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You wanna go to that place, Chris?

I got the other in that bag?

Now we have to choose one, so...

Yeah, alright.

Let's do that.

Alright, alright, alright, never mind, this one is...

Go ahead. Play Slide. Whatever.

No way.

No way. That song sucks.

This'll be sad to hear.

No way.

That song's stupid.

That song is really stupid.

OK, next part, what do I do in the intro?

I dunno, why don't we do it out front on the porch.

OK, after that plane passes.

I'm Steve Malkmus, singer of the group.

Here in Portland, Oregon...

Pretty close to the airport here.

- That's quite a plane. - Yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty loud.

Not really fair to the people that live here.

It's pretty loud. Not really fair to the people that live here.

I guess we are pretty close.

- Yeah, it's good for travel. - Yeah.

- I wouldn't mind... - I wouldn't mind living out here.

...living out here.

Ready?

OK, thanks, a lot for now. That's it.

In the middle of the fuckin' amazing America...

Oy!

Oy! That was fuckin' brilliant!

What did I tell you? Here we are, Pavement.

I'm sure that you are surprised, but in fact it is true.

Pull up a chair, open the windows,

and turn off the lights.

Three and a four and...

♪ Her mom's basement in Stockton, California...

♪ I've been waiting

♪ Anticipating

♪ The sun comes up

♪ The blisters burn my soul

♪ I've dreamt of this

♪ But it never comes

♪ But it never comes

♪ The rising!

- ♪ The rising! - ♪ The rising!

♪ Nature's dry

♪ Faux

We're not trying to stay underground or trying to be big,

we're just...

existing.

♪ Sun comes up

♪ The sky won't sink my soul

♪ Dreamin'

♪ Of something now

♪ Of the rising!

♪ Nature's dry

♪ All the groovy ones ♪

A lotta bands of the '90s sold out.

They're the best band of the '90s, hands-down.

When they announced their tour, he called me crying

And like, "Mom, they just announced it."

and he was crying, and I'm crying!

The cosmology has been missing a Godhead,

and I really feel that Pavement fulfills it.

There's sort of a life of any idea.

There's limits that you can't transcend... naturally.

I always was hoping that it was music for the future.

You know, I mean, I think everyone who's not that successful in their time

tries to think that.

Well done, Pavement, well done.

You're really on the ball.

Muchas gracias, thank you.

Logan Miller, 5'6", reading for the role of Mark Ibold.

Hey I'm Fred Hechinger, I'm reading for the role of Bob Nastanovich.

For Range Life.

Thank you.

Let's go.

Yeah, what if we just... do our own thing?

I mean we're more comfortable at a CBGB's, Maxwell's, Pyramid Club...

Should we go? Lemme go back.

Soon as they notice the little indie bands make a little money,

all they want to do is just... make them make a little more money.

Right, OK?

I'm Joe Keery.

I'm 5'11".

I live in New York City, and I'll be auditioning for Stephen Malkmus.

Is this what it's all gonna become?

Bands like us doing ginormous corporate commercial things?

It's entirely possible.

What a bummer.

And now, right here on our stage tonight,

The Beatles!

That was jolly good! Jolly good.

Give me some Guns N' Roses, 'cause I like the...

- Hi, guys! - Hi!

- On the green? - Yeah!

Yes, my name is Justise Hayward.

26 years old.

- Live in Brooklyn. - Yes!

What song are you gonna sing?

- Gold Soundz. - OK.

- Yes, yes, yes. - Try it.

Let me figure which pitch I'm gonna do.

Yeah take your time, whenever you're ready.

Go back to those gold soundz

And keep my advent to your self Because it's nothing I don't like

I keep my address to yourself

'Cause we need secrets We need secrets

Right now

- Nice. - Thank you.

I believe that these songs can transcend their original form.

And I believe that because I love Pavement

and I love musical theater.

♪ Honey, I'm a prize and you're a catch And we're a perfect match ♪

And I thought,

"Hey wouldn't it be funny to take all these Pavement songs,

"slacker songs, alternative, whatever you want to call it, ironic,

"put them into the most sincere art form possible:

"musical theater.

- "See if it works." - ♪ ...right now ♪

- Thank you. Yeah. - So much. Thank you.

We've got your info.

- Are you a Pavement fan? - Huge fan. It's the only reason I'm here.

I had to see what you guys were doing. It sounds incredible.

- Does it make sense now? - Yeah!

- I was like, "Is this a prank?" - No.

So we go one, two, three...

I went to see a lot of musicals in research for this,

I watched American Idiot,

The Green Day one, I watched Alanis Morissette.

I watched Almost Famous , I watched Fame .

I liked this girl, I mean, she's very, like, musical theater.

Is she the one that kinda like...?

She was like pumping her heel when she was singing.

I don't know, can all these guys tap? We might have to...

There's enough tappers in that group.

The cymbal's nice, too.

♪ See those rockers With their long curly locks

♪ We don't need you anymore ♪

I feel like I'm louder than everybody sometimes.

I get that a lot of times too at home.

We gotta get it going a little faster. Let's practice your part, Scott.

The biggest thing on everyone's mind right now is how's this rehearsal gonna go?

What songs are we gonna play?

Speaking for myself,

I'm very excited about playing all these songs again.

You know, thrilled to do it. I love playing Pavement shows.

We get to practice for about ten days.

And then five more days.

Pavement is gonna utilize a sixth member for the first time ever.

We have Rebecca Cole in our band now.

The more people you play to, you have to be a little more...

You can't screw around as much.

♪ C'mon in.

♪ Let's go!

♪ Grave architecture

♪ Walk the marble malls

♪ The monuments to those who fall

♪ And it's a pocket less than Narco shell-bit... ♪

Some the critics and fans say that you will save rock 'n roll.

- Can you agree with that? - Yeah, great.

- We already have. - Well, yeah, I think...

It's a hard burden, but we'll save it.

We could do that one. People would like that one, I think.

But I gotta remember how it goes.

Yeah, well, actually I met Steve on a soccer team when I was ten years old.

He was kinda the brat of the neighborhood,

and I was the black sheep of the neighborhood, so...

We kind of bonded a little bit because he used to tease me and I'd beat him up.

Every year about this time Stockton community leaders put together

three weeks worth of fun and games

brought to a climax by a giant parade through the streets of downtown Stockton.

♪ Every building same height

♪ Every street a straight line

♪ Team colors, yellow and blue ♪

As it is, we're from suburban California,

and I think our music has that kind of second-hand distance,

reflected in suburban culture where everything is slightly artificial.

There's always gonna be that Stockton chip on your shoulder.

We're gritty, and of course I'm like a bougie dude or whatever,

but at least I'm from Stockton, you know?

We're from the Cleveland of California. And this is Fin.

Biologists in Stockton, California,

have released reports focusing on that trance-like state.

♪ And nothing ever happens

♪ Nothing ever happens here ♪

Stephen and many of the others were responsible students

but I cared more about going to see bands

and working in a record store, driving a bus, and washing dishes.

Hello. Everyone out there, you're listening to WTJU,

91.1 FM. My name is Stephen...

We're all the same age, more of less, and so...

we were listening to the same things.

Bands like Swell Maps, Wire, Pere Ubu, Sonic Youth and

- Butthole Surfers... - I like Can a lot.

Weird like Captain Beefhearty-type stuff.

My Bloody Valentine was a big one.

Creedence and Devo are kind of a mix between these two bands.

- Alex Chilton. - A lot of S.S.T.

I used to always think he sounded like Buffalo Tom.

The Smiths and The Cure.

I think I was a little more of a punk guy.

- Black Flag. - Mixed with The Doors,

and Creedence, and Velvets.

The Verlaines and The Chills and Cyclops.

Sneaky Feelings.

One of the greatest rock bands of all time, The Clean...

Real fans, like us,

bought the 12-inches as they came out.

Scott was the Echo the Bunnymen guy.

Like The Replacements, he knew about before me.

The Flying Nun stuff I never would have heard.

We both liked Dinosaur Jr, You're Living All Over Me.

Everyone has to go through that album but...

we obviously mixed it pretty heavily with The Fall.

It took me a while-- To get even in college,

I liked The Fall.

I was sort of like not "the" Fall fan at my school.

I mean this is when I was a kid, I kinda wanted to be cool.

I was a bit of a poser. I still am.

I was buying new wave punk,

and I tried to listen to Elvis Costello, didn't do it for me.

I'd listen to The Jam, didn't do it.

But then like X, And The Specials' first album...

Like the whole record collection kinda melts

into what you are.

The music, you do as a...

