27: Gone Too Soon

I thought this would be an interesting documentary talking about music legends and should have been but couldn't get past the first 6 minutes because of the non-stop, distracting, unnecessary and, yes, inappropriate considering the topic, background muzak. It completely took what could have been an interesting documentary to a pile of hot garbage. Music is pretty much required in movies and documentaries and specifically music documentaries but the film makers clearly couldn't get the rights to use the music from these artists for reasons unknown. If you're the film maker and reading this. Remove the circus background muzak and re-release so I can pay attention and maybe, just maybe, it'll allow me to pay attention without that distraction so I can bump the rating up a star or two or three. Short update: The film maker, Simon Napier-Bell, has allegedly managed some high profile bands. Why couldn't he get music rights being in the industry? Falling out with the industry? Again, just take out the background noise.

A waste of time. You can get more information...accurate information by an internet search than by what this "documentary" gives you. I was terribly disappointed and very bored. I learned nothing that I didn't already know about each of these musicians and their lives and deaths. If you want to know more, learn more about the "27 club" there are much better documentaries out there. This one is garbage.

This documentary officially argues that it's okay to get started on the hardest of drugs, as long as you don't do a lot of it. You shouldn't do any of it. It really feels like they try to make us make the same mistakes all over again, falling in line, etc. The whole drug culture is just the advent of fascism over and over again. The only reason musicians started to do drugs and alcohol was because the audience in the roadhouses were waisted and if you weren't, that would be the only thing they noticed and they would literally have your head for it. That's what old timers now passed used to say, as found in the book on Little Walter's life by Tony Glover et al. In the documentary, they constantly tell you from the beginning on on it's okay to do drugs, it comes with the life and stress of being a musician, etc. What they should be saying is that musicians should have better work environments with less pressure. This will increase both enjoyment and productivity. What they should be saying is that you don't want to work with or for a record company. You're the musician: you're the company, so you run yourself. Don't have any stage gigs? Busk. You only made $0.10 royalties? Call it one thousand decimillidollars. As long as you do what you love, who cares?

I am a documentary buff and I love stories about musicians, writers, movie makers... But this one. There is one clear object to why it is so bad. It's the background music. It's tedious and frankly, very dull. Now, this is a story about some of the greatest musicians in the world. How can anyone succeed of making a movie about them so bad? Well, these people can and could. I'd love to hear other people than the few "experts" that speak of all of them in the same way, and in the same words. It's a bit tragic and a bit laughable. A music docu should contain a lot of music, no? Well, there is hardly any of that stuff, which leads me to believe that this movie might be the cheapest one ever made. Så sad Brian. Jimi, Janis, Jim, Kurt and Amy. They deserve respect and not nonsens.

5/23/18. What a disappointing rockumentary. This could have been a lot more interesting since all the people they talked about were music icons of their time. More archival footage would have helped a lot and maybe some concert footage?

This popped up on my Netflix suggestions list - I'm a fan of documentaries which explore music history and other fascinating topics. Aside from the annoying background music that doesn't stop, I was turned off that they did not acknowledged how the 27 club began. They went straight to the 60s and drug usage. It would have been fitting to add some information about Robert Johnson or how American music history was vital to Rock and Roll history. Don't bother watching this - they just want to discuss drug usage and addiction and not music.