Top Three: Frontside Five (the skate vid edition)

Before YouTube let every aspiring skateboarder and videographer show off their skills (or complete lack thereof) to the world, skate videos circulated via the underground on dusty VHS tapes. The members of Denver’s own skate-rock institution Frontside Five came of age in the glory days of these videos, soaking up the tricks—and the killer soundtracks—whenever they weren’t perfecting their mad ollie skills. Ahead of the release show for the group's new album, Resurrection Cemetery, at the Marquis Theater on Thursday, July 16, Frontside drummer Rob Dogg put down his sticks (and his board) to reflect on some of his favorite skate videos from his youth.

The Search For Animal Chin (1987, Powell Peralta)

Rob Dogg: Won Ton Animal Chin is the world’s oldest skater. They’re basically searching all these skate spots across the United States looking for Animal Chin. They’re just missing him everywhere they go, but what they realize on their search is that they had found him—because Animal Chin was the essence of skateboarding. It’s probably one of the first skate videos that had a plot to it, and one of the first skate videos I watched every day when I got home from junior high.

Decider: Those late-'80s skate videos were notorious for their wipeout footage. Was there any of that in this one?

RD: There are definitely sections in the Powell Peralta videos. I definitely like watching slams. It definitely goes along with skateboarding and doing those tricks.

Video Days (1991, Blind Skateboards)

RD: [This was] when street skating really surfaced as far as being really groundbreaking. It’s when you first see people executing handrails and doing tricks that you haven’t seen people do before. It’s a very progressive street skating video. It opened up a lot of people’s eyes about what was possible on a skateboard, especially showing how different people skate obstacles. It opened your eyes to what’s around you, what’s natural, whatever concrete jungle you have to work with, especially at a time when they didn’t have so many skate parks. Now they’re everywhere.

D: Did the explosion of skate parks take the emphasis off that old-school style of street skating?

RD: Most of the parks have that element to it now. If anything, it’s made it a little more available. You used to get kicked out of every spot you went to. I’m from California, and it was illegal to skate on the sidewalk in certain cities. When I moved out here, they might have had like five, maybe, and they were pretty janky.

Public Domain (1988, Powell Peralta)

RD: That one had a very strong soundtrack to it. There’s a skate-rock band called McRad that’s on there. That was one of the first things I learned on my guitar. I took an old tape recorder and held it up to the television and taped that song from the video. I got my guitar teacher to teach me it. Almost 20 years down the road, we ended up doing a split album with that band and doing two tours with them.

D: Did you choose that one specifically for the music?

RD: The skateboarding, for one, and also the music. It was another groundbreaking street video. They mix a lot of ramp and transition skating with a lot of street skating. There’s a lot of crossover.