Hype! (1996)
Helvey-Pray Productions

Description

Filmed over a 3-1/2 year period, "Hype!" takes a close, hard look at Seattle's "grunge" music scene, from its origins in the basements of young musicians in the 1980s to its worldwide popularity in the early 1990s, thanks largely to Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Interviews and performance footage of Seattle musicians (both famous and unknown), provide insight into the history of grunge, most notably its effect on the music industry, and its exploitation by the media.

Tags

Rock, 1990s, USA, Seattle, Grunge

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Austin Chronicle | Russell Smith

Hype! leaves the viewer invigorated, filled with awe and wonder at the moronic inferno that is modern celebrity journalism, and commiserating in advance with its next victim.
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9.2 DVD Verdict | Adam Arseneau

More a documentary about the loss of intimacy in a vibrant music scene than a star-studded expose, Hype balances feelings of musical nostalgia with cynical disillusionment about the complete self-destruction of the Seattle music scene, a scene that was never really designed to have the spotlight of the world shining directly upon it.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

This hip look at the Seattle music scene of the past decade treats the hype with bemused humor but treats the music with respect. Packed with witty interviews with band members, record execs, and Seattle music aficionados, much of the film places a welcome spotlight on the bands that didn't become part of the national "grunge" phenomenon and scores of live clips and rare recordings show that "the Seattle Sound" didn't begin with Nirvana or end with Soundgarden.
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9.0 Variety | Godfrey Cheshire

Superb sound and image quality and a complex, intelligent perspective help make "Hype!" an engaging as well as thoughtful chronicle of the Seattle rock scene during its decade-long rise to worldwide influence.
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8.0 San Francisco Chronicle | Edward Guthman

Mixing outstanding performance footage and interviews with some major players of the grunge phenomenon, including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt, the co- founders of Sub Pop Records, ``Hype!'' is one part salute to the raw Seattle sound and one part critique of the marketing, hype and omnivorous commercialism that smothered it.
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8.0 DVD Talk | Adam Tyner

Hype! is a great documentary with an appeal more widespread than to just flannel-clad throwbacks who haven't bought a CD since 1993.
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7.5 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

A smart, ironic documentary named ``Hype!'' charts the rise of grunge and its enormous impact on the Seattle scene (at the height of the phenomenon, Spin magazine was gushing, "Seattle is to the rock 'n' roll world what Bethlehem is to Christianity''). Local types are more sardonic.
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7.5 The Onion A.V. Club | Keith Phipps

Hype! does a nice job of being about both the music itself and the frenzy that surrounded it following its explosion into the public consciousness.
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4.0 Salon.com | Jennie Yabroff

"Hype" wants you to think that a few interviews with some less popular bands and some poorly shot concert footage lend the film an insider legitimacy and credibility that excuse it from the same accountability it demands from other media. Don't believe it. The biggest difference between "Hype's" coverage of Seattle and MTV's is that MTV did it first - about three years ago.
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