CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK – Pump Up the Volume

Whilst John Hughes was sugarcoating teenage angst with his high school blockbusters The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off there were a few films that attempted to explore the darker side of adolescent alienation. One such movie was Allan Moyle’s 1990 classic Pump Up the Volume, an often overlooked and underrated drama in which rising star Christian Slater (Heathers, Gleaming the Cube) took the role of Mark Hunter, a painfully shy student who anonymously hosts a pirate radio show from his bedroom under the pseudonym Hard Harry. Mixing loud music with random musings, Mark becomes a hit with his fellow students, who are unaware of his real identity, whilst the school’s crooked headmistress attempts to shut him up for good before he exposes the truth.

For a movie rich with diverse music it was somewhat criminal that the soundtrack to Pump Up the Volume would only feature eleven songs; cutting out contributions from Leonard Cohen, Beastie Boys and Ice-T. What remains, however, was a forerunner to the subsequent grunge explosion, with such ‘alternative’ artists as Sonic Youth, Pixies and Henry Rollins making an appearance. The opening track on the album was from the long-forgotten Concrete Blondes. Cohen’s track Everybody Knows was featured prominently in the film, whilst Blondes‘ cover version would be included during the final act. Whilst it lacks the sinister edge of the original release it starts the soundtrack off in style. Ivan Neville’s sleazy Why Can’t I Fall in Love? appears during the movie’s one sex scene and fits the mood perfectly, although Liquid Jesus‘ Stand – which was included on the end credits – is rather irritating.

Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf), an alternative cut from Pixies, had originally appeared as a B-side and is far superior to the more upbeat original. This was not the only song that had been previously released elsewhere: Sonic Youth‘s Titanium Exposé had been the final track on their 1990 classic Goo, whilst Heretic had been an early release for Soundgarden. An underrated contribution comes from punk legends Bad Brains, who teamed up with Rollins for an aggressive rendition of Kick Out the Jams. Cowboy Junkies, meanwhile, offered a stylish cover of Robert Johnson’s Me and the Devil Blues. Whilst a complete soundtrack would have been preferable, the album could have at least benefited from missing out some of the weaker songs from the movie (Liquid Jesus, Chagall Guevara) and instead replacing them with both Cohen songs (the other being the excellent ballad If It Be Your Will), Beastie Boys and Was (Not Was)‘s humorous number Hello Dad…I’m in Jail.