Skate punk

Skate punk (sometimes called skate rock or skatecore) is a subgenre of punk rock, originally a derivative of the West Coast hardcore punk scene, that is named after its popularity among skateboarders and association with skateboarding culture. Skate punk most often describes the sound of melodic hardcore bands from the 1990s with an aggressive sound, and similar sounding modern bands. Skate videos have traditionally featured this aggressive style of punk rock. This played a big part in the coining of the term "skate punk". Skate punk has gained popularity all around the world, including the Nardcore punk scene out of Oxnard, California.

Musical characteristics
Skate punk uses the high energy elements of hardcore punk, crossover thrash and thrashcore, using high tempos and thrash guitars. The musical style also has the intensity of hardcore punk and thrashcore, but with more melodic songwriting. Skate punk is often more technical than other forms of punk, commonly featuring lead guitar riffs, solos, and vocal harmonies. There is a considerable amount of overlap between the sound of skate punk and other forms of punk, so many bands classified as skate punk also fit into genres such as pop punk, melodic hardcore, thrashcore, metalcore, surf punk and crossover thrash. The high energy of the genre influenced the ska punk style of the third-wave of ska.

The lyrics of Skatepunk music can be divided into many categories beyond skateboarding, some examples of this include lyrical themes which utilize topics based around humor and /or politics. Members of skate punk bands are often skateboarders themselves. Some bands occasionally focus on or at least reference skateboarding culture in their lyrics, in addition to other lyrical themes common to punk.

History
Skate punk started in early 1980s California, where skateboarding was growing in popularity and was considered a form of rebellion. Bands that influenced the genre include Black Flag, Agent Orange, Minor Threat and Bad Religion. The Big Boys from Texas and JFA from Arizona are widely considered to be the first skate punk bands. Both bands were made up entirely of skateboarders and played loud and fast music designed to match the intensity of skateboarding. Bands such as Drunk Injuns, RKL, Gang Green, NOFX, McRad, Agent Orange, The Black Athletes, Tales of Terror, Stalag 13, Hogan's Heroes,   The Faction, and  Suicidal Tendencies were also among the first wave of skate punk bands, with the latter band also paving the way for skate punk bands to play funk metal.

As the genre became more popular during the 1990s, it evolved into a slightly more melodic sound. During this time skate punk bands experienced a fair amount of commercial success and were featured in events such as the Warped tour which started in 1995. Some skate punk bands of the 1990s include NOFX and Lagwagon. The 2000s has had its share of artists playing the genre, and bands in the USA, such as A Wilhelm Scream, and in Europe, such as Atlas Losing Grip, and Phinius Gage, have continued to use skate punk elements in their music, as it continues to maintain a strong following.

Notable record labels

 * Alternative Tentacles
 * Cargo Records
 * DC-Jam Records
 * Epitaph Records
 * Fat Wreck Chords
 * Fearless Records
 * Frontier Records
 * Geykido Comet Records
 * Grilled Cheese Records
 * Hellcat Records
 * Hopeless Records
 * Mystic Records
 * New Red Archives
 * Nitro Records
 * SST Records