Films show snippets of rock history

Five films reveal more than just the music.
By RAFER GUZMAN
NEWSDAY
Concert films are great for fans, but few rock documentaries tell the inside story.
Below are five films that pull back the curtain.
* "Don't Look Back" (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967). Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan as he tours England, holds court in his hotel room (with a fresh-faced Donovan and a sloshed Alan Price) and scoffs at journalists. Pennebaker even catches manager Albert Grossman playing hardball with British tour promoters.
* "Gimme Shelter" (Albert and David Maysles, 1970). The Rolling Stones' concert at Altamont should have been another "Woodstock," but devolved into violence and a stabbing death (captured on film). The Stones are still amazing to watch, whether onstage or in the studio listening to "Wild Horses."
* "Let It Be" (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970). The Maysles captured the Beatles' youthful exuberance in "What's Happening! The Beatles in America" (1964), but Lindsay-Hogg caught the band at a more dramatic moment: the breakup. The concert on the roof of the Apple building -- the band's final performance -- makes this required viewing.
* "D.O.A." (Lech Kowalski, 1980). More a collage than a documentary, this film stands as the defining document of British punk. It's a record of the Sex Pistols' disastrous (but entertaining) tour through America, where they were idolized and reviled. The interview with a doped-up Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon is hilarious.
* "The Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years" (Penelope Spheeris, 1988). The first "Decline" film (about the Los Angeles punk scene) is a classic, but the sequel is more entertaining and insightful. Countless hair bands make fools of themselves, although Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. is no joke as he flounders drunkenly in his swimming pool. There's also prescient footage of a domesticated Ozzy Osbourne whipping up breakfast in his bathrobe.