Muckmouth
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
  • Articles
    • Forum
  • Index
  • Mags
  • SHOP

3/3/2015

FREESTYLERS RUN THE (SKATEBOARD) wORLD

10 Comments

Read Now
 

FREESTYLERS RUN THE
(SKATEBOARD) WORLD

Freestyle skateboarding was never the manliest or the coolest aspect of skating. In fact, it was straight-up pansy shit. Whilst I hate homophobic slang, I cannot think of a better way to describe Freestyle than comparing it to a large pink flower that nobody really liked. Hopping around with your socks pulled up and your wheels tightened so tight that they don't roll wasn't exactly what the kids looked up to. "What does my dad do? Oh, he's err, dead"  proclaimed the embarrassed Desiderio Jr. as his old man wooshed bow-legged past his school mates on the side of a 5inch wide skateboard.
Of course, to most standard non-skateboarding humans, any adult rolling around on a skateboard may be a strange and childish sight, but it's hard for anybody to look at picture of a heavily tattooed Duane Peters doing a massive frontside air with a broken arm and
 cigarette in his mouth and call him a pussy (Ok, after recent events, Duane is probably a bad example of what a 'real man' is, but you get the gist). 
So when [ironically] Rocco simultaneously killed off both freestyle and vert skating, what would those that had practised for years do instead? Well, the vert guys threw away their Rectors and tried to keep collecting paycheques by awkwardly learning to ollie over flat hips and killing their ex girlfriends, or simply continued searching for Chin until they weren't paid anymore. The freestylers however chose a different route. Now the laughing stock of skateboarding, they could easily have packed up their headbands and finger tape (yeah, the grip was a bit harsh for their poor little hands to handle) and got jobs as hairdressers or dog walkers, but no - they fucking took over.
Without doubt, the smartest guys (I would mention girls, but Diane didn't really crack it like the rest of them) in the whole industry. A select group of freestylers started companies, most of which you still know today, and proceeded to run skateboarding from the inside. 

Ask any of the guys below what they think of the death of freestyle - and they will all tell you that they had the last laugh... as they daintily pogo away atop of stacks of dollar bills.

Picture

RODNEY MULLEN

Rodney invented everything. Straight up. Next time you go outside and do a flip trick, consider that Rodney was doing it, albeit on a twig, around the same time your parents got drunk and forgot to use a condom. He conclusively finished Freestyle before being forced to evolve to Street - where he killed it once his freestyle-style began to wear off. Shit, he even ripped on vert in the early days.
An excellent yet strange (read up on the shit he does with his leg and a car tyre in the middle of the night) human and a truly deserving millionaire. Rodney owns Almost and Tensor and was one of the founders of World Industries. Plus if it wasn't for him (and Alan of course), you would never even think to ollie up a curb. Respect.
Picture

PER WELINDER

Welinder was featured prominently in the early Powell classics - The Bones Brigade Video Show and Future Primitive and tic tacced his way onto the set of Thrashin' where the dreamboat Corey Webster seemed to be on a first name basis with him. He then swapped the microscopic shorts and headbands for a suit and tie when he left Powell to start Birdhouse with Tony Hawk. Needless to say he's bloody loaded now. 
Picture

Pierre AndrE

Fuck knows what trick he is doing here, but this donkey-kicking Vision-ary went from 360s and handstands to much bigger numbers and handshakes as he became the founder and CEO of Sole Technology. If you have ever skated in a shoe with an E at the start of the brand, you have personally put a few dollars in Pierre-André Senizergues's pocket, and I am sure he thanks you for it. 
Picture

STEVE ROCCO

Admittedly when you look at this picture, you might think that it's simply an overweight man on a small skateboard in front of a measly crowd, and that it is exactly what it is, but it's hard to deny what he achieved. Say what you want about Rocco - (we say he is a fucking legend), but nobody can deny that he changed skateboarding... for the better. Among plenty of other brands, he founded World, bLind, 101,
Plan B, Big Brother and Duffs - easily some of the most inspirational and important skateboard companies of all time - and left a mark on skate history forever. After deliberately making World ridiculously shit with the cartoon characters, everybody thought he had lost his mind, but instead he was a hatching a cunning plan to literally sell out. Soon after, Steve reportedly Souled the World for a shit load of millions (around 29 of them).
I truly hope Steve Rocco is happy on an island somewhere doing 360s in diamond shoes, he deserves to be. Thank you for everything, Steve!
Picture

Don Brown

Starting out as a Freestyler in England, Don decided that his Godzilla Flips were too big for the UK to handle, so he packed up his long socks and tank tops and did the world's longest Daffy all the way to Huntington Beach. Here he found solace as he Yo-Yo planted amongst the fingerflip fraternity. When Freestyle died a sudden death, instead of packing up his bumbag, he chilled in the sun for a few years then begged his old mate Pierre for a job. Don now runs éS footwear, which in its heyday was a force to be reckoned with and arguably had the best shoe team ever. Much like freestyle, éS died out for a bit, but is now back putting Brown bread on the family table. Personally I hope Freestyle follows suit and makes a comeback as well. We weren't allowed to check his bank balance, but I doubt he's going to starve any time soon.
Picture

PRIMO DESIDERIO

Sadly, this freestyle success story isn't a scientific rule. Primo Desiderio proves that karma does exist - after inventing the Primo slide, now affectionately known as landing razor - unlike his peers, Primo doesn't run the even the smallest part of the skateboard industry. Instead he plays records for pissed up family members. So, if you're after a wedding DJ hit him up here. Primo and Diane's him & her / husband & wife demos were surely classic enough for you to throw him a few bones if you decide to tie the knot.

