“808: The Movie” is a must-see music documentary
808: The Movie is now available for streaming on Apple Music. The music documentary, narrated by Zane Lowe, first made it’s appearance during the 2015 SXSW festival. Now, you can stream it exclusively from Apple Music’s music video section.
The documentary highlights the impact of the 808 drum machine across music genres. It begins with the Japanese engineer who founded Roland and manufactured the Roland 808 in 1980. With interviews from people like Afrika Bambaataa, Diplo, Beastie Boys, Questlove and Phil Collins, the documentary takes you on a literal ‘journey of sound.”
The most interesting story follows Marvin Gaye’s making of “Sexual Healing” on the Roland 808. Ironically, that same drum machine was sold years later for €808. That ironic tale, as well as others, is a great mini-history lesson on how the 808 drum machine infiltrated Hip-Hop, R&B electronica and so many other genres of music.
While you’ll likely have to have an Apple Music subscription to stream the documentary, 808:The Movie is available for pre-order through iTunes. It will be available for download December 16th.
Check out the official trailer, and make sure to catch the full-length documentary when you get some free time. It’s super dope!
