Episode 14. Pump Up the Volume (Allan Moyle, 1990)

Do your homework in the dark, and put spoons in your microwave!

In this episode, Peter, Ants, and Paul talk about Allan Moyle’s cult 1990 film Pump up the Volume, which stars Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

Topics discussed include late night shock jocks, revisiting old favourites later in adulthood, writer-director Allan Moyle’s career and the origins of the film in Moyle’s unpublished novel, the popularity of soundtrack album CDs during the early 90s, resistance through the use of vulgar language (and comparisons with Lenny Bruce), parasocial relationships and adolescence, free speech and censorship, Christian Slater’s incredible popularity during the early 90s, and depictions of youth subcultures on screen. Plus Paul sings brilliant, pitch-perfect renditions of Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory,” L7’s “Sh*tlist,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.”