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| VV.AA. - Dogtown And Z-Boys Motion Picture Soundtrack | detail UMG Recordings, Inc., 2002 |
While skateboarding eventually would become all but synonymous with teen rebellion, in 1975 the bulk of the competitors at the competition were relatively clean-cut, well-behaved types - mimics of the "young sportsmen" ideal of the classic 1960s surfers.
Dressed in their team uniforms of blue Vans sport shoes, Levi's jeans, and blue Zephyr T-shirts, however, the Z-Boys turned heads at the event even before competition began.
Michael Fallon
Dodgerland: Decadent Los Angeles and the 1977–78 Dodgers
University of Nebraska Press, 2016
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| Reproach - Is What It Is 7"EP Deep Six Records, 2006 |
I was straight edge as a kid and was really into bands like Minor Threat, SSD, DYS, Negative FX etc..so when Youth Of Today and company exploded on the scene it was my cup of tea.
I respected the Straight Edge way of life and appreciated the positive message in the music but eventually it became a fashion show of hooded sweatshirts, Vans, varsity jackets etc.. At many a show were there armies of X'ed up youth singing along to "Break Down the Walls". This period of
NYHC was the fucking great!
Daryl Kahan [Vocalist, Citizen's Arrest (!!!), True Colors, God Is My Co-Pilot]
From: New York Hardcore 1986 - 1993
Edited by David Koenig
The thought of a fifteen-year-old making a lifelong commitment of any sort is laughable - many have trouble deciding between Facebook or MySpace, Xbox or Playstation, Vans or Converse. Yet here I am, twenty years later, still Straight Edge. Or maybe just still stubborn.
Ross Haenfler
From: Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics
PM Press, 2010
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| Bleeding Knees Club - Nothing To Do I Oh You/Illusive Sounds, 2012 |
Vans were the coolest of all shoes, totally hot among the action-oriented youth subcultures, such as surfers, skaters, breakdancers (?), and New Wavers (??). They came in a variety of styles: hi-tops, low-tops, and the famed slip-ons that had no shoelaces. The checkered or Hawaiian-print ones were gnarly.
David Mansour
From: From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004
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| VV.AA. - Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Music From The Motion Picture) Full Moon/Asylum Records, 1982 |
Early in 1980, when Kurt (Cobain) was twelve, he and his friend Brendan had seen the B-52's on Saturday Night Live". They got bitten by the new wave bug and Brendan got his parents to buy him some checkered Vans. Kurt's dad couldn't afford that, so Kurt just drew a checkerboard pattern on his regular sneakers.
Michael Azerrad
Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
Three Rivers Press, 1993
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| Brutal Youth - Spill Your Guts Death To False Hope Records, 2010 |
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| OFF! | Compared To What 7" (LTD Edition) Southern Lord, 2011 |
In some ways it was conscious, and in some ways it was just what we rocked every day. I was more inclined to go to Orchard Street or Rivington Street and try to pick up sneakers I saw Rakim (Eric B. & Rakim) wearing in the “I Ain’t No Joke” video than I was to wear what someone was wearing on a record from England.
That’s even what I loved about bands from the Midwest who just got up onstage in flannel shirts and ripped jeans, or bands from California who wore Vans and looked like they just came from shredding a pool or a half-pipe. Represent who you are and where you come from!
Matt Warnke (Vocalist, Bold)
From: NYHC - New York Hardcore, 1980–1990
Edited by Tony Rettman - Bazillion Points, 2014
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| The Black Angels - Another Nice Pair 12" Light In The Attic |
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| Ben Vaughn - Mono Club De Musique Records, 1992 |
Well, you're just like a club f__ wearing Doc Martens
Get a pair of chukas or some checkerboard slip-ons
Worship Jeff Spicoli not Chris Cornell
Get a pair of Vans or God will send you to Hell
To Hell...
You think Doc Martens are the coolest invention
Since someone sliced a loaf of bread in someone else's kitchen
The plain truth is that you just plain suck
So why should I tell you not to waste a hundred bucks
Vans in my head
Vans on my feet
My sole is on the ground when I'm walking down the street 2, 3, 4
Don't wear no Doc Martens
Can't wear no Birkenstocks …
From: Vans Song
By Jack Kevorkian And The Suicide Machines
Vans Song 7"EP (Youth Rendition Records, 1993)
Get a pair of chukas or some checkerboard slip-ons
Worship Jeff Spicoli not Chris Cornell
Get a pair of Vans or God will send you to Hell
To Hell...
You think Doc Martens are the coolest invention
Since someone sliced a loaf of bread in someone else's kitchen
The plain truth is that you just plain suck
So why should I tell you not to waste a hundred bucks
Vans in my head
Vans on my feet
My sole is on the ground when I'm walking down the street 2, 3, 4
Don't wear no Doc Martens
Can't wear no Birkenstocks …
From: Vans Song
By Jack Kevorkian And The Suicide Machines
Vans Song 7"EP (Youth Rendition Records, 1993)
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| Bart Skils - Black Vans 12" Drumcode, 2016 |
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| VV.AA. - Dogtown And Z-Boys. Motion Picture Soundtrack UMG Recordings, Inc., 2002 |
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING
SHOES ON RECORD JACKETS
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Niagara
From: Vans: Off the Wall (50th Anniversary Edition) Edited by Doug Palladini - Abrams Books, 2016 |
I'm really the type to wear spikes not leisure. The design people at Vans were very impressive and thorough in adapting my "reality". They kept it authentic and transformed it to the realities of the marketplace … it's like they read my book.
Niagara (Vocalist/artist, Destroy All Monsters, Dark Carnival)
From: Vans: Off the Wall (50th Anniversary Edition)
Edited by Doug Palladini - Abrams Books, 2016
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| 2008 | Niagara Vans | LTD Edition |