MUSIC / SKATE CULTURE
Before every clip was searchable, a skate video could be a mixtape, a style bible, and a way into an entire culture.
I first heard a lot of these songs through skate videos. Not on the radio, not from a carefully made playlist, but underneath a line, a slam, a long lens, and the dry sound of wheels hitting rough ground. In the early 2000s, a full-length skate video was often built from individual parts: one skater, one visual language, and a song that could permanently attach itself to the footage.
This list stays close to the films that made that connection for me. Most sit between 2000 and 2005; Welcome to Hell is the deliberate exception, a 1996 Toy Machine video that remained essential to the generation discovering skateboarding on VHS, DVD, and copied tapes years later. The films move between rap, punk, metal, soul, indie rock, electronic music, jazz, and silence. The selections below are five verified soundtrack choices from each film—the places I would start, not a claim that they are the only songs worth hearing.
Shorty's — Guilty
Guilty is Shorty's third full-length video. The film is structured around full parts from the Shorty's team, including Steve Olson, Toan Nguyen, Sammy Baptista, Jesse Silvey, Brandon Turner, Peter Smolik, and Chad Muska. Its soundtrack is unusually open to collision: East Coast rap, jazz-funk, soul, turntablism, and hard-edged hip-hop all sit next to one another.
That mix is important because it captures a version of early-2000s skate culture that did not need one approved genre. A part could be technical, loose, theatrical, or heavy, and the music could change the temperature without changing the basic rule: the song had to make the skating feel like itself.
Five tracks to start with
-
Rockstar II — Z-Trip Intro
-
Proteck Ya Neck II in the Zoo — Ol' Dirty Bastard Steve Olson
-
Show Business — A Tribe Called Quest Toan Nguyen
-
Take Cover — Guru Sammy Baptista
-
Damn Right, I'm Somebody — The J.B.'s Jesse Silvey
Girl — Yeah Right!
Yeah Right! combines Girl and Chocolate riders with a level of formal experimentation that was unusual for a skate video of its time. The film is known for its special effects, including the invisible-board sequence, and it opens with a tribute to Keenan Milton, the Chocolate rider who died in 2001. The team roster includes Eric Koston, Mike Carroll, Rick McCrank, Marc Johnson, Brandon Biebel, Gino Iannucci, Brian Anderson, Jereme Rogers, Paul Rodriguez, and others.
The music was part of the film's architecture rather than background decoration. In a contemporary interview, Ty Evans described the Death in Vegas track used over the 16mm faces-and-montage sequence as the strongest song in the video. The soundtrack jumps from hip-hop and funk to post-punk, electronic music, and pop, matching the film's shifts between deadpan comedy, controlled spectacle, and raw street skating.
Five tracks to start with
-
Help Yourself — Death in Vegas 16mm / Girl montage
-
Murderers — John Frusciante Eric Koston's invisible-board section
-
Los Angeles — Frank Black Eric Koston
-
Love Will Tear Us Apart — Joy Division Marc Johnson
-
Deceptacon — Le Tigre Rick McCrank
Flip — Sorry
Sorry is a 2002 Flip video directed by Fred Mortagne. The film features Alex Chalmers, Ali Boulala, Arto Saari, Bastien Salabanzi, Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard, Rune Glifberg, and Tom Penny. Its parts move between street skating, pools, vert, technical switch skating, and the kind of heavy spots that made the film feel dangerous even when the editing stayed measured.
The music is just as varied. Placebo, Gray Matter, The Prodigy, Edith Piaf, the Velvet Underground, and David Bowie give the film a soundtrack that refuses to flatten the team into one mood. That contrast is the point: the same video can sound loungey, romantic, punk, electronic, and glam without losing its identity.
Five tracks to start with
-
Every You Every Me — Placebo Mark Appleyard
-
Burn No Bridges — Gray Matter Ali Boulala
-
Breathe — The Prodigy Rune Glifberg
-
La Vie En Rose — Edith Piaf Tom Penny mini-ramp
-
Venus in Furs — The Velvet Underground Tom Penny
Toy Machine — Welcome to Hell
Welcome to Hell falls outside the 2000–2005 release window, but it belongs in this story because many people encountered it later as a foundational tape. It was Toy Machine's second full-length video and featured Mike Maldonado, Elissa Steamer, Brian Anderson, Satva Leung, Donny Barley, Ed Templeton, and Jamie Thomas. Jamie Thomas also directed the film.