Some of it is you, but 80% of it is like a fantasy

of other people you like.

♪ Some bands I like to name check

♪ And one of them is R.E.M. ♪

We had a noise band, it was called Ectoslavia.

Bob and David, a couple of bros just from Richmond.

And we fought a lot.

♪ Success, it never comes ♪

I can't remember when I first heard them.

Who first played them for me? How I first got into them?

But I was pretty young, I guess...

Maybe my freshman year of college, it must have been earlier.

Some time in high school.

They immediately became one of my favorite bands.

I was obsessed with Slanted and Enchanted.

My first Pavement album was on cassette...

It was Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and...

it truly changed my life.

I remember pouring over the liner notes so I could learn every single esoteric lyric.

Pavement's discography is sort of like...

I can mark where I was in my pre-adolescence and adolescence and...

You know, like college...

I heard Pavement for the first time six weeks ago.

When I dove into the lyrics and started learning them,

all the songs weirdly reminded me a lot of musicals,

more than any other genre.

♪ I'd like to invite you

♪ To taste from my chalice

♪ It's a special one It's made of gold

♪ Not real gold♪

It was a question of how do we capture this really specific tonality of

Malkmus' lyrics and this group of friends making music?

And at first it was, should we make it crazy and elevated

and have everything be orchestral?

But when you start getting in to these open tunings,

And then like purposefully out-of-tune guitars in certain places?

You start realizing how complicated the songs actually are.

And so I do think that, like, putting it in the sanctity of a theater

in that context is so brilliant.

I love them so much, I'd just do anything.

I just didn't care even whether it would work or not.

♪ You're killing me

♪ You're killing me again

♪ It's not my fault

♪ It's not my fault again

The first song is You're Killing Me .

And that's the first song that we ever recorded, too.

Fitting choice for a first song.

I just remember when we started, we didn't want to have any bass guitar.

We thought that that was a radical thing at the time but...

I suppose it's not that radical.

The place has always been called Weber Point,

although until this year, there hasn't been much to commemorate it.

Now, civic leaders have given us this rock.

♪ ...deceitfully

♪ She believed... ♪

We went to this hippy dude's...

I'll just call him a "hippy dude."

Like earlier generation. Yes is his favourite band.

We just happened into his studio, and he recorded those albums.

So he was just the engineer,

as the cheapest and the only one that you could go to.

I mean initially the thing was we started the band,

it was just going to be me and Scotty, and Gary was going to be this...

extra guy that's not even credited really.

But he did contribute a lot.

It started with the cover art of the first record.

I just made up all this mumbo jumbo on there.

Just made it weird.

- People are a little confused. - Yeah.

What's up with S.M. and Spiral Stairs?

If it sucks, like, no one will know it was us.

Pavement members were re-tuning

and they're gonna do another song for you in just a moment.

♪ Pa-pa-para-pa

♪ Fuck you!

♪ Pa-pa-para-pa...

♪ Fuck you! ♪

The original thing that we were doing was deliberately trashy sounding

in some ways 'cause I'd made this record with these friends of mine,

in Virginia, where we tried to sound nice, and no one paid attention to it.

So I decided I should make something that sounded really awful.

There might have also been at the start, "Well...

"you know, fuck you, we can't play." That's cooler, you know?

We're brats, and, like, you don't have to play

to make good music.

Which you don't.

Who came up with the name Pavement?

Scott.

The other founding father, Spiral Stairs,

he arranged to press the record.

He's the life blood of the band in many ways.

He bleeds Pavement.

OK.

Shall we?

A nice review in K was like

great to us, or it's, like, the woman from K says, "Your single's so great."

Back in the day, there was like a fanzine culture.

Fans, making their fanzines, the same way we made the records.

We got some validation there.

You know, Gerard Cosloy said he liked it.

I hear you are one of the keepers of the band's full history.

- Did you...? - I'm one of the guys.

Did you ever think that you would be here, in 1989?

I thought I'd maybe be on this block in 1989,

but certainly not in an installation documenting the band's history,

and their place in the whole scope of things.

No, I could not have imagined it.

It looks incredible.

Talk to me about putting together this exhibit.

You want to be as clever or as witty as a Pavement song is.

There's only a few bands that have the intense fan base

where every detail is worth scrutiny.

And they were like, "We're gonna tour again."

It seemed like, "Why shouldn't Pavement have a museum?"

It's gonna be an outstanding autumn.

They wanted to take the band to the next level,

from being like this "hobby band"

to being a band that actually tried to assemble some sort of live show.

Stephen's like, "Yeah, you have to come."

And one of the reasons I did is 'cause I had a Chrysler LeBaron station wagon.

Stephen sorta decided that...

"You might have to play, because I'm not really sure

"how Gary is gonna handle this."

♪ Slo-mo

♪ Got his hand stuck in the kitchen sink ♪

I remember at first Gary was concerned if this kid

maybe knew how to play drums.

And I had to quickly convince him that all I had to do was play,

that I was no threat to his role in the band.

♪ And the stories you hear You know they never add up

♪ I hear the natives Fussin' at the data chart

♪ Be quiet, the weather's On the night news ♪

Effectively we're Pavement in Focus. Welcome to the show.

♪ Plastic cones, stolen rims Are they alloy or chrome

♪ Well, I've got style Miles and miles

♪ So much style that it's wasted

♪ So much style that it's wasted

♪ So much style that it's wasted ♪

I mean everybody wants to be considered for these sort of things.

People told me I could kinda look like him.

And... yeah, I guess...

It's a good opportunity, and I wanna try it out.

It's good for my career, maybe win an award for something.

And I don't know if-- I can't play Billy Joel.

Starts in the A, then it goes to the F sharp,

- And then you went to the G? - Yeah, I was there.

- OK, it sounds right. - ♪ You will be my...

♪ You will be my something

♪ You will be my bedpan wipers

♪ Junior-leaguer, candy-striper

♪ Convalescent Enema essence ♪

Enema's in there.

♪ Better to be gray I live to be gray ♪

That's how the hospital was that I was at.

Yeah, mine too...

Were you a kid in the '90s?

Yeah!

We were a band called Pavement.

OK.

We were big on MTV.

Oh, yeah.

They need to try harder.

Yeah, yeah, it's like they're not even trying!

C'mon, I want you to start over again, and this time try!

C'mon, let's go! Pick it up! C'mon! Here we go!

One, two, three, four, yeah, c'mon, rock!

So, you're just on the kick drum at the start of West's part?

There's a shake. Someone's doing... Is there an egg?

There's an egg through the whole song.

Our first show was in Brunswick, New Jersey at the Court Tavern.

We lived in Hoboken.

And the drummer, and the guitar player Scott,

they flew to our house.

I really hope that we rehearsed, but you know what,

I don't remember that either.

Like I hope that the first concert wasn't the rehearsal.

♪ I was dressed for success ♪

Second verse drop out.

♪ And success it never comes

♪ I'm the only one who laughs

- ♪ At your jokes when they are so bad ♪ - How can you brighten the corners?

It's the one band-- I don't know how to talk about Pavement.

I really cannot understand. It's like talking about...

Like it's its own life-force,

like an underground reservoir or something.

Instead of being a band,

it was its own world, that you could feel that instantly.

That this was symbolic of a bigger thing.

What do you mean they're down?

How "down" are we talking?

Son of a bitch!

I'm trying to do the hair like Spiral.

In the '90s, did you have any...

facial tics?

There must have been some facial tics.

- Maybe that? - Maybe that's one...

How's that?

I think our profiles are fairly similar.

OK, that kinda looks like something... I see a little bit of the side of...

Being in a musical biopic is all I've ever dreamed of.

I have auditioned for so many,

I mean we're talking Mötley Crüe, we're talking Beach Boys,

Bob Dylan.

I said...

Pavement's gonna be the one. And here I am.

I mean, Malkmus is ridiculously skilled.

I think it sort of benefited

a great deal from his association with David Berman,

which started at college.

Everybody else can be good but also...

Everybody has to work at it.

Bob sort of like becomes this glue to the entire band so...

I think a big part of it was...

audiences feeling like...

the people up there were... aren't so far away,

that they're rooting for them, and they care about them.

Pavement supports lowering the price of insulin for all.

That costs fuckin' eight dollars in America, it's bullshit!

I went to the horse races with him, we talked a lot about the band.

We played music and we just co-existed.

I was very up front that I didn't know how to play drums,

and I also didn't have the time to take any lessons.

So for me it was really like an exploration into, like,

what is the soul of a drummer?

You know, can I identify the inner metronome

of what defines a drummer,

without ever having to identify the actual

metronome of how someone knows how to drum?

