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.