90’s footage is boring

[Lo-fi Explosion]

Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

I know what i did not do, young padawan... Staring into a phone!

[Mariatorresflores]

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It's hard to bundle up an entire decade as one thing but I'd agree with about 65% is boring.

91 is awesome video days, soldiers story, now n later, stun fucken rule

92-94 is basically a write off apart from sub zero real life.

Then it seems like skating really splits into two groups. huge wheels and boards go fast interesting spot types and fresh bad boy girl menace type people(which I'm personally not really into)

Then late 90s Tony hawk's+ x games start the boom which is a time I should have a lot of nostalgia for but i just don't. Chocolate tour is still just a bunch of crooked grinds. And ugly Techo shoes sucked then and they suck now

[close]

 "Questionable" and "Virtual Reality".    Absolute write offs.  Lol.

[close]

they are hit n miss but yeah to me its mostly a bunch of slow yoyo shit. Duffy's alright. Howard's got good style but doesn't do anything particularly interesting. Second hand smoke goes pretty alright but. And I forgot to mention visual sound (even tho half of that could get cut out too)

Yeah like that's not true of modern vids. Godspeed maybe could have been a good video at about half the run length, Vans last vid could have been good at about a third. That's true of tons of vids from every era.

[Mean salto]

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Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

[close]

Crooked grinds didn't even exist until the 90s for fuck's sake. This thread is as ludicrous as it is depressing. I guess kids are this simple/dumb these days, no sense of historical context.

Those skaters were doing NBD's with more far more regularity then kids today, they were creating street skating as we know it today.

I'd say that on average skate vids from the 90s were/are the best videos of skateboarding period. They're definitely the most important as far as influencing following generations. Just because there's no mumble rap doesn't mean it's not relevant kids.

Ok seems like no ones reading that top sentence haha. 

And just so you know I'm not a kid I'm in my 30s haha (definately more insulting for me ha)

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc but there's no way I could do what was going on in yeah right/sorry or whatever.  I'm just asking what was the difference between the average decent skateboarder and the average pro of the time. Wasn't even trying to single out Mike York I just thought he was an example of an average pro for the time. (I realise I said top pro but I meant pro on a top company my bad)

[Tear Up a Trick]

Is a flatground kickflip a couple inches off the ground shown in slow motion boring?

Do you understand who you're dealing with?

:51

[nicotinewheel]

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc

ok, sure

[Mariatorresflores]

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Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

[close]

Crooked grinds didn't even exist until the 90s for fuck's sake. This thread is as ludicrous as it is depressing. I guess kids are this simple/dumb these days, no sense of historical context.

Those skaters were doing NBD's with more far more regularity then kids today, they were creating street skating as we know it today.

I'd say that on average skate vids from the 90s were/are the best videos of skateboarding period. They're definitely the most important as far as influencing following generations. Just because there's no mumble rap doesn't mean it's not relevant kids.

[close]

Ok seems like no ones reading that top sentence haha. 

And just so you know I'm not a kid I'm in my 30s haha (definately more insulting for me ha)

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc but there's no way I could do what was going on in yeah right/sorry or whatever.  I'm just asking what was the difference between the average decent skateboarder and the average pro of the time. Wasn't even trying to single out Mike York I just thought he was an example of an average pro for the time.

you're still missing it.

How tricks were done was not something easily learned in the 90s. You would see a still photo of a new trick in mag and probably couldn't even figure out what exactly was going on and then you'd have to wait 6 months to a year(s) for footage to come out on video. You probably wouldn't even see that footage though because they didn't make many copies of skate vids back in the day and usually only made one batch. If by the grace of god your shop did have the vid good luck talking your parents into buying a 30min vhs tape for 30 bucks.

As far as bad style goes, this was when street style was created. It's one thing to learn a new trick, it's a whole 'nother thing to learn to make it look good. These were all new tricks to all of us, we didn't know how it was "supposed" to look until some made it look good, ie the creation of street style.

You came in after the most rapid period of evolution in skateboarding and are the benefactor of that.

As far as what we did; Ollie's, over and down stuff, kickflips, over and down stuff, board,nose,tail slides, 5050s and a lot more no comply's and bonelesses. We did what we do now, had fun.