Here he is, let's hear it for Stephen Malkmus!

Aah! Music!

He's Mr. Pavement, wearing his Bernie shirt!

Causing trouble!

They're like the slacker Rolling Stones of the '90s.

That was the thing that captured me,

on Crooked Rain, it was the line,

"Hand me the drumstick."

I was in.

Obviously we're telling a story about Pavement,

but it's the story about mankind.

A story about human beings, about the way we treat each other.

The dynamic of the band was a pretty unique situation

where there was the four and the one

and...

it was isolating for me, 'cause I felt...

You know, I was just being honest in a lot of these situations and...

Well, I guess I felt a little misunderstood maybe.

♪ Slow it down

♪ The song is sacred ♪

No, no.

Bam, bam.

♪ Slow it down The song is sacred ♪

There's an emotional current that I connect to in Spiral,

and in his relationship with Malkmus...

that...

When I talk about it...

I can't help but just get a little bit emotional.

You know?

I feel it, I feel, I'm getting... I'm getting angry!

I can't even tell if it's Spiral getting angry, or me getting angry,

but I'm getting fucking angry!

I never, I haven't tried it.

I haven't tried it since...

So the first one is B.

Yeah.

You're rewarded for dying young in this business.

You're struggling over some notes? Probably have an ulcer over that.

Stephen's like, "You gotta quit school

"because Sonic Youth wants us to open up for them in Europe."

And I was just like...

"OK, I'll do it. I'll do it" you know?

So I left school.

To go on tour with Sonic Youth, and...

of course the Pavement thing happened, forever,

and then in 2008 I think we were...

I was living in Seattle and I was kinda super low on money.

I was like, "Alright, I've gotta..."

I've tried to go back to school a couple times,

got divorced.

And so I went down and I applied to be a Seattle bus driver.

- Wow! - I was like, "Alright,

"that's what I'm gonna do."

A day later, Steve calls:

"Alright, we're gonna do a reunion tour."

That's how rock 'n' roll works!

My God, I can never be a bus driver!

I think the first time I saw Pavement,

it was after we'd asked Pavement to play with us.

I was totally prepared for Stephen to be completely snotty.

♪ So look at me and say ♪

Sometimes they were annoyingly boyish.

Actually, Stephen told me he used to call up and leave

long, really obnoxious music messages on our answering machine.

That was our initial tour with Gary, that was like...

going to all the towns for the first time as a full band,

and we were feeling the pressure of it too.

- I fucked up, what do I do here? - Go back to the other thing before.

- Before, and then what? - Then you go back to the chorus.

- So it's just straight... - The end of the chorus.

- Just lower key. - OK, I'm...

- I'm still confused. - You can do it, Gary, c'mon.

We had a bunch of crap.

All our stuff was broken.

Sonic Youth had their incredibly elaborate production,

which at the time just completely psyched us out.

♪ I was dressed for success

♪ Success, it never comes

♪ I'm the only one who laughs

♪ At your jokes when they are so bad

♪ Your jokes are always bad

♪ But they're not as bad as this

♪ Come join us in our prayers... ♪

OK, hello, everyone!

My name is S.J. Malkmus.

I'm in that little group, Pavement. You might have heard of us.

If you haven't, I'm not surprised either so... I'm here anyway to,

as you can see, Cologne's premier,

indie, vinyl exposé, parking lot, sewer.

So come on, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Pavement.

This is actually the next thing that came,

Slanted and Enchanted,

this is our ground-breaking LP.

♪ Summer babe

♪ Summer babe

♪ Summer babe

♪ Summer babe ♪

Alright, and now we're in... New York City!

We weren't playing, we were just going to Maxwell's,

seeing bands, working in the city.

Worked at the Whitney as a security guard.

Steve West then took a job there as well.

They'd talk about the miseries of being an art security guard,

and it would drive me crazy because I would have driven bus

for 10 or 11 hours.

That really was useful, to go to New York,

and be in that environment.

Some of the post-modern philosophies that were in there.

As long as you have the kind of bullshit to back it up,

you can kinda spin anything.

You know, anything's valid,

it's down to being a really good singer, or having in-tune or great technique,

That's over with.

It's time for something new.

I would have been in the art gallery,

writing down shit, trying to be cool.

I was going to write some real songs, by my mind,

like catchy ones.

I don't really listen to lyrics very closely, so...

I was just like, "Is anyone really listening to this?"

OK, so it's... Stories they tell

♪ You know they never add up

♪ I hear the natives fussin' At the data charts

♪ Be quiet, the weather's On the night news.

♪ Empty homes, plastic cones

♪ Stolen rims Are they alloy or chrome?

♪ They get in knife fights And their guts will spill

♪ My cigarette's cupped to the... ♪

Is it about wind or something?

It's about Stockton, I don't know.

Spilling guts.

♪ Ice, baby

♪ I saw your girlfriend And she was eating her fingers

♪ Like just another meal

♪ But she waits there in the levee wash

♪ Mixing cocktails With a plastic-tipped cigar

♪ Minerals, ice deposit daily

♪ Drop off the first shiny robe

♪ I've got a lot friends I want to talk but

♪ Not here, babe, you took 'em

♪ Every time I sit around I find I'm shot

♪ Every time I sit around I find I'm shot

♪ Every time I sit around

♪ Every time, every time, every time

♪ You're my summer babe ♪

This is where it all started,

with a lyric pad in his chest pocket.

I just imagine him in his uniform showing up.

You know these kids showing up,

in charge of guarding all this priceless art?

And here they are making their own priceless art, it's...

You couldn't write it. It's stranger than fiction.

I mean, I thought about going to Stockton but...

this is where it all happened, you know?

Slanted and Enchanted was birthed in these halls.

I'm doing this project about Stephen-- Do you know the band Pavement?

- No. - No?

This guy Stephen Malkmus used to work at this place

back when it was the Whitney.

I recommend you speak with my colleague over there with the curly hair.

- OK, cool. - These guys need to chat.

- This used to be the Whitney, right? - It did.

Do you know the band Pavement? Have you heard of that band?

Yeah.

I know all those guys used to work here, in this building.

They were security guards here, guarding all the art.

Wow.

I thought there'd be a Pavement area in the gift shop,

maybe a couple of records, T-shirts or something, but there's nothing in there.

It's funny, ever since we started working on this project,

and I've been working on the accent and stuff.

I feel like my appetite has actually changed.

Coming back here in about a week

without you guys, and maybe...

they might let me work a couple of night shifts.

I got a lot of research to do, I got a lot of work to do.

It's going to be a long shoot.

♪ On an icy island in north

♪ In the woods beside the church

♪ We can bury crimson lockets

♪ Filled with dirt

♪ And when the April thaw

♪ Brings us out again

♪ We can bless the arrows... ♪

Should have wore a hat today.

It's gonna have a little effect on your self-esteem I suppose.

It's gonna have a little effect on your self-esteem I suppose.

♪ La, la, la, la, la.

♪ La, la! ♪

The songs have a playfulness

which I think is definitely a part of the...

what I would call "the Pavement spirit."

It's got these weird...

different tunings, yeah, almost like blues tunings.

How does it go? The process of songwriting within Pavement?

- Who comes up with the initial idea? - Professor Malkmus.

- Hey, what was that? - Hey!

- I heard something catchy. - I dunno.

Your melody's pretty good.

- Mine's pure Bob. - The chorus just...

You sing it though because my singing is...

It's not appropriate and it's your song.

It's hard, you don't want to sing another person's song.

But I like when you sing my... songs.

Yeah, 'cause you don't have to sing.

♪ ...that still knows the tricks

♪ Tricks are everything to me ♪

I feel like I can step outside to a certain amount and think,

"Well, that's the singer of the band," and I just, like,

I see this other person down there, it's like...

Of course it's me, but I manage to say, "Oh, that's the singer," you know.

Whenever I sing, I think, "Well, what's a singer supposed to do?"

Not what I'm supposed to do.

♪ I told her oh, lip suction fragment ♪

With some lyrics, they just kind of...

They come out of just your imagined... What you're imagining is...

What a singer, a cool singer would sing, you know?

♪ You're so beautiful to look at When you cry

♪ Freeze, don't move

♪ You've been chosen as an Extra in the movie adaptation

♪ Of the sequel to your life ♪

We sent them the tape, we sent it all around,

the Slanted and Enchanted tape, thinking who's gonna like it, ya know,

just pretty exciting to see who wanted to do it.

We didn't send it to any major labels or anything.

We just sort of randomly put 'em out, ya know?

We just sort of randomly put it out, ya know?

One more time for that one.

