Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight as guest curator is Patreon
mixtaper Tom Hutchinson. Tom, welcome to the
program, man. Thank you very much, Brian. It
is an absolute pleasure. I love this show. I
listen to it all the time in the car. So this
is an absolute pleasure for me. Well, it's a
pleasure to have you. And now you get to answer
the question that I ask. all of my first -time
guests, and that is Tom, what does the word mixtape
mean to you? Oh, mixtape. So for me, it was mixed
CDs. It was going to the library, using the library's
computer to download LimeWire and burn as many
CDs as I could. But when you think of mixtape,
it also brings me back to riding in my dad's
pickup truck and grabbing all the tapes out of
the glove box and just shoving them in. and whatever
played played because nothing was labeled and
it was always a good time and it was almost always
heavy metal no matter what it was all right i
love it i love it and you know you only minorly
incriminated yourself with the library stuff
we'll just let that slide i was gonna say my
mom worked at the library she would take me to
sit there and i would just burn cds all day long
while i waited for her to be off her shift so
well i'm gonna be perfectly honest Tonight is
a first on my weekly mixtape as we are diving
into the world of video game soundtracks with
the extremely popular Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
series. Now, the honesty part here, I have to
make a confession. I have never played any of
the Tony Hawk games. However, I have friends
who have, and I'm very familiar. With the soundtracks
and the music. So the first thing I want to do,
Tom, is thank you for bringing a video game topic
to the table because I have received a lot of
requests for these in the past. And I'm always
responding to them like, sure. And in my brain,
I'm going, you've played Tetris and Tekken. Any
button mashers you can think of is basically
like my video game knowledge is so. 101. It's
ridiculous. So I'd like to ask you, why did you
choose the Tony Hawk series for tonight's topic?
So for me, Tony Hawk was one of those things
that, you know, as a kid, I liked the skateboard
and I got super into the X Games. And I was right
at that age, about six, seven years old when
Tony Hawk started getting popular. I mean, he
was doing bagel bites commercials. He was on
TV constantly for everything other than skateboarding.
And it was one of the first. game series I actually
got. So I got a PlayStation given to me by my
cousin when he got his first Xbox. And one of
the first games I had with it was Tony Hawk's
Pro Skater 3. And not having a lot of money growing
up, my mom was like, you have three games, play
them as much as you can. And it got burned into
my mind. And when I started growing up, they
were making Tony Hawk games every year. So you
just buy the new game every year. And it was
always something different, something unique.
And it stuck with me. The soundtracks for Tony
Hawk games were what's opened me up to my music
now. I mean, a lot of 80s California punk stuff.
So Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Circle Jerks all
came through those games. That's how I found
out about them. It's how I found out about Slayer
and even like the Pixies and some of these alternative
artists that I've come to love is due to this
game's soundtrack over the years. It was always
advancing and it always had something that would
catch my eye. Love it. Like I said, never played
the games, but my buddies did. And I've always,
when we were hanging out back in the day, they
would have it on and the songs would be playing
and I would start chiming in with my music nerd
them over their game, which sometimes they didn't
appreciate. But sometimes they did, especially
like, yo, what's that one again? That was where
my Tony Hawk skills came into play. I even own
the American Wasteland soundtrack on CD. For
those of you that don't know, that soundtrack
came out in the 2000s and it is chock full of
punk cover songs, which even if you're not a
fan of the video game, this soundtrack was just
worth owning because it's got some classics on
it. So while I can't offer any commentary on
the actual game tonight, I'm going to leave that
up to you, Tom, and I'll do my best to keep up
with you on the musical side of the spectrum.
That is fair enough with me. And you are right
that American Wasteland CD, it's one of the best
cover CDs I have heard. The only thing that tops
it for me is the four year strong cover CD that
they did of all the 90s and 2000s and did a pop
punk cover. Oh, my God. That is a killer album.
It is one of my favorite albums to this day.
And I hate to say it, their cover of So Much
for the Afterglow is better than Everclear's.
Ooh, I like that take. To me, Ironic is the go
-to track on that album. Because the first time
I heard it, I'm going, how are they going to
approach Alanis? Like, what are they going to
do here? And in the beginning, I'm going. Are
they taking this seriously or it sounds like
they're kidding. And then when it kicked into
that first chorus, pin that pedal to the metal,
go 100 miles an hour. And that's one of my favorite
songs to work out to. I love it. It's so good.
And that album, it had, I mean, even the She's
So High cover that they did was absolutely incredible.
