Shut Up and Play the Hits Trailer: LCD Soundsystem Is Back! Well, Not Really!

As promised, LCD Soundsytem’s finale show — an epic-y epic of epic proportions, which went down at Madison Square Garden last April — has been turned into a documentary. Shut Up and Play the Hits is part concert movie, part behind the scenes reveal; along with select footage from the three-and-a-half-hour extravaganza, the flick will show us front man James Murphy in the day leading up to, and the day after, the show. It looks very pretty! (That isn’t a surprise considering its directors, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, made the Blur reunion documentary No Distance Left to Run, which was also very pretty). Hits premieres at Sundance later this month but there are no wide release dates yet announced, meaning it’s unclear exactly when a whole city of music snobs can begin telling their music snob friends that “you can totally see me in the movie, dude! Right after “North American Scum” it pans to the audience and I’m right there, bro! In the purple cardigan! Yeah!”

Behind the scenes bonus! The off-screen interviewer who gently coaxes Murphy into low-simmering existential dread is Grantland’s own Chuck Klosterman. Take it away, Chuck:

“Well, there’s not that much to tell: I interviewed Murphy for The Guardian in the spring of 2010, in Williamsburg. This is the article that ran.

About a year later, two British dudes emailed me and said they were directing a concert film about the end of LCD. They asked if I would interview him again (kind of a re-enactment of the original interview). It seemed weird, but I was like, ‘Why not?’ At the time, the film’s working title was HOW TO MAKE THINGS. It was a little like acting, I suppose, but I only had to act exactly like myself. There was no script or anything. What’s crazy is that my only relationship with Murphy is those two interviews (I’ve never spoken with him outside of those two days, and don’t even think I have his email address). He’s a really nice guy, though. Tall! I’m very flattered they asked me, though I haven’t seen the film yet.”

Filed Under: LCD Soundsystem, Movies, Music, Scouting Report

Amos Barshad has written for New York Magazine, Spin, GQ, XXL, and the Arkansas Times. He is a staff writer for Grantland.

Archive @ AmosBarshad