When we think of the pop culture of the early and mid 90s, we might think of Nirvana and grunge, flannel and Doc Martens, MTV and Pulp Fiction. But if you remember the underground culture of the era, you probably came across tapes that came to be known as "Shut Up, Little Man!", recordings of two elderly roommates in an San Francisco apartment building, furtively captured by their young neighbors. The two guys doing the recordings, Eddie and Mitch, found their neighbors' constant squabbling hilarious, and eventually passed the recordings on to friends who found it equally entertaining. The tapes then made their way around the country, inspiring sell-out CDs, comic books, plays and even a Hollywood deal.
Now the new documentary Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure chronicles the entire phenomenon. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles next week on September 16. To give you an idea of what to expect, of how director Matthew Bate tells the story through interviews with Eddie and Mitch as well as re-enactments, we've got an exclusive red-band clip from the film below. Take a look:
As you can tell the movie is distinctly R-rated not because of sex or violence, but the insane amount of profanity used by both sets of neighbors. But of course, that's what made the tapes so fun to begin with. If you like what you saw here and don't live in a city where Shut Up Little Man! is opening in theaters, you're in luck-- the movie is also available now through On Demand, iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly and Vudu now. CHeck out the official synopsis below:
The most important audio recording released in the nineties wasn’t a collection of songs by a self-tortured alternative star. The most important recording release in the grunge era was entitled SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! It was a covert audio recording of two older drunken men living in a small flat in San Francisco, who spent their available free time yelling, screaming, hitting and generally abusing each other.The phenomenon began in 1987 when Eddie and Mitch (two young punks from the Mid West), moved next door to Peter Haskett (a flamboyant gay man), and Raymond Huffman (a raging homophobe). This ultimate odd-couple hated each other with raging abandon, and through the paper-thin walls their alcohol-fueled rants terrorized Eddie and Mitch. Fearing for their lives they began to tape record evidence of the insane goings on from next door. In recording Pete and Ray’s unique dialogue, the boys accidentally create one of the world’s first ‘viral’ pop-culture sensations. Their tapes went on to inspire a cult following, spawning sell-out CD’s, comic artworks by Dan Clowes (Ghostworld), stage-plays, music from the likes of Devo and a Hollywood feeding frenzy. For the newly famous Eddie and Mitchell, this would be a life-changing experience that would see them ingested into the belly and fired out the orifice of the pop culture beast.