Like I said, it's my favorite covers album and
the American Wasteland is next to it. I mean,
both are fantastic records. Well, let's get down
to Tony Hawk business. Tonight, as I mentioned
at the top of the show, Tom and I will be curating
the ultimate Tony Hawk pro skater mixtape, and
we'll use the old cassette deck approach. Maybe
it'll be one that Tom will find in his car like
he did growing up. Now, Tom, as my special guest,
will begin side A with his first song choice,
and then I'll add a song that I feel best follows
up that choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing
songs until we've mapped out 10 tracks for side
A. We'll then give our mixtape a proverbial flip
and we'll map outside. Be only this time. I'll
kick things off with Tom choosing second. Our
overall goal for the episode is to craft the
best Tony Hawk pro skater mixtape possible through
only 20 songs. At the end of the show, you could
take our conversation to the next level by visiting
the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com to give
our final mixtape a listen. via the embedded
playlist. And if you like what you're hearing
on the show, you can help me out by either telling
a friend, leaving the show a five -star review
wherever you're tuning in, or, like Tom, becoming
a Patreon mixtaper at patreon .com forward slash
myweeklymixtape. And a few of the mixtapers chimed
in with songs they would use to kick off a Tony
Hawk pro skater mixtape, and I want to give a
shout -out to a few. Chad LaMassa chimed in with
anthrax and public enemies bring the noise, saying
full disclosure, like myself, he never played
the games. Philip Bergman chimed in with can
I kick it from a tribe called Quest, saying mixtape
kickoffs and attention grabbers don't always
have to start with both barrels blazing. Kind
of like that approach. And that is a good one
to pick. Yeah, right? Like that would just be
a jam to kick things off. david owens chimed
in with power man 5000s when worlds collide and
he also brought up the connections to wwe which
all i have to say about that is stay tuned david
oh i can't wait for that that one for me i'm
big wrestling nut too so that oh that could be
good i have a few coals in the fire for that
one right now we'll see where that goes ben from
the too vague podcast chimed in with dell the
funky homo sapiens if you must and tom hutchinson
chimed actually wait never mind you're here i
can't read that tom with that musical food for
thought out in the atmosphere i'm officially
pressing the record button on our mixtape and
turning things over to you why don't you dive
into the song you chose to kick off side a so
this is a tough one for me It's going to come
down to a coin flip because there's two songs
that I love to pick. And I'm going to roll with
this coin flip here. And I know how I'm going
to start. So starting it off, it's a song that
was kind of burned into the 2000s. And even if
you didn't play the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games,
you know this song. And that is 96 Quite Bitter
Beings by CKY out of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3.
If you watch Jackass, you heard this song. If
you watch Bam Manjaro's CKY 2K tape, you know
this song. If you watched MTV at all in the 2000s,
you heard this song. And that riff to open the
song will rip your face off. And it is a pedal
to the metal, let's go type of start to this
mixtape. Love where you're going with this, Tom.
Anybody who watches Jackass should be familiar
with CKY. I feel like CKY, those videos they
put out in the 90s, was kind of the humble beginnings
of where Jackass went. And the music just speaks
to that show's nature. And I can't, again, attest
to how it would fit in with the game. But knowing
the song and knowing the heft you're going with
to kick things off. Now I have the tough choice
of how to follow that up. And I think I'm going
to lean into the punk side of things a little
bit. And you said the track that you chose was
from Tony Hawk's pro skater three. All right.
I'm going to jump up one game and go to Tony
Hawk's pro skater four and go with another song
that at least for me. was a big part of the 2000s.
One of my favorite songs of the decade and a
band that I've gotten to see live many, many
times. And every time I've seen them, it's blown
me away. Flogging Molly from the 2002 album of
the same name, the title track, Drunken Lullabies.
My thought is coming out of 96 quite bitter beings.
The song ends. And then you've got and it just
kicks into that punk vibe. And it's yes, it's
bringing that Irish style of punk into it. But
I'm just picturing that this was a punk concert
that we were at. My God, that second song, The
Roof, would just explode. And it's just such
an amazing track. Dave King, the lead singer
of Flogging Molly, sang for Fastway in the 1980s.
the 80s hair metal sound if you listen to fastway
and then you follow it up with a flogging molly
song you might think i'm lying but he is a ridiculous
singer and this is just a killer song so flogging
molly's drunken lullabies no no it's it's definitely
one of my favorites it's actually the first flogging
molly song i heard and i learned that whole fastway
bit from your podcast i didn't know that ever
And I dug into it and I was like, no way. So
my mind's been blown twice over that fact. It
still cracks me up. But that's a awesome follow
up. Now I got to pick that up. And that's, you
know, I want to stay in that punk vibe. And I
have a lot of it on this list. Ah, where do I
want to go? Where do I want to go? All right.
So I am going to stay in the punk realm, but
I'm going to speed it up. And I'm going to go
up to Tony Hawk's Proving Ground from 2007. And
I am going to go with Banned in D .C. by the
Bad Brains. Now, this album, this song is one
of my personal favorites. It's fast. It's loud.
It gets people going. And it has that same style
of drive that Drunken Lullabies has where everybody
knows the song. And you can imagine yourself
in a pit just pushing and shoving each other
around and having a good time. And it really
replicates the whole Skate and Destroy type of
vibe. And that's what I'm going after. So, like
I said, Band in D .C. by the Bad Brains. I mean,
you're going legendary punk here. Bad Brains,
to me, are one of the most underrated punk bands
maybe ever. They're so influential. Done so much
for the scene and inspired so many countless
bands. I am so happy that they made the list
tonight. Like that is frigging perfect. And what
a one, two, three punch we have here. CKY, Flogging
Molly, and Bad Brains. All right. I'm going to
bring a little Jersey into this. Okay. Okay.
Let's see what you got. I'm going to stick with
Tony Hawk's pro skater for, I don't know why.
