Joni’s Kids, I’ve got Wheels, as found on BizarreRecords.com. From the back cover: If you ride a skateboard or pedal a bike or push a scooter, you already have a lot in common with people in wheelchairs — wheels! Joni Eareckson Tada (pronounced Johnny) dove into some shallow water without realizing it, and was paralyzed as a result. She had some issue with God, and well, ended up founding a ministry over it. I was going to look into picking up this LP on the off chance she talked about skateboards, but all I could find was a CD reissue for $17 and a cassette tape for $30! Aside from the ministry, she also does wheelchair outreach. JoniAndFriends.org. Oh yeah, there’s a green plastic skateboard on the cover. Whee!

Thing is, I get distracted easily, and to me, the internet is like a strobe light for epileptics. While trying to track down a copy of the Carvells L.A. Run, I accidentally learned about a Danish relic from the past known as Mabel. These guy look like a bunch of Rod Stewart clones from the Hot Legs era. never heard of them? I guess they didn’t make it that far out of Denmark. Turns out it’s not that expensive to get 7″ vinyl records from Sweden, where I ended up getting this one. I got the hideous cover on the bottom right, which is so bad that it’s actually better than the understated one, which is a full length album. There’s also a Japanese version of the Skateboard Rider single, but the only place is turns up on the internet is a postage stamp sized dead link on someone’s very extensive Mabel fan page. Calling 1978.

In the dark days leading up to the apocalypse of Skate and Annoy’s web meltdown I featured the Carvells video for L.A. Run. Well, of course that led me to do some further investigating on the internet, and by “investigating,” I obviously meant draining my Paypal account by having a record shipped from the U.K.. In the meantime, House of Neil uncovered a contemporary (at the time) cover of L.A. Run by the Swedish band Magnum Bonum. And yes, it’s in Swedish.

I saw this album cover over at the exotic blog of Kahuna Kawentzmann. According to Hodad Heaven, it’s a re-issue that dates back to the 80’s. The original release was credited to the Good Guys. The Good Guys release has a different track listing from the Challengers. You can download MP3’s for a price from Amazon, or free from other places… (Hodad, Ahem.) For some reason the 80’s rerelease is collectable, New copies ago from $49 – $112, and remember this is a CD rerelease! The original LP was up as a vinyl rip for a time, but it’s been archived. You can pick up a copy of the Good Guys version on vinyl via eBay. Right now there is one listed at $25. Check out the cover! You gotta love the original Roller Derby board used as an exclamation point. The back has what may be the first ever monkey on a skateboard too.

The album may be from 1997, but that board is pure 1988. I’ve never heard the Dwarves, but they have quite a reputation. You can see the album cover for The Dwarves are Young & Good Looking wherever the CD is sold, or visit the official Dwarves web site. Nash pasties added to keep us work/school safe.

Skateboardin’ USA was released in 1978 by a “band” called Sneakers & Lace. My guess is that it was just some producer’s project designed to cash in on a fad. Instead of just doing a single, they really ran with it. Where are the skateboard novelty songs of today? Oh yeah, that’s right. You can find three Sneakers & Lace skateboard tracks on the excellent compilation This Is Skateboard Music, or you can listen to Sidewalk Convoy and Skate Talk, (both non compilation tracks) after the jump. look at the cover and think 1978… It’s going to be excellent!