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Videos a Go-Go
By Jesse Fox Mayshark
SEPTEMBER 29, 1997:
Back in January, when everyone was busy making their New Year's predictions,
cultural pundits from Rolling Stone to The New York Times assured us 1997
was going to be the year of electronic dance music (variously known as techno,
drum 'n' bass, and [gag] "electronica"). They were wrong, of course—just
as they were wrong when they predicted the exact same thing five years
ago—but I guess it sounded more exciting than predicting the "Year of
the Spice Girls."
The fact is, trends and scenes can't be manufactured in pop music any more
than in any other medium. All the major media can do with a trend is wait
for it to emerge, pretend they "discovered" it, and slowly bleed all the
life out of it—a process depicted in all its sad details in the sharp
documentary Hype (1996, NR).
The film examines the "Seattle scene" of the mid-to-late '80s and its subsequent
explosion and exploitation as the epicenter of grunge. In interviews with
musicians, journalists, and various hangers-on — including members of
Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, and many lesser-known bands—it
shows how bored Northwestern teenagers turned a sleepy, conservative city
into a hotbed of creative vitality. It also shows how the excitement of the
initial music boom, when everybody knew everybody else and the same faithful
fans went to all the shows, turned into, first, disbelief that anyone outside
Seattle noticed, and then complete disillusionment as market forces rushed
to cash in on the "next big thing." The movie includes great performance
clips from a host of past and present Seattle bands, which make the music's
dark chords and angst-ridden vocals resonate in a way they only occasionally
have in recordings.
About 10 years ago, another documentary explored the hippest scene of that
era in Athens, Ga. Inside Out. Athens, home of the University
of Georgia, is best known for producing R.E.M. and the B-52s, but the film
digs up several other notable acts (Pylon, Flat Duo Jets), along with an
eclectic arts scene. Because Athens never attracted the attention that Seattle
did, the film doesn't have any of Hype's cynicism (or focus). It's
a mildly goofy but entertaining look at a small, creative Southern city.
Highlights include R.E.M. performing "All I Have to do is Dream" and a visit
with primitive artist Howard Finster.
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