Directed by: Leslie Ann Coles and starring: Barrie L Wentzell, Ian Anderson, Eric Burdon, Alan Jones, Sonja Kristina, Peter Whitehead – behind the scenes peek at all the rock ‘n roll legends of the 1970s, as director Leslie Ann Coles guides us through the ribald history of the influential British rock magazine Melody Maker, featuring unseen photographs of all the greats by Barrie Wentzell.
This is the true story of the rise and fall of the world’s most influential music publication in history and uncovers an era of tremendous creative freedom.
At the heart of the story is Barrie Wentzell, Chief Contributing Photographer of Melody Maker Magazine (1965-1975) and his iconic photographic archive featuring prominent legendary musicians that emerged during the birth of rock n’ roll.
Selected musicians, and Melody Maker journalists, Chris Welch, Chris Charlesworth, Richard Guardian, Alan Lewis, Mick Watts and Allen Jones infuse the film with stories about a unique period when Melody Maker, founded in 1926 as a jazz musician’s trade paper boldly became the first publication to cover popular music seriously in the early 1960’s, setting the stage for publications like Rolling Stone.
Melody Maker captured the attention of the musicians, fans, and the journalists who shared a common passion, the music. Bands were formed from the classified section, a pop culture phenomenon!
This landmark documentary takes a fresh look at the changing landscape of music journalism that lead to the end of Melody Maker Magazine, and a style of music journalism that no longer exists today.
Thanks to Ann Hock for alerting me to this documentary.