We just sort of randomly put it out, ya know?

One more time?

♪ Stop right now ♪

So, yeah, actually it took like two years for it...

So, actually, yeah, it took like two years for it to come out, so...

Sort of randomly put it out, ya know?

All the songs on those tapes,

they were just... we'll tape the tape, like, how you felt that day.

Even though that album Slanted and Enchanted became

synonymous with this lo-fi thing that didn't really exist yet.

In our minds it was not lo-fi, that was like a big pop record.

♪ Can you treat it like an oil well

♪ When it's underground, outta sight ♪

I came back and played it for Bob Nastanovich and David.

They were like, "You're set, dude."

"Get ready, people are gonna like you for a while."

I was still working at the art museum and

these people are coming to do meetings with me, like...

When your dreams come true like that, it's quite...

Quite scary.

♪ And you never get it back

- ♪ It's what I want - ♪ What I want

- ♪ It's what I want - ♪ What I want

♪ It's what I want, it's what I want It's what I want

♪ It's what I want now ♪

♪ Tell me, tell me, tell me

♪ I've been crowned the king of it

♪ And it is all we have so wait

♪ To hear my words And they're diamond sharp

♪ I could open it up It's up and down ♪

- OK, so, softer. - Softer.

- Shorter. - Shorter.

- Lower. - Lower.

He's not really rounding his lips very much.

And he does the classic California thing of that claw sound.

It's super flat but people don't normally use their mouths all that much.

Yeah.

- Some, but they don't go crazy with it. - Definitely not Stephen.

- No, no... - I'd say the opposite.

- Yeah, he keeps it pretty tight. - Yeah.

And he has a lot of "vocal fry" going on,

which is when you're pressing down on your soft palate,

- That's this part. - Yeah, it just seems like he's kinda...

living in this sort of world.

- Yeah. - I think he says "tunes."

- Oh, I didn't hear that. - Tunes.

Yeah, he says, "I have some fun tunes."

He seems like he's a man of contradictions because he has this...

really relaxed thing going on,

but it's super tight in the back, yeah.

I feel like it would be possible to get a picture of Stephen's tongue.

I would love that.

It would be super helpful to know

just what it looks like.

Yeah, it would.

- Is it announced? - Yes.

- It's announced? - It's announced?

Wow!

- Where is it? - It's on the Pavement's Instagram.

- Shut up. - I mean, this is crazy.

When you take that tape...

You say a prayer...

And you hope the big boys upstairs like it.

Next thing you know, you're signing a record company contract,

and recording an album for real.

The character's kinda making sense

now that you're getting to study these archives.

Yeah.

You know, obviously I have so much of his personal wardrobe

that he's been able to give me.

All these clothes that he's been keeping for 30 years because he thought

maybe one day this could happen, they would make a movie and...

It's happening right now.

When you meet the other guys in the band,

introduce you as "Joe" to them.

- No. - OK.

No, no, no, it would be helpful if you did introduce me as Stephen,

because that's how I'll approach...

the conversation with them just fully in character.

Again.

♪ No more absolutes

♪ No more absolutes ♪

Great, one more time.

♪ No more absolutes

♪ No more absolutes ♪

Stick your penitentiary.

♪ Stick your penitentiary

♪ Clothes inside the vent

♪ And run along, Leigh ♪

Is that rhythm right? "Stick your penitentiary, clothes..."

♪ Stick your penitentiary Clothes inside the vent ♪

One more time. Three, four...

♪ No more absolutes

♪ No more absolutes

♪ Stick your penitentiary

♪ Clothes inside the vent

♪ Run along, Leigh ♪

One more time we have to do?

Gary was great, every gig,

he had this performance art thing going through the whole tour,

where he would find something to give the audience,

to pass out to the audience as they were coming in.

Like one place in Germany, it was leaves.

Compost is really important.

It was kinda borderline,

some nights, it was like, "What are you gonna do tonight, Gary?"

That kind of thing.

You could see him being frustrated.

I ain't playing if I ain't drinking!

Yeah, Gary would be drumming along,

and he'd be playing the song, and all of sudden, he'd like...

just hear Bob drumming, And you'd see Gary like...

You know...

On his head, or out in the crowd, or something, you know?

Gary thought that we were...

You know, a giant band just because we were playing with Nirvana.

We were playing with Sonic Youth and stuff.

Look at all these people here!

He saw it as he'd finally made it.

But... There's a bar over there.

But he was in really bad shape at that time.

But he made all these irrational demands

in this Copenhagen hotel room.

He flat out at the end of it, he was like, "I quit!"

"I absolutely quit!"

♪ When I was a drum cadet

♪ Sold her

♪ The skins off my second set

♪ Yes!

♪ See myself come running back

♪ See myself come running back

♪ Running back Running back

♪ Running, running, running back

♪ See myself come running back See myself come running back... ♪

Stephen who'd become friends with Steve West in Brooklyn,

they were jamming all the time.

Stephen was making up all the Crooked Rain songs,

and fleshing them out with Steve West.

Let's go back in, guys!

We dedicate that one to Gary.

When he decided to get the band back together again,

he decided to hire on Steve West.

And I felt extremely immoral, playing those shows,

'cause I'm sure that I promised Gary that,

"I will never do a Pavement show without you in the band."

The fact that his place was being taken by a friend of mine from high school,

since I was 13 years old, also is really heavy duty.

I remember the day that Gary told me how he wanted me to play this song.

After that, that's all I've ever done.

He said, "Don't fuck with my rules, man!"

I don't even know what "going platinum" means.

But I'm ready to take it on if it happens.

It's like a million records, I think that's pretty far off.

I don't know if we're gonna ever do that.

- A million records? - That's a lot of records.

♪ Music scene is crazy Bands start up

♪ Each and every day I saw another one

♪ Just the other day A special new band

♪ Advertising looks and chops a must

♪ No big hair! ♪

I think the quandary that I have is how you resist becoming pretentious,

when it seems like everybody, everybody, all the press is...

prostrating themselves, paying homage to Pavement,

and putting away their typically cynical selves and just...

pouring on the praise, pouring on the praise.

Maybe you have become pretentious?

That is a sad thing, to just be a critic's band.

Always be talking about that?

I guess we feel a little bit annoyed by that,

not only...

We want to glide without the critics,

straight into the tube.

♪ Career, career, career, career ♪

♪ No big hair!

♪ Songs mean a lot When songs are bought

- ♪ And so are you ♪ - Great.

We're Pavement and that was the Pavement

with Cut Your Hair.

♪ Face right down to the practice room

♪ Attention and fame

- ♪ Career - ♪ Career

- ♪ Career - ♪ Career

♪ Career... ♪

♪ Neighbor You call me neighbor

♪ You do me favors

♪ I'm not your neighbor

♪ Don't do me favors I'm not your neighbor

♪ Don't do me favors

♪ I'm not your neighbor

♪ I'm not your neighbor ♪

That was always the great thing about Pavement,

from Demolition Plot and the first 7-inch on,

there was always a gradual progression...

Alright, do you want to try Stop Breathin?

Crooked Rain was just like, OK, the Nirvana thing had happened,

because that was the time when

"most eligible to be signed band" stuff was floating around.

But I knew it was getting bigger.

One, two, three.

♪ Got struck... ♪

One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.

♪ Got struck by the first volley

♪ Of the war in the corps

♪ Never held my serve... ♪

You have different things you can do with each record.

Maybe this record is a little more straight ahead,

lyrically and stuff like that.

And the next time, we can do something different.

We think we have different cards to play every time, we played...

This time we played gin rummy, and next time we'll play strip poker.

I'm kinda like taking music that made me feel sick a little bit,

but trying to make it good.

Like classic rock of Silence Kid or The Eagles, with Range Life

so it was like bands I hated sometimes, I still do that now.

Yeah, I don't know why I'm compelled to do that.

♪ ...Breathin' for me now

♪ Write it on a postcard

♪ Dad, they broke me... ♪

Come work on your backing vocals on Cut Your Hair.

They often sound like shit. Get in here.

It would be cool for Range Life if we could have, like...

There could be one song where we...

It actually has the lyrics like karaoke, you know?

After I made Crooked Rain , everyone heard it and they're like,

"This is gonna be so great."

"You're set."

This is a proper fucking album like...

- Get ready! - It is, yeah.

Strap it on 'cause it's going off!

And then... So then I was like, "Alright, that's all I have to do.

"I can just act like I don't care.

"It's gonna be so big."

You know, "It's what Kurt Cobain would do too..."

But then it didn't happen.

He's filming but we're not making an album, we're just rehearsing, so...

