108 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
A film about the career of the notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.
Director: Julien Temple | Stars: Paul Cook, Steve Jones, John Lydon, Glen Matlock
Votes: 6,207 | Gross: $0.61M
62. Sid and Nancy (1986)
R | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The relationship between Sid Vicious, bassist for British punk group Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is portrayed.
Director: Alex Cox | Stars: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman, Debby Bishop
Votes: 34,692 | Gross: $2.83M
63. No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
106 min | Drama, Music
Iranian musicians Negar and Ashkan look for band members to play at a London concert - and the visas that allow them to leave Tehran to do so.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad, Babak Mirzakhani
Votes: 7,480 | Gross: $0.08M
64. Sing Street (2016)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A young lad notices a beautiful girl who begins to occupy his thoughts. While struggling with poverty, personal relationships and life's woes, he starts a band, hoping to catch her attention.
Director: John Carney | Stars: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor
Votes: 100,946 | Gross: $3.24M
65. God Help the Girl (2014)
Unrated | 112 min | Drama, Music, Romance
As Eve begins writing songs as a way to sort through some emotional problems, she meets James and Cassie, two musicians each at crossroads of their own.
Director: Stuart Murdoch | Stars: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger
Votes: 9,232 | Gross: $0.10M
Tell Your Friends