What is Skate punk? Is it a rodent creature dwelling in the sewers of our streets, or is it sincerely less sinister?
The label put on skate culture in the early to mid-80s was that of a rebellious message to the youth of the world.
One that would seep into the mind, infecting it with punk-rock and anti-establishment conspiracies.
However, Skate punk and skate culture are far less dire to your health.
The genre as a whole has changed and evolved the music you listen to more than Michael Jackson, Cher and The Beatles combined.
From early roots in the surfing world, skate culture had landed itself in an already established counter-culture scene.
However, as skate culture began to break away from surfing it became more more distorted and grungy.
But where exactly did Skate punk come from?
The 70s: Surf music and the first skate films
Kicking off in the early 70’s, skate culture is (unfortunately) inherently difficult to trace back to a single person.
However, there’s a very good chance that person was a surfer like this guy (or ghoul) below.
Whether the idea of skate was born out of stoned bedroom boredom or perhaps a lack of waves to hack at on fibreglass.
Skate culture however, would go on to influence one of the most popular genres of the early 80s up till the 2000s.
As surfing was still the predominant face of counter-culture during this period, the music of skate culture was still technically ‘Surf-Rock’.
Pioneers of early surf rock & roll were bands and artists such as The Lively Ones and good ol Dick Dale, with his smash hit song (and Pulp Fiction opening credits song) “Misirlou”.
During the mid to late 70’s we got one of the first popular full-length skate features, no surprise to anyone that Stacy Peralta was involved.
‘FreeWheelin’ in 1976 with Stacy Peralta on the board (as opposed to behind the camera), was a new segue for surfers coming into the skating world.
Earlier films like SkaterDater in 1965, were technically the first but were going to ignore that for now.
‘FreeWheelin’ was a major driving force behind getting surfers off the beach and onto the pavement.
The 80s: The birth of Hardcore Punk
Up until the 80’s, the sound of skate culture had been deeply rooted in surf music.
This would change in the early 80s, as a new genre started to emerge out of the cultural hub of skateboarding that is California.
That genre was hardcore punk. The stomping, punching, moshing fix of adrenaline and pure raw energy that spread across skate culture.
With bands like Black Flag, Dr. Know, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Descendants and Jodie Foster’s Army just to name a crazy few.
The culture of skateboarding was seeing a dramatic shift and punk music was at the forefront of that shift.
Skate films during this time would naturally include many punk songs in their soundtracks, like 1987’s ‘Wheel’s On Fire’ from Santa Cruz Skateboards.
The 80s were also notable for their introduction of the ‘Nardcore’ punk movement , which came out of Southern California in the early to mid 80s (Nardcore being a mashup between ‘hardcore’ and the suburban community of ‘Oxnard’).
‘Nardcore’ is responsible for some of the best punk bands we have heard, and surpise, surprise, most of them were also skaters.
The movement was essentially a fusion of all the best parts of punk and all the best parts of skate culture at the time.
‘Nardcore’ was notably headed by some of the best punk bands of the time, under the wing of punk promoter king Doug Moody’s Mystic Records.
The record label is the production, distribution, and most importantly money behind acts like Dr. Know or False Confessions.
Mystic Record’s played an incredibly pivotal part in pushing these ‘Nardcore’ bands and ideologies into the mainstream
This led us into one of punk’s most prolific time periods; the ’90s.
The 90s: Grunge & Pop-punk reign supreme
While you or many others might associate the ’90s with the birth of Grunge or Alt-Rock, it was also an incredibly influential period that would dictate the sound of modern Skate punk.
When you think of Skate punk it is likely your mind will immediately go to albums like ‘Dude Ranch’, Offspring’s ‘Smash’ or basically anything by NOFX.
These were mostly from the 90s.
It was a period when punk and skate punk were moving away from their ‘nardcore’ origins and were starting to become much more pop anthemic.
And with the rising popularity of video games, skate music had a brand new platform to showcase itself on.
The 90s became a period where Skate punk, alt-rock and grunge were all starting to blur between the lines.
With genres like Grunge and Alt-rock, essentially being a baby version of hardcore Skate punk.
Think about a mashup of Weezer, Blink-182, The Smashing Pumpkins and Alice In Chains, this was the essential sound of the ’90s.
The merging of skate culture with other genres outside of punk, like alt-rock and pop were also a prevalent aspect of the 90s.
For an example of this, check out the music video for Sonic Youth’s ‘100%’ which featured skater Jason Lee and was directed by beloved director, skater and absolute lord Spike Jonze.
The 2000s to now: Post-punk, heavy-rock & Metal
The early 2000s and 2010s were more of a settling period, where Skate punk was still maintaining decent popularity but starting to merge more with alt-rock, metal and post-punk.
Bands like Green Day and Rage Against The Machine headed this sort of post-punk, heavy-rock movement.
Albums that you would hear around skateparks included Green Day’s ‘Dookie’, Blink-182’s ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ and a personal favourite ‘Resolve’ from Lagwagon.
Skate culture was still a punk-filled environment, but the alt-rock of the 90s had squeezed into the cracks.
More towards the 2010s, Skate punk bands began emerging again with a similar sound to their 80’s and 90’s influence.
Bands like Trash Boat and FIDLAR are among the modern equivalents.
And with their incredible 2015 album ‘Too’, they are still releasing really good music.
Producing some of the most influential bands and music of the century, skate culture is responsible for some of the greatest acts we have seen in modern times.
And they’re still around today, you just have to put down the cheetos and look.
In Aus our new jam recently has been Pub Rock, in the US for a good portion of time it was Mid-west Emo-rock.
So if you need some new music to soundtrack scraping your knees on asphalt, Skate Punk is there for you.
While it may not be day and night punk is all around, it’s in the coffee you drink, the clothes you wear and those pesky voices that rattle around inside your brain.
Regardless of wether that frightens you or not, punk is never dead and neither are you.
So appreciate Punk and all its children, in its leather clad, teeth ripping glory.
