Skate Punk Subculture

Both subcultures were purveyors of innovative and unique methods in which to express, move and represent. Their culture and lifestyle morphed into creative aspects of corporeal movement, which involved both skateboarding and music. Living in the same locale in Southern California, those involved influenced others who were interested in colluding with this rebellious identity and not conforming to the hegemonic norm of mainstream society. When music and movement combined, skat

The subculture of skate punk as discussed in this thesis will be analysed within the theoretical understandings and frameworks of Gelder and Hebidge and the focus of essential musicologists, such as Frith and Grossberg to ascertain how the band Suicidal Tendencies promulgated the skate punk subculture. This occurred through the maintenance of authenticity, which continued throughout the creation of their music and their sustained representation of their beliefs and ideologies

This thesis aims to portray to the reader the complexities of authenticity within a music subculture and they way in which subculture is signified and represented to create meaning. The use of the music video as a form of mediation to society offers great insight into the understanding and comprehension of the subculture of skate punk, its ability to inform further ideological discourses within society, and it’s impact on sociological and cultural understanding.

In the early 1980s the subculture of skate punk became visually mediated in the new popular aesthetic form of music television (MTV). The music video, “Institutionalized” (Suicidal Tendencies,1984) was positioned between songs of David Bowie, Culture Club and the Rolling Stones but when this video played, people stopped to watch and listen – it made a statement as a representation of sociopolitical youth rebellion.