R.I.P. Marc Johnson

[Canuck]

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[DannyDee]

I had no idea his kid was that old. I remember some interview talking about he missed his kid's birthday from filming Fully Flared. I guess that was a long time ago.

I think he was connected to the WKND crew for a bit. But time flies. Fully flared was almost 20 years ago.

[Rockin Robbin]

Get ready to cry.

[fall colors]

My favourite MJ part. This is so upsetting.

yep

[CrappybsflipDownthe5stair]

RIP a true pioneer.

A little mj anecdote...

The year is probably 1997, there's an A Team demo at our local indoor park, a haven in the middle of Cornwall UK which otherwise is mostly fields, so hardly the most developed scene.

The crew rock up and gershon is doing massive kf fakies on some pretty huge qps, and some trademark hard flip reverts on the flat bank.

Mj is shooting for a huge kf fs 5-0 over the driveway. These ramps are kinda bmx coded and we hadn't really seen people attacking these obstacles woth such speed and aggression before, I was captivated.

Mj was struggling to stick it, and after a while Rodney mullen rocks up and starts doing some admittedly quite cool manual stuff on one of the manual blocks. Given this was peak tony hawks era all the kids swarmed over to watch this.

Mj was kinda visibly upset to see all the crowd bugger off to watch the manny sesh rather than his stuff, which sort of inspired me to keep watching.

He eventually stuck it, as buttery as is to be expected for MJ and the stoke was real. Im not really sure, given this was almost 30 years ago but I feel he gave me and my little crew a bit of shine for sticking through it and giving props when he landed it. A true talent.

[Texas_Tone]

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Absolutely heartbreaking.

[close]

Sorry but can someone post the text for those of us without IG? Thank you in advance.

[close]

Thank you, for everything, your lessons, your sweet and gentle nature, your blunt and honest opinions, your understanding of things no one else could. You supported me in whatever I did. You gave me the world. You showed me a life I’ll forever be grateful for. You did it all. I keep watching memories play in my head like they happened seconds ago and hearing your words as if you had just spoken. Haunting and comforting all at once. I know you’ll always be there for me, anytime, anywhere.
I love you so much.
Rest easy and shine brightly.
Until we meet again.

I wish I was this eloquent, this was beautiful, god damn my heart hurts

[HugeBodBoyle]

Avery seems like a great kid.

[Marv]

[layzieyez]

My son watched me have a full on sobbing ugly cry yesterday when I was posting about MJ yesterday on IG.

Having another one now after reading his son’s post.

[the canadian suit]

Huge shout-out to Avery Johnson.

Made my teenage daughter and her boyfriend watch a part last night, and ultimately decided to show them the Hot Chocolate Tour. I thought the voiceovers and New Order, it would help paint a good picture of who Marc was to all of us.

My daughter got kind of emotional and, at the end, said: "Honestly, out of all the skate parts you've ever made me watch, that was my favorite."

Then I watched Yeah Right and Fully Flared by myself and cried.

[Jim and Dan]

Despite the hurt, it's beautiful to see the impact that one individual had on so many lives...

Shout-out to Avery as well (who is indeed named after Chris Avery)...

[Emo jimmy]

I dont think there is another skateboarder who so artfully combined his technicality and progression with just downright beautiful skateboarding

An absolute artist on the skateboard

Thank you Marc Rest In Peace

[bresco]

This feels like a bad dream that you wish to be over soon :'(

One of my favorite MJ parts is the Man Down part:

https://youtu.be/8bpxMuAWGH0?is=h6ORLUxRtJ9GC6rA

RIP Goat, you truly were the greatest.

[WashingtonNECKTIE]

God damn all these tributes, especially Avery’s, keep hitting me harder and harder. The loss really cant be overstated. Had a sesh with some friends last night and all of us admitted to having a few cries yesterday, and then we all worked on balanced bs nose grinds…

[MikeCyclopsfromNASA]

Like 15 years ago I bought an MJ sweater from his Matix collection. Loved that sweater so much, but hadn’t worn it in probably 7 or 8 years. I ended up donating it a few weeks ago as I figured someone would probably enjoy it since I stopped wearing it even though I had contemplated donating it every time I’ve donated clothes over the years and always chose not to.

