According to legend it all started in the first half of the eighties in a dilapidated shack in Seattle, where a number of bored youngsters was thrashing their guitars. The sound they produced had the harsh quality of punk rock and the racket of heavy metal. The sound caught on with the local youngsters and grunge was born as a subculture. "Hype!" describes the way in which the music by the Seattle bands evolved from a local into an international phenomenon. Which forces drove grunge from a subcultural phenomenon in the direction of mass culture? 'Hype!' contains fragments from concerts by all prominent Seattle bands, the most important being Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, interviews with people involved, like band members, managers, promoters, bigwigs in the record industry, recording engineers and journalists.