Colin Hanks directs a documentary about the iconic retailer Tower Records. In 1999, the company racked up $1 billion in sales. Five years later, it would file for bankruptcy. In the 50's, Russ Solomon got into selling used jukebox records in his father's drug store. It's a start of a business which grew into a social icon, international retailer, and a sales powerhouse. However, it grew too big with too much debt. A sick Russ tries to hand off the company to his son Mike. The businessman part of the company Bud had to retire due to illness. Napster and the internet is the final death knell. This is a fine production by Hanks. It lays out the story of the family retailer very well. The story is representative of many other retailers as well as showing an unique slice of the music industry. Some may get more out of this movie especially former workers or constant customers. It's also a bit more of a California story. At its heart, it is a story about the passing of an era.

This a feature documentary film taking a good glimpse at the rise and fall of a legacy. Tower Records dominated the retail music market for decades coming to rise in 1960. The birth child of the flamboyant and rebellious founder Russ Solomon. Humble beginnings becoming a powerhouse in the industry. By 2000, Tower records was worth $1 billion and six years later fell victim to the Internet and free streaming music sites, proving a major lesson of objectivity to how business is at the fate of realities in the ever changing marketplace. In 2006, as Tower Records faded in the sunset of bankruptcy, two hundred stores in thirty countries, the heart and soul of the music world stopped beating. But the legacy remains.

Some of the music featured: Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Perry Como, The Rooftop Singers, the Beach Boys, T. Rex, Steve Miller Band, Rolling Stones and George Harrison.

Sharing commentary are: David Geffen, Steve Knopper, David Grohl, Chris Cornell, Elton John, Chuck D., Bruce Springteen, Heidi Cotler, Steve Nikkel, Mike Ferrace and Russ Solomon.

Here's an essentially fraudulent history of Tower Records, one of the most successful music businesses in history — until it wasn't. We get the usual endless interviews with employees, plus a few now-doddering celebrities babbling on about the wonderful times they all had. The employees from management on down were apparently loaded on booze and who knows what else day in and day out. What a party they all had! (Somehow, this doesn't jibe with my own recollections of Tower, where sullen clerks with nails pounded into their faces couldn't find their own behinds with both hands, but maybe that's just grumpy old me.) Anyway, the fascinating (not) interviews about the glory days take up most of this pseudo-documentary. Then comes the big reveal. What killed Tower's business was — wait for it — digitized music and its subsequent piracy. Gosh, I never would have guessed. And when you stop to think about it for a minute, there's a big lie at the heart of this revelation. What killed Tower Records and the CD business in general was their own greed. To get the one decent song you wanted, you had to shell out 20 smackers for a CD filled with more bloat tracks than Samsung packs crappy apps into their phones. It was a colossal rip-off. So when Steve Jobs came along with iTunes and let you go back to the grand old days of the 45 rpm single, and you could buy the one track you wanted for 99¢, it was time for all the record store pirates to say goodnight. In any case, I fell asleep four times trying to watch this train wreck to the end, so for its narcotizing properties, I am awarding this turkey two stars instead of one star.