
Frank Black
Actor · b. 1965 · Boston, Massachusetts
Black Francis (born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV on April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black. After releasing two albums with 4AD, he left the label and formed a backing band, Frank Black and the Catholics. He reformed the Pixies in 2004 and continues to release solo records and tour as a solo artist, having re-adopted his current stage name in 2007. His vocal style has varied from a screaming, yowling delivery as lead vocalist of the Pixies to a more measured and melodical style in his solo career. His cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism, incest and Biblical violence, along with science fiction and surf culture. His use of atypical meter signatures, loud-quiet dynamics and distinct preference for live-to-two-track recording in his career as a solo artist give him a distinct style within alternative rock. As frontman of the Pixies, his songs (such as "Where Is My Mind?" and "Debaser") received praise and citations from contemporaries, including Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Cobain once said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at trying to "rip off the Pixies". However, in his solo work and records with the Catholics, he received fewer popular and critical accolades. Description above from the Wikipedia article Black Francis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies13
Movie6.4DocumentaryMusic“When I do my suicide for you, I hope you’ll miss me too,” Herman Brood sang in “Rock ‘n’ Roll Junkie” – just one of many announcements of his own death Brood worked into his songs. It’s a subject Brood, who jumped off the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton 15 years ago, often sang about. In Unknown Brood, a whole range of people look back on the rock and roller’s turbulent life, including fellow musicians, his manager, a former girlfriend, photographer Anton Corbijn, Brood’s wife and their daughter. Video footage shot by Brood himself and never seen before is intercut with a rich collection of archive material, including a humorous clip of Brood barking the Dutch national anthem. His sister Beppie Brood stresses her brother’s split personality: on the one hand the shy, vulnerable man wary of other people, and on the other the one who played Herman Brood – an extravagant, hedonistic junkie and rock and roll star.
Unknown Brood
2016 · 5 votes
Movie7.8DocumentaryMusicThe American indie rock band “Dinosaur Jr.” is a radical group with an unmistakeable sound. The film tells the story the three charismatic guys in the band: J. Mascis (vocals, guitar), Lou Barlow (bass) and Murph (drums).
Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.
2021 · 3 votes
Movie8.4DocumentaryMusicJohn Flansburgh & John Linnell met in the 1970s as junior high students in Lincoln, Massachusetts. A decade later, their band—They Might Be Giants—would stand at the forefront of a burgeoning East Village NYC performance art scene as well as the college music revolution of the late 1980s. Filmed in 2001, ‘Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)’ is the acclaimed true story, tracing their independent and sometimes hilarious path through two decades in the pop music wilderness. From their legendary Dial-a-Song answering machine, to their Grammy Award-winning theme song for ‘Malcolm in the Middle’, fans and friends gather to tell the oral history of Brooklyn's finest alternative rock band.
Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
2003 · 10 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryMusicFilmmaker Drew Thomas brings California's popular Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to the screen with a different kind of musical documentary that not only showcases performances by some of the hottest acts to take the stage, but offers interviews with such musical icons as Beck, Joshua Homme, Mos Def, and Perry Farrell as well. From English icon Morrissey's performance at the inaugural Coachella Festival back in 1999 to Canadian indie rockers the Arcade Fire's electric 2005 set, the musical acts featured here run the gamut from hip-hop to alternative and virtually everything in between. Other artists featured include the Pixies, the Flaming Lips, Kool Keith, Radiohead, Saul Williams, and Squarepusher.
Coachella
2006 · 6 votes
Movie7.4MusicDocumentaryThe history of Sound City and their huge recording device; exploring how digital change has allowed 'people that have no place' in music to become stars. It follows former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighter David Grohl as he attempts to resurrect the studio back to former glories.
Sound City
2013 · 253 votes
Movie8.5DocumentaryMusicInterview with David Bowie, in an original format of non-linear edition, cut-and-paste style.