Apparently this might be one of the games I should
probably start with. Cause a lot of the songs
I picked came from four and I'm going to give
a shout out to one of New Jersey's finest punk
bands, the bouncing souls. And I'm going to go
with Mantham off of 2001 is how I spent my summer
vacation. This song to me. it's fun and obnoxious
punk. Everybody's screaming the always over and
over together. I could just feel me and my buddies
together with our arms around each other, singing
this chorus, just dance and having a great time.
This is just, it's literally what the song is
about. It's about me and the boys, man, just
having a night out. And it's so anthemic in its
delivery. It takes that dropkick Murphy style
of just sing along, except pulls the Irishness
out of it and just injects that Jersey swagger.
And I think that's why the bouncing souls are
so iconic to me, at least in punk rock, because
they're not the quote unquote Jersey shore thing
that the rest of the country thinks New Jersey's
all about. The bouncing souls are what New Jersey's
all about. And it's such an. a great song. I
mean, I played Tony Hawk's first year for love
the game and the soundtrack is probably the best
one out of all the games. Like to this day, it
gets played very heavily in my Spotify playlist
rotation. And Anthem is one of those songs that
you just hear it and it comes on and you just
want to sing with it and you know all the words
to it and it just makes you feel alive. And it's
a song that I've gotten to see them play live
and it is a blast to see it done. Yeah, I'm kind
of torn between Mantham and Argyle for my favorite
Bouncing Souls track. It's really tough. Both
are very fantastic song and it's just a fun band.
Like you just can't be in a bad mood listening
to the Bouncing Souls. No, I challenge anybody
out there. Put on some Bouncing Souls and see
if you could sulk through it. All right, so we
are going to go into the next song. And this
is going to be a weird one because I'm debating
how I want to do this, but I know where I want
to go. And this is going to stay with probably
my favorite band that I have. And that song would
be Rise Above by Black Flag off the Tony Hawk's
American Wasteland soundtrack. This is a band
that I adore. Henry Rollins is a fantastic person.
Love to learn about him. But this song is one
of those songs that you sing along with. It hits
you in the face. It's fast. It's fun. And it
comes right out of Mantham with the same sing
along type of beat and just fun for everyone.
Man, we are pulling out iconic punk in this first
half here. Black Flag, Henry Rollins. And I mean.
This is probably a perfect song to encapsulate
what Black Flag is to punk rock. 100%. I can't
compare it to what it is to the game, but to
me, Bad Brains, Bouncing Souls, and Black Flag,
that's just down and dirty punk the way it ought
to be. I love where this is heading right now.
It's a good start, and there's still a few more
that I could pull out. Depending on how you go,
we could make this a whole punk mixtape on the
first side. All right, let's do that then. We're
going with iconic punk here. I'm going to go
off of Tony Hawk's Shred Game from their 2004
album Sex, Love, and Rock and Roll. Reach for
the Sky. Let's get some social distortion in
there. Mike Ness, iconic frontman, iconic band.
I can't say enough good things about Social Distortion.
When I discovered them, it was their self -titled
album with Ball and Chain. So I was quote unquote
late to the party, but I was also only 11, 12
years old at the time. And Ball and Chain blew
my mind because to me, it was different than
anything that was being played on the radio and
on MTV at the time. So I went out and got the
album and I would. Pretty much say that between
the misfits and social distortion, that was my
earliest introductions into punk rock. And I
don't think I could have gotten a better education.
That self -titled album to me is a masterpiece.
But then you fast forward all the way to 2004,
sex, love and rock and roll between nickels and
dimes and footprints on the ceiling. And then
this opening track again, I'm a sucker for album
openers, but. Reach for the Sky, Social Distortion,
Mike Ness at his finest. Yeah, and in Social
Distortion is fantastic. The Ring of Fire cover
is one of the best out there. But the song that
got my attention from Social Distortion was Far
Behind. Oh, yeah. Great song, but it's later
on in Social Distortion's discography and people
are like, oh, it's not really. true social distortion,
but I remember that song being played on alternative
radio, the local station in Detroit, 89 X, and
it would come on and I'd be like, Oh my God,
this is awesome. What is this? And I found out
who social distortion was. And I did some digging
and found out that like blink one 82 love these
guys. And I love blink one 82 at the time. And
I was like, I got to dive in. And you're right.
That's self -titled album. Fantastic. The cover
is burned into my mind. Everybody knows what
it looks like. The ball and chain. God, Story
of My Life. I mean, just fantastic music. And
one of my favorite bands to just put on and put
in the background. They don't disappoint. And
they're so iconic and so influential. Even bands
like Real Big Fish. Real Big Fish has a ska cover
of Story of My Life done in like the two -tone
ska style. And believe it or not, It works real
well, and they wouldn't have covered it if they
weren't influenced and a fan of Social D. And
yeah, iconic, iconic, iconic. This is a heavy
hitting punk side, man. It is. And I'm about
to turn it up to 11 with the next one. So this
is a song off the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
game and a song that surprised everybody that
was on this game. And that would be Police Truck
by the Dead Kennedys. opening riff and just jello's
vocals just shredding into you and just listening
to it and everybody goes oh it's just you know
it's a song it's all about police corruption
and just putting the man down but it is so iconic
that opening riff probably one of the most iconic
dead kennedy riffs i mean they have so many but
it made the game for a reason i feel like the
songs that made this game are the dare I use
creme de la creme for these bands because Tony
Hawk came from this scene. This was the music
that he enjoyed. I know that much about Tony
Hawk having not played the game to know that
these are songs that are important to him as
a person. He wasn't just out there licensing.
any band to throw on there. This is diving deep
into punk's history. And that shows that there
was an admiration and a love for it. And that
speaks volumes for why, when people talk about
video game soundtracks, why this series is one
of the first ones to come up. Oh, yeah. And I
hate to say it. Dead Kennedys was all anti -establishment.
