Colin Hanks invites you to hang out at the famous record store one more time in his new documentary.
By Eric Goldman
The demise of pretty much every large music chain in the past decade was a melancholy experience for those of us who grew up going to these stores. As much as it makes blunt sense – when you can buy most music digitally, a giant building filled with CDs just isn’t needed for many — it was always fun to browse the new and vintage releases, chat with the staff and, often, to just hang out. Like many, my local Tower Records was where my friends and I could spend some time before going to a movie, with plenty to see and to potentially grab us with “You need to buy this right now!” allure.
Clearly someone who shares that nostalgia, specifically for Tower, is actor Colin Hanks, as the Fargo / Life in Pieces star has directed All Things Must Pass, a new documentary focused on the rise and fall of the once-dominant music chain.
Hanks charts the entire history of Tower, and its humble beginnings, as Russ Solomon and his father began selling used jukebox albums from his father’s Tower drug store in 1941, before Solomon branched out on his own and opened a music retail store in his home town of Sacramento in 1960. Hanks has in-depth interviews with the now 90-year old Solomon himself and a ton of key Tower Records staff, who were there as the chain expanded into San Francisco, Los Angeles and eventually across the country and overseas (where some Tower Records still exist, having been sold off from the US company before it went under completely).
What really makes an impact here is the seat of your pants approach Solomon took to running what became a huge company and how so many of the people who would end up with key executive positions at Tower began as clerks at the stores and would then stay with the company for nearly its entire existence. These were true home grown success stories, and it’s hysterical to learn how, in one example, Bob Delanoy could go from a dude hanging around near the first LA store as it was being built in his neighborhood to a decades-long career with the company.
No doubt feeling the freedom one has when discussing a company that just doesn’t exist anymore, Solomon and his staff are pretty open about the atmosphere at Tower and how the employees were not exactly straight-laced, with a ton of after-hours partying, not to mention cocaine used to fuel all-night store inventories. In the midst of this, they were also hard workers and it’s easy to be very endeared by this motley group of folks helping build up something that became so huge.
As for Tower’s demise, “All Things Must Pass” has some interesting observations about how it’s not so simple as saying “MP3s killed Tower,” as it’s noted that some bad decision-making on a large level also contributed to what occurred. It’s here I wish we got a bit more detail or pointed questions, as it feels like many of the Tower interview subjects don’t really speak to some of the points made, such as the notably high price points of CDs and how off-putting that became to consumers.
Along with Tower alum, the documentary also includes fun interviews with some huge names in music, including Bruce Springsteen, David Geffen, Elton John (who was one of many celebrity regulars at the iconic Sunset Blvd. location in Los Angeles) and Dave Grohl, who actually worked as a Tower clerk himself before his Nirvana and Foo Fighters stardom. All speak to what Tower represented to the music industry, both for music aficionados – its selection was bigger than almost any other stores at the time – or for musicians hoping to achieve a level of status that Tower featuring your music, or even your album cover on their walls, could help give them.
Hanks does a strong job with his documentary debut here, giving All Things Must Pass a lot of energy and an endearing quality. It helps that the interview subjects are so engaging and likable, really putting a spotlight on how different a group these guys were from your usual “suits” – in fact, I wish we could have gotten a bit more reflection from these people on how odd it must have been to find themselves in such crucial positions, given the humble way most of them began with the company. Overall, All Things Must Pass is an entertaining and sweet look back at a company that made an impact while it was here, complete with a very touching coda, involving Solomon, that hits home in just the right way.
All Things Must Pass is now playing in Los Angeles and New York with plans to expand to other cities. Info on where the film is opening can be found on the official website.
