Below is an abridged guide to his extensive discography, touching on his many projects from Free Beer to Los Days. Like his skating, Guerrero’s guitaristry is smooth, subdued, and dripping with style, occupying its surroundings without resorting to flashy theatrics. Guerrero even helped score the incidental music in the first installment of EA’s video game series Skate: a touchstone of Gen Z adolescence.Īt the turn of the 21st century, he began to create a prolific catalog of instrumental music, migrating from the punk of his youth to a more downtempo, blues-inspired sound. In the early nineties, he co-founded Real Skateboards, which in turn spawned seminal distributor Deluxe. and future Bones Brigade teammate Steve Cabellero’s The Faction. His 1981 punk band Free Beer (more on them shortly) helped usher in the first wave of “skate punk” music alongside J.F.A. His work off the board is also integral to skateboarding’s culture. His skating was meant to capture the feeling of the circumstances and surroundings it took place in, akin to the improvisation of a jazz soloist it was a way of life above all and definitely not a sport. Filmed when he was in his late teens, Guerrero’s part in Powell’s Future Primitive skate video encouraged a new generation of skaters to look at the streets and parking lots around them as a canvas for self-expression. In 1984, he joined Powell Peralta’s legendary Bones Brigade as the first professional street skater, helping to shift the art form’s paradigm from empty pools and pipes to the sloping urban landscape of his home city. San Francisco’s Tommy Guerrero is arguably one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. Here’s a guide to the work of three former pro skaters who’ve since pivoted to music, from Tommy Guerrero’s instrumental jazz-funk jams to Duane Pitre’s esoteric drone compositions. But many of the era’s prominent figures have since moved on to form bands and start record labels of their own, transposing the DIY ethos and improvisational artistry of the culture they emerged from and reworking them into their own musical vision. Turning to skate videos released during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when skating had more countercultural cachet than it does today, shows how the burgeoning scene evolved parallel to underground music subgenres like hardcore punk and jazz rap. While popular culture has made numerous attempts to replicate the spiritual link between each medium of expression, from Mid90s’ underground hip-hop needle drops to the bland pop-punk you’ll inevitably hear while trying on shoes at the mall, it never quite manages to nail down their distinct harmony.
Maybe you discovered the Dead Kennedys while playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater in grade school or copped the endearingly lo-fi soundtrack to Larry Clark’s KIDS on CD back in ‘95. Whether or not you’ve ever touched griptape, you’re likely aware of the symbiotic relationship between skateboarding and music.
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