Long Live Rock...Celebrate the Chaos

Rock is dead? Hard rock and metal are alive and kicking and that subject is explored in the new documentary film from John McHugh, "Long Live Rock...Celebrate the Chaos."

"Long Live Rock...Celebrate the Chaos"
This documentary film begins with an audio clip of Gene Simmons of KISS reiterating one of his favorite phrases, "Rock is dead!" Simmons may have many reasons for his opinion, but in this particular clip he is citing the fact that sales of rap music have eclipsed rock on a worldwide scale. Rock may be playing second fiddle to rap currently dollar-wise, but the genre is far from dead, something that the appropriately-titled "Long Live Rock...Celebrate the Chaos" clearly demonstrates throughout its 80-minute playing time.

The way that this film makes it case that rock is not dead is by taking a deep dive into the metal and hard rock community --- the bands and performers that make it happen and the fans who fervently support them. Commentary comes from the likes of Rob Zombie, Lizzy Hale, Duff McKagan, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, members of Avenged Sevenfold, members of Greta Van Fleet, Jonathan Davis of Korn and members of Metallica. Dr. Drew Pinski opines that hard rock and metal have such a fervent community because they are primal and tribal, tuning in to the very essence of humanity. Music historian Eddie Trunk figures that the communal experience of going to a concert is actually more important than who is performing.

The real stars here though are the fans, not the artists that get them so riled up. Copious footage is dedicated to the activities of audiences; stage diving and crowd surfing, participating in a mosh pit or "wall of death," head banging and throwing horns. Lots of fans get commentary time, including a woman who crowd surfs in her wheelchair and a guy who lost his artificial leg while crowd surfing (the crowd eventually passed it up to the stage and he got it back.) There's also fan and artist commentary on how the community came together at the passing of Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington and Scott Weiland.

Hard rock and metal fans viewing this movie, already hot to get back out on the live music scene, will be all the more ready to rumble by film's end. Find more details here.

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