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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 ♪