It's not quite as a... much drama as that Beatles movie by Peter Jackson

that got so much traction on social media.

We're too soon together. We're not at each other.

♪ Hold on tight she wears the suit

♪ It's got more stars than the sky

♪ It's still forbidden to excuse

♪ That little look in your eye

♪ I was busted in my gut that time

♪ That time I said, "I know it's true"

♪ Why didn't I ask? Why didn't I ask?

♪ Why didn't I...? ♪

So sorry, everyone!

So sorry.

We didn't know...

You suck!

Try to get through this one!

I think it's gonna turn out to be a good idea to be here.

It's kinda weird, but you know...

So is good music.

Scott, do you want me to take my bass back, or not?

- Are you OK, are you getting it? - I'm OK, I think there's...

I'll practice some songs on my own.

What time do you usually come in?

I always stay a little later and go over some stuff that I'm kinda...

stuck on.

OK, guys, I'll see you later.

For kids who felt like everything was stupid and everything sucked,

- They were your band. - Range Life.

♪ ...one thing I'll never forget

♪ Hey, you gotta pay your dues

♪ Before you pay the rent ♪

In the song Range Life, the famous dig at Smashing Pumpkins.

It just felt a little, not "dangerous", it's the wrong word but

there's a lot of humor in Malkmus.

♪ Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins

♪ Nature kids They don't have no function

♪ I don't understand what they mean

♪ And I could really give a fuck

♪ The Stone Temple Pilots They're elegant bachelors ♪

Did you know that you were gonna get...

reactions to talking about The Smashing Pumpkins

and Stone Temple Pilots?

We thought it would be free publicity for the Pilots

and The Pumpkins actually, that's why we did it, not for ourselves.

In the third quarter, their record sales were lagging,

and we were paid off.

And I hope they paid you well.

Seeing them on The Tonight Show

just goofing on the whole thing.

The idea of selling out was first established as a concept...

I remember in the '80s when you saw Revolution used in the Nike commercial.

That's not what you're supposed to do with your music or with your art.

Doing something you're not comfortable doing for the sake of the market,

or for the sake of money.

I think it's radically changed...

No one really cares anymore.

If I'm able to con somebody into giving us money to do a commercial,

then I feel like we've won.

Nobody really cares.

No one's looking at it like they looked at the Beatles and the Nike commercial.

♪ I keep my address to myself Because it's secret

♪ 'Cause it's secret, cret, cret, cret

♪ Cret, cret, cret, cret, cret

♪ Back right now ♪

I was sitting watching that with my 6-year-old nephew.

We were both really excited to see lots of Santa Claus.

But it left us extremely confused, What was it about?

Yeah, I guess it was confusing.

So you've got a reputation for being hard to pin down.

Anything I've read about you guys... You sorta of have this fear of success.

Not a fear.

Just an unwillingness to be successful?

No, we've done everything we can do actually to be successful.

Maybe the kind of success that...

what you consider success, wouldn't be success to us.

I don't like to think of music in career terms at all.

Hey, Stephen,

this looks like the most painful experience for you, is it?

- It's not bad. - You're not sad?

It's just sitting next to me.

You're grimacing going...

No, no. That wasn't...

Well...

I don't... I think you misinterpreted me again.

Maybe I shouldn't even sing it.

If I was John Cougar, I would have blown the show off, or Radiohead...

But we're not that big, so I have to keep playing.

I apologize.

♪ We got the money

♪ We got the money

♪ There's no survivors

♪ There's no survivors ♪

What's the best part about being in Pavement for you?

The best part...

Alright, alright, alright, never mind, this one is...

Go ahead, you decide, whatever.

No way, this song sucks.

No way, song's stupid.

The song is really stupid.

♪ Well, I was dressed for suc...

♪ Success, it never comes

♪ And I'm the only one who laughs

♪ At your jokes when they are so bad

♪ And your jokes are always bad

♪ But they're not as bad as this

♪ Come join us in a prayer

♪ We'll be waiting, waiting where

♪ Everything's ending here ♪

Ladies and gentlemen, on the lead guitar,

your lead vocalist tonight all the way from Stockton, California,

Stephen Joseph, motherfucking, Malkmus!

That was actually pretty good.

Scott, there's a beautiful bird in your throat, soaring!

- Yeah, that was good today. - Sounding so good!

- You did it great. - She's a tough critic, too, Scott.

I would take that. A very tough critic.

It all sounded good.

What's the musician biopic gold standard for you?

- I think Bohemian Rhapsody. - Yeah, something like that.

I can imagine this...

Well, in some ways, kind of pushing a little further.

Yeah, it's the sort of character you can see yourself playing, you know...

for a decade, like a Rocky or like a Boyhood,

or something to come back to.

Right, because we're covering

- the '95 era. - Right.

Not to say we couldn't then very quickly

make the '92 or '94 era movie as well.

Yeah, of course.

And when you go that deep into characters, it's...

you know, it can be difficult to re-surface,

so sometimes it's easier to just hold your breath and keep swimming.

- Did you take one? - I got one.

- Oh my god, love to see it! - From production, yeah.

Oh wow, that is just...

He allowed us to take a photo.

We went up to his house and...

He...

He had just eaten, you can see it.

Did you get one of the tongue?

He was about to go play tennis,

so we had to do it very quickly, but...

He's trying to lay it flat whether he knows it or not,

because he's taking a picture.

It's also really cool to think about the fact that

all the music and the work that I've been doing

has all come from this place.

I've been so deep in S.M. that to go back into Steve, S.H...

You know, I'm thinking it might be difficult to kind of shake it off,

because that "fry" is something I've really gotten used to.

- Yeah. - I feel like I can't really tell anymore,

but I feel like my body has really adapted to the "fry."

You're doing it now.

Right now? Yeah.

I thought this was something you would just...

That you can just...

You can drop it and go away and it'd be all.

You can't just sort of...?

It might be, I don't know.

I mean, this is the first time we've worked together.

Yeah. I think I've made a big mistake.

It's... I wouldn't say... You don't...

- I think I've made a really big mistake. - No, no, no, no.

It's a possibility but that doesn't...

I don't think I really want to be Stephen.

I don't want to be Stephen anymore I don't think so much.

Joe.

Joe.

- Stephen? - Yeah.

- You almost ready? - Joe being Stephen...

I can't even believe I'm calling him Joe.

It's weird 'cause now when I look at pictures of Stephen Malkmus,

I think he looks like Joe Keery.

So it's becoming like a thing.

Who puts out a three-sided record?

Chris, why'd we agree to this?

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was a hit for us.

Nearly doubled the sales of Slanted and Enchanted.

The singles were top-notch.

You were on The Tonight Show.

Which we all agreed was lame and fake,

and you played poorly, which we appreciated,

which I appreciated.

Right. And what do you do with this complete freedom?

How do you repay us for keeping this operation as intimate as possible?

You release a sprawling 18-track record with no clear hits.

There's three sides on it, we left the fourth side blank!

Just baffling choices, guys. Non-choices.

I didn't think anybody ever made a 3-sided record

so I thought it was kind of funny.

Oh, it's hilarious. You know why no one's done it?

Because it's masturbatory, pretentious bullshit.

Alright, rolling sound.

Quietly listening to the blank side of Wowee Zowee.

- Camera... - Fuck.

Speed. One Golf, take one, D Mark.

And...

Can I have a little bit of Jason to start right there?

And action.

I know I listened to it, I liked the record.

There's lots of interesting sounds on it and...

You know, it's just a record where we got out of our heads a little bit.

I think it's more fun to listen to.

And there's more there, it's a long album, it's an hour long.

And my hope is that...

To buy this song, the listener gets value for money.

Yeah! It's a better value.

I thought a ten-song record would be cool.

That this was like the re-issue before the re-issue,

but I lost that battle.

At that time, we were pretty cocky, we were like...

You know, "We could put out anything."

When that record came out, it was really the first time we got any backlash.

It's still our least amount of records we've ever sold.

Three-sided vinyl...

A record with it's own B-sides on it, that's smart thinking to me.

I think it's our best record.

I think it's a "Fuck you- we-don't-want-any-fans" record.

What would you say is your favorite Pavement album?

Do you have one?

Yeah, Wowee Zowee would be mine.

It kinda captured the weirdness, perverted side of our band.

...half-baked.

Remember how Smashing Pumpkins had you black-listed

from Lollapalooza last summer?

They've come back, and offered it to you again,

And you're doing it.

This summer, because of record sales the way they are...

We don't want to be the band that like...

sells out and sounds worse and, like...

it's reaching for something they're not...

We're very satisfied with our level of success.

