Massive, massive influence for myself and Neil. I didn’t get to see them live until ’91 or so, but those records were on heavy rotation for so long… still are. – Randy

These pics of David Lee Roth on a skateboard have been floating around the interwebs for more than a decade. I’ve never been able to track down the original source. Also, I don’t really care about Eddie so much, but there he is. The real reason for this post is that I just learned that the single Pretty Woman was recorded in Dennis Dragon’s studio in Malibu California. This tidbit came from The Van Halen News Desk, a brief blurb in their post on the story behind Van Halen’s (Oh) Pretty Woman. They don’t even mention him by name: “Van Halen’s original demo for the song (which remains uncirculated) was recorded in Malibu, CA, in a 16-track studio owned by the brother of Daryl Dragon (one-half of the 1970s singing duo the Captain and Tennille).”

Surely you’ve seen the Little Big video from the still (above left) all over social media this week. I can’t really stomach the music, but I can appreciate the weirdness. Delving into their back catalog revealed a handful of bizarre amusing videos, including Hateful Love, one that features a meat skateboard. Bonus video for Punks Not Dead as well, after the jump.

Dennis Dragon died unexpectedly yesterday. It hasn’t been reported officially, but rather through friends and relatives of his on Facebook. Skateboarders know and love him as a founding member of the Surf Punks, and musical director for those famous Bones Brigade movies. He also appeared uncredited in the movie Skateboard Madness as the character Dick Damage. I can tell you, as a high school age kid who grew up in the Midwest, the Surf Punks had an abnormally large impact on me. I knew that he lived in Southern Oregon and had often thought about trying to locate him and meet him. I’m sure he would have been annoyed, but maybe not. A sad day on Skate and Annoy, enough to get me out of retirement and make a post again.

This is a Sire records promo photo (technically just a graphic printed on photo paper) for their 1987 Winter CD Sampler. Remember CD’s? Remember Sire? They were sorta cool for a while (Hello! Ramones!) and then not so-cool, trying to distance themselves from punk by promoting New Wave. 1987 was a couple years after signing a distribution deal with Wartner Brothers, which would explain Bugs Bunny. This is sort of a sad, trying-too-hard phase, with Bugs wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and riding skateboard. They made a full color t-shirt of this image too. Interesting that large corporation like Warner Brothers would brave the wrath of Nancy Reagan and mock the Just Say No campaign. Proof positive, once again that skateboarding, and even new wave are a bad influence. – Thanks to Cool Steve for the tip. (No relation to Pizza Steve.) [Source: Ebay]

I posted a video for “It’s Getting Weird” and some pics of the Tubuloids recently, and now I’ve got a promo CD of their new 12″ EP  to give away, thanks to the band. available on Beer City Records. I like these guys, they bring out the skateboarding adolescent in me, which takes a lot these days.  I’ve got two things to give away, actually.  The second is the “This Wave Sucks” 45rpm mini-EP. Just leave you name in the comments and make sure you use a real email in your profile.  I’ll use a random number generator to pick two winners. First winner gets choice of the CD or 45. I’ll pick the winner on Monday morning, October 17th @ 9 am. Winners will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to respond before another winner will be chosen.

Normally I might push this post off to the Broken Kingpins section without comment but the Tubuloids video for It’s Getting Weird connected with me on a primal level. I think GVK missed his calling. Their album on Beer City Records doesn’t come out until October, but you can preorder it now.

Jan and Dean’s 1964 song Sidewalk Surfin’ is pretty much the first skatesploitation song. I haven’t actually researched that, Doc Skaterock probably knows for sure. It’s easily the most famous one. As a young lad I remember buying a cutout Jan & Dean greatest hits compilation on cassette tape just because of this song. Before we were exposed to the larger world of punk rock and skate rock, we actually used to derive a bit of stoke from this cheesy tune, and later on would bust it out for a laugh and some nostalgia.

Apparently J. Mascis is not over it, and has taken to skateboarding in a music video again. The Dinosaur Jr. video for “Tiny” looks like it was shot at the Northampton, MA skatepark. Aside from J. pushing around the park, there’s also a skateboarding dog and some roller derby action. It’s decent tune that will stick in your head, but the dog is not impressed at the end. – Thanks to Tom Tallboycan for the tip

Old school analog stop action animation and old school 90’s Riot Grrrl music going way back to… oh, 2014. Skateboarding! She’s no Maria McKee. ( Looks for crosslink on Skate and Annoy with Lone Justice video of Ways to be Wicked with Maria McKee on a skateboard, doesn’t find it, rectifies situation in this post. )