Sk8er Boi

"Sk8er Boi"
Single by Avril Lavigne
from the album Let Go
B-side "Get Over It"
Released 27 August 2002 (2002-08-27)
(see release history)
Format CD single, digital Download
Genre Pop punk,[1][2] pop rock,[3] power pop[4]
Length 3:24
Label Arista
Writer(s) Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards
Producer The Matrix
Certification Platinum (RIAA)
Platinum[5](ARIA)
Platinum[6](ABPD - Brazil)
Avril Lavigne singles chronology
"Complicated"
(2002)		 "Sk8er Boi"
(2002)		 "I'm with You"
(2002)
Let Go track listing
Music sample
Sk8er Boi
Music video
"Sk8er Boi" on YouTube

"Sk8er Boi" ( /ˈskeɪtər bɔɪ/, "skater boy") is a song by Avril Lavigne, and is the second single from her debut album, Let Go (2002). It was written by Avril Lavigne and The Matrix (Scott Spock, Lauren Christy, and Graham Edwards), and produced by The Matrix. Released in 2002, the single reached number ten on the United States Billboard Hot 100 (becoming Lavigne's second top ten single there), number eight in the United Kingdom, number three in Australia, number thirteen in Canada and number one in Spain, becoming one of her most successful songs to date.

Contents

Music video

The music video, directed by Francis Lawrence, begins with a man in the alley of a city with a pile of spray paint on the ground. The video continues with posters that have a star on them advertising a concert Lavigne hosts. The posters say "7th & Spring Noon" (indicating the intersection where and when the impromptu concert is to take place, a real intersection of these street names exists in downtown Los Angeles, where the video was filmed). Multiple people are seen spreading the posters around a city. The video then shows Avril and her band driving modified vehicles to the intersection, where they then cut off traffic. Then two associates throw power cables to the musicians below to power their instruments. A crowd then grows, bringing police to the scene. At the end of the video, Lavigne crashes her guitar into the car windscreen and a helicopter appears overhead.

While singing, Lavigne wears a T-shirt with the logo for Wilkesboro Elementary School, a North Carolina elementary school. After the video was released, the school was flooded with so many requests for the T-shirts that they were able to buy computers with the extra revenue from T-shirt sales.[7][8]

The video was considered the third 'Best music video of the decade' in the UK by BT Vision.[9]

Reception

In a review for the album Let Go, Christina Saraceno of Allmusic called "Sk8er Boi" a "terrific power pop bounce", highlighting the song as a "track pick". However she noted the lyrics show Lavigne's shortcomings as a writer.[4] John Perry of Blender magazine labelled the lyrics to "Sk8er Boi" as "endearingly naive".[10]

In an AOL Radio listener's poll, "Sk8er Boi" was voted Lavigne's fourth best song.[11]

Cover versions and appearances in other media

The compilation album A Japanese Tribute to Avril Lavigne features a cover version of "Sk8er Boi". Eurodance group Cascada recorded a dance cover of the song for the European and Japanese editions of their 2007 album Perfect Day. A cover version of the song by Angela Michael appears in the video game Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS. The song is also included in SingStar Pop, a PlayStation 2 game and another cover version is featured in Rock Revolution by Konami.

"Sk8er Boi" is featured in the television series Cold Case (Season 3, "The Promise", October 2, 2005).

The song was parodied as "Sk8er Kar" by Gary Numan.

In 2003, Paramount Pictures optioned the song for adaptation into a feature film.[12] As of April 2008, the film has apparently been abandoned or is in development hell.[13]

Also in 2003, Australian sketch show Big Bite did a sendup of Sk8er Boi that was called 'It's just the sales boy'.

This song was used in a montage of funny rollerskates and skateboard clips in an edition of America's Funniest Home Videos.

In 2008, a cover version of the song was featured in the video game Rock Revolution.

In 2008, HBO included the song in the episode "Get Some" of the miniseries Generation Kill. The song is sung by Cpl. Josh Ray Person as he is urinating in the desert.

The song is referenced in Comedian Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant.

In 2011, Irish pop punk band TheElement covered this song at their shows in Europe.

Kidz Bop did a rendition of the track, with an accompanying music video.

