10 great films based on albums

Cinema often takes inspiration from existing material. There’s a good chance your favourite film is based on literature, a play or even an article. In the musical genre, odds are the film is based on a Broadway or West End production. On rarer occasions, an album can provide the jumping-off point for a film. That may sound bizarre as albums tend to lack much in the way of characters or plotting, but albums have been the jumping off point for some now classic movies. Albums, after all, are often full of vivid imagery and stories just waiting to be given life on screen. 

Many great artists have been involved in taking their albums to the big screen. From bands such as The Beatles, Talking Heads and The Who to artists including Prince and Willie Nelson, many classic LPs have been given the cinema treatment, transforming their ideas into cinema spectacles. But turning your album into a movie isn’t restricted to concept albums or rock operas, and it’s still done by modern artists. In 2021, pop star Halsey released the film If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power in conjunction with the album of the same name. And later this year, Hurry Up Tomorrow is planned as a companion for The Weeknd’s latest. 

As The Who’s psychedelic rock opera Tommy – written and directed by Ken Russell and starring Roger Daltrey as the world’s greatest pinball player – turns 50, we’re celebrating some of the very best album spin-offs.

Director: Richard Lester

The Beatles were trailblazers in music, but also in cinema. A Hard Day’s Night, released the same day as their third LP, has proven enormously influential, inspiring the birth of the modern music video. Directed by Richard Lester, the film follows the band (who all play themselves) over 36 hours as they gear up for a big performance on television. Beatlemania is in full swing, with the gang escaping massive hordes of hysterical fans – and that winds up being the very least of their problems. 

A celebration of the swinging 60s and the frenetic energy of a buzzing London, A Hard Day’s Night is an ode to everything that made The Beatles so timeless. Lester’s unique comic style is a perfect match for The Beatles, and John, Paul, George and Ringo are all charismatic performers. Glorious, goofy, irreverent and overflowing with fantastic music, few cinematic experiences transport you to a time and place quite like A Hard Day’s Night.

Director:  Norman Jewison

Though best known for the West End musical production (which, when it closed, was the longest-running musical in West End history), Jesus Christ Superstar’s origins were a 1970 concept album by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The film tells a familiar story, following the life of Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley) and his disciples. But what’s unique about Jesus Christ Superstar is its focus on Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), and its surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the man who betrayed Jesus to the Romans.

Filming on location in Israel and the West Bank, Norman Jewison’s direction is inspired, capturing the extraordinary scope of the vast desert landscapes and lending a dash of realism to the biblical setting. That realism deliberately clashes with the 1970s costuming and sets, including a modern market sequence with a cash exchange and modern paraphernalia. It’s Anderson’s brilliant performance that proves to be the driving force, and his big musical number ‘Superstar’ (complete with endless fringe) is mesmerising. 

Director: Ken Russell 

There’s nothing else quite like Tommy, a glam rock spectacle by way of a staggeringly ambitious rock opera. Director Ken Russell (who also wrote the screenplay) is no stranger to big swings and grand scales, but even by his standards, Tommy is thoroughly remarkable. Adapted from The Who’s album of the same name, the film follows Tommy (The Who frontman Roger Daltrey), who suffered from a traumatic incident as a child, leaving him “deaf, dumb, and blind”. He finds himself in an unlikely place: the world of professional pinball.

Tommy is visually overwhelming, with an astonishing production design that’s more impressive than most contemporary blockbusters but done with a meagre fraction of the budget. Cameos from Elton John, Tina Turner and Jack Nicholson flesh out a vibrant cast. For all its visual flair, Tommy tells a compelling narrative of the cult-like, parasocial relationship we have with celebrity. 

Director: Franc Roddam

At a party, Jimmy Cooper (a fantastic Phil Daniels) and his fellow Mod friends dance to The Who’s ‘My Generation’. There’s a rambunctious energy in the air. But despite being surrounded by joy, Jimmy looks lost. He’s disconnected: he can barely stand his family, has no real friends, and doesn’t care about his job. Based on The Who’s 1969 rock opera album of the same name, Quadrophenia is an explosive look at the disillusionment of young British men in the 60s.

Beating an entirely different drum than Tommy, Quadrophenia is not sung through, nor does it have a single full musical performance. But The Who’s music is still prevalent throughout the film, with ‘Quadrophenia’ dominating the soundtrack. While Franc Roddam’s film evokes a specific 60s setting, its observations on teenage angst and loneliness are timeless. It’s a furious but understanding film that, rather than condemning rebellion, seeks to empathise with the roots of it.

Director: Alan Parker

The haunting spectre of loneliness looms in Pink Floyd’s The Wall as a young boy navigates life without his father, who died in the war. That boy grows up to be Pink (Bob Geldof), a rock star who’s endured so much misfortune that his coping mechanism is to protect himself with an emotionally constructed mental wall. 