The opening montage uses Lard's “The Power of Lard,” and the film's parts are built around a combination of large urban obstacles, hard slams, and a confrontational Toy Machine visual language. The soundtrack reaches from punk and metal to shoegaze-adjacent melancholy and classic rock. It is a useful reminder that the early-2000s skate-video canon did not begin in 2000; it was built on tapes that kept circulating.
Five tracks to start with
-
The Power of Lard — Lard Opening montage
-
London Dungeon — Misfits Mike Maldonado
-
You're Not the Only One I Know — The Sundays Elissa Steamer
-
I'm the One — Van Halen Tour
-
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 — Pink Floyd Brian Anderson
DC — The DC Video
The DC Video is a 2003 DC Shoes production by Greg Hunt. The film brings together Anthony Van Engelen, Brian Wenning, Colin McKay, Danny Way, Josh Kalis, Rob Dyrdek, Stevie Williams, Ryan Smith, and other DC riders. Its structure is a catalogue of different kinds of power: Kalis's compact control, Dyrdek's flow, Danny Way's large-scale approach, and a soundtrack that moves between metal, rap, jazz, indie, and hardcore.
It also documents a period when skate-video production was becoming more ambitious without abandoning the street. The music makes that range audible. Metallica and Iron Maiden establish the heavy end; Gang Starr, Eric B. & Rakim, and Beanie Sigel carry the hip-hop side; Pegboy and Frank Black keep the closing stretch tied to guitar music.
Five tracks to start with
-
Orion — Metallica Intro / Danny Way
-
Full Clip — Gang Starr Josh Kalis
-
Juice (Know the Ledge) — Eric B. & Rakim Rob Dyrdek
-
Run to the Hills — Iron Maiden Ryan Smith
-
You Can't Bring Me Down — Suicidal Tendencies Danny Way
Transworld — Chomp On This
Chomp On This began as friends filming each other and became a full-length TransWorld video. The film's central group—Ako Jefferson, Atiba Jefferson, Lee Dupont, and Ty Evans—were better known for filming and photographing skateboarders, so the project has a deliberately close, informal point of view. The cast also includes skaters such as Jamie Thomas, Eric Koston, Brandon Biebel, and Marcus McBride.
The soundtrack is one of the clearest documents of how wide the early-2000s skate-video ear could be: gangsta rap, Black Sabbath, Guns N' Roses, Daft Punk, punk, and even film-score music. The roughness is part of its character. It feels assembled by people who were inside the scene, not by a committee trying to make skateboarding legible to outsiders.
Five tracks to start with
-
Supertzar — Black Sabbath Soundtrack selection
-
Tha Squeeze — Gang Starr Soundtrack selection
-
Welcome to the Jungle — Guns N' Roses Soundtrack selection
-
One More Time — Daft Punk Soundtrack selection
-
Pretty Vacant — Sex Pistols Soundtrack selection
Emerica — This Is Skateboarding
This Is Skateboarding is an Emerica team video built from distinct parts rather than one uniform house style. The documented roster includes Aaron Suski, Andrew Reynolds, Austin Stephens, Braydon Szafranski, Bryan Herman, Chris Senn, Darren Navarrette, Ed Templeton, Erik Ellington, Heath Kirchart, Kevin Long, Leo Romero, Matt Allen, and Tosh Townend.
The film's soundtrack makes the same case for variety. Tortoise opens it; Belle & Sebastian, Butter 08, The Richmond Sluts, The Cure, and Jimi Hendrix all appear in different sections. The result is not a single genre statement. It is a collection of moods tied to individual skaters, which is one of the reasons these parts remain easy to remember separately.
Five tracks to start with
-
Seneca — Tortoise Intro
-
Drive Me Wild — The Richmond Sluts Bryan Herman
-
It's the Rage — Butter 08 Ed Templeton
-
I Don't Love Anyone — Belle & Sebastian Austin Stephens
-
Close to Me — The Cure Kevin Long / Spanky
éS — Menikmati
Menikmati premiered in 2000 as an éS Skateboarding video and presented an international team. The film's soundtrack list follows parts from Arto Saari, Ronnie Creager, Rodrigo Teixeira, Tom Penny, Rick McCrank, Bob Burnquist, and Eric Koston, with Fred Mortagne's camera work connecting them into one global film.
The music is unusually cinematic. Amon Tobin appears in the opening and Rodrigo Teixeira's part; CKY scores Arto; Ananda Shankar and Deodato bring psychedelic and orchestral color to montages; Air and B12 shift the film toward electronic texture. It sounds like a skate video that is interested in travel, rhythm, and atmosphere as much as impact.