Wish I didn’t.

[GnarAlarm]

Get ready to cry.

Regardless of what I think of Eldy, I think it's a fine tribute to his friend. Actually out on a skateboard, the song, the jazz pushes, it's all good.

That's fuckin rad. If anyone sees this you HAVE TO snap a pic and post it up here!
Be kinda cool to track where it's been, like Where's George but this is Where's Marc's Train?

[Trilogy]

I used to like Mike Carroll but he killed Marc Johnson´s skateboarding career..........

....and Marc was a PURE skateboarder.....

( one of the best to ever do it )

just look at those back taiL slides.....



RIP MJ.

[Jim and Dan]

God damn all these tributes, especially Avery’s, keep hitting me harder and harder. The loss really cant be overstated. Had a sesh with some friends last night and all of us admitted to having a few cries yesterday, and then we all worked on balanced bs nose grinds…

Goodbye Horses came up in my YouTube mix today, almost all the comments are for Marc...

It made me reminisce about first watching Fully Flared in my college dorm room with my friend, and despite the video as a whole aging like cottage cheese in the New Mexico sun, Marc's part may be the pinnacle of an individual giving everything they have to their craft, I'm pretty sure I teared up the first time and I'll tear up again contemplating the existential meaning of that part...

And upon further contemplation, something that is very difficult for me to do is choose a "favorite", but looking back at it, Marc is my favorite skater of all-time when I think about first really getting into skating and eventually fell in-love with it, Marc's parts were essential viewing in that time; Uno, Tilt Mode, Modus, Man Down, Yeah Right, Jaded, Hot Chocolate...

Later on watching 7 Steps To Heaven and 411 Best of 4 (one of my favorites), Marc was clearly in another league, which may have been his own league in all honesty...

Not to mention when Enjoi came out, everything about it, the ads, the graphics, the personalities, everything was perfect at the time...

Marc has to be the most productive skater of all-time, 20 years of prime output in simply incredible...

I'm sure this has already been posted, but I always loved this part:

[DannyDee]

I dont think there is another skateboarder who so artfully combined his technicality and progression with just downright beautiful skateboarding

An absolute artist on the skateboard

Thank you Marc Rest In Peace

The only other skaters I put in the same sentence in this regard is Daewon and of the generation after, maybe Lucas. And, I’d say Marc had better style than Daewon.

[Dj Paul]

Once I cryed watching his lakai part and he was alive. now I cant do this without tears.

[Allez_Jambon]

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I work next to the spot where his opening line from yeah right is, so get this little daily reminder of how how lucky it was to grow up in that 00’s era of skating, hearing all these new bands in parts, I’ll never get tired of either. that small memory just takes you back and breaks up the day to day of adulthood is something I’m very thankful to have. RIP Marc

[close]

Was that at the Toyota in Hollywood? Or North Hollywood? He had tricks (many of them) at both spots.

Is it not some spot in Australia? I was thinking Aragon school but that's Pretty Sweet I think...with the bs noseblunt opener. 

[WarmUpZone]

[Alexactly]

I used to like Mike Carroll but he killed Marc Johnson´s skateboarding career..........

Lurper expressed a similar perspective as mine extremely well earlier in the thread, but I feel compelled to share my thoughts here.

The instinct to blame Carroll is easy to understand, but I find to to be incredibly disgraceful, misguided, and delusional. It isn't just that it's unfair and ghoulish to pin this on any one person, but it also diminishes the reality of Marc's struggles to an extent that is genuinely dehumanizing.

When everything went down in 2016, many on this forum expressed suspicion that the particulars of the story that Carroll laid out about MJ's behavior and communication were themselves manifestations or symptoms of disordered thinking, of compromised decision-making. Given his candor about his struggles with alcoholism, that's where most peoples minds went. At the time, I could appreciate the validity of both Carroll and MJ's positions, but overall I "sided" with Carroll because he got blindsided. I relished in the drama of the Jenkem interview, even though I knew it was sordid and unseemly. It seemed like a fucked up situation where everyone was a loser, but nearly everyone assumed that it was going to be a new chapter in MJ's career. I mean, MJ and Adidas certainly thought so.

