Sk8er Boi
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“Sk8er Boi”
Single by Avril Lavigne from the album Let Go
B-side	"Get Over It"
Released	August 27, 2002 (USA) December 8, 2002 (Europe)
Format	Promo single, CD single
Genre	Pop punk, modern rock, post-grunge
Length	3:24
Label	Arista
Writer(s)	Avril Lavigne, Scott Spock, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards
Producer	The Matrix
Certification	Platinum (RIANZ) Platinum1(ARIA)
Avril Lavigne singles chronology
"Complicated" (2002) "Sk8er Boi" (2002) "I'm With You" (2002)
Alternate cover
Alternate cover

"Sk8er Boi" (pronounced "Skater Boy") is a song by Avril Lavigne, and was 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 her second successful song to date after Complicated.

During a 2008 interview Lavigne confirmed the song was about the award-winning performance poet Gerard McKeown, who she had not met, but had seen him performing in Belfast, Northern Ireland while on tour there.

Track listings

Australia CD maxi

1. "Sk8er Boi"
2. "Get Over It"
3. "Nobody's Fool" (live)

UK/Mexico single

1. "Sk8er Boi"
2. "Get Over It"
3. "Nobody's Fool" (live)
4. "Sk8er Boi" (music video)

French CD single

1. "Sk8er Boi"
2. "Get Over It"

Australia/UK/U.S. promo single

1. "Sk8er Boi"

Music video

Lavigne singing on top of a car

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, where people use their cars and amps to have the concert on the streets. The police arrive and attempt to stop it. 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.²³

Cover versions and appearances in other media

The compilation album A Japanese Tribute to Avril Lavigne features a cover version of "Sk8er Boi" by Becky. 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.

"Sk8er Boi" is featured in the television series Cold Case (Season 3, "The Promise", October 2, 2005). In the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, a U.S. Marine sings the song during the episode "Get Some".

In 2003, Paramount Pictures optioned the song for adaptation into a feature film.⁴ As of April 2008, the film has apparently been abandoned or is in development hell.⁵

In 2006, Criterion Games included the song in Burnout Paradise. The song was cited in many reviews as one of the worst shortcomings of the game. However, the song can be removed from the game's music playlist and both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game support custom soundtracks.

Charts

References