Hype! - Documentary - The Seattle (grunge) scene in the early 90s

[Eldon Tyrell]

 

Just came across this very good documentary that shows the growth and subsequent overexposure of the Seattle scene in the early 90s.

 

From Wiki:

Hype! (1996) is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the development of the grunge scene from its early beginning in neighborhood basements to its emergence as an explosive pop culture phenomenon. Hype! attempts to dispel some of the myths of the genre promulgated by media hype by depicting the grunge subculture from the point of view of people who were active in the scene. The film generally portrays this mythos in a satirical way while acknowledging that it was media hype that helped propel some of these obscure bands to fame.

 

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

Soundgarden, Coffin Break, The Gits, Love Battery, Flop, The Melvins, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Mono Men, Supersuckers, Zipgun, Seaweed, Pearl Jam, 7 Year beach, Hovercraft, Gas Huffer, and Fastbacks. It also features interviews with band manager Susan Silver, record producers Jack Endino and Steve Fisk, and photographer Charles Peterson.

 

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

 

Some more info: https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/hype-101849/

 

 

 

[Eldon Tyrell]

Also cool - Hype!- 20 years later that features interviews with several of the documentary's protagonists

 

 

 

 

[Eldon Tyrell]

Both the documentary as well as the follow-up 20 years later were good but did not mention Alice in Chains enough. Not sure why 😞

 

 

[ubit]

Can you only watch this on Youtube?

Edited September 30, 2021 by ubit

[Woodwind]

Thanks for posting these

[Eldon Tyrell]

4 hours ago, ubit said:

Can you only watch this on Youtube?

No idea. Maybe some streaming services have it too, but I am currently not subscribing to any of them. Spent too much money on basses 😉 

It also got released on DVD. 

[Harps]

Great film! I was a full on grunge kid in my teens (and mostly still am, only older and podgier). The soundtrack was fantastic, I had it for years before I managed to finally see the film. 
 

the best song was Second Skin by The Gits. RIP Mia

[Grassie]

Watched this the other night, really enjoyed it. One thing that struck me though was Eddie Vedder's interview where he says part of the reason he felt guilty about Pearl Jam's success was that there were many other bands from Seattle that should've had the same amount of exposure as his band.

Having watched the film I feel that the reason PJ, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and AIC were massive was because they were great bands with great songs. A lot of the bands featured in the documentary were actually pretty uninteresting and not that great.

[ubit]

1 minute ago, Grassie said:

Watched this the other night, really enjoyed it. One thing that struck me though was Eddie Vedder's interview where he says part of the reason he felt guilty about Pearl Jam's success was that there were many other bands from Seattle that should've had the same amount of exposure as his band.

Having watched the film I feel that the reason PJ, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and AIC were massive was because they were great bands with great songs. A lot of the bands featured in the documentary were actually pretty uninteresting and not that great.

 

 

I agree, take the Melvins for instance. I think they suck and I love the bands you listed.