But there was a thought maybe they're gonna be this like...

Nirvana-type band...

But then we gave them Wowee Zowee, and I picked Rattled by the Rush,

and Father to a Sister of Thought.

These two really mellow songs are just slow and not...

But I didn't know, I think I was smoking a lot of grass back then.

To me, they sounded like hits.

Chris, when the fuck have we cared about what Rolling fucking Stone thinks, dude?

Look, you guys made a loosey-goosey, bullshit record,

to avoid becoming the band that your last record

promised that you might be.

It's not Metal Machine Music, it's a cool record.

I like it.

Well, if you gave us that record, we'd all be in here celebrating.

Malkmus!

Stephen... Stephen!

I would never do anything to compromise your integrity.

Gerard and I have your back.

- Yeah, I know. - Yeah?

Hey.

After we signed our distro deal with Atlantic,

who kept their logos off your record?

Do you remember what you said when Nirvana asked you to play with them?

You said...

"Who plays first?" And what did I do?

You went back and asked, "Who plays first?"

Because I support you.

Does the tour come to New York?

What if it really was a moment like this?

In life?

Yeah, where he's like, "Stephen, come on."

As far as I know, there never has been.

What do you mean? "It's gonna be in New York?"

I mean, that was a factual concern

because he specifically said, "Does Lollapalooza play New York?"

And then he was embarrassed about doing it in front of a New York crowd.

♪ It has a nice ring when you laugh

♪ At the low life opinions

♪ And we're coming to the chorus now ♪

With our type of music, because it's not always so immediate.

It's not just the hits right away, like Oasis.

People have to love it like an album, and they have to get into it over time,

and develop a relationship with it.

We're doing our own thing, we hope people can understand.

♪ And you can never quarantine the past ♪

In this context, it's so mind-blowing.

I don't know

if this is a good idea.

I just think that of all the bands you could do this for,

bands that Pavement touched up against, in one way or another,

Sonic Youth, Nirvana, all these bands from the '90s,

You couldn't do a stage show like this with any of their songs.

But you can translate Pavement right up there onto that stage.

And that means you have to try.

We're a couple of months into this process here.

Michael, he's nervous.

He says he went through this when he starred in American Idiot .

He's talking to me about this and I can't answer because...

My answer is, "Yeah, this could be a terrible idea."

♪ There is no

♪ Castration fear

♪ In a chair

♪ You will be

♪ With me

♪ We'll dance

♪ We'll dance

♪ We'll dance

♪ We'll dance

♪ But no one will dance with us

♪ In this zany town

♪ Chim-chim-chim Sing a song of praise

♪ For your elders

♪ They're in the back

♪ Pick out some Brazilian nuts For your engagement

♪ Check that expiration date, man

♪ It's later than you think

♪ You can't enjoy yourself I can't enjoy myself

♪ You can't enjoy yourself I can't enjoy myself

♪ Move that swing

♪ And watch it break straight like an arc

♪ Maybe we could dance

♪ Maybe we could dance

♪ Maybe we could dance

♪ Together

♪ Together

♪ Together ♪

Scene 21, interior, Ohio.

Mark and Bob are just playing ping pong once again.

Doubles against Elastica.

That dude Opie was so nice.

We should have him over to play ping pong sometime.

I think you mean Moby, the bald guy with the glasses?

You saw what happened out there.

People were turning and walking away as soon as we started.

I don't know what kind of band you'd have to be

to succeed at 3pm like that.

So I've been thinking, three shows.

The venues are horrible.

We're mostly playing in the daylight, so it's like a red planet Mars out there.

So we need to be called...

Pi, like the symbol.

Yeah, fucking hilarious, you can't spell Pavement without Pi.

No, no Pavement. Just Pi.

Kind of like Kraftwerk or some weird thing.

So because you think we're in a ridiculous position,

you want to try to screw it up?

You take something that could go alright, and do your own what-the-fuck version?

Lollapalooza '95 off to a great start.

Imposters.

Imposters.

We can't deliver the goods.

It's hard to imagine being so comfortable behaving in this fashion.

Isn't it more effort for you to go against the flow like this?

Wouldn't it be simpler to just say, "Sure".

I'm rolling.

Remember that show, Stranger Things?

In that part where I say...

"Frenetic!" or "Genetic!" I'm gonna say...

"Eleven!"

'Cause they have a cult following they'll hear that and be like...

"Wow! I like them too."

Eleven!

I am here, live, and in the studio with Pavement!

Who are going to be playing at the East Center today,

as part of Lollapalooza.

New album is called Wowee Zowee.

I love to say it!

But it's a weird album, I gotta say that,

I got the record here and

I think there's something wrong with mine

because one of the sides of the record is completely blank.

It's just... who am I to say, but it seems like with this album

maybe you're trying to deliberately alienate your fans or potential fans?

Sorry, is there a question or?

You were one of the first people to have that vocal style of like...

You can try to sing other ways, I can't sing like Eddie Vedder,

I don't have a baritone.

You know, I would if I could, maybe.

Singing out of tune is...

a revolutionary act.

The style captures the message, praxis, you know?

So it's what? Activism on your part?

Call it "slacktivism"?

The first question, Stephen, is...

First record you ever bought?

Well, the first record that I actually purchased...

was Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog.

Re-enforce power structures.

I'm not sure who wrote the music, but you might know the song...

♪ Jeremiah was a bullfrog

♪ Was a good friend of mine ♪

Where are you trying to take this band?

If this is the album that you want to put out.

No, we don't think about it in the same way.

This is music.

It's fun.

It's work, and that's not fun.

We want to reach people but only with the most pure intentions.

I would definitely be like, "Dude, why are you fucking this band up?"

I guess I already knew that the music business

was a weird place to exist.

When you're younger, you have a little more like...

Think you're the hottest shit, maybe,

even if you don't say it, you're modest in the interviews and stuff.

He's given that up. He admits that.

I wasn't thinking about that at all when we were making the record.

Everything is going to be great. People are going to love us.

But there are other people on the business side, that were working their butt off.

- Hello. - Hey, man, listen.

Forget Rolling Stone. Fuck Rolling Stone.

We got something better.

Alright.

We just got a call from Lorne Michaels,

and they want you, Pavement, to be the musical guest

on an upcoming episode of SNL.

- Hello? - Yeah, I'm here.

Yeah, so listen, the other thing is the host apparently is Quentin Tarantino.

And if you buy into this kind of shit,

that's the episode that all the so-called cool kids are gonna be taping.

Right.

We feel like this is a no-brainer.

Let's hear you say, "Great."

Or "Fucking, yes!"

- When do we show up? - When should we be there?

Nah, I don't wanna do that.

Or I could go back and I could see

if you could fuck it up like The Replacements--

Well, not like The Replacements but...

Elvis Costello? I don't know.

- Wear a fuckin' dress? - Yeah.

I'll do this show.

Show the animal doing tricks.

- Yeah, we could go on after the animals. - Stephen!

This is an opportunity to get in front of five million viewers! Maybe more!

That's a lot of ears, that's ten million ears!

It's whatever you want, man, ya know?

Just let us know what you want to do, and we got your back, alright?

Everything else good?

Not great.

The sets are poor, the attendance is mild...

Vibes are generally poor.

- Alrighty, then. - Alright.

- Check in soon. - Bye, bye.

- Check, check, check... - The new word is "fungi".

"Fungi."

What's the word?

- Fungi. - Fungi?

Like he ran into the woods and found some fungi.

I take my mushrooming knife into the woods...

Scene 11. Interior. Pavement's room. Backstage.

We see a gig poster for Lollapalooza '95,

and the date for the show, July 4, 1995.

There is a calm normalcy to this all,

but a tension that suggests the dam is about to break.

I would love my parents to see the great Pavement show.

I have a feeling that this show may be in fact legendary.

♪ ...always bad

♪ But not as bad as this ♪

It's gonna be fine.

We practiced a lot, so I feel like...

I don't have... I'm feeling confident...

We practiced like more than we ever practiced.

Really?

It's weird to be better when it doesn't really matter.

Ya know what I mean, like I wish I would have...

There's good things about being lackadaisical.

But, also...

Like just moving forward always is "I gotta do the next thing."

But this is all done, so you are just re-creating something.

There's no next thing, so you can really dial it in a little bit.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Watch the show be totally shit...

♪ Maybe

♪ Someone's going to save me

♪ My heart is made of gravy

♪ And the laps I swim From lunatics don't count

♪ Open up your stockings

♪ Pull out all the things You never wanted

♪ From room service calls ♪

This is a five minute call, everybody.

