This movie imprinted on me HARD.
In 1990, I was 15. Pump Up the Volume blew my teenage mind. You could just…make up a radio show? (Well, at the time, no, the FCC got a little tetchy about it.)
You could just…start talking? And see who connected with you?
We didn’t have so much internet back then. AOL didn’t become AOL until 1991. The internet existed, but it was in limited use with limited access. I didn’t have regular access until college in the later 90s. I started writing online in 1997, and co-founded Smart Bitches in 2005, then co-founded the podcast in 2009.
This movie made me want my own radio show so badly. I was obsessed with terrestrial radio, with small local stations and big corporate ones, and with the idea of pirate radio.
It is not a surprise that I started a blog and a podcast, is what I’m saying here. Blame this movie.
This film also has one of the greatest soundtracks, if you’re a music fan. And Samantha Mathis is walking around with Jane Lane’s haircut and Christian Slater in glasses is a smokeshow.
If you’re unfamiliar, Slater plays Mark Hunter, a shy kid who just moved to Phoenix because of his dad’s job. He has a short-wave radio that he uses to set up a pirate radio station where he, as Hard Harry, starts questioning everything around him out loud (while also pretending to masturbate several times per broadcast) and inspiring teenagers to rebel against expectations.
I recently started watching it, and the opening sequence could honestly be written right now.
There are no captions, but these are the opening lines to the movie:
You ever get the feeling that everything in America…is completely f***ed up?
You know that feeling? The whole country is one inch away from saying… “That’s it! Forget it!”
Think about it. Everything’s polluted– the environment, the government, the schools– you name it.
Sir. You did not need to give me the tummy twists from all the way back in 1990.
So this week’s Friday Video is the trailer, and I’ll put links below where you can watch if you want.
And if you’d like some music to take you into the weekend, here’s Leonard Cohen performing the title song, “Everybody Knows,” live in 2008:
Friday Videos wish you a weekend of all the voices you need to hear, and of people listening when you need to speak.
What movies imprinted on you?
