Unsung: Pump Up the Volume

Unsung is a feature in which I take a look at a pop culture phenomenon (be it music, TV, literary, whatever) that has been forgotten or underappreciated. In this installment, I look at Pump Up the Volume, the 1990 Christian Slater movie about a pirate radio DJ.

As the 1980s were ending, there was a definite shift happening in the music world and pop culture in general. Alternative or college rock was starting to gain some traction in the mainstream music world, with bands like U2 and R.E.M. emerging as superstars by the decade's end. There was still plenty of lame stuff on the charts, but the fact that a band like Love and Rockets could have the #3 song on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989 was a sign that things were indeed changing.

On the silver screen, John Hughes made a big impression in the '80s for his bittersweet comedies, there was also a glut of dumb teen party movies. But things were changing there as well, with Cameron Crowe's great 1989 dramedy Say Anything being a leading example. Canadian director Allan Moyle, who had made the iconic 1980 new wave comedy Times Square, wrote a script about a teenager who runs his own pirate radio station, based on a high school classmate of his who would distribute anonymous pamphlets with commentaries on life and school issues. The classmate later killed himself; his struggles informed the script, which a producer convinced him to direct.

Originally called Lean On Me, the film was picked up by New Line Cinema, which was notable for making independent movies at the time, including the Nightmare on Elm Street series but also John Waters' controversial films and Alex Cox's Sid & Nancy. While the studio supported Moyle's vision, there were still some moves to make it more mainstream, like changing the title to Pump Up the Volume, the name of a dance song that was a big hit for M/A/R/R/S in 1987.

Moyle initially wanted John Cusack to star as Mark Hunter, the meek high school student who revealed another side of his personality as DJ Hard Harry, but Cusack refused because he was finished playing high school kids. They ended up going with Christian Slater, who was a hot commodity after starring in 1989's Heathers as a fairly twisted character that was sort of a high school version of Jack Nicholson. He was also having some issues offscreen, with two drunk driving arrests in 1988 and 1989, the second of which saw him crash his car into some telephone poles after leading police on a car chase; he spent 10 days in jail. Samantha Mathis played Nora, who becomes obsessed with figuring out the identity of the mysterious DJ.

Set in a suburb of Phoenix, the movie finds Slater playing a shy loner in school during the day who then unleashes his angst at night when he broadcasts a radio show from his parents' basement. He plays punk rock and hip hop, goes on animated rants about corruption and how corporations and adults suck, and adds to the shock factor by pretending to masturbate. Eventually, he builds a following among his classmates, who don't know his identity but are picking up what he's putting down. Harry struggles with the fact that a student who called into his show later killed himself and he encourages his listeners to deal with their problems. As students start circulating bootleg tapes of Harry's show, parents and faculty become convinced it's causing the school's problems and call the police. The movie's third act gets a little ridiculous, with seemingly every student in the school gathering to follow Harry's every word and the FCC sending a small army of vehicles out to trace the show's location.

While pirate radio never became a huge thing in the U.S., eventually podcasts, YouTube and social media became similar ways for people to create their own content and get their thoughts out to a wider audience. The movie was also ahead of its time with its eclectic soundtrack, which featured Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" as the station's theme song but also provided a pre-Lollapalooza vibe with songs from Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Pixies, Bad Brains and Henry Rollins, Peter Murphy, Above the Law, Cowboy Junkies, Ivan Neville and Concrete Blonde (covering "Everybody Knows"). Included in the film are Beastie Boys, Ice-T, Stan Ridgway, Was (Not Was), Descendents, Richard Hell and Urban Dance Squad. 

The film was a dud at the box office when it was released in August 1990, grossing only $1.6 million on its opening weekend and a total of $11.5 million in North America. Part of the problem may have been its R rating, which kept its target audience from seeing it in the theater. The studio also didn't a good job distributing and marketing the movie.

It garnered a cult following when it was released to home video. Thanks to rights issues primarily to do with the music licensing, Pump Up the Volume's soundtrack isn't available for streaming. The movie is currently not available for streaming, either, although it has popped up on Max from time to time (I watched it a few years ago). It's available on Blu-ray, though. It's also up on YouTube in a series of clips if you want to watch it that way.

Indie movies also began to have more success in the years that followed Pump Up the Volume's release, with auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson making their mark, among many others.

After Pump Up the Volume, Moyle went on to direct The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag and Empire Records in the '90s, but nothing since. A musical theater adaptation of Pump Up the Volume was supposed to premiere in April 2020, but didn't happen because of the COVID pandemic. Slater had box office success in the '90s, including appearances in True Romance, Interview with the Vampire and Broken Arrow, but since 2000, he has had more work on TV, most notably in Mr. Robot. Mathis similarly became a popular '90s movie actress and continues to work on TV and in movies.

I remember when Pump Up the Volume came out but never saw it in the theater. My interest in it was piqued a few years later when my brother made me a cassette of the soundtrack album. Eventually, I saw it on cable. It's not perfect, but I appreciate the spirit and the effort.