Tony Hawk: “I Love Hearing AC/DC at Weddings!”

Tony Hawk’s not the kind of dad who can warn his 9-, 3- and 1-year-old sons not to skateboard around the house – considering that his board paid for the house. Twenty years of kick flips, nose grinds and other highly frightening stunts have earned the mellow, alarmingly youthful Hawk his reputation as the Michael Jordan of the board.

“I never imagined I could make a living at it,” Hawk sighs as he relaxes his lanky six-foot frame onto a vast tan stretch-limo of a sofa. It’s a healthy living too, judging by the sofa and huge black television set in the cavernous, airy living room of his ranch-style Southern California home.

Since turning pro at 14, Hawk’s invented some of the most dangerous tricks conceivable to mankind, including the 900, a two-and-a-half-turn (900-degree) midair spin.

“A few years ago, I jumped between two seven-story buildings that were 18 feet apart for MTV’s Senseless Acts of Video,” Hawk, 34, recalls, speaking in the soothing tones of a hostage negotiator. “My wife didn’t appreciate it,” he deadpans.

Hawk doesn’t lead a sluggish skate-rat life. He gets up at 7 a.m. to make his family breakfast and spends the morning returning calls and e-mails. Usually, he doesn’t even skate until the late afternoon. But there’s always time for music. Today, as Hawk prepares to headline a 24-city fall tour, he obsesses over the gleaming new iPod that stores his favorite tunes. “From day one, I’ve listened to so many different things,” he says.

“When I got a stereo installed in my car 10 years ago, the guy asked me, ‘What kind of music do you listen to?’ I didn’t know what to say.” Well, he could start with these 10 classics…

AC/DC, Back in Black
Atlantic, 1980
“What can you say about Back in Black? It’s one of the ultimate albums to skate to. Anything that’s hard or fast is good when you’re skating. That’s what gets you motivated – anything driving. Every song is powerful and nonstop; the whole album is huge. It seems like a cliché, but even today, when you hear ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ at a wedding reception, it’s still good.”


The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Capitol, 1967
“This was the first album I ever bought. I got it at Licorice Pizza, a record store in San Diego. The album was really strange. It seemed very weird, but inviting. I knew and liked every song before I bought it, which was important – because it was a time when I couldn’t just buy something and hope it was good. If I was going to buy an album at age 10 or 11, it was because of paper-route money, and I’d better like it all.”


The Clash, London Calling
Epic, 1979
“I grew up as a skater and listened to a lot of early punk. Within our culture, the Clash rose above everyone. London Calling is the best of what the Clash and punk represented. Growing up, I never associated a group of songs with one album, but when I looked at the track listing of this album, it was all the songs I had liked over the years.”


De La Soul, De La Soul is Dead
Tommy Boy, 1991
“In 1991, I was traveling through Europe with a couple of guys from Denmark and a couple of guys from Holland, and De La Soul Is Dead was the one album we all liked. There are a lot of funny bits in there. I was debating between this or Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys – I love that album too. If I could, I’d make it a tossup between those two.”


Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking
Warner Bros., 1988
“This was one of the few tapes that we had on one of our Bones Brigade tours that we all liked. It was six skaters in a van, and Nothing’s Shocking was the one we wanted to listen to. I really want to get Jane’s Addiction in the [Tony Hawk Pro Skater video] game. Perry [Farrell] and I were stoked on the idea, but he doesn’t have absolute power over his songs.”


Kraftwerk, Electric Café
Elektra, 1986
“I remember when MTV started, I saw the video for ‘Music Non Stop,’ which was computer-generated. I’ve been a Kraftwerk fan ever since. Electric Caféis one of their later albums, but I went back and got all their earlier ones as well, like Computer World and Trans-Europe Express. I have a few friends who are baffled. People who like Kraftwerk love them, but people who don’t are like, ‘What is wrong with you?’”


Ministry, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Sire, 1989
“I knew Ministry from their ’80s pop albums, the ones they must be embarrassed by now. I bought The Land of Rape and Honey, and I liked a few of the songs. But then I heard they had a newer one, which was Taste, so I got it. The first song, ‘Thieves,’ was so different from anything else. We did a Bones Brigade tour where we’d go to different places, and they’d show that video.”


Pixies, Doolittle
4AD/Elektra, 1989
“I refinanced my house to start Birdhouse, my skate company, and a group of us went on the road. We didn’t have any money. We were charging shops something like $400 to show up, which would barely pay for our food, hotel and the gas to get there. We didn’t care, because we were having a blast. Doolittle was the theme for the tour.”


Radiohead, Ok Computer
Capitol, 1997
“A friend of mine was really into Radiohead. I didn’t dig them, but she insisted that I listen to OK Computer. She played me a couple of songs, and I loved the whole thing – I even bought a classical version of it called Strung Out on OK Computer by this quartet called Section S. It sounds like a classical album, but then you’re like, ‘Wait a second – that’s “Paranoid Android!" ”


U2, The Joshua Tree
Island, 1987
“My brother and I went surfing in New Zealand. We drove around in an RV and surfed for two weeks. The Joshua Tree had just come out, and I remember listening to it over and over again on all our long drives. It’s the best U2 album. I listened to them before, and I still do, but this is their most pure and heartfelt album, as opposed to their Zooropa experimental stuff. I like that as well, but The Joshua Tree has the most depth to it.”