[Swithflip]

Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

Kevin Lowry, Sean Pablo, Krod and many others skaters are from top tier brands now, and Mike York still better.

[ok boomer]

Can you do this entire part, brah?

[fongool]

[Mean salto]

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Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

[close]

Crooked grinds didn't even exist until the 90s for fuck's sake. This thread is as ludicrous as it is depressing. I guess kids are this simple/dumb these days, no sense of historical context.

Those skaters were doing NBD's with more far more regularity then kids today, they were creating street skating as we know it today.

I'd say that on average skate vids from the 90s were/are the best videos of skateboarding period. They're definitely the most important as far as influencing following generations. Just because there's no mumble rap doesn't mean it's not relevant kids.

[close]

Ok seems like no ones reading that top sentence haha. 

And just so you know I'm not a kid I'm in my 30s haha (definately more insulting for me ha)

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc but there's no way I could do what was going on in yeah right/sorry or whatever.  I'm just asking what was the difference between the average decent skateboarder and the average pro of the time. Wasn't even trying to single out Mike York I just thought he was an example of an average pro for the time.

[close]

you're still missing it.

How tricks were done was not something easily learned in the 90s. You would see a still photo of a new trick in mag and probably couldn't even figure out what exactly was going on and then you'd have to wait 6 months to a year(s) for footage to come out on video. You probably wouldn't even see that footage though because they didn't make many copies of skate vids back in the day and usually only made one batch. If by the grace of god your shop did have the vid good luck talking your parents into buying a 30min vhs tape for 30 bucks.

As far as bad style goes, this was when street style was created. It's one thing to learn a new trick, it's a whole 'nother thing to learn to make it look good. These were all new tricks to all of us, we didn't know how it was "supposed" to look until some made it look good, ie the creation of street style.

You came in after the most rapid period of evolution in skateboarding and are the benefactor of that.

As far as what we did; Ollie's, over and down stuff, kickflips, over and down stuff, board,nose,tail slides, 5050s and a lot more no comply's and bonelesses. We did what we do now, had fun.

Unfortunately I'm replying all over the place so it's messy. But I'm from rural Australia. What your describing is actually pretty much how it was for me my first videos were questionable virtual reality and the girl choc videos. They were given to me because they were old and the skaters didn't want them anymore but to me it was new.

Bit different with the mag thing altho that happened sometimes. (Somehow I thought an overcook was a 180 nosegrind from looking at photos)
 but it was mostly if I'd see a skater do something ask what it was "oh it's a hardflip /crooked grind/ whatever" then have to try to remember what they did when I got home. Fortunately I never had to deal with skaters just being like "fuck off kid"

[ChuckRamone]

The 90s were a wasteland for skateboarding. No parks, skating was in a slump and only the die hards were doing it. Yet those skaters worked with what they had to not only keep skateboarding alive but create modern street skateboarding and culture, including the current style of skate videos. This kinda reminds me of when someone who's into any modern genre of pop music hears early blues music and says it's boring. Actually, the comparison is even worse because a lot of good footage came out in the 90s whereas old blues music takes some exposure to get into.

[ndsr]

Can you do this entire part, brah?

Never heard of this guy but he has some wet ass fits, thank you for posting

[vhsfisheye]

The Eastern Exposure videos are more exciting than 90% of what’s come out since.
The Industry was probably at its most interesting point with Big Brother and World at the height of there popularity.
Also I prefer the 90s Alien videos to the 2000s ones.

[TheFandangler]

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My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc

[close]

ok, sure

If you could do even 25% of the tricks in any of the girl vids from the 90s after 2 years of skating you would have been hooked up, and not just shop hook-up or distro flow for shoes.

[Mean salto]

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My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc

[close]

ok, sure

[close]

Just talking general ballpark. I could do the basic ledge tricks on small/medium ledges(nose/tail slides, nosegrind,5-0,crooked plus some fakie, nollie, halfcab variations) .i could flop some flips into nose/tailslides on smaller ledges,do some whatever flips up and down small stairs or over benches(altho plenty were Muska style). Basically the jist of they did in goldfish.

I wasn't special, I was still far less than average at the time.

