Since the 90’s, any publicised act of violence perpetrated by a teenager can be traced back to video games. Anyone who’s taken even a single college level psychology course can tell you that correlation does not equal causation, but that’s never stopped angry mothers and out of touch lawmakers from trying to pin video games as the culprit for their child’s failing grades, aggressive tendencies, or carrying out a mass shooting. That being said, I know one woman who watched her son change because of a video games: hi mom. No, Grand Theft Auto didn’t lead me into a life of crime, stealing cars, and beating old ladies to a bloody pulp with a baseball bat. Sure, I got on a first name basis with the local fuzz, but any hormone fueled teen gets a rush from trespassing or you know, buying a 99 cent Arizona to wash down the bag of chips they stuffed in their pants free of charge. The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series didn’t make me do it, but it did lead me to pick up a skateboard and find a love for heavy music. It changed the way I lived for a few years in my teens, and it shaped my taste in music to this day.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the first game in the series, has a couple a real classics on it. First off, Police Truck by the Dead Kennedys. What’s more punk rock, skate session fuel than a song about a skater’s mortal enemy? The sound is so California, so surfer/skater rock, and I love every second of it. I still listen to the Dead Kennedys on a weekly basis too. Whether I want to chant against nazis or communists, DK always has something to offer. The first Pro Skater game also consists of Goldfinger, Primus, and Suicidal Tendencies. Cyco Vision pulled me into a love affair with Suicidal Tendencies. It’s fast, heavy, and loud. That song got me into ST’s entire discography that’s littered with Mike Muir’s ramblings about mental health, paranoia, teenage angst, and…soft drinks?

“All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi!”

Pro Skater 2 had a few heavy hitters that still make their rounds on my recently listened playlists. More sticking it to the man comes with Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio. Fuzz metal band Fu Manchu made their presence known with their track Evil Eye along with Powerman 5000’s When Worlds Collide. That tune prompted me to head down the the used CD shop and pick up PM5K’s album Tonight The Stars Revolt, which featured the frontman’s older brother who’s work you may be familiar with: Rob Zombie. Pro Skater 2 still delivered on it’s skate punk roots with Bad Religion lending their song You to the soundtrack as well. Finding Bad Religion had a serious impact on my teenage years, as Do What You Want became our minute and seven second anthem that we’d play on our 15 watt amps and hand-me-down drum set in my buddies garage.

“Do what you must, do all you can. Break all the fuckin’ rules, and go to hell with Superman and die like a champion, yeah hey!”

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was the first game that I owned a copy of on the Playstation 2. The first two games were weekly rentals from Movies Plus. The move from PS1 to PS2 meant more songs to skate to while playing. The Ramones and Rollins Band provide the punk for this soundtrack but Pro Skater 3 made Motorhead and Reverend Horton Heat permanent loves in my heart. While they used Ace Of Spades, I’m willing to say that Motorhead’s Iron Fist would have provided an even faster, out of control feel for players. THPS3 brings some bangers when it comes to hip hop tracks as well including House of Pain’s I’m a Swing It and Del Tha Funky Homosapien with If You Must. When I say that I listen to these artists to this day, I’m not exaggerating in the slightest. I just picked up AFI’s All Hallows EP on seasonally appropriate orange vinyl this weekend. Yes, before Miss Murder and the devil lock haircut made its way to MTV in 2006, AFI and their song The Boy Who Destroyed the World was featured on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. Finally, Adolescents, whom I had the pleasure of seeing perform live a couple of years ago, grace us with their skate punk chant Amoeba. Listening to that album, I could argue that I Hate Children would have fit the bill as well in terms of speed, tone, and content of the song.

“Shut your mouth you stupid little brat! What you need is a smack smack smack!”

Out of the seven games that I played religiously, Pro Skater 4 has the soundtrack that sticks with me the least. Of course it has Agent Orange’s Bloodstains, which brings back memories of cut up knees and brush burn, but it features a song by The Distillers from their second studio release that I’d dub a perfect album. They lend their song Seneca Falls to the fourth game’s soundtrack, and what a kick ass tune it is. Brody Dalle shreds through the light and bouncy punk track with her aggressive vocals to make the perfect song to skate to and stick it to the man. Seneca Falls is a strong song in itself but the album it’s a part of, Sing Sing Death House has a non stop, chant the chorus, raise your elbows a little higher feeling that delivers from the first track to the last. I thank this game for helping me find such a perfect album that I listen to it whenever I have a day where I feel like it’s me against the world.

“Oh, Susan B. Anthony forever haunting me. Owned, raped, sold and thrown, a woman was never her own.”

