Why it is that musicians like to make films instead of just sticking to playing guitars and smashing up hotel rooms? From Elvis to Eminem, the lure of appearing on screen has been too much of a temptation to refuse for decades. However, this is not to say that every project is a success. Collected here are a few of the harder to come by big screen projects attempted by people who are rich enough to know better…

The Beatles: Let it Be (1970)

What actually happened? Inspired by the fun of recording ‘Yer Blues’ live for the white album (technical limitations meant that the band had to polish their live playing after years of neglect) McCartney proposed doing a back-to-our-roots live album and documentary, tentatively titled “Get Back”. The movie sadly ended up as a painful account of a band slowly falling apart. Originally intended to be shot in its entirety at Twickenham studios, the cold and draughty back lot and sterile atmosphere eventually led to the band upping camp and heading for Apple’s Saville row offices. It was there that the album was completed on mobile recorders borrowed from Abbey Road studios (Lennon can at one point be heard to mutter “I’m warming to doing it in an asylum”). The grand finale is the Beatles legendary rooftop performance, rather than the full-on stadium concert that McCartney had hoped for, and by the time the film and album had been pieced together from the endless hours of footage shot the Beatles were no more.

Where can I see it? You can pick up VHS bootlegs at Beatles fairs, although the majority of these are copied from the German laserdisc version. As such they have very poor picture quality and German subtitles, also some versions have the end of the movie missing. A better version is available over the Internet from p2p servers, but this English version has dodgy sound sync. The film was actually digitally re-mastered in 1994 for a planned re-release, which was cancelled at the last minute, however some of the new footage appears in the Beatles Anthology TV series.  Let it Be is crying out for a directors-cut style make over, and with the recent recovery of the original ‘Get Back sessions’ master tapes during a raid in Holland this seems increasingly likely.

The Bee Gees: Sgt Pepper the movie (1978)

What actually happened? After a double header of success with Grease and Saturday Night Fever, pop svengali/film mogul/Bee Gees discoverer Robert Stigwood was on a roll. “So what next?” muses Stigwood. “I know, I’ll make a musical based on Sgt Pepper, with the Bee Gees as the leads. It can’t fail!” Well it can and it did. Sgt Pepper was a real clanger, and the shock waves from its awfulness can still be felt in some circles of the music business. In an industry where there are no such things as coincidences, it may not seem strange that Sgt Pepper marked the end of some of the stars careers (Shannon, Valli) and put some others in a coma for almost a decade (Aerosmith, the Bee Gees). It also saw the beginning of the end for Stigwood’s until-then successful company RSO.

Where can I see it? The movie is still licensed for VHS release in the States, however you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere that stocks it as it is currently out of production. As for pirates, forget it. A camp classic it may be, but not even the bootleggers will go near it. However a soundtrack album is available through www.amazon.com, so to experience some of the horror for yourself, check it out. You have been warned!

The Rolling Stones: Cocksucker Blues (1979)

What really happened? Frank ended up with a movie that comprised of more drinking, drug taking and groupie shagging than music. The film painted such a debauched and hedonistic picture of the Stones that they managed to intervene shortly before the release of the film and prevent it being screened. Contrary to popular opinion, the film was never actually banned, but Mick, Keef and co managed to wrangle an injunction that allowed the film to be shown only in the presence of the director Robert Frank. With an official release date of 1979 (some 7 years after it was shot) Cocksucker Blues has had few screenings, although segments of it were used in a recent Channel 4 feature on misbehaving rock stars. Allegedly during the filming of Cocksucker Blues FBI agents were employed to procure high grade heroin for Keith Richards by U.S. car manufacturer, General Motors. This was apparently due to worries by GM (who were the tour’s backers) that Richards may end up doing himself harm by taking dodgy smack, and thus scuppering the tour and costing GM a fortune.

Where can I see it? Unless you’re mates with Robert Frank and have your own cinema it’s unlikely that you ever will. Notoriously hard to track down, your best bet is music fairs.  Although it has been spotted on the Internet disguised (rather oddly) as various 1950’s Italian horror movies.

Paul McCartney: Give my regards to Broad Street (1984)

What actually happened? Possibly based on his real-life experience of having the master tapes to Wings album ‘Band on the Run’ pinched while recording in Lagos, Paul McCartney knocked out a first draft script in almost one go for this rarely seen turkey. More a collection of random scenes than a film, McCartney himself admits that he had no idea how a screenplay should be written, but was so surrounded by yes men and sycophants that no one actually told him that his script was rubbish. (After all, how do you tell one of the Beatles that there idea for a film is shit?)  During production of Broad Street, McCartney regularly scolded the British film industry for not paying enough attention to home-grown film talent, and also vented spleen over not being able to secure backers for the movie. Macca was convinced that the film would be a runaway success and warned those who had doubted him that they would be kicking themselves when it was a smash. Of course the film bombed, largely due to its wooden acting, absence of any kind of plot, and horrendous murdering of several Beatles’ standards. Director Peter Webb never worked again, and Paul McCartney went back to writing songs, which is probably for the best.

Where can I see it? Broad Street does get occasional outings on TV, and is available on VHS in the U.S., but it will leave you upset and wary of Paul McCartney for months after watching it.