KSanders writesMovie Review: “Urgh! A Music War”

written by Kyle Sanders

Earlier this spring, I got the chance to see Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, a candid look into the artistry and personal life of Grace Jones. While the familial moments show a softer, rarely seen side of the iconoclastic singer, it's the inclusion of her live performances in various cities that really sell the documentary (or should I say, "rockumentary"?) about what drives Jones the most: fusing her striking physicality and unusual vocals into performance art.

It showcases both truth in spectacle and soul, the former being what has often defined Jones throughout her career, the latter rarely ever exposed to the public. In other words, there's a context behind the art--what often drives the performer on the stage is something far more persuasive off of it.

Urgh! A Music War on the other hand, does not appear to have any context. A concert film released in 1982, it features over two dozen musical acts widely ranging from punk to reggae, performing around the globe. The lineup is inconsistently arranged, as each artist/group is given one song to perform, aside from The Police (perhaps the most commercially successful of all the acts), who bookend the film with two songs and an encore performance featuring some of the other featured bands.

As far as rockumentaries go, Urgh! doesn't contribute anything new to the medium. There's nothing historically remarkable as compared to the likes of Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, or Monterey Pop. It doesn't provide enough of a showcase for the actual musicians either, unable to flesh out significant artists such as in Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads) or The Last Waltz (The Band). And as pointed out in Jeff Stafford's Streamline article, even the title is a tad confusing, as the so-called "music war" mentioned would suggest a Battle of the Bands-esque event offering some sort of competitive conquest. And while no particular band or artist comes out solely victorious, Urgh! A Music War does triumph in one particular battlefield: nostalgia.

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