As the years passed and MJ's absence from the public eye got more concerning, it became apparent that that wasn't the case. But the idea that MJ was blackballed from the industry, or that people turned their backs on him and ended his career is absurd and false. If he'd been mentally well and stable, he could have had a career twilight exactly like Daewon's.  For reasons no one is fully privy to, Marc opted for a different path and through his own volition (as compromised as it may have been) isolated himself from the skate industry.

What truly disgusts me about certain people denying this and vilifying Carroll and crail, is that that narrative effectively discounts the nightmarish reality of mental illness and addiction. Assigning blame to others (or assigning it to anyone, whatsoever) does not honor Marc, it won't bring peace to his loved one or yourself - it instead reactivates and spreads the very turmoil that MJ suffered.

[bigdave]

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I used to like Mike Carroll but he killed Marc Johnson´s skateboarding career..........

[close]

Lurper expressed a similar perspective as mine extremely well earlier in the thread, but I feel compelled to share my thoughts here.

The instinct to blame Carroll is easy to understand, but I find to to be incredibly disgraceful, misguided, and delusional. It isn't just that it's unfair and ghoulish to pin this on any one person, but it also diminishes the reality of Marc's struggles to an extent that is genuinely dehumanizing.

When everything went down in 2016, many on this forum expressed suspicion that the particulars of the story that Carroll laid out about MJ's behavior and communication were themselves manifestations or symptoms of disordered thinking, of compromised decision-making. Given his candor about his struggles with alcoholism, that's where most peoples minds went. At the time, I could appreciate the validity of both Carroll and MJ's positions, but overall I "sided" with Carroll because he got blindsided. I relished in the drama of the Jenkem interview, even though I knew it was sordid and unseemly. It seemed like a fucked up situation where everyone was a loser, but nearly everyone assumed that it was going to be a new chapter in MJ's career. I mean, MJ and Adidas certainly thought so.

As the years passed and MJ's absence from the public eye got more concerning, it became apparent that that wasn't the case. But the idea that MJ was blackballed from the industry, or that people turned there backs on him and ended his career is absurd and false. If he'd been mentally well and stable, he could have had a career twilight exactly like Daewon's.  For reasons no one is fully privy to, Marc opted for a different path and through his own volition (as compromised as it may have been) isolated himself from the skate industry.

What truly disgusts me about certain people denying this and vilifying Carroll and crail, is that that narrative effectively discounts the nightmarish reality of mental illness and addiction. Assigning blame to others (or assigning it to anyone, whatsoever) does not honor Marc, it won't bring peace to his loved one or yourself - it instead reactivates and spreads the very turmoil that MJ suffered.

This is a near-perfect summation of what's going on and I would have like to have gnar'd you 200 times for it.

[AnimalChinaski79]

Expand Quote

I used to like Mike Carroll but he killed Marc Johnson´s skateboarding career..........

[close]

Lurper expressed a similar perspective as mine extremely well earlier in the thread, but I feel compelled to share my thoughts here.

The instinct to blame Carroll is easy to understand, but I find to to be incredibly disgraceful, misguided, and delusional. It isn't just that it's unfair and ghoulish to pin this on any one person, but it also diminishes the reality of Marc's struggles to an extent that is genuinely dehumanizing.

When everything went down in 2016, many on this forum expressed suspicion that the particulars of the story that Carroll laid out about MJ's behavior and communication were themselves manifestations or symptoms of disordered thinking, of compromised decision-making. Given his candor about his struggles with alcoholism, that's where most peoples minds went. At the time, I could appreciate the validity of both Carroll and MJ's positions, but overall I "sided" with Carroll because he got blindsided. I relished in the drama of the Jenkem interview, even though I knew it was sordid and unseemly. It seemed like a fucked up situation where everyone was a loser, but nearly everyone assumed that it was going to be a new chapter in MJ's career. I mean, MJ and Adidas certainly thought so.

As the years passed and MJ's absence from the public eye got more concerning, it became apparent that that wasn't the case. But the idea that MJ was blackballed from the industry, or that people turned there backs on him and ended his career is absurd and false. If he'd been mentally well and stable, he could have had a career twilight exactly like Daewon's.  For reasons no one is fully privy to, Marc opted for a different path and through his own volition (as compromised as it may have been) isolated himself from the skate industry.