Five tracks to start with
-
Slowly — Amon Tobin Opening credits
-
Testing — CKY Arto Saari
-
Green Means — Nobody Ronnie Creager
-
Modular Mix — Air Tom Penny
-
Also Sprach Zarathustra — Deodato Bonus montage
Baker — Baker 3
Baker 3 is a 2005 Baker full-length that runs about 55 minutes in the soundtrack records. Its parts include Erik Ellington, Jeff Lenoce, Braydon Szafranski, Antwuan Dixon, Dustin Dollin, Theotis Beasley, Andrew Reynolds, Terry Kennedy, Kevin Long, Jim Greco, Bryan Herman, Ali Boulala, and others.
Baker's appeal was not built on clean corporate polish. The video made room for personality, rough edges, jokes, heavy skating, and a soundtrack that could move from The Cramps to Black Sabbath, Morrissey, Johnny Thunders, Lou Reed, and Memphis rap. The songs do not merely decorate the parts; they help define the strange, loose, volatile world the Baker team was building.
Five tracks to start with
-
I Can't Hardly Stand It — The Cramps Intro
-
Reckless Life — Hollywood Rose Erik Ellington
-
Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes — Black Sabbath Braydon Szafranski
-
Glamorous Glue — Morrissey Kevin Long / Spanky
-
Chinese Rocks — Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers Jim Greco
Foundation — That's Life
Foundation's That's Life is documented as a 2004 video featuring Angel Ramirez, Corey Duffel, Daniel Shimizu, Ethan Fowler, Gareth Stehr, Justin Strubing, Leo Romero, Matt Allen, Mike Rusczyk, and Tony Silva. The roster gives the film a clear connection to the late-1990s and early-2000s Foundation lineage while still showing a newer generation of skaters.
The music is a map of the film's tonal range: Interpol and Moving Units bring post-punk tension, Gang of Four supplies a direct art-punk reference, DJ Shadow adds instrumental hip-hop, and Queens of the Stone Age close the film with “Mosquito Song.” The parts feel individual, but the soundtrack keeps the whole video inside one slightly strange, guitar-heavy universe.
Five tracks to start with
-
PDA — Interpol Justin Strubing
-
Damaged Goods — Gang of Four Daniel Shimizu
-
Product Placement 2 — DJ Shadow Tony Silva
-
Good Enough — Mudhoney Friends montage
-
Mosquito Song — Queens of the Stone Age Credits
Flip — Really Sorry
Really Sorry is the follow-up to Flip's Sorry. The documented cast includes Ali Boulala, Arto Saari, Bastien Salabanzi, Danny Cerezini, Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard, PJ Ladd, and Tom Penny. The film keeps the first video's mix of high-level street skating and unusual music choices, but its shorter running time gives the sections a compact, almost mixtape-like pace.
There is one important correction to make. The famous card that reads “Silence Is Golden,” followed by a completely unscored part, introduces PJ Ladd's section—not Arto Saari's. Contemporary coverage describes the effect directly: without music, the sound of the board and the precision of the skating become the soundtrack. Arto's section is separately listed with The Smiths' “Handsome Devil,” while the film also uses David Bowie, Hole, Motörhead, Johnny Thunders, and The Verve.
Five tracks to start with
-
Handsome Devil — The Smiths Arto Saari
-
Serial Killer — Motörhead Geoff Rowley intro
-
Pirate Love — Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers Ali Boulala
-
Notorious Thugs — The Notorious B.I.G. & Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Danny Cerezini
-
Violet — Hole Mark Appleyard
What those tapes taught me
The common thread is not one sound. It is the decision to let a skater's part have a personality. The same scene could hold a rap track, a punk song, a piece of electronic music, an old soul record, or no music at all. A song became attached to a trick, a spot, a friend, and the feeling of watching the tape again because nobody wanted to go home yet.
That is why these videos still work as cultural documents. They show how skateboarding in the United States was filmed, edited, sold, shared, and remembered in the years before every part was instantly searchable. The music was not a footnote. It was one of the ways the scene taught you how to look.
THE SOUNDTRACK CONTINUES
A raw, cross-genre run through the songs that made skate videos feel bigger than the tape: hip-hop, punk, hardcore, indie, metal, soul, funk, and electronic music, with a few extra cuts from the wider skate-video canon.
