Sonic Highways miniseries
Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 1:01 am
HBO miniseries where the Foo Fighters go to eight towns, record a song in a local studio, and talk about the musical history in the town, primarily through interviews. It is directed by and (of coarse) stars Dave Grohl. The first and last episodes, about Chicago and New York respectively, are the worst of the series, trying to cover too much and not doing a great job.
The second episode, about the DC music scene, is where it finds its groove-- it briefly pays homage to the local greats (Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye) and then switches to the focusing on the go-go and hardcore scenes. By focusing on the smaller picture, it goes into greater depth, focuses on cool things (like Ian MacKaye), and weird local stuff in a way that flows well. You lose something in the omissions (ex. no Henry Rollins or Danny Gatton focus in the DC episode) but it allowed to them to cover a lot of things in depth without rushing. Most of the series goes this way, and in the two biggest music towns of the middle series (Nashville and LA), the series expressly acknowledges that a lot is being left out and that they don't really care (ex. over half of the LA episode centered around Josh Homme and The Germs).
The series overall is well done, and worth watching and listening to. It gives a lot of time to musicians you might not think would easily associate with the Foo Fighters, like Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Guy, and the Neville Brothers. It would have been nice to see what they could have done with episodes in Tulsa, Bakersfield, Memphis, and the Bay area.
The second episode, about the DC music scene, is where it finds its groove-- it briefly pays homage to the local greats (Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye) and then switches to the focusing on the go-go and hardcore scenes. By focusing on the smaller picture, it goes into greater depth, focuses on cool things (like Ian MacKaye), and weird local stuff in a way that flows well. You lose something in the omissions (ex. no Henry Rollins or Danny Gatton focus in the DC episode) but it allowed to them to cover a lot of things in depth without rushing. Most of the series goes this way, and in the two biggest music towns of the middle series (Nashville and LA), the series expressly acknowledges that a lot is being left out and that they don't really care (ex. over half of the LA episode centered around Josh Homme and The Germs).
The series overall is well done, and worth watching and listening to. It gives a lot of time to musicians you might not think would easily associate with the Foo Fighters, like Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Guy, and the Neville Brothers. It would have been nice to see what they could have done with episodes in Tulsa, Bakersfield, Memphis, and the Bay area.