"We wear longjohns here because it's fuckin' cold!"

Hype! is a terrific documentary that loosely chronicles the Pacific Northwest rock music scene in the early '90s and qualifies as a must-see film for all Pearl Jam fans. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Idaho in January 1996 but was unable to find a national distributor until it was shown a few months later at the Seattle International Film Festival. It has now been released on a limited basis by Cinepix Film Properties and, hopefully, will be shown in many cities in the next few months. If not, cross your fingers and toes for a video release! The soundtrack was released on the Sub Pop label in October 1996 and its songs are listed below.

Briefly, Hype! was created by two California-based filmmakers, director Doug Pray and producer Steve Helvey, who have always been interested in "Seattle" bands (anywhere from Aberdeen to Bellingham, actually). They interviewed people and filmed several bands from about 1992 to 1994, and the fact that they were able to gain the trust and cooperation of many music producers and local musicians is an amazing feat in itself. Of particular interest to Pearl Jam fans are several Eddie Vedder moments in the second half of the movie and the very appropriate closing footage of "Not For You" from Pearl Jam's Self-Pollution radio broadcast in 1995. Of a more general interest are the performance clips and/or interviews with members of Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Fastbacks, The Gits, 7 Year Bitch and several other lesser-known Northwest bands.

Many people might expect the speakers and performers showcased in this movie to be morose or resentful about the national and international attention on this region (especially since the film's subtitle is "Surviving the Northwest Rock Explosion"), but instead there is a wonderful sense of humor and bafflement about the whole unprecedented experience. There is no narration in the film either; the players and the music speak for it all, along with excellent cinematography that allows the various physical backgrounds to tell this story too.

Hype! follows a loose chronology from the '80s and '90s in attempting to explain the progression of this musical genre from the unknown to the over-exposed. Even though bands such as Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were already signed to major labels at the time, what really brought the Northwest music scene to the center of universal attention was Nirvana's Nevermind album and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video, which caught almost everyone in the local music industry by surprise and blew the scene wide open. In a lot of unfortunate ways, though, money changed things. As Eddie points out, corporations and the people in them became greedy so it became an issue of commerce instead of music, and people became more focused on gossip and the "nature of celebrity" in the Northwest instead of embracing more of the bands and a wider variety of music that was being created in this region.

As the artistry seemed to become reduced to "grunge lite" elevator music and flannel fashion lay- outs in Vogue magazine, the musicians and their support people developed an attitude of clownishness to survive the media frenzy. Fortunately, that is the ultimate spirit that Hype! captures and is what makes this movie such a delight to watch. Without humor, the music scene would appear much more bleak than it really was. Even with some of the ensuing disillusionment and heartbreak at the time, Hype! does not dwell on the negative and has a strong, upbeat message that makes the audience leave with a smile (be sure to stay until the very end!). The fact that so many people, including some of the industry's shyest, became willing to help these two movie-makers is a sure sign that they were on the right track in documenting a significant portion of this amazing story.

The Hype! soundtrack is as follows:

1. Fastbacks........................................ K Street (live)
2. Wipers............................................. Return of the Rat
3. U-Men.............................................. Dig It a Hole
4. Green River..................................... Swallow My Pride (unreleased demo)
5. Soundgarden................................... Nothing to Say
6. Mudhoney........................................ Touch Me I’m Sick (live)
7. Nirvana............................................. Negative Creep
8. Some Velvet Sidewalk....................... Moustrap (live)
9. Dead Moon...................................... 54/40 (live)
10. Girl Trouble.................................... My Hometown
11. Tad................................................. Giant Killer
12. Gas Huffer....................................... Hotcakes (7” version)
13. Young Fresh Fellows........................ Low Beat
14. Supersuckers................................... I Say Fuck (live)
15. 7 Year Bitch..................................... Knot (live)
16. The Gits........................................... Second Skin (live)
17. Flop................................................. Julie Francavilla (unreleased demo)
18. Posies............................................. Throwaway (live)
19. Pearl Jam......................................... Not For You (live on radio)
20. Mark Lanegan................................... The River Rise
21. Pigeonhed........................................ Fire’s Coming Down
22. Fastbacks........................................ Just Say