They wanted to be that way. And they didn't license
music almost ever. And if they did, Jello would
slap them down and be like, we're not doing that.
You know, I'm out of the band, but you're not
going to do that with our music. And for this
song to get licensed in the Tony Hawk series,
strings were pulled. It was not easy for them
to get this song put on this game. And it's a
song that when I think of it, my brain automatically
goes back to that first game. I mean, I even
have the whole first game soundtrack on vinyl.
That's how much I love this soundtrack. It's
awesome. Well, I'm going to follow up Police
Truck with another amazing punk band covered
by, for at least me in New Jersey, a local favorite
because this band is from Long Island, New York,
and cut their teeth in the tri -state area. And
the band that they're covering came on the American
Wasteland soundtrack, the one that I had mentioned
at the top of the show I have on CD. And that
band is one of my... favorite punk bands growing
up, the Descendants. I drew Milo on every single
notebook that I had at school. When you used
to have to wrap your books with the paper bags,
I'd always make sure Milo was somewhere on it.
And on the American Wasteland soundtrack, Taking
Back Sunday did a medley of Suburban Home into
I Like Food. Yes, yes, yes. This is just one
of my favorite covers because Descendants are
so fast, so furious and so heavy. And Taking
Back Sunday brought that energy, brought their
style to it, upped the ampage just enough where
it wasn't overboard because the Descendants have
a specific sound to their punk. And if you go
too heavy, you might blow it out of the water.
But taking back Sunday's cover of Suburban Home
and I Like Food is right up there for me as face
-to -face's cover of Bikage. Like to me, those
are your – if you're going to cover the Descendants,
these are the crown jewels of Descendants covers.
And I Like Food, so frigging fun. Just puts a
smile on my face every time I hear it. So taking
back Sunday's medley of Suburban Home and I Like
Food. Food tastes good. Fantastic choice, Brian.
I mean, Taking Back Sunday is one of my personal
favorite bands. I mean, you can't say anything
they did in the early 2000s was bad. And Descendants,
another band that blew my mind when I got to
see them live. And they still brought the energy.
And they're old guys. And they're telling you
they're old guys. And we're not moving like we
are. And they still blew the doors off the place
I saw them. So where are we at with songs? What
number are we on? Is this seven or is this track
nine? We have one song each for Side A. We have
blown this thing apart. This has gone quick.
Let me go through my list here. Oh, man, there's
so many good songs, but I don't want to want
to make a bad vibe out of this. You know, we're
having fun. This is a punk mixtape. This is what
you would hear at the skate park, what you would
hear. And any of these games and any of these
songs would catch your attention. All right,
I know where I'm going to go on this. Another
punk band, not their most well -known song, but
my personal favorite. And that would be Added
Up by the Violent Femmes off the Tony Hawk's
Underground 2 soundtrack. Yes! The start of that
song, the day after day, it just draws you in
slowly. And then the pace starts moving and you
start going. And by the end of the song, it is
a full blown punk song, but it starts out mellow
and it catches your attention and you don't know
what it is. But by the end of it, you're like,
holy, how did that blow my mind? What is going
on? And for me, I didn't even realize it was
the same band that sang Blister in the Sun when
I found that out. I thought it was two different
bands. I am going to go with that. Added Up by
the Violent Femmes. Added Up. Added Up. Day after
day. Love it. Yes. And the Violent Femmes are
one of those bands that a lot of people sadly
only know for Blister in the Sun. And I love
Blister in the Sun. Colburn and Company has been
performing that since day one. Because I'll tell
you, it doesn't matter the room you're in. People
light up. And the smile and joy you see on their
face, whether it's people from that grew up in
the 80s that grew up with the original run or
90s kids grew up with the song through its inclusion
in my so -called life. When Claire Danes was
dancing around to it, it brought the song back
a decade later and made it iconic for a whole
new generation. So the fact that they touched
on something deeper in the catalog, again, from
that self -titled album, but still. a classic
song, anything that you could do to point to
the Violent Femmes music, I think is a plus.
And I'm so glad you did that. I had a song I
thought would end the side. However, now that
you took it to Violent Femmes territory, I'm
going to switch it up and save the song I was
thinking about putting here, maybe putting that
for side two, because following up the Violent
Femmes, I have a song on my list that's just
ideal. From Tony Hawk's Project 8. I'm going
to go back to 1988. And sadly, we just lost the
alternative country icon, Mojo Nixon. And if
you don't have Mojo Nixon, then your store could
use some fixin'. From 1988's Beelzebub, a dead
milkman, punk rock girl to close out Side A.
I'm just thinking about the ending of that song.
Just you and me. punk rocker, like just to close
out this side. Perfection. I have the biggest
smile on my face right now. You can't, the Violent
Femmes and Dead Milkman, if you are listening
to this, please do a tour together. How frigging
amazing would those two be on a lineup together?