[Jean-Ralphio Zaperstein]

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My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc

[close]

ok, sure

[close]

[close]

Just talking general ballpark. I could do the basic ledge tricks on small/medium ledges(nose/tail slides, nosegrind,5-0,crooked plus some fakie, nollie, halfcab variations) .i could flop some flips into nose/tailslides on smaller ledges,do some whatever flips up and down small stairs or over benches(altho plenty were Muska style). Basically the jist of they did in goldfish.
I wasn't special, I was still far less than average at the time.

post some clips

[cherry]

Rick Howard had some banging lines in goldfish! Nollie hardflip up a 2 stair then switch frontside flip off!!

I’d rather watch obscure lines/tricks then someone Kill themselves on stairs

[fs1/2cab]

I really like Goldfish, Mouse, Trilogy, Love Child and Memory Screen. What was the question?

[mushroom slice]

[Beeda Weeda]

In my opinion, the average skater of today is pretty comparable to the average skater of 1998, but the shittiest skateboarder is slightly better than the shittiest 90s skaters. The  cream of the crop skateboarder  is more common and slightly to much better than a late 90s cream of the crop skater

I learned to skate on  an asphalt parking lots and we'd get harassed by 90s jocks, and property owners on a consistent basis. The school principal would dump a truck load of gravel on the spot every few weeks to keep us out. I was fortunate enough to get hooked up by a shop with a skate park and I learned how to skate transitions, which was pretty rare in the 90s. Now every kid has a skate park and access to every recorded trick at their fingertips.

Look how much skateboarding changed between 1988-1998, skateboarding in 2011 and 2021 is comparably  very similar.

I'm not saying that kids are wrong, but times have changed. I found 80s footage boring growing up because it was all vert skating and un relatable. Modern skateboarding is not a lot different than what was happening in 94-96

[TheFandangler]

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My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc

[close]

ok, sure

[close]

[close]

Just talking general ballpark. I could do the basic ledge tricks on small/medium ledges(nose/tail slides, nosegrind,5-0,crooked plus some fakie, nollie, halfcab variations) .i could flop some flips into nose/tailslides on smaller ledges,do some whatever flips up and down small stairs or over benches(altho plenty were Muska style). Basically the jist of they did in goldfish.

I wasn't special, I was still far less than average at the time.

I don’t know what the scene was like in rural Australia, but that was probably better than average for someone skating for 2 years where I’m from.

Also, a lot of those guys were doing more tech shit than “whatever” flips over benches and basic nose/tail slides, 5-0s and crooks.

[TheFandangler]

90s footy is so varied that it’s crazy to say all boring. Sure there’s some duds in there, but the 90s gave us:

-welcome to hell
- misled youth
- the end
- questionable
- video days
- fulfill the dream
- feedback
- the reason

 
Just to name a few…

[Mariatorresflores]

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Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

[close]

Crooked grinds didn't even exist until the 90s for fuck's sake. This thread is as ludicrous as it is depressing. I guess kids are this simple/dumb these days, no sense of historical context.

Those skaters were doing NBD's with more far more regularity then kids today, they were creating street skating as we know it today.

I'd say that on average skate vids from the 90s were/are the best videos of skateboarding period. They're definitely the most important as far as influencing following generations. Just because there's no mumble rap doesn't mean it's not relevant kids.

[close]

Ok seems like no ones reading that top sentence haha. 

And just so you know I'm not a kid I'm in my 30s haha (definately more insulting for me ha)

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc but there's no way I could do what was going on in yeah right/sorry or whatever.  I'm just asking what was the difference between the average decent skateboarder and the average pro of the time. Wasn't even trying to single out Mike York I just thought he was an example of an average pro for the time.

[close]

you're still missing it.

How tricks were done was not something easily learned in the 90s. You would see a still photo of a new trick in mag and probably couldn't even figure out what exactly was going on and then you'd have to wait 6 months to a year(s) for footage to come out on video. You probably wouldn't even see that footage though because they didn't make many copies of skate vids back in the day and usually only made one batch. If by the grace of god your shop did have the vid good luck talking your parents into buying a 30min vhs tape for 30 bucks.

As far as bad style goes, this was when street style was created. It's one thing to learn a new trick, it's a whole 'nother thing to learn to make it look good. These were all new tricks to all of us, we didn't know how it was "supposed" to look until some made it look good, ie the creation of street style.

