Hype!

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Hype! is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge music in the early 1990s. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the steps of grunge from its subversive inception in neighborhood basements to its explosion as a pop culture phenomenon. Hype! is unique to media about grunge both in that it shows grunge from the point of view of people from the grunge scene and in that it attempts to dispel the myths of grunge created by media hype. The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1996. It later opened to general audiences on November 8 of that same year.

Hype! includes interviews and performances from bands such as Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Gits, Love Battery, Flop, The Melvins, Mono Men, The Supersuckers, Zipgun, Seaweed, Pearl Jam, 7 Year Bitch, Gas Huffer and Fastbacks. Other than the DVD that comes with Nirvana's With the Lights Out, it is one of the few films to contain video footage of Nirvana's first performance of their breakthrough hit song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".