[Today: Bombing subway cars and empty swimming pools...]
Along with rapping, scratching and breaking, graffiti is considered one of the four elements of hip-hop. But while the other three elements broke into the mainstream marketplace long ago, graffiti is still widely considered to be nothing more than vandalism of public property. The 1983 documentary Style Wars follows some of the famed graffiti artists of the early-80’s as they hop fences and go underground to outwit the authorities, while battling each other for prime writing space – all in the name of bombing subway cars from end to end. “The idea of style and competing for the best style is the key to all forms of rocking,” the narrator informs us, and writers such as Seen, Dondi, Case, and Skeme all rock the Rustoleum in high style. Watching their murals flow from car to car as the subway trains slowly slither through the blighted landscape of 70’s New York is utterly mesmerizing. Even better is seeing the featured graffiti writers present clear-eyed, articulate monologues on their artistic motivations, while New York City officials – such as then-mayor Ed Koch – come off as bumblers. Style Wars is a fresh look at an emerging hip-hop culture, and just might open your eyes to the artwork all around us.
In the mid-70’s – around the same time Taki 183 tags started appearing in the Big Apple – another cultural revolution was taking place across the country in Venice, CA. A group of surfers in the rundown Dogtown section of L.A. started skateboarding in their spare time, bringing many of their moves out of the water and onto land. “These children took the ruins of the 20th century and made art out of them,” claims Zephyr skate team co-founder Skip Engblom. The Z-Boys were a primary influence on the style, attitude, and arial moves of modern skateboarding, and their rank included skate legends such as Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacey Peralta. The footage of the Z-Boys flowing and grooving over the playgrounds and up and down the swimming pools of Los Angeles is endlessly re-watchable. There’s an infectious joy in seeing these kids do something not for the promise of paychecks or fame, but just for the mastery of motion and the pleasure that comes with doing something better than its ever been done before.
Listen: The Message [Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - from Style Wars]
Listen: Gut Feeling [Devo - from Dogtown & Z-Boys]
Listen: Feel The Heartbeat [Treacherous Three & Kool Moe Dee - from Style Wars]
Listen: Hots On For Nowhere [Led Zeppelin - from Dogtown & Z-Boys]
Tags: Case, Devo, Dogtown & Z-Boys, Dondi, Ed Koch, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Hip-Hop, Jay Adams, Led Zeppelin, New York City, Seen, Skeme, Skip Engblom, Stacey Peralta, Style Wars, Tony Alva, Treacherous Three & Kool Moe Dee, Venice CA
23 June 2009 at 11:16 am |
Love the Dogtown doc. Have watched it several times. The pool skating came about because of the drought years in CA in the 70s. There is a similar silver lining in the foreclosure market. Love how those skate rats are using technology to find vacant pools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/29pools.html
23 June 2009 at 11:41 am |
Great quote: “God bless Greenspan, patron saint of pool skatin’.”
23 June 2009 at 12:41 pm |
I moved to Dogtown in 1974, just as the Z-Boys were getting established. Of course, having moved to the beach from the Mojave desert, I didn’t surf, so I was never “accepted” by the Z-Boys, although Stacy Peralta and Baby Paul Cullen were always cool with me. I made the mistake of cutting TA off at Kenter one day and he nearly rammed his board… well, it wouldn’t have been pretty. The thing is, he was such a badass skater that it didn’t matter; he’s still one of the best I’ve ever seen.
I skated a lot of the pools that the Dogtown crew did (most significantly Canyon Pool, the pool the Boys are skating over Ted Nugent’s music in the doc), I just usually had to wait until they left; you didn’t want to mess with TA or Jim Muir (especially Muir aka Red Dog). This film is like home movies for me…
24 June 2009 at 8:21 am |
Too cool Aram!
23 June 2009 at 12:54 pm |
I just drove through this part of LA! Although I wouldn’t think of setting foot on any board (surf, snow, or skate), this was a fantastic documentary. I remember watching Style Wars as an undergrad in sociology. It was quite the eye opener for a young college student who had barely been out of Wyoming. Thanks for reminding me about Style Wars. It’s going on my Netflix.
24 June 2009 at 8:15 am |
Both of these are awesome movies. I love the part in Style Wars where the artist is being interviewed next to his mother, who worries about him going out at 2 am but also is glad he’s not out doing drugs or the like. It’s weird when you watch it now because the scene then, though full of rivalry, was so much more benevolent than the world would allow today.
Dogtown… is such an awesome documentary. I was far from the scene and not a cool kid but still remember the day clay wheels were replaced by the urethane version. I lived on a street that was a hill and for a while in the 70’s, there were always kids skateboarding down it.
Was just in Venice not too long ago and meant to peek into the surf shop where Zephyr used to be. Didn’t make it though…