Collection: 80's

The 80’s Tracks Cover Art Collection

Epic contest battles, kaleidoscopic characters and commercialisation. There was never anything understated about the 80s. We drowned in the sounds of power-pop bands and kitsch crooners, fashion was splashed liberally with ostentatious colours and in Australia, our prime minister skulled yard glasses and granted days off for winning boat races. The decade belonged to those willing to unashamedly express whatever it was they were thinking or feeling. Surfing preserved its status as a unique counter-culture, however, its 80s evolution reflected everything that was going on around it.

Meanwhile, Tracks retained its regular black and white broadsheet format but immortalised surfers on its covers in full colour. Likewise, an exponentially expanding surf industry developed a fluoro fetish and couldn’t resist running its ads big and bright. Alongside the black and white editorial copy neon surfers clad in sponsor’s garb leapt from the pages. Some purists felt that surfing had sold out but although at times it was frivolous there was something undeniably fun about the 80s. With strong support from companies in and out of the industry, pro surfing went into the next stratosphere. Gladiatorial duels defined the decade – MR vs Cheyne, Curren vs Carroll, Occy vs Curren, Kong vs the world. Although the tour was a relentless circuit that often championed bums on beaches before good waves it still seemed to the rest of us like these guys had the best jobs in the world. Meanwhile, the average surfer was dealing with a rapidly expanding surfing population, protesting against the sewage outlet at their home break and saving for a trip to G-land.