Powell early 90s appreciation thread

[NewRocCity]

Yes, I know this was perhaps a low point in the Powell popularity, but my dad just gave me a box of my old stuff out of storage, and bizarrely was a response to a letter I looked to have wrote to Powell in 94 or so (the second page had the date and the respondents name, but I can't seem to find it right now).  In the letter, Powell notes they appreciate the support, and answers a list of bizarre questions I seemingly asked.  They also sent me a bunch of stickers and things.

Appreciate Powell answering my letter when I was 8 or 9 or whatever.  And literally going through and answering my skate nerd questions.

Bonus points for those who can guess what my questions were (I dont know for sure, but can guess on some of them ha).

[Tear Up a Trick]

Gnarred for the thread and for the X

I love early 90s Powell. 

That letter you got is terrific bit of ephemera.  If it's not signed do you know who wrote it?  I wonder if Jim Fitzpatrick or someone like that.

I'll just say that I had a slick bottom Powell dragon board one early 90s summer (it had the famous VCJ top graphic as the full graphic on the bottom) and let me tell you that for a slick that thing popped and stayed snappy for a good while and I had a whole lot of fun on it, and this was when Powell was the wackest thing you could rock, especially around NYC but who cared

[Frank and Fred]

Have to admit this Mike V joint in 94, Husker Du "Diane" got me going....

[dunc]

Ok so that Mike V part is his best and that video is burned into my DNA. He seemed so cool then ...not sure what happened. Powell was always cool to me during those days as their videos seemed to pop up around this time in new zealand. I remember they had no pro models . I had a couple of plane series slicks during this time . They had plane nose pin up girls on them . I loved them .
The second wave of wainwright in scenic drive also got me pumped and I had many of the black bottom slick paint boards.

I had the early Play video as well. Wade spayer was rad in that and bucky laser had a st part.

Cool topic. Fond memories.

[TheLurper]

Have to admit this Mike V joint in 94, Husker Du "Diane" got me going....

It is weird to think how important Mike V is to skateboarding and how good he was considering he is such a kook. I know this is propaganda from The Man Who Souled the World documentary, but Mike V bailing on Powell played such a big role in World becoming a thing and all the craziness that stemmed from Rocco's version of skateboarding.

Not to mention his role in the intro of the Tony Hawk games of him attacking the gate/ramps, which I stupidly thought was cool at the time and his clip in the CKY video beating up the "jocks" that floated around Kazaa and LimeWire. 

This part was good, but all the best Mike V parts are either 80% pushing or 100% him reciting "deep thoughts." 

[assvogel]

Inspired by this topic, I archieved some Powell (-Peralta) mailorder/product catalogs from 92 and 93 in my not-very active blog.

Some of the graphics here are pretty rare / not as well documented as the earlier PP stuff, so it's nice to at least have the product catalogs in hand (despite them being in b/w).

Check it out:

https://skateoutlaw.medium.com/powell-peralta-catalogs-92-93-1fb31f7ce79f

[Frank and Fred]

Nice works @assvogel

Love looking back over old board dimensions. Got any other scans of boards and wheels from that era?

[silhouette]

Slightly offbase since that would be the late 90's/very early 00's but something I would love to see again is scans of the old Skate One catalogs, there are some online but the issues are incomplete and just feature the product pages whereas they really used to be filled with some crazy or cool stuff, from Angel Boy comics about boardsliding the handrail to hell or Pat Channita trick tips on frontside 360's.

Re: actual early 90's Powell I just barely missed that era by half a decade but always really liked the post Peralta video output, it's so interesting, Chaos, Eight are must-see's at least once but especially Celebraty Tropical Fish is my favorite. Pat Brennen's part is crazy for the time period, Chrome Ball has a cool post about it https://chromeballincident.blogspot.com/2009/01/chrome-ball-incident-195-moonlight.html

I know the videos caught flack at the time and I totally understand why (funnily enough a bit similarly to how the first Stereo videos also caught flack at first, presentation was raw for the era) but occasionally think it's funny a lot of the current filming trends people typically attribute to Strobeck's clips for Supreme (regardless of whether they like or dislike them) really trace back to late 80's/early 90's Powell vids; more long lens, more zoom, more experimentation with the format (also sensed in the Stereo videos to a degree, but then really people like Dan Wolfe made the vibe their own by doing it with style).

[Tear Up a Trick]

First time I saw Eric Ricks footage I thought "only a matter of minutes before he's on Plan B or something World" dude was so good

[funeral_tuxedo]

Expand Quote

Have to admit this Mike V joint in 94, Husker Du "Diane" got me going....

[close]

It is weird to think how important Mike V is to skateboarding and how good he was considering he is such a kook. I know this is propaganda from The Man Who Souled the World documentary, but Mike V bailing on Powell played such a big role in World becoming a thing and all the craziness that stemmed from Rocco's version of skateboarding.

Not to mention his role in the intro of the Tony Hawk games of him attacking the gate/ramps, which I stupidly thought was cool at the time and his clip in the CKY video beating up the "jocks" that floated around Kazaa and LimeWire. 

This part was good, but all the best Mike V parts are either 80% pushing or 100% him reciting "deep thoughts." 

It is unfortunate that Mike V’s place in skate history is more about his kooky/violent behavior than his board skills. That being said these three parts are still pretty killer:
Speed Freaks
http://youtu.be/SwNSpHdyYeQ?si=PBzSfCfuLR1Dz1cP
Rubbish Heap
http://youtu.be/m6ye3LN_gpk?si=2NFIuDomsBYwbvr3
Powell 1997 Promo
http://youtu.be/bHKb1GHM7BI?si=4fMYXentW2yOAZGU

[Alan]

Pat Brennen's part is crazy for the time period

It's so good. Probably one of my favourite parts. I love how there are hardly any passers by in the video. That plus the music choice (what a contrast to his next part, where he used the Super Mario song) make it seem almost otherworldly.

[corey websturd]

I only had early 90's powell decks.A "fence" Guerrero and a Lasek.They were excellent.I think I switched to an Schmitt Stix Andy Howell after that and World and Blind after that like many dudes at the time...The Guerrero was actuall the last "oldschool" deck I had even though it had the "spoon nose" innovation.

[radcunt]

Yes, I know this was perhaps a low point in the Powell popularity, but my dad just gave me a box of my old stuff out of storage, and bizarrely was a response to a letter I looked to have wrote to Powell in 94 or so (the second page had the date and the respondents name, but I can't seem to find it right now).  In the letter, Powell notes they appreciate the support, and answers a list of bizarre questions I seemingly asked.  They also sent me a bunch of stickers and things.

Appreciate Powell answering my letter when I was 8 or 9 or whatever.  And literally going through and answering my skate nerd questions.

Bonus points for those who can guess what my questions were (I dont know for sure, but can guess on some of them ha).

Question 5, haha!