The remarkable story of the legendary Motown Records is told through exclusive interviews with the label’s visionary founder, Berry Gordy, and many of its superstar artists and creative figures, as well as rare performances and behind-the-scenes footage unearthed from Motown’s vaults and Gordy’s personal archives.
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Stille Sommer (2023)
Escape from everyday life in freedom and community and live utopias - for many organizers and artists, the secret of the music festivals that make culturally weak Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a place of pilgrimage for tens of thousands of people every summer. But instead of freedom, community and utopia, there was one thing above all in the festival summers of 2020 and 2021: silence.
BadPuss: A Popumentary (2014)
An Honest and hilarious look at the music industry through the eyes of an all girl rock band.
Rockin' at the Red Dog: The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock (2005)
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The Sparks Brothers (2021)
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Utopia Ltd. (2011)
Anton Spielmann (18) and his two younger friends Basti Muxfeldt and Jonas Hinnerkort are living in their family homes with their parents in an idyllic village close to Hamburg. The three of them founded the band 1000 Robota. The band has an ambitious aim: „We want to cause creation not to remind of it”, and they want to live up to their ideals. In a society affected by economic pressure 1000 Robota are questioning themselves and others and they don‘t want to meet other people‘s expectations. In a world of excessive supply they are looking for significance and want to unite with others to create a new way of youth culture. But soon they have to face some serious difficulties.
Dreamgirls (2006)
A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
Happy on the Ground: 8 Days at Grammy Camp (2011)
Talented teen musicians from around the USA spend a week working with Grammy nominated professionals
The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On (2019)
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American Pop (1981)
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
Northern Soul: Living for the Weekend (2014)
The northern soul phenomenon was the most exciting underground British club movement of the 1970s. At its highpoint, thousands of disenchanted white working class youths across the north of England danced to obscure, mid-60s Motown-inspired sounds until the sun rose. A dynamic culture of fashions, dance moves, vinyl obsession and much more grew up around this - all fuelled by the love of rare black American soul music with an express-train beat.
King of the Hill: A 70th Anniversary Retrospective of Cincinnati’s King Records (2014)
James Brown was the jewel in the crown, but the throne of Cincinnati’s King Records always belonged to its irascible founder, Syd Nathan. This is the 70th anniversary of the legendary record label and studio. It closed shop nearly 40 years ago, in a now long-neglected warehouse on the neighborhood border of Evanston and Walnut Hills, but its impact still reverberates across today’s music.
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Slave Trade: How Prince Remade the Music Business (2014)
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American Hot Wax (1978)
This is the story loosely based on Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, who introduced rock'n'roll to teenage American radio audiences in the 1950s. Freed was a source of great controversy: criticized by conservatives for corrupting youth with the "devil's music"; hated by racists for promoting African American music for white consumption; persecuted by law enforcement officials and finally brought down by the "payola" scandals.
Heaven Tonight (1990)
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Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009)
An improvised comedy, shot over five days by Shane Meadows, devised with and starring Paddy Considine. Rock roadie and failed musician, Le Donk has lived, loved and learned. Along the way he's lost a girlfriend but he has found a new sidekick in up-and-coming rap prodigy Scor-zay-zee. With Meadows' fly-on-the-wall crew in tow, Donk sets out to make Scor-zay-zee a star...
Sparkle (1976)
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The Temptations: Live in Concert (1984)
Legendary Motown group the Temptations perform 20 of their hits at Harrah's in Atlantic City. This version of the group includes original members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, along with newer members Ron Tyson, Dennis Edwards, and Richard Street. The still lively quintet strut their stuff while belting out many of their popular favorites, including {&"My Girl,"} {&"Just My Imagination,"} {&"Ain't to Proud to Beg,"} {&"The Way You Do the Things You Do,"} and many more. The 60-minute performance took place in 1983 and was re-released in 1994.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.