Nobody will debate the effect that rock and roll had on bringing down the wall that divided West and East Berlin. Everyone from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen appealed to those on both sides, while Radio Free Europe and Voice of America helped keep everyone in the loop. But did rock and roll and the freedom it proffered actually cause the iron curtain to come down? Did “the truth in one big power chord,” as bassist Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake and Blue Oyster Cult) asserts in Rockin’ The Wall, really cause a revolution?
Larry Schweikart and Marc Leif are behind this documentary, based on Schweikart’s book Seven Events That Made America America. Hearing everyone from musicians — Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, Vanilla Fudge guitarist Vinny Martell and organist Mark Stein, bassist Jimmy Haslip from the Yellowjackets, and keyboardist David Paich of Toto — and to East Berlin residents talk the importance of rock music and its impact the Berlin wall is truly a startling, eye-opening experience.
What’s more is the music — classics like “Ball of Confusion,” “People Got To Be Free,” and “Train Kept a Rollin’” — alongside new, original songs by Stein, Rare Earth’s Peter Rivera, and Mother’s Finest. For those who like to believe in the power of music, Rockin’ The Wall offers an in-depth and entertaining account of the Berlin Wall, 25 years after it fell.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
