Don't Forget Me - Eddie Cochran: A rock'n'roll documentary on a mission

This is a documentary on a mission – to bolster Eddie Cochran against the tides of time and honour his request: Don’t Forget Me was a phrase he’d write next to his autograph.

A curious thing to write, one which is discussed in this film by its abundance of star names, as to whether this was a sign he had premonitions of his own death, or was just spooked by the deaths of his close friends Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper in a plane crash and feared his relentless touring would end in similar fashion.

In fact, someone mentions that he may have been referring to the way that rock n roll was often considered a fad, and this smart young man – A-grade student, guitar technician, songwriting pioneer – must have been aware that his position in the vanguard that followed Elvis, were likely only going to have a brief time in the sun.

But actually, as Nick Moran points out in the film, while rock ‘n’ roll faded in America in the late 50s, it was taken up in the UK and exploded – stars like Cochran, Little Richard, Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis found the appetite among bored teenagers looking for excitement was huge and they began touring unglamorous venues around the towns and cities of grim old post-war Britain.

In fact, the very heart of this documentary from director Kirsty Young are the English musicians who were inspired to start bands by this. You may have heard of these bands: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who.

Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock was the song Paul McCartney played to John Lennon as an audition to get into his band. Keith Richards – pleasingly interviewed at length here – recalls, “We all wanted to be Eddie.”

Tragically, while Eddie Cochran was busy inspiring the generation of rock n roll bands who changed the world, he died: killed in a car accident near Chippenham on his way to Heathrow to fly back to the States. He was just 21.

Keith Richards in Don’t Forget Me

Film still

But already by that age, he had become a pioneer, not just as a sexy Elvis-style pin-up who had appeared in teen films like The Girl Can’t Help It and Untamed Youth, but as a songwriter. This separated him from Elvis and was one of the key elements that inspired the young English musicians. He was sexy but he was also an innovative guitarist and wrote hits that were immediate and powerful: Summertime Blues and C’mon Everybody are some of the most covered songs of all time.

Since he died so young, there is precious little footage of Cochran. Young chooses to feature melodramatic inserts of actors playing Cochran and his mother to bring to life words exchanged in letters and interviews, ultimately an effective technique as the film steers towards its tragedy. But the talking heads are the real gold here. Family members recall how this kid from Minnesota was a bright, cheeky kid with a natural gift for music who joined bands straight out of high school and quickly became a star – but always stayed close to this mother. Fans recall their interactions with him, and hint that sex was right there with rock n roll in Cochran’s world (you also feel ‘Don’t Forget Me’ was probably just a cute, heart-string tugging thing to write for fans, who were crazy for his heartbreak songs and heartbreaking looks).

And then there the big guns. Musicians like Richards, Alice Cooper, Yungblud and Roger Daltrey discuss exactly why his music was so important, while Tim Rice enthuses over his lyrics and Kiefer Sutherland reveals his expertise after nearly playing Cochran for an abandoned film project.

The sheer enthusiasm of this line-up makes the film work and there’s an extra edge of accomplishment about it. Producer Ben Charles Edwards has said that no previous film has ever been made about Cochran because his estate were resistant to any depictions. Given some of the films made about music stars through the years, you can understand family reluctance, but there’s also a duty here to make sure the likes of Cochran aren’t forgotten, that it wasn’t simply Elvis then the Beatles, but many other important characters who deserve their dues.

And more than anything else, his songs are so great they demand to be heard over and over. I would defy anyone not to be a huge Eddie Cochran fan after seeing this film. Watch it, weep over it, and then play his songs to death. No way he’ll be forgotten.