Music movies have long since been popular at the box office depicting the lives of musicians as they strive to achieve their dreams.Here at FemaleFirst we are counting down the top five music movies.Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous was a change from the biopic pictures like The Doors and Bird that had been released at the cinema.Although the film was semi autobiographical for the director, who began his career as a music journalist, he mixed real life and fictional characters.Almost Famous tells the story of a teen journalist, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), who goes on the road with an up-and-coming rock band called Stillwater during the 1970s. Though Miller's mentor, legendary rock critic Lester Bangs (portrayed with humour and heart by Philip Seymour Hoffman), cautions him not to befriend the musicians, Miller takes it a step further and befriends both the band and the Band-Aids, the girls who hang around with the band because they love the music.
Miller is in for a wild ride around the country, to thrilling concerts and debauched backyard parties, living the life many 15-year olds dream about.
He discovers that beneath the glittery façade of rock stardom are sometimes bittersweet life lessons and mild doses of heartbreak.
More impacting are the friendships he finds with his glamorous travel companions.
The film which starred Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand was a critical hit and went on to be nominated for four Oscars including Best Supporting Actress for Hudson and McDormand, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Crowe and Best Editing.
Cameron Crowe went on to win the screenplay award.
The movie is filled with a string of great performances from Frances McDormand, who is so obsessed in creating a safe environment for her two children she drives then both away, to Billy Crudup and Kate Hudson who show their great potential to newcomer Patrick Fugit as the young, charismatic William Miller.
Apart from Crowe's spectacularly believable narrative and excellent screenplay is the soundtrack, pumped full of old rock and roll classic hits such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and Elton John which will have any rock fan singing along to.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw