The music biopic genre has been around for about as long as anyone can remember, but it received a breath of fresh air when Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere landed on the 2025 movie schedule. Starring Jeremy Allen White as “The Boss,” the movie focused less on Springsteen’s career as a whole, instead on a single moment in his life: the creation of his landmark 1982 album, Nebraska.
After watching the new music biopic, I got to thinking about other iconic albums that should get a similar treatment. With so many great records having wild, crazy, and exhilarating stories behind the songs that made them classics, I think there’s a lot of potential to recreate the magic in the wake of Deliver Me From Nowhere. Here are the six movies I would love to see…
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours
When it comes to breakup albums, few come close to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Released in February 1977, this multi-platinum album channels all the pain, loss, and suffering endured by the band while dealing with drug addiction, exhaustion from touring, and breakups experienced by the members during that era. Between the divorce of Christine and John McVie and the on-again, off-again relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, taking a toll on the dynamic, and all the excess, there was so much going on.
You can feel that pain and the emotional strain of the lifestyle in iconic tracks like “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams,” and I think it would make for a dynamic movie seeing the stories behind those songs play out on the big screen. We got something similar with Daisy Jones and the Six a few years ago, but seeing the real deal would be a sight to behold.
Sam Cooke’s Ain’t That Good News
Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” became one of the most consequential songs of the Civil Rights Movement, and remains one of the most decorated American soul and R&B songs more than 60 years after it first hit the radio back in 1964. The song, which Cooke wrote after getting arrested in my hometown, per Explore Louisiana, would end up becoming one of the biggest tracks from his final studio album, Ain’t That Good News.
Though a portion of the late singer’s story was told in the 2020 drama, One Night in Miami, I would love to see a deeper dive into Cooke crafting the monumental album that came out just 10 minutes before he was tragically shot and killed. Between Cooke enduring the turmoil of the era, as well as the drowning death of his 18-month-old son, a laser-focused biopic would be an emotional experience, no doubt.
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here
Though there is a case to be made for a more expansive Pink Floyd biopic, as well as movies focusing on the band’s two biggest albums – Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, I think there’s an even better, and more engaging way of tackling the outfit’s legacy. Similar to how Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere showed The Boss writing and recording Nebraska while still touching on Springsteen’s past, I think a movie about the making of Wish You Were Here could also focus on one of the band’s founding members: the late Syd Barrett.
The highly influential concept album, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, is about alienation and cynicism caused by the music industry, but it also serves as a tribute to Barrett, who left Pink Floyd nearly a decade earlier. The extensive “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” one of the group’s best tracks, both socially and lyrically, could even serve as a thread playing throughout a biopic about the album and the fractured relationship between the four Brits who birthed it.
Nirvana’s In Utero
There was already the superb Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck documentary that dove into the life, legacy, and writings of Nirvana’s late frontman, but that shouldn’t get in the way of a biopic about the Seattle grunge band. Though I would personally love to see a movie about Nirvana touring with The Melvins back in the late ‘80s before Nevermind turned them into one of the biggest bands of all time, there’s something that I think would work better.
A movie about the creation of what would be the group’s final album, In Utero, would have the potential to be one of the most personal and striking biopics. Showing Cobain dealing with the unfathomable level of stardom caused by “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and taking his band’s sound in a darker direction would be something to see.
We have Behind the Music, we have Some Kind of Monster, now give us a Metallica biopic. Instead of making it about the Bay Area band’s early days, the crafting of the self-titled “Black Album,” or everything that led to St. Anger, I would love to see a movie centering on the band’s time surrounding their fourth studio album: …And Justice for All.
Released in September 1988, this was the thrash metal group’s first full-length recording following the death of original bassist Cliff Burton two years earlier, and first with Jason Newsted. The band’s grieving of their friend and former member, the slow departure from the band’s faster and heavier thrash days, and a group in transition would all make for engaging elements in the story. Plus, you could even show the band being inspired by the landmark anti-war film, Johnny Got His Gun, and how it inspired “One.”
The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street
One of the greatest albums of all time, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Exile on Main St. is considered by some to be the Rolling Stones’ crowning achievement. Released in 1972 following a series of hit albums, controversies, and other tragedies, the transformative rock album saw the English rock outfit try new things out and go to some wild places, both in terms of sound and lyrics.
Not only would the recording of the album be something to see, but it would also be interesting to have the movie focus on the immediate aftermath of its release. From the poor reception it received from critics at the time to the massive “Stones Touring Party” to the eventual reassessment of the record and its ambition, there’d be a lot to tackle.
Truth be told, this list could keep going and going, but I honestly have to stop somewhere. Will any of these get made? I’m not sure. However, I will be there day one if any of these hit the big screen.
