Vinyl

Vinyl, A New York music executive in the 1970s hustles to make a career out of the city's diverse music scene. Created by Rich Cohen, Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese you wouldn't think it could go wrong. Ah, but it does. I can forgive the inaccuracies. This isn't a documentary even though real life musicians are depicted. It has that loose fast pace the Scorsese is know for, which I adore. The biggest problem is the budget. 30 mil on the first episode? The problem may be the use of so much copyrighted material and people. DJ Kool Herc is presently suing because they used his likeness without permission. ($10,000 just isn't enough, eh?) If you don't know who he is unfriend me now. How can they carry on with the average 7.5 per episode? To top it off Casey Bloys is the new head of programming at HBO and BOOM, Vinyl gets the boot. Coincidence? Maybe. Rarely do series succeed in the beginning (Seinfeld had terrible first season ratings). But this could have blossomed into something epic. Maybe it will get picked up by someone else with a big budget vision. A girl can dream.

Some people here imply that good reviews on IMDb are paid critiques. Well I hope somebody paid me to write TV shows reviews, but it is not the case.

I liked this show a lot and I regret that HBO has decided to kill it after a great first season.

Many people complain of a clichéd depiction of the rock and roll 70s, with all the drugs, the sex, the deals and rising stars. Clichés come up in the first place because they represent an established perception or behavior, so if you set the action right at the time when those behaviors were taking shape, you can't really find fault at this. It is as if you watched a movie about the Belle Epoque and you complained that women look like flappers. It's simply not fair.

I also find negative reviews are quite contradictory. While some say they have been bored, others point that the frantic atmosphere is excessive or that there are many parallel plot lines.

I get the feeling that just because many people (myself included) lived through that period, they all consider they own the "real truth" about rock-and-roll and the 70s, and so they tend to measure up the show against their own memories or experiences, and they suppose the series should have reflected their subjective imprint about the time and the culture. This is also not fair.

I liked the show quite much. The talented and experienced people who set their hands on the show did a fantastic job, the music, story, characters and performances were above standard from every point of view.

Also, the cast was magnificent, particularly Bobby Cannavale whose performative skills I have come to appreciate, having seen him on Nurse Jackie and Boardwalk Empire. He is an extraordinary actor who filled the role and even offered more.

If you are open-minded and fair, if you trust on the great team involved in The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire and other outstanding shows, please give this a try. Yes, there are drugs, sex, rock and roll, and excess everywhere, and the embrionary stages of the recording label industry which, in later years, would destroy the music we loved. It is, precisely, the whole point of the show. And it is wonderfully well portrayed.

As a former record producer at the top end of the international rock / pop business who came a generation later than the protagonists of Vinyl, who knows intimately the reality of the music scene that the show documents, I found it superb.

I can only laugh at the ignorami bleating "cliche" and thinking they're clever for it. Clichés typically become clichés because they're accurate and true...

I can't even begin to count the people I've met irl who could so easily be characters in Vinyl. This show totally hit the nail on the head, which makes it even sadder that HBO couldn't see the value in it, and cancelled. But they do that with almost every single decent show they produce, so no surprise there.

The energy, the momentum, the desperation to stay afloat... it's all there. The direction and performances are top-notch too. 10/10. RIP.

Why in the world would anyone stop Vinyl? I just read a interview with Juno Temple, as I'm watching the final episode of the first season, when I found out. So well produced with solid performances! Is it the usual widespread American paranoia with a little nakedness, that did the show in? Whatever the reason it's not valid to leave us hanging....at least tie up the loose ends with a second season! WTF guys!

Great show, with great music and its nice to hear some songs i hadn't heard before not just play the typical ones or the typical hit bands. yea it has lots of drugs and sex and stuff like that and so did the 70's, can't understand the crying from some people here about drugs and sex and calling it a cliché, this is like it was in the 70's, and people did smoke cigarettes and did do bad things and they were thought of as cool. but i understand why the big companies started to hire just some people who could sing or could'nt sing, just do anything they want and let them write songs for them like a lot of the so called big stars today that can barely sing or write a song or play an instrument. it must have been very hard at times to control 5 guys drunk and out of their minds on drugs most of the time but still great artists and musicians that wanted to do their own thing and new things, that is what made those times so great and the music even better. but at least we still have thousands of great bands that are big but will never be as big as the bands from the 70's, but at least they are doing their own thing and get a following on the internet and through touring. but back then also a lot of bands didn't get anywhere because of company problems and inside troubles, but having a hit on the radio is probably more about the looks and stuff then the actual music itself. and yea you have to get used to the actors playing the famous people but you will get over it, they do their job well but of course they don't look exactly like the people bot close enough.

but watch this show if you want great music and a little inside look of the live in the 70's, of course you have seen it many times before both better and worse but why now relive again??