What truly disgusts me about certain people denying this and vilifying Carroll and crail, is that that narrative effectively discounts the nightmarish reality of mental illness and addiction. Assigning blame to others (or assigning it to anyone, whatsoever) does not honor Marc, it won't bring peace to his loved one or yourself - it instead reactivates and spreads the very turmoil that MJ suffered.

This right here.  Well said in every aspect.  Rest in Power Marc fucking Johnson.  Some people can shake the demons and other's struggle with it. 

[Made In China]

Huge shout-out to Avery Johnson.

Made my teenage daughter and her boyfriend watch a part last night, and ultimately decided to show them the Hot Chocolate Tour. I thought the voiceovers and New Order, it would help paint a good picture of who Marc was to all of us.

My daughter got kind of emotional and, at the end, said: "Honestly, out of all the skate parts you've ever made me watch, that was my favorite."

Then I watched Yeah Right and Fully Flared by myself and cried.

Damn, that's how you know a part is truly impactful. I honestly somehow had never seen his Hot Chocolate part before, even though Ceremony is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I watched it for the first time earlier today. Hearing his "if you think of something, you can do it" speech with the intro of Ceremony building up in the background really made me cry. I'm someone who is hypercritical and doubtful of my own skills and capabilities in skateboarding and most other aspects of my life, and I really wish I had heard him say that sooner.

[Clayton]

I grew up in the bay area but the only time I ever had an MJ sighting in person was on a trip to LA. I went to an art museum with my ex girlfriend and he was showing a girl around, discussing the art with her like he worked there. We overlapped our walkthrough by three or four rooms but I wasn’t about to disrupt them on their visit. “Hey I liked your laser flip manny Mr Johnson.”

Dude was the greatest. Even if he wasn’t your favorite skater, he may have been the most relatable human that skateboarded of all time.

[Giftedly Hater’d]

Expand Quote

I used to like Mike Carroll but he killed Marc Johnson´s skateboarding career..........

[close]

Lurper expressed a similar perspective as mine extremely well earlier in the thread, but I feel compelled to share my thoughts here.

The instinct to blame Carroll is easy to understand, but I find to to be incredibly disgraceful, misguided, and delusional. It isn't just that it's unfair and ghoulish to pin this on any one person, but it also diminishes the reality of Marc's struggles to an extent that is genuinely dehumanizing.

When everything went down in 2016, many on this forum expressed suspicion that the particulars of the story that Carroll laid out about MJ's behavior and communication were themselves manifestations or symptoms of disordered thinking, of compromised decision-making. Given his candor about his struggles with alcoholism, that's where most peoples minds went. At the time, I could appreciate the validity of both Carroll and MJ's positions, but overall I "sided" with Carroll because he got blindsided. I relished in the drama of the Jenkem interview, even though I knew it was sordid and unseemly. It seemed like a fucked up situation where everyone was a loser, but nearly everyone assumed that it was going to be a new chapter in MJ's career. I mean, MJ and Adidas certainly thought so.

As the years passed and MJ's absence from the public eye got more concerning, it became apparent that that wasn't the case. But the idea that MJ was blackballed from the industry, or that people turned there backs on him and ended his career is absurd and false. If he'd been mentally well and stable, he could have had a career twilight exactly like Daewon's.  For reasons no one is fully privy to, Marc opted for a different path and through his own volition (as compromised as it may have been) isolated himself from the skate industry.

What truly disgusts me about certain people denying this and vilifying Carroll and crail, is that that narrative effectively discounts the nightmarish reality of mental illness and addiction. Assigning blame to others (or assigning it to anyone, whatsoever) does not honor Marc, it won't bring peace to his loved one or yourself - it instead reactivates and spreads the very turmoil that MJ suffered.

Beautifully put.  One of the (many) rough parts of grieving is that it’s a deeply internal/personal process that 9/10 times you’re forced to endure around any number of other people who are grieving as well. In their own ways, on their own timelines.  Give an inch where you can.  Give a little grace.  Have a little patience. 

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

If you want to cry again... damn :-(

[Marv]