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‘It fully altered my taste in music’: bands reflect on the awesome power of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks
The games’ runaway success introduced a whole generation to hopped up US punk and metal. Bands including Less Than Jake, the Ataris and AFI pay tribute to a gaming megastar who loves them back
When millions of parents bought their kids a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game in the late 90s and early 00s, they couldn’t have understood the profound effect it would have on their children’s music taste. While the Fifa games have an equally storied history with licensed music, those soundtracks feel impersonal – a who’s who of whichever artists EA’s associated record labels wanted to push at the time. Photograph: Reuters/AlamyEven though Less Than Jake reaped the rewards of being on the game back in 2002, returning with a different song on the Pro Skater remake decades later still felt like a badge of honour: “We’re a band that’s been around for 33 years, so we love anything that can propel us and get us in front of a new audience,” says DeMakes, “Everybody has social media.
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