Track listings

Australia CD single
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi"   3:23
2. "Get Over It"   3:27
3. "Nobody's Fool" (live in Vancouver for Z95) 3:58
United Kingdom and Mexico CD single
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi"   3:23
2. "Get Over It"   3:27
3. "Sk8er Boi" (music video) 3:38
France CD single
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi"   3:23
2. "Get Over It"   3:27
Australia, United Kingdom and United States CD promo
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi"   3:23
United Kingdom CD promo
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi" (live from Buffalo) 4:10
United States promo vinyl
No. Title Length
1. "Sk8er Boi" (side A) 3:23
2. "I'm with You" (side B) 3:44

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2002-03) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[14] 3
Austrian Singles Chart[14] 7
Belgian Ultratop 50 (Dutch)[14] 7
Belgian Ultratop 50 (French)[14] 23
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart 1
Canadian Singles Chart 3
Danish Singles Chart[14] 11
European Hot 100 Singles 3
French Singles Chart[14] 28
German Singles Chart 18
Irish Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart[14] 8
Mexican Singles Chart[14] 5
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[14] 2
Netherlands Mega Single Top 100[15] 11
Norwegian Singles Chart[14] 14
Swedish Singles Chart[14] 12
Swiss Singles Chart[14] 17
UK Singles Chart[16] 8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[17] 10
U.S. Billboard Pop Songs[18] 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Pop Songs[18] 23

Year-end charts

Chart (2002) Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[19] 38
UK Singles Chart[20] 165
Chart (2003) Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[21] 86
Austrian Singles Chart[22] 52
UK Singles Chart[23] 160

Certifications

Country Certification
(sales thresholds)
United States Platinum[24]

Awards

Year Awards ceremony Award Results
2003 Grammy Awards[11] Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Nominated
Socan Awards[11] Best Pop Song Won
MTV Video Music Awards Best Pop Video Nominated
MuchMusic Video Awards People's Choice Won
Teen Choice Awards[11] Choice Music Single Won
Juno Awards[11] Juno Fan Choice Nominated
MuchMusic Video Awards Best international video by a Canadian Won
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Song Won

Release history

Region Date Label Format
United States 27 August 2002 (2002-08-27) Arista Records CD, digital download
Australia 28 October 2002 (2002-10-28) Sony BMG
Europe 6 December 2002 (2002-12-06)

References

  1. ^ "Avril Lavigne To Go Acoustic For New Album". mtv.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1617103/20090728/lavigne_avril.jhtml. Retrieved 7 May 2010. 
  2. ^ Lamb, Bill. "Avril Lavigne In Concert - July 23, 2005 Moline, Illinois". http://top40.about.com/od/reviews/fr/alavigneconcert.htm. Retrieved 5 July 2010. "....launches into the pop punk of "Sk8erboi,"...." 
  3. ^ "SK8er Boi album". http://www.shazam.com/music/web/album?id=20004749. Retrieved 21 February 2010. 
  4. ^ a b Saraceno, Christina. "Let Go: Avril Lavigne". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/let-go-r591514. Retrieved 14 March 2009. 
  5. ^ ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2002 Singles
  6. ^ http://abpd.org.br/certificados_interna.asp?sArtista=Avril%20Lavigne
  7. ^ "Avril Sparks T-Shirt ruin". mtv.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1470449/20030310/lavigne_avril.jhtml?headlines=true. Retrieved 2006-09-30. 
  8. ^ "Avril sets school t-shirt trend". Melbourne: The Age. 2003-03-10. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/10/1047144904667.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 
  9. ^ "Best Video of the decade". BT Vision. http://www.btvision.bt.com/music/decade-2/. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
  10. ^ Perry, John. "Avril Lavigne: Let Go". Blender. http://www.blender.com/guide/new/52202/let-go.html. Retrieved 14 March 2009. 
  11. ^ a b c d e Cheung, Nadine. "Top 10 Avril Lavigne Songs". AOL Radio. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolradioblog.com%2F2011%2F01%2F15%2Ftop-avril-lavigne-songs%2F&date=2011-01-15. Retrieved 15 January 2011. 
  12. ^ "Lavigne's 'Sk8ter Boi' Is Big Screen Bound". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1896988. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 
  13. ^ "Yahoo! Movies". Yahoo! Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/search?p=Sk8er+Boi. Retrieved 1009-01-15. 
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Avril Lavigne — Sk8er Boi". http://www.swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?key=5427&cat=s. 
  15. ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Avril+Lavigne&titel=Sk8er+Boi&cat=s
  16. ^ "UK Album Chart: Sk8er Boi". ChartStats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=30518. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  17. ^ "Artist Chart History". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=485926&model.vnuAlbumId=902639. 
  18. ^ a b "Billboard Music-(Allmusic.com)". http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p529805/charts-awards/billboard-singles. 
  19. ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Singles 2002". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-2002.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  20. ^ "2002 UK Official Singles Chart" (PDF). Charts Plus. http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/ChartsPlusYE2002.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  21. ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Singles 2003". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-2003.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  22. ^ "Austrian Annual Charts 2003". AustrianCharts.at. http://www.austriancharts.at/2003_single.asp. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  23. ^ "2003 UK Official Singles Chart" (PDF). Charts Plus. http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/ChartsPlusYE2003.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  24. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH. Retrieved 2011-05-30. 

External links

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