808

Play trailer

808

Released Dec 9, 2016

1h 47m

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

68%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

The history of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the birth of electronic music.

THR Staff

Hollywood Reporter

Stylishly presented and dance-friendly...Aspiring beatmakers and music geeks will eat it up.

Jun 2, 2022

Full Review

Jack Hamilton

Slate

A fittingly quirky and lively documentary.

Jun 2, 2022

Full Review

Andrew Barker

Variety

A consistently entertaining, instructive look at the unlikely heartbeat behind so much of the past three decades’ standout pop music.

Jun 2, 2022

Full Review

Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

If you've been missing the Belcourt's Music City Mondays series, here's a music-related documentary that will put some pep in your step - and contains no rockist clichés whatsoever.

Sep 10, 2021

Full Review

Benjamin H. Smith

Decider

808 is consistently interesting, informative and fun.

Apr 4, 2018

Full Review

Kahron Spearman

The Daily Dot

It's a valuable piece of work, laying out the ongoing influence and impact of the Roland TR-808 drum machine.

Jan 17, 2017

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

🤯 x 808. Playlist done!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Awesome if you like this sort of thing. I do.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The movie didn't cover one west coast artist. Straight garbage!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

My only complaint about this great documentary, is that there is no mention of The Egyptian Lover and Newcleus, who were pioneers of the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A series of interviews rather than a documentary that goes deep into the history of this amazing machine. And the worst thing is that the interviews keep going on about "wow this bass drum, wow this hi-hat sounds, ...oh! this cowbell''.. Eerrrr.. helloo!! we know this already! Tell us something that we dont know, like some elements behind the engineering, or the marketing, or the reason this happened at that time and how it relates to the music evolution that followed.. If you were to make a documentary about Hugo Boss for example would you only interview people who wear and admire his clothes?... Waste of my money this was. Plenty of free documentaries out there on electronic music. Sad to see that tomatometer critic reviewers give it 100% - I mean come on guys - there are other ways to market your documentary and monetise on music history.. Please..

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Def worth watching for music-history/technology nerds... wish it felt a little more "gen access" for the greater public. Thought some sections were too long-winded... but I REALLY loved interview with Japanese designer. Kinda my fave part, really. :) And yes... I used to have one. Fantastic(!) machine. :)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Alex Dunn

Director

Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn

Arthur Baker

Arthur Baker

Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa

Jellybean Benitez

Jellybean Benitez

Phil Collins

Phil Collins

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM

100%

88%

As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM

Watchlist

What We Started

82%

99%

What We Started

Watchlist

TRAILER

for What We Started

Silicon Cowboys

100%

75%

Silicon Cowboys

Watchlist

Here Come the Videofreex

100%

%

Here Come the Videofreex

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Here Come the Videofreex

40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie

92%

97%

40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie

Watchlist

TRAILER

for 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

The history of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the birth of electronic music.

Director: Alex Dunn
Producer: Alex Dunn, Matthew Jarman, Craig Kallman
Screenwriter: Luke Bainbridge, Alex Dunn
Distributor: Atlantic Film
Production Co: Atlantic Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 9, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Runtime: 1h 47m

Most Popular at Home Now