Skate punk (sometimes called skate rock or skatecore) is a sub genre of punk rock, originally a derivative of the West Coast hardcore punk scene, that is named after its popularity among skateboarders and association with skateboarding culture. Skate punk most often describes the sound of melodic hardcore bands from the 1990s with an aggressive sound, and similar sounding modern bands. Skate videos have traditionally featured this aggressive style of punk rock. This played a big part in the coining of the term "skate punk". Skate punk has gained popularity all around the world, including the Nardcore punk scene out of Oxnard, California.
Skate punk uses the high energy elements of hardcore punk, crossover thrash and thrashcore, using high tempos and thrash guitars. The earliest skate punk bands had a raw sound which generally became more melodic over time. This trend mirrored the popularity of hardcore and pop punk. Typically, lyrics have a sense of humor.
The musical style also has the intensity of hardcore punk and thrashcore but with more melodic songwriting. Skate punk is often more technical than other forms of punk, commonly featuring lead guitar riffs, solos, and vocal harmonies.
Members of skate punk bands are often skateboarders themselves. Some bands occasionally focus on or at least reference skateboarding culture in their lyrics, in addition to other lyrical themes common to punk.
There is a considerable amount of overlap between the sound of skate punk and other forms of punk, so many bands classified as skate punk also fit into genres such as pop punk, melodic hardcore, thrashcore, metalcore, surf punk and crossover thrash.
The energy of the genre influenced the ska punk style of the third-wave of ska.
Skate punk started in Early-1980s California, where skateboarding was growing in popularity and was considered a form of rebellion. Bands that influenced the genre include Black Flag, JFA, Agent Orange, Minor Threat and Bad Religion. The Big Boys from Texas and JFA from Arizona are widely considered to be the first skate punk bands. Both bands were made up entirely of skateboarders and played loud and fast music designed to match the intensity of skateboarding. Bands such as RKL, Gang Green, NOFX, McRad, Agent Orange, The Black Athletes, Stalag 13, Hogan's Heroes,Tales of Terror, The Faction, and Suicidal Tendencies were also among the first wave of skate punk bands, with the latter band also paving the way for skate punk bands to play funk metal.
The 1990s saw a rise in the popularity of skate punk as it evolved to be more melodic. Millencolin are an example of this style. During this time skate punk bands experienced a fair amount of commercial success and were featured in events such as the Warped tour. Blink-182's first two albums, Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch, were skate punk, and brought large popularity to the genre.
Here recommended list of skate punk bands :
- Sum 41
- Blink-182
- NOFX
- MxPx
- Pennywise
- The Offspring
- Bad Religion
- No Use For A Name
- Millencolin
- Lagwagon
- Propagandhi
- Slick Shoes
- Belvedere