I'm in New York City in front of 472 Greenwich Street,

where Chris Lombardi lived when he co-founded Matador Records in 1989.

Today Matador's signature band, Pavement, is being honored

with the opening of their very own museum show.

Everyone, here we go.

Welcome to Slanted! Enchanted!

♪ Your doctor's leaving for The holiday season

♪ Got crystal ice picks No gift for the gab

♪ And in the parking lot Is the sedan he bought

♪ He never, he never Complains when it's hot

♪ He sold a swollen daughter a sauna on a Tucson ridge

♪ They're soaking up the fauna Doing blotters, I don't know which

♪ Which, which

♪ Boys are dying on these streets ♪

♪ In a netherworld of foreign feeds

♪ Well I've got style Miles and miles

♪ So much style that it's leavin' ♪

♪ Bring on the major leagues ♪

Thank you, West Virginia! Pavement are up next!

Dicky Barrett, the singer of the Bosstones, drenched in sweat,

wearing a suit, comes over to them.

Heads up, they started hosing down the crowd since it's so fuckin' hot.

So there's kind of a mud pit in front of the stage.

Meaning what?

There's some lunkheads lookin' like they want to fling some mud.

So look out, is all.

Dicky gives an enthusiastic fist pump,

and the suited Bosstones all leave the stage.

We focus on our guys.

There is a sense that they are on the precipice of a major league, tense,

and perhaps troubling moment,

waiting on the edge of a battle vibe.

♪ Look up to people So tall to you

♪ I can't

♪ So I won't stand

♪ Up chuck

♪ Break luck

♪ Look for the splinters You might see where they come in

♪ So go down

♪ Sweet Yardley

♪ I won't let you fall down

♪ Sweet Yardley

♪ I won't let you fall down

♪ Here, now ♪

♪ Generation

♪ Generation

♪ Generation

♪ Generation

Do you have a cigarette?

♪ Fight this generation

♪ Fight this generation

♪ Fight this Fight this generation

♪ Fight this generation

♪ Fight this generation ♪

I can only get mud thrown at me so many times.

Fuck you! Fuck you!

Motherfuckers!

Fuck you! Fuck you!

Fuck you, motherfuckers!

Fuck you, motherfuckers! Fuck you!

Fuck you! Fuck you!

Fuck you!

Fuck you!

Fuck-- God!

I love to be muddy.

Nah, fuck that shit.

- Yeah! - That fucking sucks.

You're all from fucking D.C.! Fuck You!

Man, that just fucking sucks!

Look at these guys. The band that ruined Lollapalooza.

Is that what you want your legacy to be?

Like being a heavy metal band in 1992.

Can't ruin something that's already been ruined.

We can't do it.

We're not Sonic Youth. We're not Hole.

- We're not Opie. - Moby. Moby!

Can't figure out how to be like those bands, while still be in this band.

I don't want you to be like those other bands,

I want you to be Pavement!

- That old refrain... - It doesn't matter.

If I had a buck for every single time you said "it doesn't matter,"

then I'd make more money than I'll ever make in this fuckin' band.

It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

There it is, two bucks in my pocket.

Are we a band?

Are we a group of buds jammin' tunes, or is this a job?

Because when we started this band five years ago back

in Nowheresville, Stockton,

I didn't think we'd get much further than selling a few hundred EPs,

so it's all gravy, it's all good.

Why does everything have to be a strategic decision?

Because I wanna be as good as we can be.

Alright? And I wanna be as respected as we can be.

I wanna be as popular as we can be.

And every time you say that "it doesn't fuckin' matter,"

you rob us of going the next step forward, it's bullshit!

Maybe we already are and you don't realize it yet!

Alright! Take it down a notch!

I've been in the same band as you since the beginning!

Bullshit.

I got hit...

in my body with a rock so I thought the show was over.

I'm sorry.

There, are you happy?

Yep, I am.

So fuckin' uncomfortable, I've got so much dirt and mud in my asshole.

They wanna kick you off the tour, and part of me thinks I should let them,

but I know that you don't want that, I know that you don't wanna get fired.

I know that you wanna give that 100% of that 50%

that you think you might be able to give.

I didn't know how they got all that clothing from the West Virginia show,

Lollapalooza, where they threw mud at us.

But that's it. And it's still dirty after all these years.

Nobody did their laundry.

I've got the actual amp with the mud on it, the bass amp.

- So you still have the same bass amp? - Yeah.

We got a lot of great press out of that really tough moment.

And the best thing about being the drummer and facing the crowd,

I could dodge all the mud that was thrown.

And I had cymbals to block me too.

So I didn't get hit like I think Stephen got hit.

♪ I was dressed for success

♪ But success, it never comes

♪ And I'm the only one who laughs... ♪

You're just arriving, this must be a little overwhelming?

Sorry, I'm just freaked out.

Yeah, right, this is your life?

Start crying.

♪ But they're not as bad as... ♪

I thought it was supposed to be fake.

This is all real.

No, I never thought that I would be an art museum.

I could spend a long time just looking right here.

♪ They're coming to the chorus now

♪ Keep my address to yourself 'Cause we need secrets... ♪

It's a bit overwhelming...

But it's amazing to see it all up here.

That was on a door in Toronto, I believe it was, at Lollapalooza.

My daughter just said,

"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing that in the basement for about 10 years."

♪ This is the slow, sick, Sucking part of me

♪ This is the slow, sick, Sucking part of me

♪ This is the slow, sick, Sucking part of me ♪

A lot of this stuff I haven't seen probably since it came out.

Of course I never thought it would be of any significance

besides from ourselves.

Actually I work in horse-racing where nobody's ever heard of Pavement.

So it's weird to go from a world where

people celebrate this kind of band.

We always figured it was kind of obscure.

So we're here with a treasure trove of Pavement archives.

- It's true. - You just walked in.

First impressions?

I like the Steve Keene artwork and there's a lot of people here.

Does it feel vulnerable to have some of these things

in the public for the first time?

Yeah, I'm impressed that I took the time to write all this stuff by hand.

Unfortunately you're like in a museum, it's kinda like old person stuff...

It's a little bit like that stuff you see where the people are at The Kitchen,

and they're like... honoring an older artist, before they...

turn ashes to ashes, dust to dust, so it's...

♪ Time is a one way track And I am not coming back

♪ I dream in beige Why'd you leave me so far now

♪ I bleed in beige Why'd you leave me so far now ♪

These give me a little PTSD to be honest.

So, it's kinda like too many shows.

This shit means a lot because...

You know, the industry always doubted us,

said that we were... slackers...

that we didn't have a hit in us, you know?

And people believed, 'cause... you know, look.

No one would have thought

at the time that these albums could go gold, let alone platinum.

- And these records don't lie. - No.

We had a very problematic relationship with this media corporation.

Just another group that tried to keep us down.

I think of this as sort of an olive branch,

you know, saying, "Hey, we were wrong.

"You guys are cool."

♪ Don't you know? I could make it dry, make it dry

♪ Make it dry, make it dry

♪ I've been crowned, the king of it ♪

Not proud about this.

Sometimes you got bills to pay, and stuff...

A little embarrassing this corner, it's like a little sell-out corner.

But there was no kombucha back then.

Did you see the Abercrombie Fitch ad?

Yeah. It's funny, right?

It's so insanely bad.

♪ Starlings in the slipstream ♪

See how rowdy it gets, right?

People might just, like in real art museums,

people steal things off the walls.

No, it's an amazing... We got to see so many incredible bands

play some of my favorite Pavement songs.

It's just a dream come true. I took one of the shirts off the wall.

I hereby christen Pavement 33-22.

It can mean a lot to you, even if it's not like...

It can mean enough to do this.

It's kind of reified that we are an important group.

I mean there's a lot of joy to be...

sentimental.

And people relate to that, I think.

We're like fitting and doing stuff and then...

filming all these scenes with Chris and Gerard...

...over the weekend.

Right, Chris and Gerard in quotation marks.

That's pretty amazing prop stuff.

Yeah you know we got some Gold Soundz premium lager.

See, that's not realistic.

It doesn't taste realistic either.

If someone had said, "We're shooting something about a band,"

I wouldn't think,

"Oh this is Pavement," or whatever.

Like, "Cool..."

So what's happening now? What are you guys about to do?

That actually sounds alright.

You in?

You guys, go for it.

I'm gonna hang back, work on some tunes.

Something new.

I can't wait to hear it.

I love you, man.

See you, Steve.

♪ Hey, listen to me

♪ I'm on the stereo

♪ Stereo

♪ Baby, baby, baby

♪ In stereo ♪

Please welcome Pavement!

