Black Label: Who Cares? The Duane Peters story

I had pretty much formulated my review already when Mark sent me his, so here are two reviews in one, because I am so vain that I think all my musings are incredibly entertaining and insightful and I would hate to deprive you the reader of any of them. – k.ed

Newsflash! Duane Peters is Punk! (No shit!) But do you really know how punk he was? This DVD serves as a reminder to just how amazing this guy was/is. Sure, the deluge of documentary format skate movies is getting a bit tiresome, but Who Cares is about as stripped down as they get. It has a great soundtrack with several cuts from Beach Blvd compilation, plus a cool song from 70’s powerpop band 20/20. Let’s not forget the also kickass unreleased and punked out version of Van Halen’s “Aint Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” that would make Diamond Dave get a mohawk (if he had any hair left). They gloss over Duane’s “New Romantic” phase as embarrassingly documented in Chlorine, but do show a goofy appearance on network TV sitcom as stereotypical crazy punk band… One major thing missing from a true documentary and not just a giant pat on the back is a timeline of all the models and skateboard companies he rode for. The extra features are entertaining. We learn from Duane’s wife Corey that he is deathly afraid of mice. Also present is a voluminous archive of great footage from early 80’s contests, blah blah blah. Duane is one gritty mofo, and fortunately this junkie story ends on a positive note. Who Cares? is a well made film that probably would have had a much bigger impact had it been completed a couple of years ago before the documentary overload.

And now on to the actual review. Take it away Mark…

Aw fuck. Did I forget how rad Duane is?

“I’m a punk rocker and a skateboarder, period.” Pretty much sums it up. How Duane went from hyper kid from a broken home to skateboarder to punk rock skateboarder to substance abuser to master of disaster to punk rock front man to father to felon back to skateboarder.

The dude skates like no one else and he’s still rad. Duane was such an innovator: fakie thruster, layback roll-out, acid drop, invert-revert, fakie-360 revert, Indy air. His approach to skateboarding was so different from the dudes he was competing against in the Bowl Series heyday in the 80’s. The thing is, his style is still mindblowing. I’m watching his 25-year-old moves and seeing half a dozen tricks I haven’t ever thought of trying and would be thrilled to be able to do today.

Duane comments on the move toward technical tricks in vert competitions and the ascendance of Tony Hawk in the 80s; “Are you fucking kidding me?” I wonder if he feels the same about the state of pro vert skating now. Although it could be argued that guys like Tony Trujillo, Chet Childress, Mark Scott and the Greek are direct descendants of the Master of Disaster.

Duane has also made some great music. There is great footage of U.S. Bombs and Die Hunns as well as other bands Duane fronted. There are videos from the Exploding Fuck Dolls, U.S. Bombs and Die Hunns in the bonus materials.

There is also footage of the Dog Bowl Pro and other 80’s bowl competitions. Some great skating and a bunch of dudes I’d totally forgotten about.

I could have done without some of the endless testimonials about how Duane is so true blue and such a “straight-up passionate motherfucker.” No shit. The dude’s been dead twice. He’s 44 years old and still going full speed ahead skateboarding and playing punk rock music. This is a really good film.