Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Fine movie, though it is a rather sad story.

The movie starts off by telling the story of Rodney Bingenheimer.

Biography

Rodney "on-the-'Roq" Bingenheimer, is one of the best known disc jockeys in the world, and has been called "The Prince of Pop." His show on Los Angeles' KROQ-FM has been a hit with youth of all ages since it's inception in late 1976, becoming famous for, among other things, the newest and the best rock music for all of L.A.'s "in-crowd" and forward thinking listeners.

Rodney appeared on the Monkees' TV series as a regular guest, and was Davy Jones' stand-in when he was a kid. As a teenager, Rodney grew up with hundreds of rock stars, including: The Monkees, Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Byrds, Elvis Presley, and David Bowie (while landing Bowie a record contract with RCA .) Rodney Does a Bowie salute every year on that star's birthday as well as doing a Phil Spector salute on that producer's birthday.

In the 70's Rodney made his name as a national columnist for "Go" and "Phonograph Record" magazines; and he also operated and co-owned his club, "Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco", an L.A. club where Bowie, Iggy Pop, T.Rex, Suzi Quatro, Led Zeppelin, and the Sweet where all regulars. In fact, the list of Rodney's friends in music, TV and movies is a "Who's Who" of rock. Rodney even recorded a single with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Eric England of Hole called "I Hate the 90's" produced by Cameron Jamie.

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The movie continues to tell the story of Rodney Bingenheimer, while many pop music (primarily Rock'n'Roll) icons talk about Rodney Bingenheimer. The movie gradually starts telling the story of pop culture, in particular, the world of "fame". Half way through the movie do you realize that the story is a tragedy, and it is not a story of glamour or triumph. The sited biography sounds quite interesting because the biography actually does not tell anything that Rodney Bingenheimer accomplished; the biography introduces him as a disk jockey, but it is hardly his job, nor does it have a significant impact on the world of pop music. Rodney Bingenheimer lived in a world created by "fame"; he went after one pop icon to another, and he certainly got close to many iconic figures, but he was never a part of any real action. He was just a part of frenzy that "fame" created. Many of pop icons in the movie talk about Rodney Bingenheimer as if he were someone in their lives, but there is no friendship between Rodney Bingenheimer and them. The fact that pop icons pretend that Rodney Bingenheimer were a friend or acquaintance makes the story very tragic because it suggests that much of the world of "fame" is fake.

When you read about the story of John Lennon, Jim Morrison or David Bowie, my guess is that their stories are not just about fame or fortune. I believe that there were truly triumphant moments and they made a significant impact on our lives, but a part of their experience "fame" was probably not all positive, nor did it have a significant impact on our value. That is what the movie Mayor of the Sunset Strip captures. Dark and empty story of "fame".