Oh, it would, it would be one of the better shows
I've seen in my life, but that song, oh God,
I remember playing Project 8 and I remember my
cousin had it and we were camping and I borrowed
it from him and I was like, I haven't played
this one yet. Can I borrow your copy? He's like,
sure, sure. Take it home. And I remember playing
the game and you go through and you unlock characters.
And I remember there's one female skater in the
whole game. And that woman is married to Travis
Vistrana now. Fun fact. But in her skate video
to bring her entrance into the game, they use
punk rock girl. And I was like, what is this
song? Who is this band? And it got me hooked
on him. And that song. burned into my head and
the first thing I saw when Mojo Nixon did pass
was that's the first thing I heard was you're
snorting all you got Mojo Nixon then your store
could use some fixing it's burned into my head
but that whole song is full of just classic fun
lines about talking about stolen cars going to
dinner with parents that dislike you it's such
a fun song and a perfect ending brian you killed
that one well i appreciate it and i do want to
throw out there if you're a fan of the original
diesel boy does an incredible cover of this song
on their album sofa king cool say it fast enough
you'll figure it out came out in 1999 they do
a full throttle punk version of this song Guns
blazing, amped up the energy. So it's a totally
different vibe than the original, but you could
tell how much they love the dead milkman in their
version. So definitely worth checking out. And
there you have it, folks. Side A of the ultimate
Tony Hawk pro skater mixtape, which consists
of CKY's 96 quite bitter beings, flogging Molly's
drunken lullabies, bad brains, band in DC. The
Bouncing Souls Anthem, Black Flags Rise Above,
Social Distortions Reach for the Sky, Dead Kennedy's
Police Truck, Taking Back Sunday's Suburban Home,
I Like Food, Violent Femmes Add It Up, and Dead
Milk Men's Punk Rock Girl. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. So Tom, we really... Brought the
punk for side A of this Tony Hawk Pro Skater
mixtape, man. Yeah, it is a killer side. That
is one of those that, you know, SST used to do
all these compilations of all these songs, you
know, back in the day. That is what that reminds
me of is just a couple songs from this couple
songs from that. And you just enjoy it no matter
what front to back. Now, from doing my research
on. these soundtracks and going through all of
them. I know that Tony Hawk does have stuff outside
of punk. So I think to start off side B, I'm
going to veer us a little bit away from punk
because the beautiful thing about a mixtape,
one side could be one thing and one side could
be a completely different story. And what I'm
going to do is start off with something that
was featured on Tony Hawk's pro skater one plus
two soundtrack. Okay. And it came out in 1991
on two separate albums by two different bands
that I was a huge fan of. Two different bands
from two completely different genres. Two different
bands that I didn't know if it would work when
I read that this song was forthcoming. And in
1991, Anthrax and Public Enemy blew my frigging
mind. By covering Public Enemy's Bring the Noise
for Anthrax's 1991 compilation, Attack of the
Killer Bees, as well as Public Enemy's Apocalypse
91, The Enemy Strikes Black album. This song
to me was a game changer. Yes, I understand that
Run DMC and Aerosmith's Walk This Way came first.
But I truly believe that this collaboration.
and the collaboration of Aerosmith and Run DMC
are what helped birth Nu Metal. I don't think
you get bands like Limp Bizkit if you don't get
this collaboration and Aerosmith and Run DMC.
This collaboration to me is an important moment
in music. And I mean, come on, how better to
kick off a side with bass? How low could you
go? Let's go right into side B, Anthrax and Public
Enemy. Bring the noise. So for me, Awesome song.
Love Anthrax. Love Scott Ian. I mean, they are
one of the four pioneers of thrash metal with
Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. And you don't
get any better, but you also have Public Enemy.
And Public Enemy had been featured before in
a Tony Hawk game, but it wasn't really, quote
unquote, in the game. It was the menu music,
but it was by the time I get to Arizona. You
know, that's burned into my head. You get two
fantastic, super huge bands at the time and they
do this together and the song just pounds. I
mean, there is nothing bad about that from Scott
Ian playing his mind off in that song. And like
you said, Chuck D just having fun with it. It
is a perfect kickoff song. This is going to be
a tough follow up, Brian. I had one in my wheelhouse
I was going to start with in that. That is a
curveball here. Okay, let's take a look. Well,
hmm. If we're going to go iconic hard riffs,
this is tough because there is two songs right
here that I could pick, and they would both kind
of fit. But I'm going to go with the latter,
and I'm going to start off with one of my favorite
bands, and that would be Motley Crue. And the
song is Livewire off the Tony Hawk American Wasteland
soundtrack. This song is my favorite Motley Crue
song. The McMars just bring in hard guitar riff
to start it off. And then the cowbell at the
end of the song, just chiming it all up. It fits
the hard driving. You have the high vocals and
it's not necessarily a metal. It's more of like
a hair metal. So it's a little bit peaceful.
And I figure we can get a good run out of this,
maybe transact into something different. All
right. That riff again, that's an iconic riff.
You don't get a future of Motley Crue without
this song. This song is one of the pieces that
really helped launch their career. It's Mick
Mars doing what he does best. And I'll just say,
I don't know if I'd want to see it live anymore.
