The boys have fun, that’s for sure… Screenshot: Bad Seeds
A few nights ago, I sat down to watch Nitro’s new team edit. If you can’t find the thirty minutes to sit down and watch it, in short it’s a pretty typical team edit: a bunch of good, healthy banter, some great riding, a few heavy slams and true to form, a really solid soundtrack.
When the thirty minutes were up, without even thinking about it, I began poking-around the internet in search of a few of the featured songs. This of course led me directly into the unfathomably deep rabbit hole that is snowboard video soundtracks.
Sometimes it’s hard to decide which had a greater influence on my childhood: the actual riding, or the music that accompanied it. In my mind, the two are virtually inextricable, especially in the old Robot Food videos — David Benedek and Billy Idol, Bobby Meeks and The Postal Service, Travis Parker and Tears for Fears. Nowadays, I hear a song and I think of a rider, or a rider is mentioned and I can’t help but think of a song.
Of course Tears for Fears and Billy Idol were popular long before Lame came out in 2003, but I would argue that “Such Great Heights” would never have reached “such great heights” were it not for David Benedek’s still-epic part in Lame. It may seem a bit over-the-top to argue that snowboard video soundtracks single-handedly changed the landscape of popular American music, but as someone who knows zilch about the music industry, that is precisely what I am going to argue. When you consider the massive popularity of beanies, Vans, tight pants and other surf/skate/snow inspired pieces of material culture in our country, this somewhat bold assertion seems a bit less bold.
Think about all of the artists who were featured in snowboard videos before rising to prominence in America: the Postal Service, Röyksopp, The Knife, Teddybears Stockholm, Cut Copy, Junior Boys, Shiny Toy Guns, Ladytron… the list is endless. Of course many people reading this will dismiss my claim and say that these artists would have gained popularity either way. In other words, it was only matter of time before they blew-up and perhaps companies like MDP, Standard Films and Robot Food simply gave them the nudge they needed to hit the big time. Maybe so, but it’s more fun to think about it the other way around.
The funny question that arises from all of this is: would American culture be as cool and internationally desirable without snowboarding, surfing and skating? Would the whole hipster “revolution” have gone down without bands like the Postal Service? And Vans? And knit beanies? Who knows. Maybe I’m giving too much credit to something I love — but then again, as we say in Maine, “hard telling not knowing.”
