The Not-Pop Jukebox

I own many songs of which I’d never have heard were it not for video games. Consider this post a paean to the folks who pick music for games like the Tony Hawk series that must wade through enormous piles of schlock to find gems like I Can’t Surf.

Not that I didn’t love what little I’d heard of Reverend Horton Heat before spending an inordinate amount of time grinding rails, logs, and spaceships long ago. But with a limited soundtrack you have to listen to the same tracks over and over while trying to catch that lip that lets you get the bonus deck or hit that trick for your cover shot. The series were among the first games we bought that had real songs rather than atmospheric instrumentals.

Sure, some songs grew irritating after a few listens and you quickly learned to use the fast-forward button. But video games helped me uncover songs like I Can’t Surf that I never would have heard back in the days before widespread music blogs and internet radio.

This song, in particular, has always made me smile because the whole point runs thus: “I can’t surf, but neither can you.” That point is made vehemently and with lots of great, rockabilly guitar around and behind it. Have a listen and let me know what you think, and if you’ve any game-inspired favorites please do share them!