While watching a Tony Hawk “documentary” on MTV….(the term documentary is used loosely here…it was actually “The Diary of Tony Hawk”)….it occured to me: When did skateboarding become cool? It’s all the rage now.
This was not the case in 1987…Mt. Juliet Junior High. I was in 7th grade. Suddenly there was a clash of ideologies. It was the mainstream against the “skaters.” “Skaters?” Who are they? Were they talking about roller skaters. Nope. Skateboarders. The metal heads…. Freaks…. Popular people in the “In Crowd.” All these people were against the skaters. I can remember some girl in my history class saying she liked some guy…but that he was a skater….and she wasn’t sure how the rest of us would feel about it.
Skaters went against the grain. Listened to music like INXS. Wore their hair all different. Skateboarded. Totally a different group unto themselves.
But then somehow their behavior….fashion…whatever…became mainstream as 1991 peaked and grunge came into effect.
You see, Metalheads died figuratively way before this Great White incident. It was when heavy metal became mainstream is when it became uncool. Remember 1988? Pretty soon everybody was wearing those silly black t-shirts advertising the latest hair band. Guns ‘N Roses. Poison for the ladies. Stryper for those people who wanted to be counted as some type of righteous Christian metalhead. It was at that point when everyone was wearing those shirts and listening to that music, was when it became uncool.
So let’s recap. Metalheads: Old and busted. Skaters: New coolness. Or so I’m told. Maybe skaters aren’t so new after all. What is the next big thing? The new black? Somebody please tell me because I’d hate to loose touch with what’s hot.
While we are on the subject of heavy metal, there’s a bit of confusion on my part. While doing research for this, I got Slayer and Stryper mixed up. While Stryper is decidedly pro-Christian…with its Isaiah 53:5 enblasioned on all their T-shirts….on the other hand Slayer is very much anti-Christian. Slayer’s song lyrics are predictable and laughable at times. Very little intellect on their part. Their latest album title “God Hates Us All,” is simple and elementary. I wonder how long it took them to think of that title. Its almost a worn out cliche these days: Heavy Metal hates God.