Top 10 Best Music Movies Ever Made

Shiny quiffs, leather jackets, roaring hot rods and an irresistible longing for the carefree fifties. Grease brought the heat of a summer romance to Rydell High and became the absolute benchmark of the movie musical. The chemistry between John Travolta as the tough but insecure Danny Zuko and the Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, who died in 2022, as the good Sandy Olsson, bursts from the screen. Sandy's transformation in the final scene, dressed in tight black leather pants, is considered one of the most iconic film images of all time. The soundtrack dominated the worldwide charts for months with timeless duets such as 'Summer Nights' and 'You're the One That I Want'. More than four decades after its release, the film remains popular with successive generations of film and music lovers. “`

A breathtaking helicopter shot over the Austrian Alps, after which Julie Andrews starts the title track with wide arms. From that very first minute, cinema audiences in 1965 knew they were witnessing something extraordinary. Andrews plays the young novice Maria, who is sent away from the monastery by the Mother Superior to act as governess to care for the seven children of the strict widower Captain Von Trapp. With love, guitar playing and warmth, she brings the music back to the cold household, while the threat of the impending Second World War forces the family to make a dangerous flight over the mountains. Robert Wise's Broadway film adaptation won five Oscars and temporarily dethroned Gone with the Wind as the most financially successful film ever. Songs such as 'Do-Re-Mi', 'My Favorite Things' and 'Edelweiss' are now part of the collective world memory.

The consuming jealousy of court composer Antonio Salieri towards the divine talent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart forms the core of director Miloš Forman's film monument. Salieri devotes his life to God and pious discipline, only to watch helplessly as the most beautiful music in the world flows from the pen of a vulgar, childish curmudgeon. The film was shot entirely in the historic center of Prague and is bathed in opulent sets, sumptuous costumes and full-scale opera productions. Tom Hulce stars as the maniacal Mozart with his signature high-pitched laugh, while F. Murray Abraham won an Oscar for his bitter Salieri. Amadeus was showered with no fewer than eight Academy Awards. The film succeeded in making classical compositions such as the Requiem and Don Giovanni accessible and extremely exciting for an audience of millions.

Black suits, dark Ray-Ban sunglasses and a holy "mission from God" to raise $5,000 in taxpayer money for the Catholic orphanage where they grew up. What started as a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live turned into one of the most chaotic and beloved cult films ever in 1980. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd travel through Chicago as 'Joliet' Jake and Elwood Blues to reunite their old rhythm section. Along the way they leave a trail of destruction, resulting in one of the longest and most expensive car chases in film history. However, the absolute heart of the film lies in the spectacular guest appearances of soul and R&B legends. James Brown as a swinging pastor, Aretha Franklin singing 'Respect' in a cafe and Ray Charles behind the piano in his music store lift the film to an unparalleled musical level.

“This amp goes up to eleven; that's one louder than ten.” It's just one of dozens of legendary quotes from the ultimate satire on the rock industry. Director Rob Reiner followed the fictional British heavy metal band Spinal Tap during a disastrous American tour. The film worked with a minimal script and relied almost entirely on the brilliant improvisations of leading actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. From Stonehenge sets that are too small to drummers that spontaneously explode: every conceivable rock cliché is mercilessly destroyed. The mockumentary looked so convincing at the time that many moviegoers thought they were watching a real band. World-class musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne and Robert Plant, later freely admitted that the absurdities shown were frighteningly close to reality.

Blood on the drumsticks, sweat on the cymbal and ruthless psychological terror. Director Damien Chazelle proved with Whiplash that a film about a jazz conservatory can be just as nerve-wracking and intense as a psychological thriller. Miles Teller takes on the role of nineteen-year-old Andrew Neiman, an ambitious jazz drummer who is willing to sacrifice his physical and mental health to reach the absolute top. Opposite him is the terrifying instructor Terence Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons in a role that promptly won him an Oscar. The film poses the intriguing question of how far a mentor can go to squeeze genius out of a pupil. With a breathtaking climax of ten minutes of non-stop drumming, Whiplash definitively established itself as a modern film classic.

Behind the glittering disco balls, the white polyester suit and the stirring falsetto voices of the Bee Gees lies a surprisingly grim social drama. Nineteen-year-old Tony Manero works for a meager wage in a paint store in Brooklyn during the day and only really comes alive on Saturday evenings when he hits the dance floor of the 2001 Odyssey disco. The film made the young John Travolta an instant world star and gave the worldwide disco craze an unprecedented boost. The choreographies and the realistic sketch of hopeless working-class youth made a deep impression on critics. The accompanying double album with hits such as 'Stayin' Alive' and 'Night Fever' sold more than forty million copies and is still one of the best-selling records of all time.

Twenty minutes of reconstructing the legendary 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium note by note and movement by movement. With that thrilling climax, director Bryan Singer concluded the musical biopic about Queen and singer Freddie Mercury. Actor Rami Malek pulled off a feat by bringing the flamboyant singer to life with unprecedented eye for detail, a performance that earned him the Oscar for Best Actor. The film shows the history of masterpieces such as 'We Will Rock You', 'Another One Bites the Dust' and the groundbreaking title song. Despite critics' criticism of the somewhat smoothed timeline, the film became a monstrous box office success. With a worldwide gross of more than 910 million dollars, Bohemian Rhapsody is still considered the most successful music biopic in film history.

Jack Black's unfiltered energy and a genuine love for ripping guitar riffs make School of Rock one of the most infectious musical comedies of this century. Black stars as the retired rocker Dewey Finn, who, due to an acute need for money, assumes the identity of his roommate to teach at a chic private school. Instead of math and history, he teaches his neat ten-year-old students how to headbang and play songs by Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Black Sabbath. The power of the film lies in the fact that the young actors actually played their instruments live. The film became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, grossed over $130 million and was later successfully adapted into a hit musical on Broadway and the West End by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Hundreds of frantically screaming teenagers run across the platform at Marylebone Station to catch a glimpse of their idols. The iconic opening scene of A Hard Day's Night immediately set the tone for the Beatlemania phenomenon in 1964. While most pop films of the era were cheap vehicles to quickly promote a few singles (such as Elvis' early films), director Richard Lester took a groundbreaking approach. He filmed the four boys from Liverpool in an energetic, quasi-documentary style full of dry humor and smooth improvisations. The playful editing and inventive camera work actually formed the blueprint for the later music video culture. With timeless classics by The Beatles such as 'Can't Buy Me Love' and the title song, the film became a convincing time document of the swinging sixties.