8Sided Blog

the scene celebrates itself

  • 8sided About
  • memora8ilia

Quick Take: Breaking a Monster

12.14.2016 by M Donaldson // Leave a Comment

Breaking A Monster, a fine documentary on the signing and marketing of ‘tween metal band Unlocking The Truth, is now streaming on Netflix:



This ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style documentary is filled with behind-the-scenes music industry clichés, but only because unfortunately many of these clichés exist and thrive. The closed door meetings with the record company execs are especially uncomfortable. That said, it is amazing how self-aware these kids are. Kudos to them for realizing they need to take a stand, especially against adults out to intimidate them into caving to the record company’s contrived vision of how a young, African-American rock band should be presented. For example, the band shoots down a music video idea that doesn’t ‘match the song’ (despite heated push-back from management) and belligerently and repeatedly keep their team focused on the band’s priority: actually getting to work on their album in a recording studio. I was also struck by how at ease the band is playing Coachella early on, like they’ve played on stages that size dozens of times before. Though I knew of them, I hadn’t followed Unlocking The Truth so I was expecting a ‘screwed over by record label’ downfall to occur in the third act, but the documentary just ended in the midst of the band’s rise. That third act may be yet to come … or maybe not. Regardless, I think these three smart and talented young rockers will do just fine.

------------------

Related posts:

  1. Conny Plank: The Potential of Noise, a Son’s Tribute
  2. Exploring New Opportunities in Livestreaming
  3. Talking Backward

Categories // Uncategorized Tags // Film

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

8sided.blog

 
 
 
 
 
 
8sided.blog is an online admiration of modernist sound and niche culture. We believe in the inherent optimism of creating art as a form of resistance and aim to broadcast those who experiment not just in name but also through action.

It's also the online home of Michael Donaldson, a curious fellow trying his best within the limits of his time. He once competed under the name Q-Burns Abstract Message and was the widely disputed king of sandcastles until his voluntary exile from the music industry.

"More than machinery, we need humanity."

Learn More →

featured

The Children…’s Blues is a Primal Yowl

The songs on The Children…’s A Sudden Craving are delightfully ominous, spurring a complexity in their deep darkness—a reflection, rather than a warning, of what comes after those three dots. It might be those spooky movie kids with glowing eyes, or it could just be something chasing childhood’s innocence down a night’s cityscape. Let’s find out.

Simon Berz’s Geological World

Breath Versus Beats is a geological sound adventure formed by three elements: Simon Berz, Toshinori Kondo, and Bill Laswell.

How Songwriters Got Thrown Into a Minefield

Unless there’s future legal clarification paying out ‘damages’ and carving out writing shares will be an expected ritual for composers of hit songs.

Mastodon

Mastodon logo

Listening

If you dig 8sided.blog
you're gonna dig-dug the
Spotlight On Podcast

Check it out!

Exploring

Roll The Dice

For a random blog post

Click here

or for something cool to listen to
(refresh this page for another selection)

Linking

Blogroll
A Closer Listen
Austin Kleon
Atlas Minor
blissblog
Craig Mod
Disquiet
feuilleton
Headpone Commute
Jay Springett
Kottke
Metafilter
One Foot Tsunami
1000 Cuts
1001 Other Albums
Parenthetical Recluse
Robin Sloan
Seth Godin
The Creative Independent
The Red Hand Files
The Tonearm
Sonic Wasteland
Things Magazine
Warren Ellis LTD
 
TRANSLATE with x
English
Arabic Hebrew Polish
Bulgarian Hindi Portuguese
Catalan Hmong Daw Romanian
Chinese Simplified Hungarian Russian
Chinese Traditional Indonesian Slovak
Czech Italian Slovenian
Danish Japanese Spanish
Dutch Klingon Swedish
English Korean Thai
Estonian Latvian Turkish
Finnish Lithuanian Ukrainian
French Malay Urdu
German Maltese Vietnamese
Greek Norwegian Welsh
Haitian Creole Persian
TRANSLATE with
COPY THE URL BELOW
Back
EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE
Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal
Back
Newsroll
Dada Drummer
Deep Voices
Dense Discovery
Dirt
Erratic Aesthetic
First Floor
Flaming Hydra
Futurism Restated
Garbage Day
Herb Sundays
Kneeling Bus
Orbital Operations
Sasha Frere-Jones
The Browser
The Honest Broker
The Maven Game
The Voice of Energy
Today In Tabs
Tone Glow
Why Is This Interesting?
 
TRANSLATE with x
English
Arabic Hebrew Polish
Bulgarian Hindi Portuguese
Catalan Hmong Daw Romanian
Chinese Simplified Hungarian Russian
Chinese Traditional Indonesian Slovak
Czech Italian Slovenian
Danish Japanese Spanish
Dutch Klingon Swedish
English Korean Thai
Estonian Latvian Turkish
Finnish Lithuanian Ukrainian
French Malay Urdu
German Maltese Vietnamese
Greek Norwegian Welsh
Haitian Creole Persian
TRANSLATE with
COPY THE URL BELOW
Back
EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE
Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal
Back

ACT

Support Ukraine
+
Ideas for Taking Action
+
Climate Action Resources
+
Carbon Dots
+
LGBTQ+ Education Resources
+
National Network of Abortion Funds
+
Animal Save Movement
+
Plant Based Treaty
+
The Opt Out Project
+
Trustworthy Media
+
Union of Musicians and Allied Workers

Here's what I'm doing

/now

Copyright © 2025 · 8D Industries, LLC · Log in