David Bowie: An Earthling at 50
1997 · 2 votes
Movie7.5DocumentaryDocumentary that gives a voice to the percentage of youth that were outcasts/non-conformists in the 90's. Interviews many famous musicians and other celebrity personalities, who talk about their being outcasts as youths, in school etc., leading up to their successes in adult life, and how being an outcast/non-conformist played a role in their artistic expression.. Also touches upon the topic of teen suicide & depression.
Freaks, Nerds & Weirdos
1994 · 2 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryThis documentary traces Jacques Tati's rise from the Parisian Music-Hall stage to his Oscar winning films of the 1950s, the documentary then explains how Tati bet all he had on his fourth film 'PlayTime' and how this mammoth film ended prematurely the career of a genius while also giving the world one of the most beautiful films ever made.
The Magnificent Tati
2009 · 3 votes
Movie8.0MusicDocumentaryGouge - a documentary tracing The Pixies' story featuring interviews with Bono, David Bowie, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), Graham Coxon and Alex James (Blur), Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop (Travis), P J Harvey, Tim Wheeler (Ash), Gavin Rossdale (Bush) and Badly Drawn Boy.
Pixies: Gouge
2004 · 4 votes
Movie8.0MusicThe Pixies are one of the most influential American acts of all time. Initially spanning the late eighties and early nineties they created the blueprint for alternative rock that would be followed and embellished upon by everyone from grunge to Britpop. After 10 years apart the Pixies reformed in 2004. This program is the second release in our Club Date series and features the Pixies in the intimate Paradise Club in Boston.
Pixies : Live At The Paradise In Boston
2006 · 2 votes
Movie6.8DocumentaryMusicWhen college rock darlings the Pixies broke up in 1992, their fans were shocked and dismayed. When they reunited in 2004, those same fans and legions of new listeners were ecstatic and filled with high hopes. loudQUIETloud follows the rehearsals and live shows of the band as they struggle through the reunion tour "Sell Out"
loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies
2006 · 30 votes
Movie9.0MusicDocumentaryAfter 10 years apart, the influential alternative rock band, the Pixies, reunite for an all acoustic set at the Newport Folk Festival.
Pixies Acoustic & Electric Live
2006 · 2 votes
Movie7.3MusicTrack list : 1. Bulletproof Cupid, 2. Allergic (To Thoughts Of Mother Earth), 3. Every You Every Me, 4. Bionic, 5. Protégé Moi, 6. , 7. Bitter End, 8. Soul Mates, 9. Black-Eyed, 10. I'll Be Yours, 11. Special Needs, 12. English Summer Rain, 13. Without You I'm Nothing, 14. This Picture, 15. Special K, 16. Taste In Men, 17. Slave To The Wage, 18. Peeping Tom, 19. Pure Morning, 20. Centrefolds, 21. Where Is My Mind?
Placebo: Soulmates Never Die: Live in Paris 2003
2003 · 6 votes
Series6
TV7.0Intimate musical performances, recorded live at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.
NPR Tiny Desk Concerts
2008 · 10 votes
TV7.2ComedyTim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010. The program features surrealistic and often satirical humor, public-access television–style musical acts, bizarre faux-commercials, and editing and special effects chosen to make the show appear camp. The program featured a wide range of actors, spanning from stars such as Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Will Forte and Zach Galifianakis, to alternative comedians like Neil Hamburger, to television actors like Alan Thicke, celebrity look-alikes and impressionists. The creators of the show have described it as "the nightmare version of television."
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
2007 · 102 votes
TV6.0Talk ShowThe Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom. The show pushed forward the boundaries of youth TV, always coming close to going too far.
The Word
1990 · 6 votes
TV9.2DocumentaryA definitive landmark series charting the emergence and re-emergence of rock music as a global force, told through the musicians who have shaped this most enduring of genres.
Seven Ages of Rock
2007 · 10 votes
TV5.5AnimationComedyLil' Bush cracks satirical jokes at the Bush administration. The show depicts the administration members as pint-size cartoon characters. The title character is accompanied by Lil' Cheney and Lil' Condi.
Lil' Bush
2007 · 4 votes
TV6.0RealityBands perform in Berlin's legendary club TRAFO, the concrete temple music.
Berlin Live
2011 · 1 votes