Sound City

Sound City: tells the story of the greatest music studio that ever existed – IRGDGHO (In Rock God Dave Grohl’s Honest Opinion). And what a story it is, plenty of ups and downs to make an interesting and entertaining documentary. Not unlike Side by Side’s knockout movie cast, some of the musicians that pop up in here are jaw-droppingly famous: Stevie Nix, Neil Young, Trent Reznor, Josh Homme, Rick Springfield… the list is endless. The film covers standard ground like the rise-and-fall of raw / live recording several times through, 80s over-production and the dominance of pro tools a decade later. The first 70 minutes is a great documentary, however the final 25 or so really let the film down as star after star is invited to jam with Dave and the Foo Fighters, creating (average) songs in a couple of hours “old school style” – in what’s essentially an advert for the soundtrack, and a rather unnecessary addition to the runtime. Even as a massive Foo Fighters fan, it’s just a bit too much back-slapping. Weirdly, the film gives drum sound it’s own section but doesn’t bother with bass, guitar, vocals… Dave you cheeky drum monkey!! Overall, this is a good rock-dock, but I preferred hanging out with the rock stars and hearing their stories over seeing their (surprisingly boring) “creative process” in the studio.

Score: 7/10