Sick of documentaries about skateboarding and/or punk? I don’t care. You must watch this feature on the legendary Big Boys. Don’t worry, it’s only 10 minutes and 33 seconds long. Some early Big Boys records are being rereleased on vinyl this year, and Conspiracy is going to do a limited run of a Big Boys deck. The first true Skate Rock band? Let’s argue about it.
22 comments
brad
I liked The Dicks waaay more, am I the only one? They were totally scary.
Thor
The Dicks rule!…. I hope you get drafted.
K.C.
I just don’t like labels. I still cringe like I did in the early 80’s when someone says they were Punk Rock. Punk is an attitude man. The music that came out of that skate scene should speak for itself, good or bad. Surf Punks were not! Skateboard we do! JFA
Charlie Charles
I agree w Mickie G – it’s important to remember that in the early 80s skateboarding was a very very small subculture, not just a ‘sport'(for lack of a better term). “Skate Rock” was just one aspect of a music scene that fit with it. It was as much simply the fun of skateboarding as its connection to punk and ‘new wave’ type music that kept it alive – the two fueling each other. Thru that scene so many people were exposed to music, art, and other like minded people – in a way that nothing else at the time could’ve done. Those bands all contributed to and equally benefited from it – and without it, skateboarding really might’ve died completely.
It may be hard to understand without the perspective of time, but today’s massive skate world owes quite a bit of it’s existence to this old phenomenon.
Mickie G
Maybe you had to be there and then, but Skate Rock was not for pussy ass squares who read Transworld. Try Kajagoogoo instead.
There was no Slayer when ‘skate rock’ first became a loose label, yes coined by Thrasher Mag (and why not – remember there was no internet and little coverage of anything in the press that wasn’t conservative generic rock/pop) and if your dumb stoner ass had put on a Sabbath tape youdve gotten a smack like u deserve because by 1982 anybody with ears wanted something as far away from that world as possible. Not to say Sabbath wasn’t great. Skate Rock – a loose descriptive term, to be taken in fun for bands like JFA, Faction, Big Boys, etc etc – all bands with skateboarders, all bands somehow connected to the early 80s skate scene which was almost synonymous with punk for a few years.
Patrick
Thanks guys and Skate and Annoy for the plug. I directed this short documentary and co-produced the reissue of the album for Light In The Attic Records. I’m a HUGE fan of Skate and Annoy, so to be picked up as a news story is an honor.
Working on this short doc was a total blast. Stayed at Tim’s house for 4 days, went skating at some local spots, and just soaked it all in. These are the most creative and positive guys ever. Plus, the music just rules!
docskaterock
From THRASHER Magazine, March 1983, page 35:
“The Big Boys are a skateboard band from Austin, Texas. They got together because of skateboarding and they say that they will always stay together because of skateboarding. […]”
And from the same page:
“[…] A lot of skaters take it upon themselves to create their own brand of noise in the forming of skateboard bands. Some being labeled “SKATE / THRASH” bands. There are rockabilly skateboard bands, new wave skateboard bands, H.C. punk skateboard bands, Top 40 skateboard bands, even country skateboard bands. There is no limit. […]”
Arsenio Venkman
SKATE ROCK=THRASHER PRODUCT. i’d rather skate w/ slayer or old black sabbath
Carjack
Skate Rock was a term similar to the original Punk label- it signified a specific scene and time that has passed (and influenced a lot of people) and was an identifier for many of us in a time before social media. As a skater in the 80’s, if I heard of a skate rock show, I knew the guys in the band skated, were from my scene (even if they were from out of town), and we shared that bond. Didn’t necessarily mean the music fit a genre (though likely). These days it’s become a co-opted term.
Dan
Tim Kerr was a part of an art show a little while back at local shop Apparition here in Austin. He also did some art for their shop decks.
Nathaalia
fuckin great!
docskaterock
For me, the BIG BOYS are the perfect evidence / example that it is impossible to limit Skate Rock down to one single type of music (that would work for Surf Music, but not for Skate Music).
They were punk but I am pretty sure that today
Fitz
You get it.
Skate Rock is as varied in definition as good skateboarding. Who says what rocks? Who says what rips? Ears and eyes, and majority doesn’t mean shit–if it did, Bon Jovi would be skate rock.
But who am I to say they’re not?
If it lights the same fire that fires your skateboarding, them it’s skate rock by definition.
wes CHAOS
Here is a set list from when the Big Boys came to Ann Arbor back in 1983.
http://localchaos.org/bigboys.html
chicagosez
I hope this helps with an argument. When I think of Skate Rock, I think of skatemaster tate. I think of all those lame bands that had demos in your copy of transworld. I think of all the really crap music that was attached to skateboarding because no one else wanted it. I think in general it sucked.
eat that
p.s. I haven’t seen the site in years, skate rock may suck, but skate and annoy is tits (good ones).
K.C.
I kind of agree with chicagosez. I know “Skate Rock” means different things to different people. It seems like a band is deemed “Skate Rock” if someone in your band used to ride a skateboard or you had a song in a skate video in the 80’s.
NWForty
Big Boys songs were great at a Skate (Ramp) Session.
Much better than lame hip-hop crap with those lethargic, stoner
beat box beats that drone on and on and on and on and on…
masterochicken
I don’t know anything about skate rock, but nice video!
K.C.
Somebody define “Skate Rock”?
Arsenio Venkman
agent orange! blood stains speed kills
Tom Miller
Skate salsa is what’s happening. It’s a Puertorique
kilwag
Disappointed nobody wants to argue about Skate Rock