Image via Complex Original
Skateboarders have always had a nostalgic streak. For some, that means a fondness for the 1980s and the videos that documented the vert-skating demigods of the day. But those of us who grew up in the ‘90s reminisce about the time when street skating had just taken center stage. Grittier and way more DIY, the videos of the era recorded what skating was like when clothes were baggy, iconic spots still stood, and music rights were an afterthought. To mark Monday's release of Real Skateboards' newest video, Since Day One, we're looking back at the 25 Best Skate Video Parts of the '90s.
By Lucas Wisenthal
#25. Kris Markovich
Video: Fight Fire with Fire (1994)
Company: Prime
These days, your average pro might put out two or three video parts over a decade. But in the '90s, Kris Markovich was relentless, dropping section after section, year after year—possibly because he switched sponsors so damn often. Regardless, the Florida native was one of the first skaters to marry technical trickery with stuntman sensibility. And while there are many Markovich parts to choose from, this one shows exactly what he was about. He throws down manuals at the World Industries skatepark. He fakie ollies the double-set at the San Diego Sports Arena. He powers through lines in schoolyards. And he goes fast as fuck the whole time.
#24. Ronnie Creager
Video: Super Conductor, Super Collider (1993)
Company: Foundation
This section is worth it for the first line alone. When sloppy styles were the norm, Creager made even the toughest tricks—switch 360 flips, switch frontside bluntslides, manuals of all sorts—look like nothing. And a few months later, he had a Hustler magazine Beaver Patrol-inspired graphic.
#23. Ricky Oyola
Video: Underachievers (Eastern Exposure 3) (1996)
Company: Dan Wolfe
Before you saw Underachievers, you and your friends skated small boards and wheels. After, at least a couple of you set up 8.25-inch decks with 58-millimeter Nicotines and learned wallrides and pole jams. And that's when you realized you would never skate your city with the speed and power with which Ricky killed Philadelphia.
#22. Danny Way
Video: The Questionable Video (1992)
Company: Plan B
As fading vert pros scratched their heads between inverts and backside airs, Danny Way did varial heelflip melon grabs to fakie. Then he backside 360 ollied a double-set and boardslid a massive double-kinked handrail. And then the dudes who called him a soulless jock shut up.
#21. Brian Lotti
Video: Now 'n' Later (1991)
Company: Planet Earth
When this part dropped, you could barely do anything Brian Lotti did. You hadn't even thought of much of it. And 20 years later, it's still hard and Lotti is still stylish.
#20. Jamie Thomas
Video: Welcome to Hell (1996)
Company: Toy Machine
Love it or hate it, this section set skateboarding on a different course—and not just by turning an entire generation of 13-year-olds into handrail hessians. Suddenly, a trick's merit was measured by its stair count. Yes, some of it was goofy—the Alabama native had no qualms with kicking his front foot off his board in mid-50-50—but Jamie clearly killed himself for this much-hyped part, going so far as to lipslide a banister barefoot.
#19. Ronnie Bertino
Video: Second Hand Smoke (1994)
Company: Plan B
Ronnie Bertino's skating was clean and effortless. His lines—like the one that begins at 1:11—were some of the best. Which is why you were surprised when this part closed with a switch backside lipslide down a handrail.
#18. Lavar McBride
Video: Trilogy (1996)
Company: World Industries/Blind/101
Lavar McBride's ledge and flatground game, honed at Embarcadero, was untouchable. And despite his size, he could hoist himself onto Hubba Hideout, a beefy SF ledge, in both stances. Here, he manages more tricks on it in a couple of sessions than many dudes could in a career.
#17. Josh Kalis
Video: Time Code (1997)
Company: Alien Workdshop
Skating to a KMD instrumental and sporting the dopest Droors duds of the day, the dude Big Brother magazine once called "the dope-billed skater" levelled spots on both coasts with speedy, technical lines. He also switch backside tailslid San Francisco's now-defunct Hubba Hideout, a feat that even today is no joke.
#16. Sean Sheffey
Video: A Soldier's Story (1991)
Company: Life
In 1991, when skating picnic tables usually meant boardsliding their benches, Sean Sheffey backside tailslid their tops and fakie ollied them whole, all while sporting a hairstyle that was equal parts Albert Einstein and Don King.
#15. Eric Koston
Video: Falling Down (1993)
Company: 101
By the time this came out, you knew Eric Koston was good. You had seen him in H-Street's Next Generation and the first 101 video. But in Falling Down, he outdid himself with a switch kickflip backside tailslide in a line and a switch 360 flip down the Seven at San Francisco's Embarcadero. Inspired, you headed straight to your local curb, where, like the rest of the skate world, you continued to suck compared to Koston.
#14. Daewon Song
Video: Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song (1997)
Company: World Industries
Daewon released this section only a year after his part in Trilogy. Rocking Menace t-shirts and a fade, he crushed all manner of ledges, manual pads and tables with board control that let him kickflip and shove-it out of tricks—including a fakie kickflip backside 5-0 and frontside 180 switch crooked grind, respectively—that were hard enough to lock into.
