If you were to picture in your mind’s eye the stereotypical indie rock band, there’s a good chance the band you imagine will be Pavement; with their flannel shirts, obtuse lyrics and melodies, and general don’t-give-a-fuck attitude toward both mainstream society and rock stardom itself, the lo-fi pioneers were the posterboys for a certain strain of ‘90s Gen-X cool. Yet, if you actually look at a picture of the band in its original incarnation, you’ll notice something peculiar: lurking behind babyfaced songwriters Stephen Malkmus and Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg is an older fellow, lanky and bearded, looking far more acid-rock than alternative. That would be Gary Young, the band’s infamous first drummer and the subject of the new documentary Louder Than You Think. Young was a true rock ‘n’ roll eccentric, and Louder paints him in a loving, appropriately shaggy portrait.
Young was a fixture in the Stockton, California music scene going back to the ‘70s, having played in such colorfully named punk bands as The Fall of Christianity. His impressive home studio (and low rates) attracted the duo of Malkmus and Kannberg for the earliest recordings of their nascent musical project; in typically lackadaisical fashion, Young became the drummer for Pavement more or less through proximity. To the surprise of all three, those recordings spread in all the right circles (their first album, Slanted and Enchanted, was reviewed in SPIN while still in demo tape form), and soon Pavement was an international alt-rock cause celebre. Early reviewers of Pavement live shows focused as much on Young’s theatrics as on Malkmus’ songwriting or Kannberg’s guitar work– understandably, as the drummer was prone to casually doing handstands in the middle of songs (a second percussionist, Bob Nastanovich, was hired to keep time when Young wandered away from his kit). Of course, such rock ‘n’ roll volatility tends to have a limited shelf-life, and it wasn’t long before Young’s antics threatened to tear the band apart.
As is only fitting for its lo-fi subject, Louder Than You Think is an amiably shaggy affair. The film tells Young’s story through a mix of new interviews, some priceless archival footage, and extensive reenactments featuring some pretty great marionettes crafted by puppeteer Adrian Rose Leonard (which I would absolutely buy if they were ever sold commercially). His bandmates speak lovingly and patiently of him, chuckling even while describing incidents which put both their careers and lives at risk. Gary Young was clearly one of those larger-than-life characters who impressed himself upon every person in his orbit; if you ever met him, it seems like there’s a very good chance you’ve got at least one Gary Young story to tell at parties.
The heart of the film, however, lies in its extensive interviews with Young himself, shot in and around the very same home studio in which he accidentally birthed the lo-fi movement. To anyone who has spent much time in a local music scene or digging through the crates of a used record store, Young will represent a familiar type: the half-crazed rock ‘n’ roll burnout who has clearly lived several lifetimes’ worth of insane stories, who fascinates you even as he drives you up the wall. “I’ve dropped acid 375 times,” Young casually confesses in the film’s opening moments, and you instantly believe him; between his glazed look, his scoliosis-twisted frame, and ever-present bottle of Orange Crush and vodka, it’s a wonder he’s still standing (sadly, he wouldn’t be for much longer; Young passed away in 2023, shortly after the film’s premiere and mere weeks after receiving a cancer diagnosis). Yet he retains an undeniable spark, a deceptively keen wit which shines through even in his most addled and delusional moments. He is, if not crazy like a fox, then at least like the mangy dog who’s wily enough to have survived for ages on the streets.
Louder than You Think, like its subject, is something of a paradox: the story of a generation centered on a man who does not belong to it. The trajectory of Pavement is that of the Gen-X alt-rock in a nutshell, true-blue indie kids who, by dint of their own success, were forced to go through the very corporate ringer their entire ethos was structured against. But Gary Young, of course, was not Gen-X; he was very much a Baby Boomer, built more for Frank Zappa’s Bizarre Records roster than for Matador or Sub-Pop (Pavement’s third album, Wowee Zowee, drew its name from Young’s favorite Zappa catch phrase). He expresses disgust toward “lo-fi,” despite the fact that his own playing is a major part of its bedrock; he objects to the Beavis & Butthead treatment of his post-Pavement leftfield novelty hit “Plantman” in terms which suggest he believes Beavis is a real person; he can’t fathom an audience that would rather listen to Malkmus’ deliberately blase drawl than watch his own nutty stage antics. It’s a refreshing break from the usual rock-doc hagiography: a film lightly skeptical of its subject, a subject lightly skeptical of his own greatest achievements.
Louder Than You Think is, by design, a slight film; its tone and story are relatively breezy compared to the typical rockumentary bombast. But by setting its sights on a more modest corner of the rock universe– a cult figure within his own cult band– it does what any good documentary should: it tells a story you haven’t heard before. Gary Young is often regarded with a certain level of derision in rock circles, but he was an important part of Pavement’s legacy. And for all his freakiness, he was a damn good drummer; it’s impossible to imagine Slanted and Enchanted without that indelible tsss-tsss-tsss high hat on “Summer Babe (Winter Version),” or the fills in “Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era” in which Young’s snare drum effectively becomes the lead instrument. Gary Young may not have been a creature of the ‘90s, but there’s no ‘90s without Gary Young– or at least, they wouldn’t have sounded quite so unique.
Louder Than You Think
2023
dir. Jed I. Rosenberg
90 min.
Screens Friday, 11/15 through Sunday, 11/17 @ Brattle Theatre – click here for showtimes and ticket info
