“I Get Around” is a compilation from Ontario’s famous (?) TeeVee Records that might be related to the current operation named TeeVee operating out of Nashville Tennessee. The original TeeVee was pretty much the same as K-Tel records, which is also based in Canada. If you were lucky the record you bought would be a compilations of popular or formerly popular songs. If you were unlucky, it would be a compilation of cover versions of those songs. Sometimes you might find something more interesting, like a moog synthesizer studio band covering tripped out ABBA instrumentals. Today’s TeeVee appears to be focused on country music greatest hits compilations from yesteryear.
Considering the usual quality of these types of compilations, it’s no big surprise that there is only one skateboard song on an album that looks like it going to be all about skateboarding. I thought for sure that I already had “Skateboard Craze” by Willie and the Wheels, but it’s not showing up in my library. A little research on the group turned up this from AllMusic.
Willie & the Wheels was really a mid-’60s studio concoction of writing and production duo P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. Sloan and Barri released countless tracks of surf and hot rod tunes under different group names (including the Fantastic Baggys and the Rincon Surfside Band) during the genre’s commercial peak between 1963 and 1965. As Willie & the Wheels they officially released a single (“Skateboard Craze” b/w “Do What You Did”) on Dunhill Records in 1965, followed by an album that same year, The Surfing Song Book, on RCA Records.
This record was released in 1978 and the only skateboard song on it was already 13 years old! I don’t have a stylus on my turntable so I can’t even listen to the damn song. The rest of the album contains other songs made famous in the 60’s that must have been cheap to license. To make up for the astonishing lack of skateboard songs, they included one of the always amusing lingo guides. Highlights include:
LIPSLIDE – “…and slide on the apron of the bowl”
CURVE – “riding around the perimeter of a bowl or pool”
NARLY – Who spell checked that, a twelve year old kid?
STOKED – “Being outskated by someone”
TAIL TAG – ?? I think they meant “Tail TAP”.
WOODSLIDE – errr….
That’s “Wee” Willi Winkels jumping that corvette below. This was a very famous photo in 70’s skateboarding. You have to wonder if he or the photographer got paid for this particular usage. One of these days I’ll get the turntable set up and get some MP3’s uploaded.
Here’s a bonus video of a 1978 TV commercial for TeeVee Records.
13 comments
celine szoges schwartz
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIXGq9WtlI
20 Willie & The Wheels – Skateboard Craze Enjoy…
Dinkasourass
SICK WOODSLIDE!!!
talentlessquitter
Nice ‘vette.
smaglite
That’s Willie jumping the vette.
Willie as in Winkle (WWW) – not Jay.
They advertised that Lp on TV when it came out. I remember it having local (Toronto) footage. Love to see that again.
chomp
So you’ve never ground doing a primo? While grabbing Roast Beef? Sheesh…
I get the funniest image in my brain thinking of the “Roast Beef Primo Grind”.
Scotty
Those Skateboard Terms are He lar is ous! and i have to tell you that type of someone not in the know trying to be cool still goes on today.. A good friend of mine edited a 4 dvd set of skateboard footage for a well know dvd distributor.. He just edited a bunch of footage from his other dvds so they could sell it in costco.. He tried to tell them what photo should be on the package and what some skateboard slang was.. but they wanted to come up with their own.. when you open the book like package, they printed in big letters as the first thing.. “GRINDING PRIMO ROAST BEEF DAILY!” as their introduction …. what? Primo was a big surf term in the70’s.. and i don’t normally see any Roast beef grab grinds.. haha
jakeferranti
i call bullshit.
those boards look more like circa 81-84′
and “lipslide”? “kickflip”? really? kickflips were considered new/freestyle when i skated in 86′.
kilwag
Kickflip undoubtedly refers to the original freestyle pre-ollie kick flip. The one where you hooked the ball/side of your foot on the rail and hopped up., flipping the board. For a while there ollie kickflips were actually called Ollie Kickflip.
Brandon Draga
I think that skater jumping the car is Jay Mandarino. He owns an indoor park here in Toronto, only public vert ramp in the area.
Pacific Hessian
Weird that they put a Wee Willie Winkle graphic on the bottom of a cartoon board….
carvin marvin
got mine brand new, back in the day
pure cheese
some guy at work
I picked that album up at an ARC thrift store a little over a year ago.
carvin marvin
i have that album