Ralph Bakshi’s “American Pop” is not so much about a story as it is about music and the power it holds. As trite as it is to say, Music is the soundtrack of our lives, and as such has a power over us to help us cope, help us think, and is the key to our memories and fates. “American Pop” is not so much the story of many men through history originating from a faithful Jewish man who refused to vacate his temple during the raiding of Russian Czars one day, it’s more the evolution of music and how the people in and around the transformation are but a mere microcosm. From a Canter to a Vaudevillian, to a piano player, “American Pop” may be the exploration of music but Bakshi also manages to convey how it’s served as a source of love and emotion for a long line of men craving some sort of love and affection in their lives.
