The Music of "Tony Hawk"
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Debuting in 1999, the Tony Hawk series of skateboarding games set the standard for licensed music in video games. Neversoft's eight best titles in the series, from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to Tony Hawk's Project 8, consistently introduced the masses to underground acts, deep tracks, and lesser known one-hit-wonders of Punk, Ska, Hip Hop, Rock, and Metal.
These are the highlights.
Goldfinger - Superman (considered to be the series signature track)
Dead Kennedys - Police Truck
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Suicidal Tendencies - Cyco Vision
The Suicide Machines - New Girl
The Ernies - Here & Now
Unsane - Committed
Rage Against The Machine - Guerilla Radio
Public Enemy - Bring Tha Noize (w/Anthrax)
Powerman 5000 - When Worlds Collide
Dub Pistols - Cyclone
The High & Mighty feat. Mos Def & Mad Skillz - B-Boy Document 99
Naughty By Nature - Pin The Tail On The Donkey
Alley Life feat. Black Planet - Out With The Old
Bad Religion - You
Ah, to heck with it, this one's ALL good! :D :D :D
AC/DC - T.N.T.
Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
Goldfinger - Spokesman
The Bouncing Souls - Manthem
The Distillers - Seneca Falls
Less Than Jake - All My Best Friends Are Metalheads
Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast
Run-DMC - My Adidas
U.S. Bombs - Yer Country
The Adicts - Viva La Revolution
Busdriver - Imaginary Places
Bracket - 2RAK005
Cannibal Ox - Iron Galaxy
KISS - Lick It Up
Bad Religion - Big Bang
Deltron 3030 - Positive Contact
Rubber City Rebels - I Wanna Pierce My Brain
This one's pretty weak...I mean, what do Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash have to do with skate culture? The game's "Jackass" vibe wasn't so hot either. Such a letdown after THUG 1's awesome career mode...
Fear - I Love Livin' In The City
The Suicide Machines - High Anxiety
The Distillers - Beat Your Heart Out
Ramones - Rock 'N' Roll High School
Ween - It's Gonna Be A Long Night
Thankfully, THAW was a return to form! :-)
Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles
Black Flag - Rise Above
Motley Crue - Live Wire
Circle Jerks - Wild In The Streets
Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous
Pig Destroyer - Gravedancer
Molemen feat. Slug, Aesop Rock, & M.F. Doom - Put Your Quarter Up
The Thunderlords - I Like Dirt
Public Enemy - Burn Hollywood Burn
Green Day - Holiday
Alas, they finally ran out of steam. Project 8 has an impressive open world, but a mostly filler soundtrack. Even Primus and Ramones couldn't deliver. But, it wouldn't be Tony Hawk if it didn't have a FEW good ones...
Slayer - Angel Of Death
The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
Bad Religion - Social Suicide
Ugly Duckling - Smack
The Thunderlords - Ice Cream Headache
Sonic Youth - Nic FitApologies if some of the links don't work in your country. I just can't be arsed to test them all on proxy... :/
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Great new interview article with Tony and a couple of Neversoft employees:
http://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2017/01/13/the-oral-history-of-the-tony-hawks-pro-skater/
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An Indiegogo page has been launched for the documentary. Looks promising! :)
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I never had a clue this thread existed.
The Tony Hawk series has changed my life. Biggest impact any media has had on my life. Period. I've see so many of the bands, rappers, and rap groups listed above live in concert. I own multiple vinyl albums from some of these groups, I own tons of classic skate videos with some of this music in them, I have the best memories of my life skateboarding with friends because of this series (and playing it at night at sleepovers).
Underground is my favourite for a few reasons but if we keep it soundtrack, it matched the "underground" theme of the game. A lot of the music in here was fresh in 2003. I come to think of Cannibal Ox's "Iron Galaxy" off their now classic album "The Cold Vein". That was when NYC hip hop went three directions: The classic boom bap sound, the new Swizz style beats of DMX/hype anthems like Dipset/gangsta rap like 50 Cent. Then there was this underground lane of like esoteric hardcore storytelling mixed with thick textured production. That was Cannibal Ox with El-P and that whole Def Jux movement. It was underground but had a PUNCH. Then over on the west coast, dudes like Del the Funky Homosapien were reinventing themselves with concept albums in Deltron 3030. Both groups had songs in this game.
Underground was like a mainstream product that lifted up a vibrant underground music scene from the time. I don't think I was into underground hip hop and certainly never listened to hardcore punk until 2003 when this game came out. I was only like 8 years old after all. Up to then I was really into 50 Cent, and Green Day on the rock side of things, Sabbath on the metal side. The rest is history.
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The THPS documentary film is FINALLY being released on August 18th.
