Hype!
Now that grunge is (probably) over, a documentary about the Seattle music scene seems about as timely as a look at the parachute-pants craze. It's to filmmaker Doug Pray's credit that, although Hype! was assembled a couple of years ago, he realized that this day would come. 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. This is fitting because, as the film shows, the bands and mythmakers of Seattle were always aware that popularity would be dangerous, even if they were unprepared for the danger itself. The first half of Hype!, which covers the pre-history (read: pre-publicity) of the grunge scene, is better, because it benefits from covering both less familiar material and a period for which the book was closed the instant "Smells Like Teen Spirit" first appeared on MTV. The second half suffers slightly from being about an event that had yet to run its course. Despite this, Hype! is a smart look at an important musical event that featured a lot of great music almost as a by-product.
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