15 Best Music Documentaries to Stream Right Now
By Juliet Reynolds
Ever wonder what really goes on behind the curtains in the music world? Spoiler alert: it's often crazier than any scripted TV show. Musicians have been influential, groundbreaking, and downright bizarre for as long as they've been making noise, and music documentaries give us front-row seats to backstage drama, studio magic, stardom chaos, and everything in between that shapes the songs we love.
Each of these handpicked recommendations are currently streaming now, meaning we've scoured the streaming landscape to bring you the 15 best music docs you can watch from your couch. Think of it as a playlist for your eyes—a visual mixtape spanning genres and decades. So, ready to crank the volume up to eleven? Who knows, you might just see your favorite artists in a whole new light.
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Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry
Release date: 2021
Director: R. J. Cutler
How to watch: Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry is currently streaming on Apple TV
Starting our list is a raw, intimate look at Gen Z’s prodigal alt-pop comfort girl, Billie Eilish. Director R. J. Cutler follows the ebbs and flows of adolescence and climbing stardom via a non-linear, stream-of-consciousness style filming. As Billie writes songs in her room, gets her learners permit, and meets countless other stars, we only grow closer to her as a beloved modern artist. It's a fascinating look at the pressure cooker of modern fame, family dynamics, and the creative process behind her era-defining songs. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just curious about the girl behind the neon-green hair, this film delivers a captivating coming-of-age story set to a killer soundtrack.
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Release date: 2021
Director: Questlove
How to watch: Summer of Soul is currently streaming on Hulu
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul details the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which took place on six Sundays between June 29th and August 24th, the exact summer that music history’s famous Woodstock Music and Art Fair was born. Through the masterful use of restored archival footage, stock footage, and interviews with attendees, Questlove’s depiction of the festival not only preserves it’s long forgotten history, but examines the larger civil rights implications of just exactly how this cultural music moment was knocked from the spotlight. A mixture of heart, soul, and a plethora of critical acclaim, Summer of Soul is guaranteed to fulfill your need for history and good-feeling music this summer.
Moonage Daydream
Release date: 2022
Director: Brett Morgen
Photo by mobilinchen | Deposit Photos
How to watch: Moonage Daydream is currently streaming on Max
The first ever officially authorized documentary on David Bowie, the starman, Ziggy Stardust, Halloween Jack, Moonage Daydream presents a montage-style filmmaking technique more akin to a psychedelic kaleidoscope from Mars. Broken up into chapters and utilizing previously unreleased, archived footage (there’s a bit of a trend going on here), the doc presents Bowie in many of his recognizeable, hypnotizing, glam rock years. However, it also paints (literally) a more intimate portrait of Bowie as an artist, digging further into his passions for painting and literary writing. Truly a multi-faceted artist finally given a fresher, deeper understanding, this film will have you freaking out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!
The Greatest Night in Pop
Release date: 2024
Director: Bao Nguyen
How to watch: The Greatest Night in Pop is currently streaming on Netflix
If you didn’t have the lyrics “we are the world, we are the children” stuck in your head before this doc, you definitely will after (in the best way possible). Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and SO many more filled a single recording studio in 1985 to record an American benefit single for African famine relief. Deliberate with it’s pacing and less experimental than some of our other recommendations, The Greatest Night in Pop chronicles one of the most monumental moments in music history and gets right down to the humanity and heart of it all. A feel-good doc that stands as a testament to the goodness of the human spirit and that, lets be honest, will leave you wanting to get all your friends together to record a song, too.
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GAGA: Five Foot Two
Release date: 2017
Director: Chris Moukarbel
How to watch: GAGA: Five Foot Two is currently streaming on Netflix
In a self-dubbed cinéma-vérité style, or “truthful cinema”, this doc follows the highs and lows of pop megastar Lady Gaga’s life leading up to her fifth studio album, Joanne. Grounded in rawness and truth and edited so to translate the craze of stardom, the doc chronicles Gaga’s struggles off the stage rather than on, something that some critics have remarked as a “dearth of performance footage.” But, for Gaga ultra-fans, this vulnerable, sensitive look into the icon’s life will only strengthen your love for her and her absolutely potent, palpable energy. Who is Joanne, after all? This documentary has the answers.
Wham!
Release date: 2023
Director: Chris Smith
How to watch: Wham! is currently streaming on Netflix
If you thought you knew everything about 80s pop duo sensation Wham! from your mom’s George Michael musings, think again. A cleverly stitched together vibrant collage of rare archival footage, audio interviews, television appearances, private home video, and more, Wham! will leave you feeling closer to duo George Micahel and Andrew Ridgeley than ever before. From "Careless Whisper" to their groundbreaking China tour, the film is a nostalgic trip that doesn't shy away from the pressures of fame. A must-watch marking the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Fantastic, and acting as a beautiful posthumous tribute to George Michael, this doc will leave you with a pep in your step, ready to wake up and go-go.
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Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
Release date: 2022
Director: Alek Keshishian
How to watch: Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is currently streaming on Apple TV
Pivoting from our more history-centered picks and back to the mainstream, this documentary presents a shockingly honest portrayal of beloved Disney Channel star and pop icon Selena Gomez over a six-year period. Fans of Gomez will appreciate the candid behind-the-scenes look at her off-stage struggles with mental health and lupus, but what really makes the doc shine is the focus on Gomez’s vulnerability and advocacy. There’s more to life than 425 million Instagram followers, and this doc fearlessly proves that, as Gomez herself said: “I felt like I got to say things that I’ve been keeping in for years.” We can all learn to take a page out of Selena Gomez’s book, or perhaps a lyric from her song.