Follow Muckmouth on Instagram
Daily updates on Facebook


COPYRIGHT MUCKMOUTH 2015

Share

10 Comments
dane
3/4/2015 08:13:01 pm

This was definitely written by. A freestyler

Reply
ItsOnlyMoney
8/6/2015 09:39:48 am

You can add Jeremy Fox to that list too. The former UK freestyler FLIPped his Death Box company over to the states and with the help of the afore mentioned euro freestylers threw his crew on to Blitz Distribution. His ankle pads are now stuffed with dollar bills

Reply
MM
3/16/2016 02:52:58 pm

Kevin Harris. Shit man.

Reply
Scissorhands
7/28/2018 01:56:24 am

Russ Howell is still skating at 69. This article talks money, but living long is pretty fucking good too.
Balls of steel street skaters with their reverse caps, baggy pants, tattoos and false brittle exterior personas, crack and snap just like their ankles and knees.
Then if they're lucky and dont die chasing the monkey, they get to spend their karmic short lived old age as stoners, pissheads and crackheads or fat burger grumpies unable to even walk to the store for beers or the energy drinks that pumped up their superiority syndrome for such a short time.
Like perspective, all that time going round and round in a bowl gave them goldfish brain and ADHD and their brains are now permanently hobbled in need of constant hyperactivity.

Reply
Gonzo
8/5/2018 04:21:34 pm

Flatland is an unfettered landscape.

Once you add inclines, transitions and objects the skater must incorporate them into the lines drawn. Even just a slight gradient will change the ultimate blank canvas that is pure flatland.
The non flatground skater is bound by the laws of physics to create their ride according to the landscape being ridden. The flatlanders has no restrictions or outside influences apart from gravity, ability and equipment used.
No outside stimulus is upon the flatlander, whereas the street, ramp, park and bowl skater is stimulated or constricted to skate according to that environment.

The freedom given the flatlander is outside of space.....and to a point, even time..... and less restrictive than other environments, which according to the laws of physics impose themselves [more] on the skating.

Good skating there challenges those laws of physics to a greater degree than flatground which has more artistic elements.

Street is more of a battle than with flatground, which has a poetic element that other styles cannot get as close to, they being more rooted or grounded in a denser reality/environment.

Freestyle is the arthouse movie, other styles are Hollywood remakes, pumped up for the roar of the crowd, commercial recognition and adrenaline promoting neurosis.

Freestylers are more free, and who doesn't want that? It all began with freestyle....

Reply
Ripper
8/8/2018 02:31:39 am

Fucking softcock straight edge flatground nerds, makes me want to smack them upside their little artistic pin heads. Grow some balls you fucking fairy fucktards!

Reply
MedChoc
4/26/2019 07:12:07 am

It took street league and x games to refine the judging criteria and process for the Ollie-lympics.

Back in the day of freestyle, Olympic style figure skating was emulated, the ollie wasn't invented yet, and decks didnt even have concave!

Its hard to imagine Nyjah or Joslin et al becoming skateboard businessmen, but nowadays they dont have to. With agents and lawyers, they can enjoy mega$$$ without ever having to step foot in an office.

Back then it was also a bit like medpot,and how getting in on the bottom floor is a guarantee of $$$ no matter how shit you or your product might be.

In surfing, longboarding came back from the dead around 2000.
I predict freestyle skateboarding will make a comeback too. Position yourselves now,.moneymakers.

But like Andy Anderson, it'll come back in hybrid form with all the advances since the 80's woven in.

Still like figure skating and set to a 3min pop song though I reckon. An enjoyable and marketable format that could prove popular once again as skate culture currently rounds another corner in time. Choosing a good song can raise your points!

ps I began skating in 1972 and once won a slalom event in '75. The prize was a handheld AM transistor radio. Groovy

Reply
Skull
6/3/2019 02:35:08 pm

Medchoc will be wearing a tutu and performing his dance to Electric Six's song 'Gay Bar'. Get a life you fucking wierdo

Reply
Robin Elliott link
7/21/2020 09:28:55 pm

These improvements brought electric skateboards back from the brink of collapsing as a whole and actually ended up saving them completely.

Reply
learnsoft link
8/28/2024 09:57:33 pm

Thanks for the information

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Author

    Tatsie and Nobjockey
    for Muckmouth.com

    Archives

    March 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
If you want to link, steal or share our shit, 
Please credit us, that's all we ask. 
Copyright © MuckMouth 2023

FIRE US A MESSAGE

Boom!

Subscribe to our muckmouth mailing list

* indicates required
Email Format
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
  • Articles
    • Forum
  • Index
  • Mags
  • SHOP