In 1963, Tony Palmer was attending Cambridge University and writing for its newspaper. He was assigned to cover The Beatles press conference at a local theatre but did not ask a single question. John Lennon's curiosity was aroused so he approached Palmer, wondering why he didn't ask any questions. After agreeing that it was an absurd event, Lennon asked Palmer to show him around Cambridge. Palmer refused on the grounds that they would be mobbed by fans. "I have an idea," Lennon replied. When Lennon arrived at the appointed time, he was ridiculously outfitted in a trench coat, floppy hat and waist length fake beard. Four years later, Palmer was asked by the BBC to make a film explaining the current pop music scene. Palmer contacted Lennon for assistance and Lennon arranged meetings with a few of his friends: Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Zappa, The Animals and Donovan. Palmer filmed live performances of these musicians in Britain and America and interviewed them. The live footage is very rare and powerful. Many of the artists express their revulsion about the current war in Vietnam (warning: a few disturbing images of war atrocities do briefly appear.) Highlights show the Beatles in the studio (Ringo talks about the mixing board) and The Who trashing their instruments at the Opera House in Peoria, Illinois (which looked like a Cracker Barrel restaurant from the outside) where fans are seen rushing the stage grabbing fragments of instruments for souvenirs. "They thought collectively, through the power of the music, that they could change the world," Palmer says in a contemporary interview included as a special feature on the DVD. Even if they didn't change the world---and that is debatable---they certainly rocked it. www.imdb.com/title/tt0814001/