The Decline of Western Civilization
Release date: 1981
Director: Penelope Spheeris
How to watch: The Decline of Western Civilization is currently streaming for free on Tubi
No music documentary list is complete without this seminal entry detailing the late 70s Los Angeles punk rock scene. Being deemed as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry just shows how ground-breaking the grit and nastiness of Penelope Spheeris’ filmmaking was. Featuring concert footage and interviews with the punks who cheered them on in sweat and blood, this doc shines light on a rich subculture on the brink of explosion, ignored by the music press at the time. Lean into your sense of rebellion with The Decline of Western Civilization. We’ve all got a little punk in all of us, after all.
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I Am: Celine Dion
Release date: 2024
Director: Irene Taylor
How to watch: I Am: Celine Dion is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
One of the most recent picks on our list, critics have been raving over I Am: Celine Dion for the portrayal of the star’s bravery and fearlessness in living with a life-altering illness: stiff-person syndrome. Just take a look at some recent Letterboxd reviews of the film: “Heartbreaking and inspiring. Celine sure didn’t deserve this card in life but she’s facing it with courage” (user @Kylo), “By far the best of the recent batch of pop star docs, unfortunately for the most heartbreaking reasons. There’s no performance here, no insufferably capitalistic motives, just total, wrenching vulnerability” (user @Bobby Finger). Precisely, there’s no performance here, only a depiction of strength sure to imbue you with your own new-found courage. After watching this doc, Celine Dion, in all of our hearts, will go on.
BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky
Release date: 2020
Director: Caroline Suh
How to watch: BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky is currently streaming on Netflix
BLACKPINK—mega famous larger-than-life South Korean K-pop girl group known for their “girl crush” aura centered around themes of self-confidence and female empowerment. Yet, in this Netflix doc directed by Caroline Suh, audiences get a more intimate look at the members behind the band, the individuals—Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa. Light Up the Sky presents a rare, unfiltered look at the K-pop machine that humanizes these women as they go from trainees to arena sell-outs. If you weren’t a BLINK before, you sure will be after watching this impassioned, illuminating doc.
20 Feet from Stardom
Release date: 2013
Director: Morgan Neville
How to watch: 20 Feet from Stardom is currently streaming for free on The Roku Channel
A bit of an underground, under-known addition to the list, just like the subjects of this doc, 20 Feet from Stardom finally gives the unsung heroes the props they deserve. That’s right: background singers. Ever wonder about those powerful voices harmonizing in the background of your favorite hits? Us too. After watching this doc, you’ll know all about such names like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, and many more. Meet the voices that have shaped pop music for decades in a bittersweet journey through the music industry's shadows, celebrating these artists’ work while exploring why they always remained twenty feet from stardom.
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Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero
Release date: 2023
Directors: Zachary Manuel, Carlos Lopez Estrada
How to watch: Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero is currently streaming on Max
A stark contrast from the topic of the previous pick, Long Live Montero focuses on none other than Lil Nas X, pop music’s most unapologetic provocateur. Preparing for his Long Live Montero Tour back in 2022, this doc from Zachary Manuel and Carlos Lopez Estrada follows suite with the other pics in our selection, diving deeper into the pop star’s status as a queer icon in the historically homophobic world of hip-hop.
Gimme Shelter
Release date: 1970
Directors: Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
How to watch: Gimme Shelter is currently streaming on Max
The oldest pic on our list, but one of the most memorable, Gimme Shelter chronicles the last weeks of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour, ending in the infamous Altamont Free Concert and the death of an unsuspecting concert-goer. This one is sure to lead you down a bit of a rabbit hole, as “reactive” filmmakers Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin opted to record events as they naturally happened, rather than fluff the film with planned interviews and voice overs. A bit rawer than most other films on this list for that reason, Gimme Shelter tackles hard-to-swallow points of counterculture-ism, the death of 60s idealism, and needless violence at the hands of those in power. A must-watch for any music history enthusiast.
The Velvet Underground
Release date: 2021
Director: Todd Haynes
How to watch: The Velvet Underground is currently streaming on Apple TV
At the true intersection of music and independent film lies The Velvet Underground, a documentary chronicling the band of the same name, directed by revered indie filmmaker Todd Haynes (May December, Carol, Safe). Rising from the music, art, and film avant-gardes of a counterculture-soaked (we’ve got another theme going on here) 1960s New York City, Haynes paints a picture of the rise of this at-the-time underground (haha) band. With split-screen visuals and experimental techniques, the doc captures, as Google reviewer Jason Murphy put it: “Cool people talking over cool pictures and cool footage of a cool band.” Who wouldn’t want to see that?
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HOMECOMING: A Film by Beyoncé
Release date: 2019
Directors: Beyonce, Ed Burke
How to watch: HOMECOMING: A Film by Beyoncé is currently streaming on Netfl
Capping off our list and returning to the modern era is none other than the Queen Bey herself in the legendary HOMECOMING: A Film by Beyoncé. Highlighting her 2018 Coachella performance, and written, executive-produced, AND directed by Beyoncé, HOMECOMING gives audiences a masterful look at the first time a black woman has ever headlined the festival. A modern historical moment rightfully nicknamed “Beychella”, HOMECOMING radiates female power and success and is—let’s be real—the must-see music doc to end all music docs. Mic drop. Curtain close.
As time carries on, music artists will continue marching to the beat of their own drums, and we as audience members will be here waiting joyfully for future glimpses into their often unknown, utterly insane, heart-warming, humanizing lives.
We hope you enjoyed this list and learned something new, or at least listened to some sweet tunes along the way. Unplug the amp, pack up the mic, because that’s it for this list of the 15 best music documentaries you can watch on streaming now.
But, the show can always go on! Think we missed a stellar music doc? Let us know your recommendations in the comments! Encore, people, encore.
Edited by KBR on August 30, 2024
