10 Greatest Movies About Classic Rock, Ranked

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Jeremy has more than 2200 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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Classic rock is kind of rock that was popular in the 1960s, particularly the second half of the decade, and pretty much all of the 1970s. Some rock that was released in the 1980s might sort of count as classic rock, but that was probably the final stretch of time when some rock music released within counts as rock of the classic variety. There was rock in the 1990s, and into the 21st century, of course, but it’s not quite “classic,” you know?

Anyway, if a movie is about rock and is set even partially during the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, or has some kind of narrative that heavily involves the music from that era, then it might get included below. No Bohemian Rhapsody, though. It’s not even the worst movie about classic rock, but it’s not here (that’s meant as no disrespect towards the music of Queen, though… more just that the film has problems, albeit without being as disastrous as some people make it out to be. It's not quite Bohemian Crapsody).

10 'The Boat That Rocked' (2009)

So, The Boat That Rocked is about people playing music (classic rock included) on pirate radio, instead of being about classic rock artists or any of their stories necessarily, but it still has a lot of rock in the soundtrack. That’s worth something, with the movie being a bit over two hours in length, but with about 60 songs on the soundtrack all up, meaning you get one every couple of minutes, on average.

The pirate radio station (a fictional one) depicted here basically broadcast music to the United Kingdom from a ship somewhere at sea, and the movie revolves around them defying the law and evading people from the government who want to shut their operation down. The Boat That Rocked is inconsistent, but a lot of fun at times, and it does also have a pretty great cast, too.

9 'High Fidelity' (2000)

Jack Black and John Cusack hanging at the record shop counter in High Fidelity.

High Fidelity is about a guy who sucks, but he reflects on why he sucks and maybe, depending on how forgiving you are, redeems himself by the film’s end. He works in a record store, and talks/thinks about love and the struggles of staying in a relationship throughout, linking his experiences to the sorts of heartbreak and outpouring of emotions found in the kinds of music he tends to enjoy.

Owing to where he works, and how much music he listens to, High Fidelity has one hell of a soundtrack, and honestly, that might be the best reason to watch High Fidelity… or the best reason to listen to High Fidelity? It’s a fine enough romantic dramedy, in any event, mostly just elevated by the music heard throughout.

8 'The Doors' (1991)

Some people really don’t like The Doors, as a biopic about the titular band and its frontman, Jim Morrison, but it’s honestly pretty good; probably a bit over-hated and stuff. It doesn’t do a lot differently to most music biopics, which is likely the thing most worth criticizing here… okay, plus some overblown direction, but it’s an Oliver Stone movie, and excessive bombast/flashiness is sort of his thing.

Val Kilmer plays Jim Morrison. That’s actually some pretty good casting, and he is genuinely good here, giving what’s up there among the best lead performances he ever gave for sure. And there’s The Doors, so the music’s good, as an inevitability. Picture a Doors biopic in your head, add some crazy stuff here and there, and that’s the beginning and the end (my friend) of The Doors (1991). Take it or leave it.

7 'Blinded by the Light' (2019)

Javed sitting on his bed in 'Blinded by the Light'

In 2025, there was a more traditional Bruce Springsteen biopic called Deliver Me from Nowhere, but it wasn’t very good, and has been forgotten in a matter of months (at the time of writing, at least, with a resurgence in popularity any time soon being incredibly unlikely). If you're after a more interesting look at – and celebration of – Springsteen’s music, there’s always Blinded by the Light.

This is about a teenager struggling with various things who, in 1987, finds inspiration in the music of Bruce Springsteen, and in the process, learns stuff about life and all in a very coming-of-age movie fashion. That’s all to say that there are parts of Blinded by the Light that are a touch corny and clichéd, but its heart is in the right place, and exploring an enduring rock artist’s music and legacy in this kind of way is, again, more interesting than doing yet another biopic.

6 'Elvis' (2022)

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley standing in front of a microphone in Elvis (2022).

Yeah, this one is a stretch, seeing as Elvis Presley is probably more “oldies” rock than classic rock, but his music career progressed beyond the 1950s, into the 1960s and ‘70s, so… Well, again, a stretch. But he was sometimes seen as the rock and roll artist of his era, and even as he got older and maybe less “rock,” in the traditional sense, his influence was felt on most of the younger rock artists of the ‘60s and beyond.

