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Music |
It had to Happen The skate-rock phenomenon that started in the late 70's and early 80's was a take off of the “Do It Yourself” handbook not readily given out at schools, not learned on some internet chat line, and not what mom and dad wanted to be a part of at all! In the day, punk rock was hated by cops, parents, school officials, preists & clergymen, jocks, nerds. All they understood was the status quo (be nice, act nice, earn a living by getting a job, have a family, look proper, and keep up with the Joneses… all the stuff you detest when you 17). You
Wanted to be
Different My friends and I were punky little twelve year old kids listening to the A.M. radio hits of the day such as Aerosmith, Bowie, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, The Stones, T-Rex, Queen, and Kiss. We would rock and get pumped-up riding down the streets that were our backyard playgrounds back then. There was nothing like the wind blowing through your hair while rolling low to the ground dragging your hand on the pavement pretending you were riding a wave. The mags really hadn't come out quite yet and we didn't do much other than carve around empty coke cans, jump over broom sticks, and ride nose wheelies. Anti-Fashion
Flat-landing turned into to bank-riding. Anything and everything deemed sloped in the slightest way was our playground for learning new maneuvers or practicing old-time favorites like your standard kick-turn. Pools
and Spit Skating at this point was new. Technology was not what it is today and everything we did was done by trial and error. Pain was everywhere but you learned to deal with it. Kids would spit and tease us for wearing those clown-like 2-tone Vans which all the skaters wore eons before the first fashion wave hit influenced by skaters. A good three months or so elapsed before the trend caught on. It was then we skaters were all the rage during the summer of 77'. Constant Change The parks enabled a lot of skaters to come from their respective areas to meet and compete. It was from this diverse make-up of different locales and ethnic backgrounds/upbringings that bore the fruit of what was to become the skate punk explosion. 1976
- fall 1977 Spring 1978 - summer 1978 Music was pumped into the bowl via a stereo system p.a. device which started playing what we were listening to at the time. As time went on the music became louder, faster, and stronger. Guilty
of being Punk Nobody
had Cut Their Hair Yet Saint Olson Pure DIY I was lucky to have some skater friends in the U.K. at the time who sent me gear from the Kings Road of London where creepers, bondage pants, and ripped tees were the rage. My bud Jon Shaw visited me the summer of 1979 or was it 1980? - I forget. I would send him skateboard gear they could not get over there like Santa Cruz Bevels, Independent Trucks, and Blackhart Wheels. I f you look back into the magazines of the times, the skaters image reflected what was going on in the streets. The magazines even had the punk influence on typography and photo content. You can see the eventual rise of new wave, punk, then hardcore in a matter of a 5 year period (78/79 to 83/84). This is when punk was at it's height of rebellion - politically and musically. ~Steve Alba
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Skateboarding
and punk rock have gone hand in hand for years because
one, they were both relatively underground in their
respective uprisings through the suburban landscapes
and two, the energy level of both genres' seemingly
feed off of each other through different interpretations
of area locales, yearly phases and trends, and age groups.
We
tried real hard to shy away from all the same shit that
everybody else did and that is why skating is still
so important to me. It saved me from all the bullshit
that went down around me and instead of me trying to
fit into someone else’s scheme we made up our
own scene by skating and the people we met through skating.
We had our own look, our own language, and our own places
to congregate. We were doing what nobody else was doing
at the time (at least in our area). There were only
maybe ten people in the day doing what we were doing.
Shit-loads
of changes occurred during the next two years with the
advent of skate parks. All across California they spreading
like wildfire as well as all over the whole U.S. Skateboarding
was everywhere at this point - 3 magazines, on the T.V.,
in print ads, on Charlie's Angels, and "C.H.iP.s."
With this came the eventual sponsorship which started
with little surf shops and local wheel manufacturers
like C+D and Paved Pacific surf shop. From there 
The Hester Series came to Spring Valley in the form
of the first ever pool/bowl-riding competition which
I won amidst controversy. Everybody who's anybody in
the skate world was there to participate and celebrate.
The Hester series was a 4 park contest series held during
the spring and summer months with freestyle pool riding,
a consecutive one-wheeler event, doubles with 2 skaters,
and pipe-pasting where applicable (only some parks had
pipes). The parks where it was held were Spring Valley,
Newark, Pipeline, and Big - O.
More
contests followed like the Oasis Pro (where Olson introduced
the layback!), the Winchester Open, The Milpitas Nor-Cal
contest, Lakewood Half Pipe, and the Runway in Torrance
(which was shown on C.B.S.). Every contest grew and
drew more skaters and spectators alike. The second Hester
series started in 1979 with contests held at Whittier,
Colton, Boulder Colo., Del Mar, and Pipeline. It was
at the Boulder skate park when Olson came up to me and
handed me a walk-man with the Buzzcocks on it - it changed
my life forever! I could not believe the energy of that
first Buzzcocks record - it literally blew me away!
It
was those years that were filled with youthful arrogance
and a time of self-exploration and copying what you
found radical (then changing it to go along with your
set of rules). The rules were simple; “kill all
hippies”, never wear bell bottoms, cut your hair
off, wear thrift-shop clothes (or something just strange
and weird found at yard /estate sales), discontinue
team sports, don't listen to dinosaur bands, metal,
or Springsteen. Basically, do every completely opposite
of what every one else was doing. That was punk!