You came in after the most rapid period of evolution in skateboarding and are the benefactor of that.

As far as what we did; Ollie's, over and down stuff, kickflips, over and down stuff, board,nose,tail slides, 5050s and a lot more no comply's and bonelesses. We did what we do now, had fun.

[close]

Unfortunately I'm replying all over the place so it's messy. But I'm from rural Australia. What your describing is actually pretty much how it was for me my first videos were questionable virtual reality and the girl choc videos. They were given to me because they were old and the skaters didn't want them anymore but to me it was new.

Bit different with the mag thing altho that happened sometimes. (Somehow I thought an overcook was a 180 nosegrind from looking at photos)
 but it was mostly if I'd see a skater do something ask what it was "oh it's a hardflip /crooked grind/ whatever" then have to try to remember what they did when I got home. Fortunately I never had to deal with skaters just being like "fuck off kid"

Where did you encounter these skaters? At a skatepark? There weren't any within an hour of where I lived, and I didn't even see a concrete park until I was into my 20's. What skaters too? I grew up in a small town where there were about 5 kids who skated and we all knew the same tricks after a year or so. Today there's probably like 50, and there's a skatepark 20 minutes from my parents house. That's swing is partially due to skating being uncool back then and partially due to the THPS generation and the wider internet generation making it more main stream.

Personally I could do tre flips but very erratically by the end of the 90s but it wasn't until the 00s that I really figured them out by watching people doing them slowed down in detail from all different angles available online/on DVD.

 In other words there wasn't a guy at the local skatepark to tell you "it's all in your back foot." because that park wasn't there and that guy didn't exist; and I am that guy now lol.

[RottenToTheCore]

You might consider it boring nowadays, but back in the day it was golden. Trust.

Black Sabbath isn't that heavy today compared to a band like fuckin Gojira or something, but it's all relevant dude...

Is there any reason you picked Gojira as an example

[Mean salto]

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Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

[close]

Crooked grinds didn't even exist until the 90s for fuck's sake. This thread is as ludicrous as it is depressing. I guess kids are this simple/dumb these days, no sense of historical context.

Those skaters were doing NBD's with more far more regularity then kids today, they were creating street skating as we know it today.

I'd say that on average skate vids from the 90s were/are the best videos of skateboarding period. They're definitely the most important as far as influencing following generations. Just because there's no mumble rap doesn't mean it's not relevant kids.

[close]

Ok seems like no ones reading that top sentence haha. 

And just so you know I'm not a kid I'm in my 30s haha (definately more insulting for me ha)

My point was I started skating in 99 and by 01 I could probably do as good as goldfish/Paco etc but there's no way I could do what was going on in yeah right/sorry or whatever.  I'm just asking what was the difference between the average decent skateboarder and the average pro of the time. Wasn't even trying to single out Mike York I just thought he was an example of an average pro for the time.

[close]

you're still missing it.

How tricks were done was not something easily learned in the 90s. You would see a still photo of a new trick in mag and probably couldn't even figure out what exactly was going on and then you'd have to wait 6 months to a year(s) for footage to come out on video. You probably wouldn't even see that footage though because they didn't make many copies of skate vids back in the day and usually only made one batch. If by the grace of god your shop did have the vid good luck talking your parents into buying a 30min vhs tape for 30 bucks.

As far as bad style goes, this was when street style was created. It's one thing to learn a new trick, it's a whole 'nother thing to learn to make it look good. These were all new tricks to all of us, we didn't know how it was "supposed" to look until some made it look good, ie the creation of street style.

You came in after the most rapid period of evolution in skateboarding and are the benefactor of that.

As far as what we did; Ollie's, over and down stuff, kickflips, over and down stuff, board,nose,tail slides, 5050s and a lot more no comply's and bonelesses. We did what we do now, had fun.

[close]

Unfortunately I'm replying all over the place so it's messy. But I'm from rural Australia. What your describing is actually pretty much how it was for me my first videos were questionable virtual reality and the girl choc videos. They were given to me because they were old and the skaters didn't want them anymore but to me it was new.

