ANALYSIS OF THE SKATE PUNK VIDEOS

(PART 7 OF THESIS)

Analysis of the music videos:

“INSTITUTIONALIZED” (1984)

Institutionalized official video clip. Frontier Records (1984)

Both “Institutionalized” and “Possessed to Skate” were directed by Venice Beach filmmaker, Bill Fishman. “Institutionalized” (1984) was Suicidal Tendencies first music video from their self-titled album which had been released the 1983. The film directly reflects the lyrical content (see Appendix I), depicting a frustrated teenager trying to deal with the societal institutions he is forced to comply with and also, his dominant parents who do not understand him. The division between the two main elements; that of the parental and authority figures and that of the youths (the main protagonist is singer, Mike Muir) are portrayed in several different ways: the teenager in their “natural” environment, a chaotic warehouse with a band and skateboarders; the parent versus teenager in their suburban house; and a band playing to a group of youths slam dancing with authority figures disapprovingly watching on. The representation of the trashed warehouse, with broken windows, graffiti on the walls, a television is smashed by a skateboard, and teenagers skateboarding over derelict objects is in direct contrast to the parents white middle class suburbia, with neat lawns and organised kitchen cupboards in a pristine suburban house.

A convertible, occupied by Mike Muir and the band mates (0.58min) drive up to the frontage of the suburban house where the father sits on a chair, mindlessly mowing the same patch of grass, whilst the mother (wearing a strange fake smile) sprays and cleans the bark on a tree, seemingly another pointless activity. (1.05min) Mike goes into the sterilely clean kitchen and opens the cupboard doors where the viewer sees “no name” generic branding (signifying the mundaneness of the house and its contents) of usual pantry items stacked neatly. He finds nothing that appeals to him in either the cupboard or the fridge and moves to his bedroom.

Posters occupy his bedroom walls, there is a cassette player and a television depicting young people slam dancing at a concert. Mike doesn’t hear his mother come into the room and she starts yelling his name (1.34min), thinking that he is not “normal” and that he is on drugs, she panics and begins to rip down all of his posters putting them, plus his skateboard and other representations of youth culture into a rubbish bag. (1.46min) The father starts to place bars on the outside windows (1.56min) (in between mowing the concrete driveway outside the window). They place thick blankets around the room, blocking out the outside world and the mother (2.07min) (with a sweet and condescending smile on her face) sits Mike on seat and puts him in a straightjacket. (2.13min) The parents now stand defiantly in front of their suburban home, holding an upended lawnmower, the father wearing an apron that reads “I’d rather be golfing” and yell sinisterly “Institution!” whilst Mike hangs upsidedown suspended from the ceiling in a chair and wearing his straightjacket. (2.18min) Mike then breaks out of the straightjacket and sits on his bed whilst his band mates tie a rope from the bars on the window to the back of the car, pulling the wall down so Mike can escape, much to the horror of the parents. (2.30min) The youths drive to the warehouse where they play their song whilst the crowd of youths (2.49min) (mostly male with some females, about 60% white youths, 30% latino, 10% black – 2.54min), many wearing bandanas and Suicidal Tendencies band clothing, slam dance and enjoy the music.

Whilst Mike is singing the song, he points to the representations of the societal institutions he is rebelling against, the authority figures who are standing menacingly at the back of the crowd (3.16min); the School Principal, the Priest, and the Military Sergeant. Their presence adds greater credence as the transmission of the message about being Institutionalized is best effected when talking directly to those patriarchs who represent the institutions. The final part of the video displays the youthful crowd who are enjoying releasing their energy and frustrations through slam dancing. Mike runs alone through a dark warehouse and outside, and gets into the car where his bandmates are waiting for him. (3.41min) The car drives off still dragging the wall of the house behind it. He escapes.

POSSESSED TO SKATE (1986)

Possessed to Skate (Official video) 1987

“Possessed To Skate” (1986) was initially asked to be on a film soundtrack. The music video was recorded even before Suicidal Tendencies released the album that the song was on. Mike Muir describes it as a “Suicidal kind of story…” and goes on to explain that the video really helped the band, whilst the movie was terrible and actually “flopped” (Suicidal Tendencies, 1986). This music video has become an iconic song, illustrating the lifestyle, ethos and behaviour of skate punk. The representations in this music video are expansive. Once again directed by Bill Fishman, the story told throughout the film reflects and parodies many elements of life in Southern Californian middle class suburbia which the young skate punks are rebelling against.

The music video begins with no music, but the imagery of a Winnebago campervan parked out the front of a middle class suburban house and the voice of the mother fussing over her son, before she (carrying a television and a little dog) and her husband, both dressed in bawdy Hawaiian vacation shirts are about to leave for a holiday. (0.38min) The actors chosen to play the father and mother are intriguing choices, enhancing the satire of the video. The father is acted by Timothy Leary, iconic counter-culture figure and essentially one of the most surprising choices as responsible middle class suburban father. Leary was a psychologist and writer working at Harvard University before being fired for his work with experimental drugs such as LSD. President Nixon named him America’s most dangerous man due to his drug research and his counterculture philosophies and musings which included several catchphrases, one being “think for yourself and question authority”. This ideology is representative of what Suicidal Tendencies stood for, therefore making Leary the perfect satirical choice as “father” in this music video. With this selection of actor, it could be said that the video is poking fun at the hippy turned “responsible parent”, signifying more hypocrisy from middle class suburbia. The mother (reprising her role as the white middle class suburban mother in “Institutionalized”) is the cult film actress, Mary Woronov. Woronov was an actress, writer and artist. As a live-in member of Andy Warhol’s Factory, her experience with counter-culture is profound. Again, the choice of her as a white middle-class suburban mother further enhances the irony that sets the tone of this music video. See http://www.avclub.com/articles/cultfilm-­‐staple-­‐mary-­‐woronov-­‐on-­‐andy-­‐warhol-­‐roger,84658/ for an in-depth interview with this iconic actress. These actors contributed to the overall satire of the music video, enhancing meaning and further demonstrating the anti-authoritarian stance that was the ethos of Suicidal Tendencies.