It was not good when I saw it live. It was not
good. I love Motley Crue. Let me be very clear.
I love Motley Crue. I grew up with them. Dr.
Feelgood was an iconic album for me at a time
when I was discovering music for myself. It's
hard to justify dropping hundreds of dollars
to hear Vince. not do the songs justice. I like
being positive on this show. So I'm trying to
find a way. Let's just put it this way. Go on
YouTube and look up, kickstart my heart live
with subtitles. And you'll see what Tom has seen
live in concert as of recent, but the song incredible.
And if you're a country music fan listening,
I highly suggest you look up the Cadillac 3's
cover of Livewire that came out in 2014 when
Motley Crue did the Nashville Outlaws album.
They do a southern swamp country rock version
of Livewire, and they completely flipped the
song on its ear, and it actually works. I friggin'
love it. It feels like two different songs back
to back, and that to me is a good cover. Brian,
you blow my mind with these covers. Every time
you give me something new and I look it up and
I'm like, he knows what he's talking about. I
mean, from the Madonna cover by H2O. I mean,
that has been one of my favorite songs. And now
to this, you do this to me. And now I have a
whole covers playlist because of your show. So
add it to the list now. There you go. And I'll
even throw one more on top of there with my next
song. The cover I'm going to mention right now,
I'll just say the band name that covers it, Drain
STH. They were around in the 90s. They're like
a female answer to Alice in Chains. However,
the song I'm going with, I'm going to tap into
the energy of Bring the Noise and Livewire. And
we're going to go with another iconic monster
riff, another legendary band. And I'm going to
go back to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. And we're
going to go with the legendary Lemmy Motorhead
1980s Ace of Spades. To me, I was actually thinking
about closing side A with this song and it would
have worked. I know Motorhead's not a punk band,
but they are a metal band with punk all put together.
It's Lemmy. He could do whatever the hell he
wants. He could call Motorhead a polka band and
you'd be like, you're right. It is. I'll take
it. It's fine. Motorhead is the epitome of what
I love about rock and roll. And the Ace of Spades
is just a legendary rock song, period. No matter
the game, no matter the genre, all genres, hard
rock, metal, punk, they all look to bands like
Motorhead for an inspiration. And the fact that
you could inspire multiple genres makes you a
legend. And it's Lemmy. Gotta be on the list.
I am so glad you picked that as the follow -up,
because that was the song I was touring with
with LiveWire. I didn't know. That was the two
songs. I was going back and forth, and I said,
you know what? Ace of Spades would be a great
follow -up, because that bass riff, it just eats
at you. But the LiveWire guitar riff will get
people from Anthrax. It'll tone it down just
a little bit, but it's that sweet spot. But here
we go. You're putting that car into fourth gear,
and you're just pounding on the gas now. Here
we go. Oh, God, such a good choice. But now this
is where it gets fun. And I know exactly where
I am going out of this. And that song is one
of my personal favorites. And it is the opening
theme to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. And that is
TNT by ACDC. I hear this song and I want to run
through a brick wall. The opening video for Tony
Hawk's Pro Skater 4 uses this song. And it just
still blows my mind how well it was done. But
this is the first ACDC song I remember. And I
loved it ever since. And it is a perfect follow
up to the Ace of Spades. One of my first favorite
bands, ACDC, 1976 is High Voltage. As a kid,
I just remember being three and vividly remember
being three and four years old, like the toddler.
We'd go over my aunt's house and my cousin would
always be rocking ACDC. And I always asked him
to put on the Oi, Oi, Oi song. And he would put
it on and I would just start stomping around
the room. Just Oi, Oi. And I loved this song.
I am so happy you put it into this mix. The first
time I saw them play it live, I'm literally sitting
there with my buddies and you've got our hands
up in the air and we're like this. And then I'm
kind of like, am I? Is somebody cutting on you?
Like, cause it's just such a childhood memory.
It's so important to me. Hearing it live for
the first time was almost otherworldly. It sent
me to a different place. So yeah, I welled up
during TNT at me. I don't care. That is fair.
That is fair. It is. It is one of the greatest
songs in my personal opinion from this whole
Tony Hawk series, stretching 11, 12 games. I
mean, this is top five people. You can't not
put this on the list. And following up a band
as iconic as ACDC is not easy. But I think if
I go up to Tony Hawk's Underground 2, I can make
that happen. This song turned 40 years old last
year. Came out in 1983. And kind of cut from
the same cloth of Motley Crue. And I'm talking
riff wise here, Motorhead, ACDC. We're going
to add a little bit of thrash to this. And we're
going to go off of 83's Kill Em All, Metallica,
Whiplash. Yes, it's thrash. But again, just looking
at these songs back to back to back to back,
this just works. Acting like a maniac. To me,
this is bringing the other side of the punk side.
While it's not punk, there's still that punk
energy and that punk. atmosphere in these songs
even though they're rock and metal i feel like
the spirit from side a is really coming over
into side b here i feel like you're also reading
my mind brian because it's like i want to use
this song but i don't know how it's going to
work and as soon as i name one you pick the song
that i was going to pick against it so perfect
because whiplash is on the list and i I was like,
man, I don't know where we're going to work with
flash in because you got to have Metallica on
this list. And I mean, we could put all our effort
in the thrash. We could put all our effort into
like clam. It's a good true way. God. So now
that has me questioning, where do I go from here?
