Pump Up the Volume

Pump Up the Volume is a 1990 American coming-of-age teen comedy-drama film written and directed by Allan Moyle. The film stars Christian Slater, Scott Paulin, Ellen Greene, and Samantha Mathis. Plot High school student Mark Hunter, who lives in a sleepy suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, starts an FM pirate radio station that broadcasts from his parents' basement and functions as his sole outlet for his teenage angst and aggression. His pirate station's theme song is "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen and there are glimpses of cassettes by such alternative musicians as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Camper Van Beethoven, Primal Scream, Soundgarden, Ice-T, Bad Brains, Concrete Blonde, Henry Rollins, and Pixies. By day, Mark is a loner who has difficulty socializing with other students. By night, Mark, under the nom de plume Happy Happy Hard-on, sometimes shortened to simply “Hard Harry”, expresses his outsider views about the problems with American society. When he speaks his mind about teen angst and exposes the underhanded actions of the faculty, his audience quickly grows from a handful of loyal listeners to the entire student body. One night, Malcolm Kaiser, a depressed teenager, sends a letter to Harry seeking advice about following through on committing suicide. Harry reacts flippantly, expressing disbelief that Malcom is sincere, and Malcom quickly hangs up, with Harry closing his show by telling Malcom, “Maybe you’ll feel better tomorrow.” The next day, the students and faculty are informed that Malcom committed suicide. Fellow student Nora De Niro pieces together that Mark is Hard Harry, and attempts to assuage the guilt he feels over Malcom. The radio show becomes increasingly popular and influential after Harry confronts the suicide head-on, apologizing to Malcom for not explicitly telling him not to follow through, and exhorting his listeners to confront their problems instead of surrendering to them through suicide. At the climax of his impassioned speech, an overachieving student named Paige Woodward (who has been a constant listener) jams her various medals and accolades into a microwave, causing an explosion which injures her face.