The father’s last words to his dorky teenage son are “Remember, no skateboarding until you’ve done your homework.”(0.56min) Establishing that skateboarding is a leisure activity that should not impact on his “real” work, that of school homework, which is far more important. There is still no music as the footage cuts to the teen completing his math homework, like a good middle class son. (1.26min) He looks at his skateboard positioned upright on his desk and touches the wheel, rolling it. Suddenly, a punk guitar riff starts, the film cuts to a neat suburban loungeroom, then a perfect suburban backyard, complete with a pool and impeccable outdoor furniture. As the introduction to the song continues, the son looks at the skull graphics on his skateboard then sees a pentagram burning through his math homework. (1.35min) That is when he becomes “possessed”, the Suicidal Tendencies band burst through the front door of the traditional suburban house with the song lyrics “Let’s Skate!” (1.37min) and mayhem ensues. Skateboarders follow the band members, skating into the loungeroom and destroying everything in sight with their skate moves.

Paintings are ripped from the walls and replaced with graffiti. (1.44min) Some of the graffiti symbolises the Suicidal Tendencies logos and artwork. (1.53min) The skaters, along with the help of the teen, move the lounge and furniture to create a makeshift skatepark in the loungeroom. (2.09min) The television screen is smashed (2.02min), as are mundane, conservative paintings hanging on the wall, that are destroyed by skateboards. Skate moves and tricks are performed in the loungeroom whilst the band moves through with their equipment. (2.13min)Next, the video cuts to the outdoor area where the pool cover is removed and the band pull up a “plug” that symbolises emptying the pool of water. (2.26min) The pool becomes reappropriated as a skate area with furniture used to create skate ramps etc. The band plays outside next to the pool which is surrounded by young skate punks enjoying the music and watching the skaters take control of the pool walls. (2.36min) The moves are dangerous, gnarly, there are skaters jumping out of two story windows, landing on ramps then skating into the pool. Two girls are portrayed sitting in their bikinis, splashing water, enjoying the action of the skateboarders in the pool. (3.03min) (This could be further investigated as portraying stereotypical gender roles and “division of labour”. The girls are portrayed as relaxing around the pool whilst the boys skate around them. Skateboarding has been predominantly viewed as a male activity due to various reasons which are further discussed in Natalie Porter’s paper, “She Rips When She Skates” (2007) published in Youth Subcultures: Exploring Underground America Ed. Arielle Greenberg). 

Mike Muir sings “insanity”, and there are skateboarders making all kinds of stacks, but getting back up and going again, they are obsessed and possessed to skate. The kids next to the pool are shouting “he rips”, everyone is enjoying the mayhem. The footage cuts to the teen son (3.30min), who is reflecting his skateboard graphic of a skull with smoke coming out of his ears. This signifies the possession of him as his skateboard goes up in flames whilst he is riding it and he seems to have gone insane, doing crazy things in the loungeroom, with his board dancing around him and whacking him over the head like it has a personality of it’s own. He skateboards straight through the lounge, destroying it, throws a skateboard off the top stairs in the house, then jumps on it, moving into the kitchen which is a mess. The teen son rolls through the destruction in the loungeroom and ends up falling off the skateboard and rolling into his parents feet, who have just walked in the house. (3.52min) With a silly smile on his face, the son looks up at his horrified parents saying “hi mum”, “hi dad”, whereupon his mother lets out a horrified wail and he passes out on the floor. (4.04min)

At the end of the music video, again there is a small section that has Mike Muir talking to the camera (4.05 min) about how he feels that it was the “skaters that first accepted Suicidal Tendencies…” as they had a “free kind of attitude and stuff, because you know, you have to be kind of dare devilish and stuff, so they’re more open minded. I think one of the problems with acceptability for Suicidal Tendencies is when we first started off, everybody came from different backgrounds musically and we all had different ideas of what good music was and we put it all together and came up with something rather than trying to copy what other people were doing…and like with the way we looked, people had a problem with the way we looked, but that’s the way we looked before we were in a band, when we were kids, that’s how we dressed, that’s how everybody dressed cos that’s just where we were from, and people say we can’t look that way…” This is a clear expression by Muir of the production and expression of authenticity and individuality which contributed to the understanding of skate punk being a form of middle class rebellion within the context of southern California suburbia.

[This is an excerpt from my Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) Honours Thesis, submitted to the University of Wollongong Arts Faculty in 2013. I am publishing excerpts from this thesis in multiple posts. The thesis aimed to explore the youth subculture of skate punk, how its expression perpetuated authenticity through the aesthetic form of the music video, and how this was reflexive of society at a deeper social level].

[copyright 2013]