Essay on Music History: Rock'n'Roll

Arguably, from a modern day perspective, the history of the music industry is written in forms of documentaries which mirror both the previous and the current implications of certain music genres in the society. Particularly, the documentaries, The wrecking crew, Standing in the Shadows of Motown and Muscle Shoals are films that, although having been released at different time periods, have always sought to do similar justice to the rock and roll music genre. This being the case, an analysis of the three documentaries substantiates the vast range of similarities as well as the differences of the rock and roll music in different time periods.

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To begin with, having been written over the past couple of years, most notably, the documentaries, "Standing in The Shadows of Motown," "Muscle Shoals" and the renowned "The Wrecking Crew" all have a commonality. The similarity between them is the fact that the three films seek a universal justice and also to bring to light the neglected backing musicians, whose job as artists is to make the renowned household pop stars ideally sound like pop stars. For instance, in The Wrecking Crew through its high focus on the directors late father, Wrecking Crew guitarist, Tommy Tedesco, gives evidence to the fact that the documentary is primarily centered on bringing to light those talented musicians that are not famous household names and also recalling Kayes era with pride (Tedesco). This, in essence, is an implication that the film is an acknowledgment of these hardworking professionals, without necessarily having to contend that these musicians were slighted, in one way or the other.

Another commonality of these three famous documentaries is seen in their content and also the music era that they represent. Precisely, the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown by the Funk Brothers seeks to scratch the surface from the 1960s and 1970s musical perspective. Also, Muscle Shoals is a documentary that is primarily intended to celebrate Rick Hall, the renowned pioneer of the Fame Studios located in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, alongside the signature sound he produced and developed in some popular songs such as Brown Sugar and When a Man Loves a Woman. By the same token, both the films Standing in the Shadows of Motown and The Wrecking Crew are films that are overly enamoured with showing just how much music the bands, the Funk Brothers, and the Wrecking Crew, respectively, were associated with, rather than some of the nuances, which were established through the music that was done in this era (Camalier).

However, although the three above discussed films have a couple of similarities, just like many other films, they have their own unique features which make them different from each other. For instance, there is one most significant difference between the film Muscle Shoals and the film The Wrecking Crew. This difference is seen in the fact that, while Muscle Shoals is a documentary written to substantiate the signature sound that the celebrated Rick Hall, developed in some of the songs produced in this rock and roll music era, the scripting and the development of the film Wrecking Crew is primarily intended at showing you just how much music the band associated itself with, rather than the type of signatures that were established by the musicians of those songs. On the other hand, the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown differs from both The Wrecking Crew and Muscle Shoals in the sense that, other than being developed with a primary intention of getting the Funk Brothers out of anonymity and into the spotlight, the film is written more as a celebration of the Rock and Roll Music genre as a whole, other than just as mere indictment of the music industry (Justman).

Works Cited

Muscle Shoals. Directed by Greg F. Camalier, Perf. Rick Hall, Aretha Franklin, Keith Richards. 2013. 2013.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Directed by Paul Justman, Perf. Joe Hunter, Jack Ashford, Uriel Jones. 2002. 2002.

The Wrecking Crew. Directed by Denny Tedesco, 2008. Denny Tedesco, Brian Wilson, Dick Clark, 2008.