Videoradio - Skate Videos as a Musical Educational Resource

When I got into skateboarding as a teenager, I couldn’t believe how incredibly hard it was to do, how quickly it was changing and how much I wanted to be part of it. All I had to go on was a few magazines, which I read cover to cover and studied every picture, but when I finally saw a skate video it all fitted together: the music, the clothes, the American streets, the way the tricks looked in motion as opposed to a photograph. In the absence of other skaters to watch or skate with, the videos became my … older brothers, in a way.

I got into hip-hop and punk music through skate videos, of course, but many of my favourite parts were the ones with something a bit different as a soundtrack. I used the clues in skate videos to find out about life, and I found them way more interesting and reliable than any other source available. To be honest, I still do.

The music in a skate video is really important. Done well, it elevates the skating above just a collection of footage, and it adds context and feel. More than anything, it’s a clue to the headspace the skater (or the editor) was in when they filmed the part, and what they were listening to at the time – and that’s privileged information.

These are a few skate video parts that made my ears prick up over the years. It’s by no means an exhaustive or definitive list – but I certainly enjoyed watching them all again.

Mark Gonzales

Video Days, 1991

"Traneing In", John Coltrane

Gonz was an older guy even back then, and he seemed so worldly with his weird clothes and tricks filmed in the drained pond underneath the Eiffel tower. The Coltrane track suits the part perfectly because what he was doing was jazz. At the time, I hadn’t ever thought of jazz as a thing that could be cool, because I was an idiot. I suppose I only really pretend to like jazz even now. This part taught me that there were dimensions to music that I might not get, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t cool. Gonz wasn’t hemmed in by what other people thought of him or what the established norms – he’d look weird skating to punk rock. Actually, that would be pretty cool. Every time I watch this I’m shocked at how current it feels.

I was going to write about that Gonz part he recites a poem over, but Jenkem already included it in a listicle about skate songs.

Andy Stone

Falling Down, 1993

"Mother Goose", Andrew Dice Clay

I didn’t know who the hell Andrew Dice Clay was then and I still don’t – hang on, I just Googled him – ok, he was Ford Fairlane. I just thought it was really badass to have a comedy routine over your skate video part. It made me like Andy Stone more, anyway.

Ethan Fowler

Tincan Folklore, 1996

This is an interesting one because it was sort of an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ part. Ethan was arguably at his peak, and the skating in this part is incredible, if somewhat unfocused. The music is a jam session by him and Chris ‘Dune’ Pastras, revealing them both as pretty bad musicians. It made me think, ‘What is he doing with his life?’ because it was obvious he wasn’t that interested in skateboarding anymore and wanted to be a musician, or a junkie, or something. He was sort of just showing up for work with this part, turning up with his incredible sure-footed grace that he’d worked so hard to cultivate and now didn’t care about. I could never get that. But it’s compelling stuff. This was the difficult second album after his part in Stereo’s much-celebrated Visual Sound which seems quite contrived now to me, even though it is still fantastic.

Max Schaaf

FTC Penal Code, 1996

"Always See Your Face", Love

I doubt Max Schaaf actually chose to skate to this song. It was probably chosen by Aaron Meza, the film’s director and a dude who has turned me on to all kinds of stuff. I always fast-forwarded through any vert section, but by virtue of this song, I became a Max Schaaf (and Love) fan. It’s a beautifully sad little song, which remains one of my favourites to this day.

Richard Angelides

Genesis, 1997

"Three-Dee Melodie", Stereolab

I’m not a huge fan of Ty Evans’ more recent work because it seems to be looking down at its audience and more focused on technology than skating, but you have to tip your hat to his earlier work. Judging by Angelides’ extensive shelltoe collection and pimply visage he had nothing to do with the song choice, but the droney, trippy sounds of Stereolab go perfectly with his futuristic style of skating. I think this part got me into Stereolab, which gave me something to talk to girls about (besides skating).

John Cardiel

Sight Unseen, 2001

"Haunted & Nervous", Sizzla

John Cardiel was always gnarly, but I never really got it. The Anti Hero videos were deliberately badly made, as if they were dissing the way ‘proper’ videos were made, maybe because filming skating misses the point: which is skating. I got that, but I was excited to see Cardiel with the first part in a TransWorld video. The high production values and sparing use of slow-mo showed how incredible Cardiel was, but it was the Sizzla soundtrack that made it extra dope. I knew Cardiel was into reggae, but before I saw this, it just seemed weird. Hearing and seeing it together was great, because you could see how the wild energy of reggae matched Cardiel’s. I don’t know. Writing about this shit is hard.

Bobby Puleo
Static 2, 2004
"Shangri La", The Kinks

This part is a great example of the music not really representing the skater’s tastes, but somehow summing him up better than they ever could. I suppose that’s what you call ‘directing’. Josh Stewart’s Static series is the mold for the modern low-impact, interesting spot-driven video part, and Bobby Puleo is an undisputable forerunner to an approach to skating that is like graffiti – his tricks are his tags, now you can’t go back there and film. Puleo said recently that he hates most of the music in his parts, and I can imagine this is one of them. Of course he doesn’t listen to the Kinks; he must hate the Kinks. Well I love the Kinks, but I had more of a Greatest Hits-type appreciation of them before I saw this part. It’s the last half of Shangri La, where the drums get all hectic and dope, and it matches Puleo’s precise, strangely-comfortable-on-impossible-to-skate obstacle style of skating perfectly. Every second of this part is etched on my brain and a lot of that is because of the song, plus Stewart’s filming and the editing – I love all of Puleo’s parts but this is the one I keep going back to. I play this song all the time at work and I expect everyone to drop what they’re doing and come over to ask me who it is, but they never do.

William Strobeck

The Cinematographer Project, 2012

"Before My Voice Fails", Gang Gang Dance

The Cinematographer Project was a video by TransWorld that showcased the work of different skate videographers, rather than skaters. Strobeck’s part stood out from the others for all sorts of reasons: it was filmed in two days, it was in black and white, and it had all the ‘team handsome’ skaters in it. But it was more than that; the clip has a unique energy about it, and it has a lot to do with the music. First there’s a piece of guitar music recorded live in Strobeck’s apartment, then the epic last minute of a Gang Gang Dance track that I never would’ve had the patience to listen to otherwise. The music is from the same place as the skaters (New York) and there’s a relationship there with at least one of them. It’s intriguing and a level above, you know, matching the beats of a hip-hop track with some skating. This is also the clip where Strobeck proclaimed ‘Fat Bill is dead’, putting to bed his nickname and past as the Love Park/Habitat filmer, and beginning to redefine himself as the skate auteur he is today. I like how his stuff is unapologetically cool. People are too shy about being cool.

Josh Pall

Pass~Port x Nike SB pro part, 2015

"Take Care of Business", Alex Cameron

This just came out and I love it. The song is sort of slow and moody and dark, but it builds up to a sort of heavenly crescendo by the end of the part. It’s a brave song choice, because it’s weird, and that’s part of why it works so well. It helps that the skating is so serious and unfuckwithable – you couldn’t use this song over a bit of footage of you and your friends fucking around. Again, the music is from the same place as the skater: Sydney – so who knows, maybe they’re friends? I have no idea, but it’s really interesting.

Max Olijnyk is a Melbourne writer and skater. Head to Note to Self to check out some of his skate videos.