It's been 25 years since iconic skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater — and its equally iconic soundtrack — ollied its way into cultural consciousness, and if you've ever wondered what music propelled Hawk to becoming chairman of the board, we're sad to say the answer isn't Goldfinger.
Sure, the LA ska punks had yet to form when Hawk was skating in his youth, but as he revealed to Keanu Reeves and his band Dogstar on a recent episode of his Hawk vs Wolf podcast, post-punk was much more his style.
Asked by Reeves about his own skating soundtrack, Hawk shared, "Favorite band — and everything kind of follows — is Gang of Four. Everything kind of surrounds that."
Illustrating his journey from boardslides to building the THPS soundtrack, Hawk shared, "Music was just a huge part of skating, especially in the formative years of the '70s and '80s. So, when I got to do a game, I wanted to represent the culture, including music. So, I just was throwing bands that I listened to growing up. They were easy to get."
Asked by Dogstar's Robert Mailhouse if he'd ever skate without music, Hawk recalled, "It was just [playing over] the intercom of the skateparks. They were mostly playing [LA's KROQ-FM]... K-Rock was that sound. Rodney on the ROQ.
"So, that was my contribution to the game in terms of the old school music," Hawk continued. "Then, they had their own pretty robust music department to get newer bands at the time, the stuff that people associate with [Pro Skater], like Goldfinger, Powerman 5000, Fu Manchu, stuff like that."
You can watch a clip of Hawk and Dogstar talking the music of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater below.
In 2020, the first two games in the popular series were remastered in 4K, with songs by a Tribe Called Quest, Skepta, Screaming Females, Sublime, Bad Religion and more appearing in its soundtrack. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 received a Steam release late last year.
In early 2023, Hawk joined Goldfinger onstage to perform "Superman."
Last year also saw Reeves and Dogstar released Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees — their first record in 20 years, with a title that sounds like a clue to the whereabouts of a Pro Skater secret tape.
Revisit Exclaim!'s review of Dogstar's 2023 Toronto performance.