Bit different with the mag thing altho that happened sometimes. (Somehow I thought an overcook was a 180 nosegrind from looking at photos)
 but it was mostly if I'd see a skater do something ask what it was "oh it's a hardflip /crooked grind/ whatever" then have to try to remember what they did when I got home. Fortunately I never had to deal with skaters just being like "fuck off kid"

[close]

Where did you encounter these skaters? At a skatepark? There weren't any within an hour of where I lived, and I didn't even see a concrete park until I was into my 20's. What skaters too? I grew up in a small town where there were about 5 kids who skated and we all knew the same tricks after a year or so. Today there's probably like 50, and there's a skatepark 20 minutes from my parents house. That's swing is partially due to skating being uncool back then and partially due to the THPS generation and the wider internet generation making it more main stream.

Personally I could do tre flips but very erratically by the end of the 90s but it wasn't until the 00s that I really figured them out by watching people doing them slowed down in detail from all different angles available online/on DVD.

 In other words there wasn't a guy at the local skatepark to tell you "it's all in your back foot." because that park wasn't there and that guy didn't exist; and I am that guy now lol.

Nah I'd just skate around "town" which was like two streets with restraunts, a doctor, a bank etc and there was parking lots at the train station, the football stadium and behind the strip mall so I'd just skate at those until I got bored or kicked out then go to the others and maybe thered be another skater or two. And they didn't teach me I'd just have to kind of watch them and figure it out.

Contrary to what I've displayed in this thread I knew how to be quiet/not annoying and keep the questions to a minimum haha 

[SatanicPanic]

The second half of the 90s was stifling, jocky and boring AF. It was either endless crooked grinds or big handrail 50-50s, very little creative stuff besides the two Toy Machine videos

[straight]

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We are currently living in the twilight of the binary stance era of skating. Once the stanceless generation emerges all of this will become obsolete.

[close]

Please don't assume my stance identity.

my pronouns are goofy/regular

[SatanicPanic]

Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

Average 90s skater here! Isn’t the answer always the same? almost everyone was doing stuff they saw in videos, just not as well. That’s true of any era. So I could ba crooked grind (front was considered very hard), 5-0, nosegrind, I could front tail (back tails were too hard for most of us), I could kickflip things here and there. I never figured out tres but lots of friends could. I could 50-50 flat bars.  I tried handrails dozens of times but never got the hang of them. Normal shit.

Edit- to add a little context, I felt fine rolling up to San Diego spots where I knew pros might be. Because most of them were really chill and supportive and I was an ok skater. But the difference between what I could do and what some of the guys around could do was hard to understand from just watching videos. I had no idea until I saw some of these guys in person how much better they were.

[norcalnobody]

The early 90's footage was pretty bad IMO. especially the kinda shit some of those dudes would wear at EMB. Mike Carroll looked weird with that braided hair goofy boy fit and everyone was still doing pressure flips over 3 stairs. That's why cardiel was my favorite skater of the 90s cuz before tom penny cuz of the need to haul ass and go big. The evolution of street skating had to start somewhere so it is what it is and will be forever known as the goofy boy era. Mid 90s were better especially the 411vm footy from around then.

I'm sure the person who started this thread is naive and needs to go out and skate irl so he'll realize how hard some of tricks in 90s videos are and will learn quickly that he cant switch flip a school table like keenan milton.

[Global Moderator]

Genuine question for 90s skaters. Absolutely not trying to sound insulting but it will be hard to ask without it coming out wrong.

What did you actually do when you went skating? Like for the average person. If say Mike York was a top pro doing some Crookeds and tailslides then what was the average person doing?

Skating was just a lot smaller then and attracted people that typically weren't jocky or super competitive. Our approach to skateboarding was less serious as we weren't trying to surpass them if that makes sense, we just wanted to emulate our favorite pros from what boards and shoes they were riding to what tricks they were doing. And we couldn't realistically surpass them because we were in Connecticut and the top pros were innovating 3000 miles away. We were always behind what was new... that's one thing the younger generations just don't get. We didn't know what was possible until months, sometimes years after it came out, leaving us always playing catch up.

How Donny Barley & Brian Anderson ended up being top pros while being from my area is still mind boggling to me, but I know a lot of it has to do with things like them being more willing to drive to contests and skate camps all up and down the east coast, as well as making trips out west, exposing them in real time to what was actually going on, not seeing it months later when the people doing it had already moved on to new things trick and ability wise.