The year is maybe 1976 and I am just getting into skateboarding because my dad bought my mom a yellow plastic Roller Derby skateboard at the Sears Catalog Store. If your town wasn’t big enough to have a full-fledged Sears, you got a small shop with a handful of tables of merchandise and a counter where you could place orders from the catalog and it would be delivered. My small town happened to be Midland Michigan, a mere 20 minutes or so away from Bay City Michigan, the town that was nearest to where the dart landed on the map on the band named The Bay City Rollers. I was a huge fan of Rock and Roll Love Letter, and of course Saturday Night. Cut to 2009 when Neil covers a Bay City Roller skateboard in Ebay Watch, proclaiming I must be kicking myself for not winning that, and he was correct. I did some digging and kept my eyes peeled for this board, but I didn’t see one again until 2025. UPDATE: Added a picture of the band actually rolling as well as a second color way!

The Aquabats hanging out at Money Ruins Everything skate shop in Oklahoma City. What’s not to love? It’s hilarious that they appear to be out in public walking around in their Aquabats uniforms. It reminds me of seeing Rocket from the Crypt hanging out in matching jumpsuits that they all changed into after their gig. Can we get that TV show back on the air please?

Two unrelated bands, two unrelated songs, two unrelated skateboards. This post has been in draft mode so long that the Night Birds have since disbanded, but fortunately The Wimps appear to be still active, and not to mention, actively embracing skateboarding hot-dogs.

You know my love for the Surf Punks. Futurismo is adding a rerelease of Locals Only to compliment the My Beach reissue. Unlike the My Beach reissue, Locals Only has two bonus tracks, and I’ve never heard them before. This is exciting to me, and at least one other person I’m sure. Be happy for me. Then take a moment to reflect on the fact that a band like the Surf Punks could not have crawled out of the primordial slime in any other time and place than late 70’s Southern California, and yet you have the import these masterful reissues from the UK.

It’s mid 1980 and the term “music video” had yet to be coined. Meanwhile, Devo had been making films to accompany their music since 1976. The skateboarding industry is slumping, so much so that Skateboarder magazine changes it’s name to “Action Now” to include nascent Extreme!®™ sports coverage in an attempt to broaden the appeal and hopefully stay afloat. Action Now published a 6 page feature on the making of Devo’s “Freedom of Choice” in issue #1 dated August, 1980. They titled it “Freedom of Choice – The Film.” 1980 was an interesting time for skateboarding and music. The magazine’s record reviews covered X, Devo, Frank Zappa, John Foxx, Emmylou Harris, and a jazz fusion act called The Jeff Lorber Fusion (and the album Wizard Island). There’s an ad for Corky Carroll’s “A Surfer for President” album, and an article on up-and-coming LA bands Human Hands, and Wall of Voodoo as well as a couple of random pics of the Stimulators. Devo blew minds. I know they blew my mind when I unexpectedly saw them on SNL in 1978 performing Satisfaction. I did not know what I was looking at or listening to, but it instantly connected with me on…

Shout out to Eastside Roll-In, a skate shop that just opened in Troutdale, Oregon, and the same place I picked up these Wipers tribute wheels from Portland-based Jivaro. If you’re hankering for more Wipers, check out Jackpot Records (label and store) that re-released Is this Real on vinyl for the first time since it’s original 1980 issue, as well as their live album from 1984.

A xylophone in the shape of a skateboard. It’s intended for children, and may have been recalled at some point because you can’t find many pictures of it on the web, outside of this auction and one Google link led me to list of recalled toys, but this one was not on there.

Here’s 1986 video for Hold It Now, Hit It that I’ve actually never seen before. Ad Rock is rocking what looks like an Uncle Wiggly board, unless Neil can correct me before this goes live. Please note, we’ve covered the existence of a later era Beastie Boys skateboard, although I could use a better picture. For the record, if that’s not an Uncle Wiggly, my second choice is Schmitt Stix. I am too lazy to go don in my basement and look through my copy of Disposable. UPDATE: I remembered the graphic, but not the name. Ah, senility. It looks like a Duane Peters. – Thanks to Eric Shea for the tip.

So… you can get t-shirts printed up and then compressed into the shape of a skateboard, among other things, and then covered with a promotional graphic and encased in shrink wrap. In other words: Get air with a skate theme that targets the teen scene. Errr.. right. Three models available, all of them not quite right.