Anyway, Elvis (2022) is a ridiculous and bombastic movie, with a whole larger-than-life approach taken for a pop culture figure who was also himself larger-than-life. It’s a Baz Luhrmann film alright, for better or worse, but mostly for better. Luhrmann was a good filmmaker to tackle the story at hand, even if his style for more than two-and-a-half hours does get exhausting. Presley’s life was exhausting, though, and had enough going on to fill several (or more) lifetimes, so the maximalism works.

5 'Velvet Goldmine' (1998)

It’s not quite a David Bowie movie, but Velvet Goldmine almost is… just without a character literally being called David Bowie. Also, that character (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a bit influenced by Bryan Ferry and Marc Bolan, too, while the other central character here (played by Ewan McGregor) is inspired by parts of the lives and careers of both Lou Reed and (especially) Iggy Pop, respectively.

Call it cinematic fan fiction, if you want, but it’s also a bit cleverer than your average fan fiction because the prominent characters are blends of more than one prominent rock figure each. Todd Haynes does his own thing here, as the film’s director, and makes Velvet Goldmine kind of surreal and impressionistic throughout, too. It’s odd, but it certainly captures the glam rock era of the 1970s incredibly well, in a rather unique way.

4 '24 Hour Party People' (2002)

This could be a bit of an Elvis-esque stretch, but 24 Hour Party People does start as a biographical/historical movie that’s about punk rock, at first, then covering some less rock-focused stuff as it goes along. It’s about the music scene in Manchester from the mid-1970s onward, starting with the impact that The Sex Pistols had, focusing on Joy Division for a bit, then moving to New Order (kind of a new phase of Joy Division), and then beyond the punk/rock stuff as the 1990s approach.

It's also a chaotic movie, having some stuff that’s based on real-life events, and quite a bit that might not be. It’s probably niche, even if some of the music here could count as mass appeal, and overall, 24 Hour Party People does feel underrated. Again, not entirely about classic rock, but some rock from the 1970s is important for the narrative here, especially early on, so that’s why it’s being counted.

3 'Pink Floyd: The Wall' (1982)

Pink Floyd: The Wall is not about Pink Floyd, but it does feature a great deal of Pink Floyd music, what with it being a film adaptation of the double album that was The Wall, which was about 80 minutes long. Pink Floyd: The Wall is a little longer, with a few music-free stretches, but not too many, given this film’s only a bit over 90 minutes all up.

Pink Floyd: The Wall is about a traumatized rock star’s life falling apart, both due to isolation and the awful things that have happened to him in his past, and while it's depressing, it's also pretty great.

Actually, Pink Floyd: The Wall is a little bit about Pink Floyd, considering Roger Waters had some autobiographical elements inserted into The Wall, to the point where it’s almost more of a Roger Waters album than a Pink Floyd one. Anyway, the movie is about a traumatized rock star’s life falling apart, both due to isolation and the awful things that have happened to him in his past, and it’s great. Depressing and unsettling at times, but great.

2 'This Is Spinal Tap' (1984)

The band members of Spinal Tap performing on stage

Yes, even though This Is Spinal Tap largely functions as a parody of classic rock bands and serves as a mockumentary about a fictional band, it’s still about as good as things get, when talking about movies about classic rock. The music’s not necessarily great, but it does sound authentic, and certain tracks are memorable. Not that they need to be, though, since the humor is the real star of This Is Spinal Tap.

It's an incredibly funny and well-executed movie, with too many memorable quotes to mention (all the more impressive when it’s so improv-heavy, too). Everyone involved with This Is Spinal Tap were firing on all cylinders, and it’s also a difficult movie to imagine too many people disliking, so why not give it a shot if you haven’t before? You probably have. It’s a movie that goes to 11, after all.

1 'Almost Famous' (2000)

Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee), Ed Vallencourt (John Fedevich), Dick Roswell (Noah Taylor), Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), and Larry Fellows (Mark Kozelek) in Almost Famous

Almost Famous is, like This Is Spinal Tap, about a fictional rock band, but unlike This Is Spinal Tap, there’s a lot of pre-existing music in the soundtrack, making the fictional band – Stillwater – feel effectively within the real world. Stillwater have some songs heard throughout the film though, as well, so there’s another Spinal Tap parallel (not quite to the same extent, admittedly).

Also, Almost Famous is largely a coming-of-age film, with the central character being a teenage journalist following the aforementioned Stillwater around and covering their exploits for Rolling Stone. It’s very simple, yet also quite underrated… not by the critics, though. It was always critically acclaimed, just not a hit at the box office. Its reputation has picked up quite a bit in the years since, at least.