10 Greatest Rock Documentaries Ever Made
2. Some Kind of Monster - Metallica
When you're making a documentary, you sometimes need to toe the line with how much the band is willing to show to the public. While always trying to be as transparent as possible, you never want to get to the point when you're interfering with the actual process of making music. Or in the case of Metallica, filming what looks to be the footage of a band unravelling.
Originally going in to film the recording of Metallica's next album, Some Kind of Monster turned into one of the biggest catharsis sessions in rock history, as the band try to deal with the loss of Jason Newsted. As the story unfolds, you can pretty much see the band being held together on faith alone, with James Hetfield going off to rehab and then struggling to get on the same page as the rest of the band once returning to the fold.
Though the end product resulted in one of Metallica's least loved albums in St. Anger, there's a broader reason why this deserves to be remembered. For all of the tough guy facades, this one film is responsible for making the distance between band and audience a lot less refined, as we see deep into the lives of these rock stars. It might not be the most inviting documentary to watch, but once you've spent some time with it, it's probably what ended up actually keeping the band together.