History Film / PumpUpTheVolume

* BigBad: Principal Crestwood

* StupidStatementDanceMix: One of the earliest examples, when Joey (a young SethGreen) makes one from Harry's on air conversation with Mr. Deaver, the guidance counsellor.

%%* BurnBabyBurn

* DeanBitterman: Principal Crestwood, of the two-faced and thoroughly illegal methods variety.

-->"Girls you never spoke to are going Why Why Why?...And you've got a load in your shorts!"

* SmugSnake: Crestwood.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: One of the earliest examples, when Joey (a young SethGreen) makes one from Harry's on air conversation with Mr Deaver, the guidance counsellor.
* TitleDrop: averted.

--> Deaver : They're just kids!

** Deaver gets a bit of a HeelFaceTurn at the end, when Brian Hunter confronts Ms. Crestwood about her illegal and unethical activities. It seems that his decision to expel Cheryl *might* have been intended to help her, and he didn't know how far Crestwood had gone in her actions.

* OpenMindedParent: Mark's parents are such stereotypical baby boomers that it's vaguely ridiculous, but they're absolutely ''delighted'' at the idea that Mark has been sneaking Nora into the house under their noses. Of course, at the time they find out, they think Mark's the pirate DJ they're hearing about on the news, so it beats the alternative.

* ComingOfAgeStory: By the end of the movie,[[spoiler: Mark decides not to disguise his voice anymore and is finally able to talk publicly when he gets caught, overcoming his fear.]]

--> Now I'm depressed. Now I feel like killing myself. Luckily, I'm too depressed tto bother.

--> Deaver gets a bit of a HeelFaceTurn at the end, when Brian Hunter confronts Ms. Crestwood about her illegal and unethical activities. It seems that his decision to expel Cheryl *might* have been intended to help her, and he didn't know how far Crestwood had gone in her actions.

* HippieTeacher: Averted with the guidance counsellor. Played straight with Miss Emerson. ZigZagged with Brian, Mark's dad, who was this until he became an administrator. "I still love my job...and power and money."

* NoDeadBodyPoops: Averted after the call-in guest kills himself, Harry talks about suicide during the following broadcast, citing being found after the inverse of this trope kicks in as one of the reasons suicide is bad. "Girls you never spoke to are going Why Why Why?...And you've got a load in your shorts!"

A 1990 movie written and directed by Allan Moyle and starring Creator/ChristianSlater, ''Pump up the Volume'' features the exploits of Mark Hunter, a recent transfer to Hubert Humphrey High in Arizona, where he spends his days as a moping teenager and spends his nights running a [[BuccaneerBroadcaster pirate radio]] station under the moniker Happy Harry Hard-on.

A 1990 movie starring Creator/ChristianSlater, ''Pump Up The Volume'' features the exploits of Mark Hunter, a recent transfer to Hubert Humphrey High in Arizona, where he spends his days as a moping teenager and spends his nights running a [[BuccaneerBroadcaster pirate radio]] station under the moniker Happy Harry Hard-on.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: One of the earliest examples ("Happy Birthday, Dad! I'M IN JAIL!!! JAIL!!!").

* {{Slimeball}}: Deaver the guidance counselor is a creep who takes orders from Crestwood to validate the expulsion of "undesirable" students while pretending to care about them. Crenshaw herself is a whole lot worse (not only creating this policy (and enforcing it through flat-out illegal means) in order to get better grades and thus up the school's funding, but she calls the expelled students "losers" when confronted about this).

* StupidStatementDanceMix: One of the earliest examples.

* {{Slimeball}}: Deaver the guidance counselor is a creep who takes orders from Crestwood to validate the expulsion of "undesirable" students while pretending to care about them.

%%* BuccaneerBroadcaster

%%* CensorshipBureau

%%* LargeHamRadio

%%* EatingLunchAlone.

** Also in universe, it's Hubert Humphrey High, and Happy Harry Hardon.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The clothes, the hair, the politics, the technology, all of it screams "late 1980's/early 1990s."

* AudienceMonologue : Several throughout the film. The audience in this case is Harry's listeners, as well as the viewer.

* BrickJoke : "Is it bigger than a baby's arm?"

* CatchPhrase : Several, as Harry is very quotable. "So be it." "Take cover, Arizona!" "I'm done, stick a fork in me." "Turn on the truth!" "Talk hard," and so on.

* ChekhovsGunman : We're introduced to some students on the bus in the very first scene, whose names come up much later as Mark's platform to rail against the injustices at the school. Luis Chavez and Cheryl Biggs are called in to see the principal, and we see a shot of the (unnamed) Malcolm.
* DeadpanSnarker : Most of the teen cast, but Mark/Harry especially. "Are you going to write a letter to your friends back East?" "No, I thought I'd send away for an inflatable date."

* DrivenToSuicide : [[spoiler: Malcolm.]]

* HippieTeacher : Averted with the guidance counsellor. Played straight with Miss Emerson. ZigZagged with Brian, Mark's dad, who was this until he became an administrator. "I still love my job...and power and money."

* MemeticMutation : In-universe, the students at Humphrey hang posters and spray-paint Harry's catch-phrases everywhere.
* MostWritersAreWriters : Mark is a talented writer, and his English teacher is trying to get him to write for the school paper.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero : A tragic example in the "advice" Harry gives to Malcolm.

* ShirtlessScene : Involving both Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

* StalkerWithoutACrush : Nora's interest in Mark, at first, is an attempt to solve the mystery of Harry's identity. She more or less stops stalking him when she finds out who he is.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece : The clothes, the hair, the politics, the technology, all of it screams "late 1980's/early 1990s."

* OpenMindedParent: Mark's parents are such stereotypical baby boomers that it's vaguely ridiculous, but they're absolutely ''delighted'' at the idea that Mark has been sneaking Nora into the house under their noses. Of course, it does beat the alternative.

* IntrepidReporter: "This is [[AlliterativeName Shep Sheppitt]], reporting..."

* BuccaneerBroadcaster
* BurnBabyBurn

* CensorshipBureau

* EatingLunchAlone.

* LargeHamRadio

* NoDeadBodyPoops: After the call-in guest kills himself, Harry talks about suicide during the following broadcast, citing being found after the inverse of this trope kicks in as one of the reasons suicide is bad. "Girls you never spoke to are going Why Why Why?...And you've got a load in your shorts!"

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece : The clothes, the hair, the politics, the technology, all of it screams "early 1990s."

* MostWritersAreWriters : Mark is a talented writer, and his English teacher is trying to get him to write for the school paper.