Hype! is a documentary directed by Doug Pray

Doug Pray

Doug Pray is an American documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor who often explores unique subcultures in his films. His work includes Surfwise a portrait of the nomadic, 11-member Doc Paskowitz family ; Big Rig , a documentary about truck drivers; Infamy , a documentary about...

 about the popularity of grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the steps of grunge, from its subversive inception in neighborhood basements, to its explosion as a pop culture

Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 phenomenon. Hype! shows grunge from the point of view of people within the grunge scene, and attempts to dispel some of the myths of the genre promulgated by media hype, hence the title. The movie generally portrays the latter faction in a satirical way, though acknowledges that media hype helped to propel some of these obscure bands to fame, albeit briefly.

The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 in January 1996. It later opened to general audiences on November 8 of the same year.

Hype! includes interviews and performances from bands (primarily oriented with the Sub Pop Records axis) such as TAD

Tad (band)

Tad was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington led by Tad Doyle. Among the first of the many bands which came out of Seattle in the grunge era, Tad was notable for the fact that its music had a noticeable 1970s metal influence, rather than the punk which influenced most other grunge bands...

, Mudhoney, Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, Soundgarden

Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

, Coffin Break

Coffin Break

-History:Coffin Break was formed in Seattle in the late 1980s, during the time that grunge was beginning to catch on; however, the group eschewed the nascent alternative sound, taking their influences from punk rock. The group released its first two full-length albums and a compilation on C/Z Records...

, The Gits

The Gits

The Gits were an American punk rock band, formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1986. Known for their part in the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, their distinct punk rock sound gained a reputation for its bluesy street punk aesthetic...

, Love Battery

Love Battery

Love Battery is an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington.For the most part Love Battery was an unusual group in the early '90s Seattle music scene, blending intense swirling psychedelic guitar work, pulsating rhythms, driving beats and heartfelt vocals derived from '60s garage/psych, '70s...

, Flop

Flop (band)

Flop was an early-1990s pop punk band from Seattle, Washington. The band gained some exposure as a result of a brief appearance in Doug Pray's motion picture documentary Hype!.-The Beginning :...

, The Melvins

The Melvins

The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...

, Mono Men

Mono Men

The Mono Men were an American garage punk band, based in Bellingham, Washington. Their sound contained elements of grunge , but the Mono Men filtered these through a mimicry of 1960s Washington proto-punk, garage rock bands such as The Sonics.-History:The Mono Men rose up from the ashes of another...

, Supersuckers, Zipgun

Zipgun

Zipgun was a punk rock band from Seattle Washington active from 1991 to 1994.The original founding members were: guitarist Neil Rogers , singer Robb Clarke , bassist Mark Wooten and drummer Dan Cunneen .- History :Zipgun was formed and led by Neil Rogers, who had...

, Seaweed

Seaweed (band)

Seaweed is a band from Tacoma, Washington who were active throughout the 1990s. Their style of music is a combination of punk rock and grunge, mostly due to its 'dirty' sound.-History:...

, Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...

, 7 Year Bitch

7 Year Bitch

7 Year Bitch was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington that was active for 7 years, between 1990 and 1997. Their career yielded three albums, and was impacted by the deaths of their guitarist Stefanie Sargent and close-friend Mia Zapata of fellow Seattle punks The Gits.-Career:7 Year...

, Hovercraft

Hovercraft (band)

Hovercraft was an instrumental experimental rock group that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993. It was co-founded by its core duo of guitarist/samplist/tape looper Ryan Shinn, and bassist Beth Liebling. Liebling and Shinn would use the pseudonyms "Sadie 7" and "Campbell 2000", respectively,...

, Gas Huffer

Gas Huffer

Gas Huffer was an American garage rock band from Washington state. They were known for their formal and comical lyrics and their antic stage presence.-History:Gas Huffer classified themselves loosely in the Garage punk genre...

 and Fastbacks

Fastbacks

The Fastbacks were a Seattle punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch , and friends Lulu Gargiulo and Kim Warnick , they disbanded in 2001...

. Along with the DVD that comes with Nirvana's With the Lights Out

With the Lights Out

With the Lights Out is a box set, containing three CDs and one DVD, of previously rare or unreleased material, including b-sides, demos, rough rehearsal recordings and live recordings, from the American rock band Nirvana. It was released in November 2004...

, it is one of the few films to contain video footage of Nirvana's first performance of their breakthrough hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit

Smells Like Teen Spirit

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind , released on DGC Records...

".

Sub Pop released a soundtrack to the film in 1996, on CD as well as a limited box set version on colored 7" vinyl. [ AMG entry]

External links

• Doug Pray Interview