After the initial numbered games came Tony Hawk’s Underground, abbreviated as THUG. THUG came back with some heavy hitters like more Bad Religion, punk OGs GBH, fuzz metal Fu Manchu, and Clutch which are all great bands that I touch on time and again, but when I think of truly heavy hitting music I think of the inclusion of Mastodon, Stormtroopers of Death, and Superjoint Ritual. Mastodon is still releasing killer albums, and they always get my vote based on album construction and storytelling alone. Each album has a feeling of flow and their lyrics are always a good read. While my go to album of theirs is Leviathan, THUG brings the big gun Crusher Destroyer from Mastodon’s 2002 album Remission. Scott Ian of Anthrax fronted a band that was more offensive than heavy, Stormtroopers of Death. Their entire discography is satire that is a bit over the top for some, but Underground featured a safe song by S.O.D. titled Milk. It’s muddy, sloppy, fast paced, and it’s all about pouring a bowl of cereal before realizing there’s no milk in the fridge; which I’m sure we can all relate to. Superjoint Ritual is a must listen whether you’re a fan of all things heavy, or the metal god who is Phil Anselmo. There were a few bands listed in the above paragraphs that I suggested a different song would have been a better fit for the game but THUG chose a real winner in It Takes No Guts and it’s a good look at what you can expect from the entirety of their album Use Once and Destroy.

“Die. When. You. Can. Do. No. More. Damage.”

If THUG left my glass half empty, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 came and topped me off then left the glass overflowing. The Distillers made a second Tony Hawk appearance as does Mike V and the Rats. Mike Vallely, equally punk rocker as he was pro skater, follows up his east coast, summer heat, skate tune The Days that was on the first Underground with the positive energy, punk track Never Give Up. I saw Mike V perform with his band Revolution Mother in a mall parking lot in Rochester in 2009, and to see a non pixelated version of him blew my 13 year old mind. Underground 2 brings us Dead Boys, classic punks Iggy & The Stooges, crust punks The Casualties, and Fear. Other featured bands that are in my weekly rotation include Joy Division, Violent Femmes, and Melvins. THUG 2 features a couple of metal songs, for instance they use Metallica’s Whiplash which is actually closer to punk and thrash than it is to heavy metal, but guttural screams and double bass made their way to the sixth installment of the Tony Hawk series with Black Label by Lamb of God. Their discography was my go to finger exercise when I first picked up a guitar. And before releasing any music as Lamb of God, they released a self titled album as Burn The Priest, which I put on my Christmas list in 2006. You may be as surprised as I was to hear that it was under the tree that year. I laugh whenever I think of my mom going out in search of this album, not being able to find it, and having to ask someone to help her in her search. It turns out that the album was filed under Lamb of God. More than ten years later I’d see them play with Napalm Death and Slayer, and I could check that off my bucket list.

While there are games that were released after this next one, I believe that this game had the strongest story, high replay-ability, and the soundtrack was the most unique. What wasn’t unique of Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland was the return of great musical acts. The following is a list of great bands that I still listen to from American Wasteland. Notice that while some made their series debut, a few of them have returned for at least the second time, some are third and fourth timers to the series.

Dead Kennedys

Mike V and The Rats

Bad Religion

Del Tha Funky Homosapien

Mastodon

Black Flag

The Faint

Death From Above 1979

Venom

Circle Jerks

The Casualties

What the game brought in a level of uniqueness were covers of famous punk songs performed by popular bands at the time.

The Network (a Billie Joe Armstrong side project) — “Teenagers From Mars” by The Misfits

My Chemical Romance — “Astro Zombies’ by The Misfits

Fall Out Boy — “Start Today” by Gorilla Biscuits

Taking Back Sunday — mashup of “Suburban Home” and “I like Food” by The Descendents

Thrice — mashup of “Seeing Red” and “Screaming at a Wall” by Minor Threat

Alkaline Trio — “Wash Away” by T.S.O.L.

Rise Against — “Fix Me” by Black Flag

Thursday — “Ever Fallen in Love” by Buzzocks

Dropkick Murphys — “Who Is Who” by Adolescents

Saves The Day — “Sonic Reducer” by Dead Boys

Senses Fail — “Institutionalized” by Suicidal Tendencies

From Autumn to Ashes — “Let’s Have a War” by Fear

The Bled — “House of Suffering” by Bad Brains

Those covers would eventually prompt the release of their own album with art resembling that of The Clash album London Calling.

Whether I listen to a Mastodon album on CD, AFI’s All Hallows EP on vinyl, the American Wasteland cover album on Spotify, or any of the music I’ve found through the Tony Hawk series over the years, one thing is for sure. I was influenced by video games: lock me up.