#13. Pepe Martinez
Video: Fine Artists Vol 1 (1994)
Company: Element
Pepe Martinez, who died in September 2003, was a Washington, DC local known for long lines of tough tricks. As Fine Artists proved, he could take those tricks, switch kickflip frontside noseslides among them, to high marble ledges. Along with his natural style, you envied him for his gold tooth and cute girlfriend, Becky, who didn't seem to mind hanging out at Pulaski (aka Freedom Plaza), where she no doubt watched him pound 40s and talk shit with the other locals.
#12. Ethan Fowler
Video: A Visual Sound (1994)
Company: Stereo
Ethan Fowler's skating wasn't very technical, especially when compared to the videos of the day. But that's what made it so original. It's not that Ethan couldn't do the ledge-and-flatground lines that were the norm at the time. He could do anything. But in this part, he ollied, kickflipped and 360 flipped over whatever the streets of San Francisco put in front of him. Then he walked into a coffee shop and wrote a few lines in a notepad, an act that helped spawn the subgenus of skater Slap magazine once called the coffeehouse cruiser.
#11. Matt Hensley
Video: This Is Not the New H-Street Video (1991)
Company: H-Street
Suburban spots never looked so cool. Matt Hensley was an unassuming kid from Vista, California who in 1990 could Caballerial over entire picnic tables. A couple of years later, tired of professional skateboarding, he decamped for Chicago, where he became an EMT.
#10. Pat Duffy
Video: The Questionable Video (1992)
Company: Plan B
In his video debut, Pat Duffy, a virtual unknown from Northern California, tackled some of the burliest banisters ever contemplated, backside Smith grinding through an unforgiving kinked bar, 50-50ing a double-kinker and backside lipsliding a steep rail in pouring rain for good measure.
#9. Jovontae Turner
Video: Love Child (1992)
Company: World Industries
While most of the skate world inched along, boards scraping the ground as they flipped, Jovontae Turner floated through lines at San Francisco's Embarcadero with inimitable style in his final full-length part. Years later, he'd found Jovontae Jeans, the only evidence of which remains a single ad in Slap magazine and a few mentions in FTC's mag spots.
#8. Rick Howard
Video: Virtual Reality (1993)
Company: Plan B
Rick Howard's first line includes a switch backside tailslide shove-it and a switch 360 flip. Despite the difficulty of those tricks—and pretty much everything else in this part—Rick never seemed to take skating too seriously. And almost 20 years later, the same holds true.
#7. Lennie Kirk
Video: Time Code (1997)
Company: Alien Workshop
Cornrowed and camouflaged, the God-fearing Lennie Kirk laid to waste handrails and ledges that looked virtually unskateable before trading skating for preaching.
#6. Kareem Campbell
Video: New World Order (1993)
Company: World Industries
In 1993, few people looked as good on a skateboard as Kareem Campbell. With his pop and style, he put his stamp on every trick he did—notably a fakie 5-0 half-Cab flip out and the concluding kickflip to fakie, which almost 20 years later remains hard to understand. And as a sign of the times, he received a whopping $100 for his efforts.
#5. Gino Iannucci
Video: Trilogy (1996)
Company: World Industries/Blind/101
The only criticism you'll hear of Gino Iannucci, a Long Island native, is that he's never released enough footage. But the sections he does put out more than make up for it. He skates fast and does original tricks—like the nollie 180 to fakie 5-0 shove-it at the end of this part—with an unmistakable style. And in the '90s, his Polo and Nautica gear was always fresh.
#4. Mark Gonzales
Video: Video Days (1991)
Company: Blind
By now, it's cliche to credit the Gonz with pioneering modern street skating. But you can't overstate his significance. With his loose, spontaneous style, he proved everything was possible—handrails, switch tricks, noseblunt slides and other ledge variations. He was also the first to ollie Wallenberg, four big stairs that are still intimidating.
#3. Mike Carroll
Video: The Questionable Video (1992)
Company: Plan B
In the early '90s, the skateboard world was focused on Embarcadero, a square at the bottom of Market Street in San Francisco. Officially known as Justin Herman Plaza, its ledges and stairs gave rise to tricks that not long before were unthinkable. Mike Carroll embodied the innovation of the time and place. This part was proof.
#2. Henry Sanchez
Video: Tim and Henry's Pack of Lies (1992)
Company: Blind
Anyone who's rolled through what's left of Embarcadero will tell you how difficult skating its brick surface on 42-millimiter wheels would be. But in the age of tiny tires, Henry Sanchez powered through the plaza, seemingly inventing tricks as he went. If you have this part on its original VHS—a 10-minute promo sold in a plain white box—consider yourself lucky.
#1. Guy Mariano
Video: Mouse (1996)
Company: Girl
Guy Mariano needed only the occasional clip to show how far advanced he was. Which was fortunate, because after 1991's Video Days, that's all he produced. The prospect of another full-length Guy part seemed unlikely at best. But then Mouse came out. Fully grown, he ran nonchalantly through myriad crooked grind and nosegrind variations on benches, ledges and rails, switch 360 flipped a table and threw a switch backside tailslide shove-it across a well-known gap-to-ledge. Amazingly, Guy didn't have to leave Southern California to gather more than three minutes of first-rate footage. If any video part sums up skating in the '90s, this is it. And it would hold its own if it came out today.