Do you palette cleanse and switch everything
up for the second half of the side? Or do you
continue down this road? I would love to continue
down this road, but there is a song that I want
to include here and it's going to slow things
down, but it's still a heavy anthem. And to me,
this is a very, how can I put this? A very kind
of important song to me, an important band. And
that band is Billy Talent. And this is going
to come off the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and
2 remastered. And that song is Afraid of Heights.
It's a little bit slower, still very aggressive.
But this band I got to see last summer for the
first time in my life. I've been a fan for 15
years and I had a very similar moment to what
you had with TNT by ACDC. But it is Canadian
at its finest. It is a Canadian pop metal band,
I guess you can say. They, you know, are not
super hard, but it is enough to kind of slow
it down, but not. throw the person off that's
listening to this mixtape they might go okay
it's a little bit slower but i like it and i
think jason whistle from the it's not that bad
there can only be one podcast is smiling right
now because we're bringing in the canada element
into this mixtape and i love where you went with
this because coming out of metallica it's definitely
it's not a 180 i'd say it's like a 155 ish Like
you're still in that range, but you're dialing
it back a little bit. And that gives me something
that I could really work with. And when I hear
Benjamin Kowalewicz's vocals in Billy Talent,
it also reminds me of something that I grew up
with that I think is the next place we could
take this. And I'm going to dial it back a little
bit more with a band that I think is extremely
iconic and one of the most underrated groups
in my lifetime. A band that, yes, they sell out
arenas, but I still think even at that level,
musically, they're underrated because they've
done so much over their career. It's really hard
to put them into a musical bucket. You could
say, yes, they're heavy, but they're also, they
could do these brooding ballads that just rip
your heart out and show it to you. And I'm going
to go to Tony Hawk's Underground 2, and I'm going
to go with 1992's Angel Dust. Faith No More,
Midlife Crisis. Let's get a little tribal here.
Let's get a groove going. Let's switch things
up a lot. But this is a song that, make no mistake
about it, it's heavy, but it's very brooding.
And that tribal beat brings this different flair
to what we've done. And look, Disturbed covered
this song because it's such a huge influence
on them. Faith No More can do songs like Dig
in the Grave. This is on the following album,
King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime, which is
just basically screaming bloody murder metal.
And follow it up with a gut -wrenching song called
Take This Bottle, which is kind of like an old
school, almost outlaw country track. Angel Dust
is a weird, twisted, heavy. powerful album and
midlife crisis has always been a favorite of
mine because i could put it on so many different
mixtapes and everyone people look at me and go
what how did this get because it's just so unique
there's no way to put it into a bucket and i'm
doing that tonight with this mixtape because
really where do you put this song it belongs
everywhere and nowhere at the same time so faith
no more is midlife crisis Brian, I'm going to
be completely honest with you. I know the song.
It's not one of my favorites. I'm not a huge
Faith No More fan, but you're right. There's
nowhere else on this list that you can slow it
down and kind of turn to a sort of heavy song,
but you're not going to kill your audience with
it. It's one of those songs that if it comes
on, you're not going to skip. I know I'm not
going to skip it, but it's not something I would
search out for. And that's kind of like my next
song that you you open the door for this song.
And I didn't see anywhere on this list. This
song could work until now. And it's one of my
favorite Queens of the Stone Age song. It's the
lost art of keeping a secret. And that is off
the Tony Hawk's Ride soundtrack. So not a very
well -known Tony Hawk game and not a very well
-known Queens of the Stone Age song. But it just.
What are those songs that piqued your attention?
You go, what is that? I like that song. And it
gets you thinking. And it's not like threes and
sevens. It's not like no one knows. And it's
just a totally different song. But it's, you
know, a great, great just beat all the way through.
Josh Jaime's voice is fantastic through it. And
the lyrics, if you listen to it, tell a pretty
fun story. And the music video is pretty good
to go along with it. So overall, thank you for
opening the door to put this song in here because
it is one of my personal favorites. This was
the song that introduced me to Queens of the
Stone Age. I know a lot of people that got introduced
to them because of No One Knows, like you mentioned,
and the Dave Grohl connection with that album.
But this one was big when I was in college at
the college station. Then it made the move with
me into radio. And I kind of saw this band grow
from this album. And it is my favorite song from
Rated R. And I couldn't agree more. Coming out
of Midlife Crisis, it's just perfect. The two
songs back to back, as weird as it is, work so
well together. And here I am now regretting the
fact that I said that Faith No More's Midlife
Crisis could fit everywhere and nowhere at the
same time because the lost art of keeping a secret,
it's perfect. It's just such a weird song for
Queens of the Stone Age. It's not, you know,
if you listen to their self -titled album, it
sounds like anything on that album. But you listen
to, you know, Songs for the Deaf and You know,
Arab, Bulgarian, anything after that. It sounds
nothing like that. And it just it has such a
sound that you have to listen to rated R and
you have to listen to that song to understand
the sound of it. And it's the perfect match.
I mean, it just works so well. So now I have
a conundrum, Tom, because the song that I'm going
to pick is this is my last choice of the night.
