Hype!

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

It's common knowledge that the media and a couple of savvy entrepreneurs destroyed the garage-band culture of early-1990s Seattle when they manufactured a national phenomenon. But Pray takes a smart look back to how it used to be, before bands sold out to grunge capitalists Poneman and Pavitt, founders of Sub Pop Records, the label that nurtured and marketed the hell out of bands like Mudhoney and Pearl Jam. Pray chronicles the rise of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and lesser-known groups such as Seven Year Bitch and Coffin Break. Interviews with band members reveal some bitterness about how all the hoopla ruined the grunge scene.