(This article first appeared in a 2021 edition of Retrofied magazine.)
By Steve Spears
Sometimes you can’t recognize a seismic shift in pop culture until you’re decades removed from the moment. Other times, you feel the dirt crumble under your boots and see the landscape shudder and shake. The only trouble is you’re standing alone.
In 1990, Hollywood was feeling a bout of its own tremors. Writer/director John Hughes, the mighty oracle of the ‘80s, was largely retired, and the “Brat Pack” band of actors watched their careers cool off. And movies like “Boyz in the Hood” and “Edward Scissorhands” were exploring life far away from the ’80s friendly confines of Chicago and the Midwest.
Meanwhile, a movie set in the seemingly idyllic town of “Paradise Hills, Arizona” about a teenage DJ is about to spark a revolution – if only anyone was there to actually see it.
“Pump Up the Volume” should have been the “Breakfast Club” that kicked off a new decade for teen flicks. Like its ‘80s predecessors, it featured a writer/director with a vision, a cast of would-be stars, and a soundtrack that you couldn’t stop playing. But thanks to a lack of faith by the studio – and a tough opening weekend – “Pump Up the Volume” remains the best movie of 1990 that nobody saw.
The story of a shy but determined underground DJ – played by Christian Slater fresh off his success in “Gleaming the Cube” and “Heathers” – was a natural fit for a teen audience that reveled in disillusionment. All the story needed next was a villainous high school faculty, detached parents and a girl to pull him out into the open. Snarky dialog, authority-snubbing music and a sense of adventure all combined to create a movie that won the award for best film at the Seattle International Film Festival and garnered four nominations in all the top categories at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. “Talk hard!” as our hero beckoned in the story. But there were no takers in the theater seats.
What went wrong? Let’s find out as we look at 10 things you probably didn’t know about the movie “Pump Up the Volume.”
1. It was a box office dud. The movie was in the 15th position during its opening week in late August 1990 – thanks to flicks like “Ghost,” “Flatliners” and “Presumed Innocent,” all anchored by the biggest names on screen at the time. To this day, it’s still rarely featured on streaming online services. If you want to see it, you’ll have to buy the DVD.
2. Writer/director Allan Moyle’s first draft of the script was called “Radio Death.” Based on an actual experience during his time going to school in Canada, the plot followed a young pirate DJ’s broadcasted promise to commit suicide. Moyle was no stranger to movies that triggered a change in times. He had previously directed 1980’s “Times Square,” a film that featured the influences of punk and new wave music. Like “Pump Up the Volume,” it was ignored at the box office, prompting him to take a decade-long break from directing. Moyle would finally achieve box office and critical success 5 years later with “Empire Records.”
4. In an interview with Variety, Christian Slater called it “my favorite movie I’ve ever done. … It wasn’t a typical high school movie, and it really did get into some of the darker, more gruesome details of what it’s actually like to be a teenager in high school.” (Even more gruesome, reports are that Slater got literally sick from smoking all the cigarettes his character indulged in.) Slater actually wasn’t Moyle’s first pick to play the part – John Cusack was, according to an interview the director gave to Vice.com. Despite loving the script, Cusack begged off, telling Moyle he had played his last high-school role.
5. Producer Rupert Harvey, in an interview with TheRinger.com, still praises “Pump Up the Volume.” Harvey said it added a much-needed level of emotional complexity to teen movies of the era. “It was all Hollywood pap that was coming out at the time, and here was something that was much more ballsy, realistic, and true.”
6. The film’s setting of Paradise Hills, a fancy Arizona suburb, is fictional. Standing in for the location – and Hubert H. Humphrey High – was Saugus High School in Saugus, Calif. Sadly, the school would hit the headlines in 2019 when Nathaniel Berhow shot five students, two fatally, before killing himself. If you’re fans of the 1979 movie “Over the Edge” – another film about teens coping with boredom in a sterilized suburb – that movie was also set in the west (fictional “New Granada” in Colorado but based on a real-life story based outside San Francisco).
7. The tune “Everybody Knows” is Happy Harry Hard-On’s signature tune for his radio show as performed by Leonard Cohen. (The actual recording was engineered by Moyle’s first wife.) Some in the movie’s production team thought Cohen’s version was too dark, so a more pop-friendly version was commissioned to Concrete Blonde. Both versions appear in the final film with Concrete Blonde’s version playing during Harry’s final broadcast.
8. Speaking of music, the movie’s soundtrack might have been more popular than the movie. That’s not an entirely unique phenomenon at the time. (I’m looking your way, “Under the Cherry Moon.”) It featured a mix of some of the more alternative acts of the day, including Was (Not Was), Stan Ridgway, Richard Hell, Ice-T, Pixies, Soundgarden, Descendents and more. One early tune by Beastie Boys – “The Scenario” – was even given a mini history lesson in the plot, with Harry saying on his radio show: “Now here’s a song from my close personal buddies, the Beastie Boys – a song that was so controversial they couldn’t put it on their first album.” The soundtrack would peak at No. 50 on the Billboard 200 chart.
8. If you want to assign blame for the film’s quiet death at the box office, look no further than its distributor New Line Cinema. Despite its awards at film festivals and largely supportive reviews, New Line reportedly was discouraged by its $1.6 million performance during its first week at theaters. Not wanting to lose any more money, any further marketing efforts were canceled.
9. “Pump Up the Volume” was the first of three movies featuring Christian Slater and Samantha Matthis. Fans know Matthis as Nora – the “Eat Me, Beat Me Lady” and eventual girlfriend in the flick. The other two projects: “Broken Arrow” (again with a romantic edge) and “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.” If you think the two actors had palpable chemistry on the screen, that’s natural: They reportedly were in the middle of a year-long relationship while filming.
10. “Pump Up the Volume” is sometimes labeled as an angry movie, but you could argue it’s actually the opposite. The message that Harry and his audience eventually arrive at is simple but reassuring: “You’re not alone.” In the final scene, it’s Harry – now our uncovered hero – who urges his listeners – and possibly fans of the movie – to take to the airwaves themselves. And so they would – albeit decades later in the form of social media, podcasts and online videos. Talk hard, indeed.