Directed by Alan Parker and written by Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, The Wall is a bleak musical that’s low on dialogue and high on songs, as well as haunting animated sequences that are rife with unsubtle yet effective metaphor (in one, a dove explodes into a black bird that morphs into a warplane). It’s not just the animation that impacts, as the ‘Another Brick in the Wall Part 2’ sequence and the fascist rally are also hugely effective. The Wall is an often confounding, fascinating movie about trying to make sense of the senseless and fighting back against institutionalised oppression. 

Director: Albert Magnoli

Released just over a month after the album of the same name (which spent 24 straight weeks at the top of the Billboard charts), Purple Rain is packed with the synth beats and psychedelic sparkle that made the album loved the world over. Based in Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis, it follows The Kid (Prince), a uniquely gifted but troubled frontman of a band called The Revolution. The Kid throws himself into music to escape the misery that waits for him at home.

It’s a refreshingly self-effacing portrait of the star, if not a downright nasty one; The Kid is frequently unpleasant to be around, rude and dismissive to his fellow artists, and is often cruel to his girlfriend Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero). Yet the most enduring aspect of Purple Rain is the musician himself. Prince’s charisma is awe-inspiring, and watching him go all-out in his musical performances (especially the finale of ‘I Would Die 4 U’ and ‘Baby I’m a Star’) is witnessing an artist at the peak of their power. 

Director: David Byrne

The fictional city of Virgil, Texas is getting ready to celebrate its 150th anniversary, and an unnamed cowboy (David Byrne) has come to visit with the townsfolk to see what their life is like. Directed by Byrne and written by Byrne, Stephen Tobolowsky and Beth Henley, True Stories was released just weeks after the Talking Heads album of the same name. Through a series of vignettes, we meet memorable Virgil residents, including a preacher keen on conspiracy theories, a woman who won’t leave her bed (Swoozie Kurtz), and a technician longing for love (John Goodman).

Byrne’s idiosyncratic imagination is on full display in the singular True Stories. It’s such a unique exploration of American life, exploring the lives of eccentric individuals whose problems are universal. Ed Lachman’s cinematography brings warmth to the endless array of malls and metal, making everyday life feel especially inviting, while the Talking Heads music helps to unearth the depths of human experience. 

Director: Dominic Sena

Filmed in and around a Pasadena power plant that gives the film an evocative post-apocalyptic setting, Rhythm Nation 1814, based on the Janet Jackson album of the same name, is a spectacular showcase of the impact of movement on screen. There are bits and pieces of a plot that highlight two young boys struggling to make music. The real centrepiece of the short film is its three full performances of ‘Miss You Much’, ‘The Knowledge’, and the enormously influential and oft-imitated ‘Rhythm Nation’. 

The immensely talented Jackson stars as herself, possessing a commanding screen presence, particularly when doing the complex choreography (that Jackson created with Anthony Thomas). Rhythm Nation 1814 is an electric journey, brought to life in evocative black and white, that underlines the importance of art as a protest and fight for a better life, and how free expression can get us there.

Director: Stuart Murdoch

Eve (Emily Browning) longs to be one of the greatest musicians, but first she has to figure out the convoluted mess that’s her own life. After an extended stay in a psychiatric hospital, she meets James (Olly Alexander), who helps her develop her lyrical prowess. James is also teaching Cassie (Hannah Murray), and the three form a fast friendship. To get through a dull Glasgow summer, the trio decide to get creative and form a band: the eponymous God Help the Girl.

Based on the 2009 album by Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian, and written and directed by the band’s own Stuart Murdoch, God Help the Girl is a witty, charming ode to the agonies of being a teenager and the joy of musical discovery. Giles Nuttgens’ cinematography bathes the film in a warm, comforting glow, and the bright costuming brings out the best of the characters through the memorable musical numbers. 

Directors: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Kahlil Joseph, Dikayl Rimmasch, Todd Tourso, Jonas Åkerlund, Melina Matsoukas and Mark Romanek

On the surface, Beyoncé’s Lemonade film, like the album of the same name, is about a woman processing infidelity in her marriage. But it’s hardly downbeat: instead, it’s a vibrant celebration of the resilience and joy of Black womanhood. Beyoncé’s music propels the action forward, but its creative and impactful imagery is what makes Lemonade feel so monumental. It deftly meshes black-and-white and colour cinematography, and references to seminal Black artists, including Julie Dash’s landmark 1991 film Daughters of the Dust. 

In Lemonade, Beyoncé stars as herself, exuding both god-like power and deeply human vulnerability. The film plays with genre, crafting a kaleidoscope of fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and dream sequence, horror, romance and comedy. It also features cameos from Serena Williams, Amandla Stenberg, Zendaya and Quevenzhané Wallis. Broken up into 11 chapters (including ‘Denial’, ‘Apathy’ and ‘Anger’), Lemonade is a compelling piece of uncompromising arthouse cinema from one of the world’s most prominent pop artists.