The cinephiles at one of our favorite movie blogs, Future of Classic, bring us a helpful list on the occasion of the recent release of Cadillac Records (the movie about blues label Chess Records), which covers an oft-overlooked period in the early development of rock in Chicago.

Too short to be impervious to criticisms, their 5 Essential Movies to Know Your Rock and Roll History forgets some obvious entries, only picks one movie about early rock history, and gets hung up on The Beatles:

• 1. I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978): This early Robert Zemmeckis youth movie revisits the Beatles’ arrival in America through the bedazzled eyes of some New Jersey teens. So the best movie about rock history is actually about the British Invasion?

• 2. Dreamgirls (2006): Uhm, this movie is about Motown, which for a long time wouldn’t touch rock with a ten-foot microphone stand.

• 3. The Buddy Holly Story (1978): Nailing early rock’s highs and lows, this indie biopic is powered into the rock history canon by an awesome title performance from Gary Busey (both acting, and singing, wow!).

• 4. Backbeat (1994): Pre-fame Beatles rocking out in German bars, negotiating existential crises and learning the ways of the music business as they go.

• 5. Grace of My Heart (1996): A backstage drama on the rock industrial complex told through the narrative of a hard-working Carole King stand-in churning out others’ hit lyrics before recording in her own voice.

With the historical exclusions of Future of Classic’s list (and honorable mentions) in mind, here is an alternate Top 5 Movies for Your Rock ‘n’ Roll History:

• 5. 24 Hour Party People (2002): Chronicling the mad-cap world of Manchester club life in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Michael Winterbottom covers rock, punk, dance and rave subgenres as they roll through and upend the life of a club-tapping record label-owner (Steve Coogan). It illuminates a few subgenres’ seedy, scenester beginnings, and features plentiful hlepings of the sex, drugs and farce that make great rock movies. Witness this scene at an early Sex Pistols show:

• 4. That Thing You Do! (1996): Yes, it’s a little tacky and sugar-coated, but this overlooked Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron and Liv Tyler pic highlights the important pop industry mechanics of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s. Far from its gritty beginnings a decade earlier and before its transition into art rock a few years later, That Thing You Do! shows how the pop practices of today were set up around rock in the early 60s. It’s also full of puns of the starring band’s name, The Oneders (pronounced “The Wonders”).

• 3. School of Rock (2003): Again, it’s quite silly and as much an easy-money studio production capitalizing on Jack Black’s popularity as a vessel for the star to spread his rock passion to chuckling multiplex audiences. That said, going against the rock movie trend of setting a period aside to delve into and dissect, School of Rock is explicitly about teaching the history, craft and passion of the music, as in this montage:

• 2. Almost Famous (2001): Sex, drugs, groupies (sorry, band aids) and rock journalism are the main focus of Cameron Crowe’s story of a teenage Rolling Stone reporter on tour with a self-destructing rock band. More of a backstage drama than a music movie, this is a film about a lifestyle rather than about a musical style. Still, the period look and life-on-the-road anecdotes make it an enjoyable archetype for the rock ‘n’ roll life.

• 1. This is Spinal Tap (1984): Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest’s send-up of glam rock (with a touch of affection for the look-obsessed genre) is the best melding of history and comedy you’ll find in the rock movie genre. From the look to the music to the creative squabbles to the guitar fetishism, Spinal Tap does it all, even dabbling in some misconceived stagecraft:

Missing chapters in our rock-history-on-film? Let us know in the comments.