I know where I’ll be on October 16th – at the movie theater, ready to enjoy a film about an establishment important to many music lovers: Tower Records.
“All Things Must Pass” is a documentary about the rise and fall of the famous music store chain, from its beginnings in 1960 all the way to its bankruptcy in 2006. Now, as someone who has not actually seen the movie yet, I can’t tell you definitively whether it will be good or not, but it’s got quite a few things going for it:
- It’s directed by Colin Hanks, son of a certain famous Tom.
- It includes interviews with stars like Dave Grohl (who worked there once upon a time!), Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, and the founder himself, Russ Solomon.
- It already has some phenomenal reviews from its tour of the festival circuit, such as this one from Newsweek: “Colin Hanks’ long-in-the-making documentary about Tower Records is ostensibly a tribute to the doomed record chain, which went bankrupt in 2006, and more broadly a story about the great rise and collapse of the retail music industry. That’s a tale that deserves to be told on-screen, and All Things Must Pass gives an unexpectedly intimate and emotionally-charged telling.”
The documentary debuted at SXSW and was funded by a Kickstarter campaign launched in 2011, according to AP. The campaign drew in donations from more than 1,600 backers and almost doubled its $50,000 goal.
Look out for “All Things Must Pass” on October 16th, and until then, here’s the trailer:
