I love this film, but...

Yeah, I agree that the voices of the teens starting their own pirate radio stations at the end was kind of lame. The movie goes from building up the the ultimate climax...then that just cheeseifies (made-up word?) it. I just try to ignore that part. The movie has so many good things about it that I can pretend that little end part just didn't happen.

...and right on!! Leo Cohen's Everybody Knows should have been on the soundtrack!! I remember being very disappointed when I found out.

Slater's intensity and angst (combined with some good tunes), really make this movie what it is. I think a remake is out of the question, though.

It's kind of sad that Slater has slipped off of Hollywood's radar...both Pump Up The Volume and True Romance are among my favorites. He turns in top notch performances in both.

"the ending overdub of all the teens starting their own pirate radio stations...how can I say this...sucks cheez whiz through a straw."

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Right! To bad... the internet came along and put "pirate radio" out of business!

There was something else wrong with this movie:

Christian Slater was a real flip-flopper. Jeez man; make up your mind! He flips and flops about 4 times in this movie.

It's hard to tell if that was the real ending that Moyle wanted or not...many times a studio head will change the ending after the focus groups get involved and he would have little choice against it if he wants it released. Risky Business was supposed to end with Joel not getting into Princeton but David Geffen insisted that he did and being a first time director Brinkman had no choice. Moyle doesn't have enough of a standing in Hollywood to walk out on a film like say Spielberg could. It happens a lot more than people realize. Hell, David Lynch is a pretty renowned director and the people at Universal attempted to make Lynch wrap up the Twin Peaks series in the manner they saw fit and he did his own ending and walked.

As for why Concrete Blonde's version of "everybody knows" is on the soundtrack as opposed to Cohen's original...it's quite easy...Cohen is a Sony recording artist and the soundtrack is on MCA...therefore MCA would've had to pay Sony a crapload of money to get permission to use it and Cohen may not have even signed off on it himself. There were two Cohen songs in the movie and neither appear on the soundtrack. The Concrete Blonde version is a great cover regardless. Don Henley did a cover of that song on a Cohen tribute album and it was horrible..even for him.

God yes, I know just what you mean. All of those kids starting their own pirate radio stations back then were exactly like all of the pathetic losers on MySpace today.

Retards.
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Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude

The ending of this film is being taken way too literally by all of those posting in this thread.

The audio montage of voices certainly suggests the surface idea that many of Harry's listeners became inspired to follow in his footsteps and went on to host their own radio shows with edgy and honest content.

The fact is that this thought upon which the film concludes is not intended to depict the actual reality of the future following Harry's impact on those who listened to him, but rather, it is merely a metaphor.

The message that it being expressed by this element of the ending is that Harry's listeners were awakened to their reality and emotionally affected by Harry's loathing for pretense, dishonesty, political correctness and inappropriate pressure and expectations placed upon teenagers. The voices of so many people with radio shows of their own is actually just a way of stating that the people who were touched by Harry are not going to grow up into adult sheep and continue the cycle of raising the next generation with closed minds and cookie-cutter molds for their children to fit into.

The symbolism is pretty basic in that Harry has shown his listeners that they can make their world a better place if they are just willing to speak up and speak the truth. He has told them that they each own a voice, and now they need to remember to use it.

If you were thinking that a great number of Harry's listeners actually went on to host radio shows, and that's what we're hearing at the end, you should just scrap that whole concept and re-evaluate the ending of the film recognizing the symbolism for what it is.

Great movie... captured the era particularly well and Slater was tremendous.

I agree completely with everything you said. I loved the movie, up until the end. When I watch the movie now, I always turn off the TV before it gets to that point.