Please welcome Pavement.

♪ High-ho silver ride

♪ Take another ride to see me home

♪ Get off the air I'm on the stereo, stereo

♪ Oh, my baby, baby, baby

♪ Baby, baby, baby

♪ Gave me malaria

♪ Hysteria ♪

I'll try to look like you, you try to look like me.

That sounds good.

Thank you everybody for coming here to the New York premiere of Range Life.

It's been an amazing journey so far, and now it's finally coming out.

Joe Keery.

Pavement has a very interesting story, but they're not Mötley Crüe.

And that was my challenge as a writer, how to heighten this story,

to the most epic rock saga of the '90s.

The movie I suppose got compressed into this thing.

I kinda totally forgot or blocked out of my mind.

So I have to watch it again, I think.

I would be curious as to how people will interpret this.

You know...

I can't really process, ya know...

any of it, so...

The selling out thing, that's weird for me 'cause like it's such a blip in my...

like...

So relatively irrelevant to my feel of the band, you know?

The climax is where the climax is,

- then we tell the story we had to tell. - Fine, it's a movie.

I hear you.

Thank you.

As long as people are seeing films, as long as they're listening to music,

you'll be listening to Pavement, and watching Range Life.

Maybe we can start doing some exercises to remove...

Like an exorcism of Malkmus from me.

We had people who knew the band, people's parents come up to me,

while we were working and say,

"I just saw a ghost."

"I just saw Stephen, young Stephen."

But it was me.

You know, that's cool for me.

Oh, buddy!

So, I'm going to ask you a question:

Why did Pavement break up?

Just too much touring, too many interviews.

- Too many questions. - Fair, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I get it, I hear you.

That's pretty much it, yeah.

Or Stop Breathin', Are you gonna Stop Breathin' to me?

One, two, three, 19 million, thousand, little birds explode.

In the Pavement style.

Let's just do the fast part.

That other part sucks. Just do the fast part.

♪ Be as it may, I'm happy to say, I'm alive

♪ 'Cause miles accrued And passengers add up

♪ But the message in the mirror says Stick with me ♪

Oh, shit.

♪ The damage has been done

♪ I am not having fun anymore

♪ I am not having fun anymore

♪ The damage has been done

♪ I am not having fun anymore

♪ Do what you do when you try what you get When you see the light

♪ Come down, I'll set my hope

♪ In a wonderful hospital man ♪

At that point in those years, when you played so many shows,

and you're that burned out, you're just...

All you really wanna do is get it over with on a good note.

And thankfully I really thought that we did that.

Hi, I'm Steve.

- Do you want to come in? - Sure.

- Give me your hand. - OK.

♪ ...lock up the shots again

♪ But, Ann, don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry

♪ Don't you cry ♪

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ Bring on the major leagues ♪

You know we're just a band who enjoys doing the records and...

playing shows, it's very simple.

♪ Open call for prison architects

♪ Send me your blueprints ASAP

♪ Stack the walls such That I cannot breathe

♪ Man is breedin' forever

♪ I hope soon to leave from the east ♪

♪ ...myself with my hand ♪

♪ No more absolutes

♪ No more absolutes

♪ And run along, Leigh ♪

I like them so much more now that they've sold out and gone on Report.

We'll be back with a performance by the Pavements.

♪ ...to those gold soundz

♪ And keep my advent to your self ♪

Do you think the '90s is having a moment now?

- Sort of, yeah. - Is that what you're saying?

Well, I think that's a good thing because that benefits me.

So I hope if goes on forever.

♪ Show me a word That rhymes with Pavement...

- ♪ A word that rhymes with pavement - ♪ That rhymes with pavement

♪ A word that rhymes with Pavement

♪ And I won't kill your parents And roast them on a spit

♪ And don't you try to etch it Or permanently... ♪

There was new life breathed into Harness Your Hopes .

New life into Pavement really.

Now I know and it made me feel bad.

Bad but I didn't put it on the album. Like nobody said, "That's a great song."

- Or something. - Oh, I'm sure I did.

Welcome back to the Mina Kimes Show.

♪ I wish I was Stephen Malkmus ♪

Stephen Malkmus really harnessed the acerbic talk-singing

of Lou Reed with post-punk influences.

Greta! I'm a huge fan!

- Oh, thank you so much! - Yeah, yeah. Bob, nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you. I remember Barbie. - Yeah!

- Yeah... - I know.

My one daughter heard it called,

- she heard her name, her last name-- - Oh, she did?

- Yeah. - Oh, my God.

It's one of my greatest happinesses that's it's in the movie.

Well if you're trying to sound cool and smart,

you're gonna talk about Pavement.

That's right.

- What therapy the movie was for you! - I love you, buddy.

I'm going into my character too.

- I know! - Smooth things over!

I'm in the dressing room backstage,

right before Pavement's about to play our last New York show.

Yeah.

Spit on a Stranger.

- An important song... - Roll it.

To all of us.

♪ However you feel

♪ Whatever it takes

♪ Whenever it's real

♪ Whatever awaits

♪ Whatever you need

♪ However so slight

♪ Whenever it's real

♪ Whenever it's right

♪ I've been thinking long and hard About the things you said to me

♪ Like a bitter stranger

♪ And now I see the long, the short The middle and what's in between

♪ I could spit on a stranger

♪ Pull me out

♪ You're a bitter stranger

♪ Pour me out

♪ I see the sunshine in your eyes ♪

Former art museum security guards.

Pavement have taken the main stage at the Tibet Freedom Concert.

You're bonding together again

on stuff that you did all those years ago.

But now you've got a different outlook on life.

Have you kind of maybe considered prolonging this honeymoon?

All our sharing, our children and all the things we share now.

We would just say, "Why don't we also share the band?"

We're wrinkled and gray and stuff

but everyone in the band is so grateful and psyched to be there this time because

you just remember all the good stuff and...

It means a lot to all of us.

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ Bring on the major leagues

♪ They'll wind you down sometime Kids like wine

♪ Magic Christians chew my rind 'Cause bad girls are always bad girls

♪ I was dressed for success ♪

♪ Bring on the major leagues ♪

♪ But success it never comes ♪

♪ Bring on the major leagues ♪

♪ You're killing me

♪ Killing me, killing me

♪ Killing me

♪ Killing me ♪

♪ Bring on the major leagues ♪

♪ A shady lane

♪ Everybody wants one

♪ A shady lane

♪ Everybody needs one

That's it, that's the finale!

♪ The damage has been done

♪ And I'm not having fun anymore

♪ To those above

♪ Take us out, throw us down

♪ Shove us out

♪ Don't you cry, don't you cry ♪

♪ Come join us in a prayer

♪ We'll be waiting, waiting where ♪

Hell, yeah.

♪ Everything's ending here ♪

All I have to say about this is I would never release this,

'cause we're on tour in Europe and I haven't had a chance to cut my hair.

So as far as I'm concerned, I look like an idiot.

This is where he got his idea for cuttin' his hair?

I love that hairstyle, it's funny. You look like a mushroom man.

I look stupid.

You look like a mushroom head.

Yeah.

- How do you look, Mark? - I think it's...

I haven't seen myself and I probably won't, either.

I disagree with Stephen, I think that it's an important document of our past.

You know I don't have any games on there anymore.

I made a little mistake.

I made a little mistake, guys.

Pueblo and

Heckler Spray, Linden

Debris Slide

No. Heckler Spray...

- Pueblo... - Pueblo, Heckler Spray, Linden,

Embassy Road, Debris Slide.

Very minor changes. The order has changed.

After Pueblo...

He put Heckler Spray slash Linden...

Roxy changed it around.

Roxy wants to hear Cut Your Hair, so...

And Steve agreed, so we got rid of Serpentine Pad and...

Listen up. As one of the divisions on the Pavement group,

and there is a parent in residence.

- Which I am. - Residence? Oh, no!

We are here to introduce... Pavement.

Stephen, the singer.

♪ Grave architecture

♪ Walk the marble malls

♪ The monuments to those who fall ♪

I'm going to encourage you to listen to this song,

Otherwise, go to the fucking bathroom.

Let's just stick to the list, I didn't make it. Let's do it.

Two, three...

It's gonna be in the credits as the movie goes down,

like you have to watch another 15 minutes...

- People walk out. - What huge assholes these guys are.

Yeah, we were trying so hard to find an asshole moment, we finally found it.

♪ You're my summer babe

♪ Summer babe

♪ Summer babe

♪ Summer babe ♪

- Thank you. - Thank you all.

♪ I need to sleep

♪ I need to sleep

♪ I need to sleep ♪