And I've never played the game. But I know that
if I don't talk about this song, I'm doing this
game a disservice because this is the song that
I associate most with the game. However, this
is a record scratch. What the hell just happened
moment on this mixtape? Because we are going
from Queens of the Stone Ages, the lost art of
keeping a secret into Goldfinger's Superman from
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. 1997's Hang Ups. Yes,
on paper, going from Queens of the Stone Age
into a ska song with horns doesn't make sense.
But we're talking about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
And every time I've ever heard this video game
mentioned, the first thing I hear somebody say
is, oh, Goldfinger, Superman, like they're almost
synonymous with each other. I'm guessing it's,
quote unquote, the unofficial. theme song of
the franchise and it i will say it has been mentioned
in the top 10 list of most memorable and best
licensed songs in video games so to me you gotta
go with superman if we're talking tony hawk i
i mean 100 and if we did do it in justice by
not putting it on this playlist until the end
And I felt like we were kind of playing chicken
with each other on that one, to be quite honest
with you. It's just a song that everybody knows.
And like I said, you hear that and the, you know,
the do -do -do -do, do -do -do -do -do. Everybody
knows that beat. I mean, it takes nothing. But
that song, I mean, that song blew that band up.
That band was a huge ska band and same with like
Less Than Jake and all that around that time.
That song made that band and gold figures have
been there ever since. And it's a fun band for
me. It's always, I'm a huge sky guy. So it's
one of those bands and one of those songs that
everyone knows and everyone loves truly. Seeing
it live to me was a transcendent experience.
It's just so much fun. I'm not a dancer. I mean,
I am not a dancer. My, my wife. always jokes
at the fact that the night we met was at a dance
club because I am the world's worst dancer. I
am not even like the hitch level, keep it tight
in the center. I suck. And when Goldfinger was
playing Superman, I was skanking with everybody
in that room as if my life depended on it and
having such a blast. It was like the Humpty dance
I was doing up there, but it worked and I was
having a blast. I know you like cover songs.
I have to point it out. Mark Herrera, who does
play bass on and off now in Goldfinger, so depending
on how MXPX and Goldfinger's tours line up, he
does an acoustic cover that I'll embed on the
episode page at myweeklymixtape .com. It is gorgeous.
It's just him and an acoustic guitar flips the
song on its side, and it brings the heart of
the song out. You don't realize how powerful
the lyrics are in this song until you hear this
version. It's actually it's friggin beautiful.
Mark Herrera's cover of it. So I hope I didn't
take the wind out of your sail. I hope you said
we were playing chicken with it. I hope that
wasn't the one that you were looking to put a
cherry on. And I just blew your whole game up
here. Yes and no. But the good thing is, is you
have two different branches of which way you
want to go with this. Like I said, we were playing
chicken with it. I knew it was going to come
up. Fantastic choice. But this leaves me with
closing this out. So this is what I'm going to
roll with. It's one of those songs that, for
me, I enjoy, and it's a good closer. And that
would be from Tony Hawk's Shred, but a personal
favorite of mine. It's Be Quiet and Drive Far
Away by the Deathtones. It's a perfect closer.
You're driving away. The tape is ending. You've
had your fun. Fantastic song. I know we talked
about Nu Metal at the beginning of the list.
with the Public Enemy Anthrax cover. We're going
to put Deftones at the end because they're quote
-unquote a new metal band, even though they hate
the title of it. But just overall, just a real
mellow song to drive you off in the sunset. And
the problem was I was torn here, Brian. I could
have went with that or the song that I was thinking
about choosing, and that's Los Angeles by Frank
Black. Ooh. Well, you know, At the end of side
B, the tape flips back over if you had the automatic
flip. And I think Be Quiet and Drive flips into
96 Quite Bitter Beings quite well. It's a good
batch, and it really is a good start over match.
It's kind of leading you right back into side
A if you want to relive the entire playlist.
And it also... like you said, brings the Anthrax
public enemy full circle for just Side B's story.
So I applaud the pick. And there you have it,
folks. Side B of our ultimate Tony Hawk pro skater
mixtape, which kicked off with Anthrax and Public
Enemy's Bring the Noise, Motley Crue's Livewire,
Motorhead's Ace of Spades, ACDC's TNT, Metallica's
Whiplash, Billy Talent's Afraid of Heights, Faith
No More's Midlife Crisis, Queens of the Stone
Age's The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, Goldfinger's
Superman, and Deftone's Be Quiet and Drive Far
Away. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear
all the songs we've discussed in this mix through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. Tom,
this has been an absolute blast. First and foremost,
thank you so much for being a part of the Patreon
Mixtaper family. And more importantly, thanks
for joining me on the show tonight. Look forward
to having you back very soon. Tonight was a lot
of fun. Absolutely, Brian. It has been a pleasure
to get to do this. I have had a lot of fun with
this. And I think this mixtape, for lack of a
better term, is going to kick ass. Amen. And
remember, Mixtapers, you can find My Weekly Mixtape
on all the social media haunts at My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to
check out the full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape
episodes. And if you like what you're hearing
on the show, you can help me out by either telling
a friend or multiple friends, leaving the show
a five -star review wherever you're tuning in,
or like Tom, becoming a Patreon Mixtaper at Patreon
.com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. That's
all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.