Lights, Camera, Soundtracks

The Ultimate Guide to Popular Music in the Movies

Martin C. Strong & Brendon Griffin

Lights, Camera, Soundtracks by Martin C. Strong, Brendon Griffin (Paperback ISBN 9781847670038) book cover

Available as Paperback

Martin Strong delves into the world of film in this celebration of popular music in the movies.

Lights, Camera, Soundtracks surveys over 50 years of rock ‘n’ roll movies, musicals and performance films. The book identifies the top guns involved in each film, provides a storyline, rates the film, and reviews its soundtrack.

From pop and rock musicals, like the classic Elvis Presley vehicle Jailhouse Rock and the recent Tenacious D showpiece The Pick of Destiny, to performance films and documentaries like Woodstock and Dig!, and the bumping bootilicious jams of the blaxploitation genre, all manner of rock and popular music film is here.

And special mention is made of the rock and pop luminaries who have written film scores, such as Peter Gabriel, Nick Cave and Ry Cooder.

This is the ultimate, indispensable book for film and music lovers alike.


“Strong is rock’s Leslie Halliwell.”
scotland On Sunday

See more reviews

“An extraordinary work of scholarship.”
john Peel On The Great Rock Discography

“The last word in rock ‘n’ roll trainspotting, there isn’t a better guide on the market.”
guardian On The Great Rock Discography

“It’s a killer tome…this one can be filed safely under ‘unbelievable’.”
nme On The Great Rock Discography

“A surprisingly interesting book to flick through…a treasure trove of information.”
dvd Monthly


Martin C. Strong & Brendon Griffin

MARTIN C. STRONG has been researching and compiling discographies for around 25 years, among them The Great Metal Discography, The Great Alternative and Indie Discography, The Great Psychedelic Discography and, of course, The Great Rock Discography and The Essential Rock Discography. He is currently working on the second installment of Lights, Camera, Soundtracks which focuses on classical soundtracks and film scores. He lives in Falkirk, Scotland.

BRENDON GRIFFIN has worked sporadically on the Great Rock Discography series since the late 90’s. His work has also appeared in Songlines and Record Collector, and he’s a regular contributor to HMV Choice. When not fielding exacting calls from Martin, he’s often wandering abroad for Rough Guides, contributing to the West Africa, Central America, Bolivia, Spain and Portugal titles, and writing Spain: 25 Ultimate Experiences. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Erika