The 10 Most Influential Skate Videos of All Time
Dozens of skate videos come out each year. While most are forgotten, some come to define eras, not just through the skating they showcase, but the style in which they’re edited and the music that serves as their soundtrack. They color the skate world’s collective memory of every period from the big pants of the early ‘90s through the East Coast revival that took hold a few years later. Though some of the fashions and tricks they popularized may seem dated, the videos themselves will always prove relevant. These are the 10 most influential skate videos of all time.
Stereo – A Visual Sound (1994)
In the early ‘90s, Jason Lee and Chris “Dune” Pastras partnered with Deluxe Distribution to create Stereo, a company that was the antithesis of almost everything that was happening in skateboarding at the time. While most videos focused on tricks, A Visual Sound was more about a feeling, showing Stereo’s riders — Lee, Pastras, Mike Daher, Matt Rodriguez, Ethan Fowler, and others — cruising through the streets to jazz with ample artsy Super 8 footage spliced in. Daher, whose pop and style were unmatched, and Fowler, who made a 360 flip across a street gap look easy, had the standout parts in a video that looked like nothing that came before it.
Dan Wolfe – Underachievers (Eastern Exposure 3) (1996)
In 1996, Dan Wolfe released Underachievers, the third installment of his Eastern Exposure series. Though cities like New York, Philadelphia, and D.C. had produced their share of pros, their scenes were really only beginning to gain wider notice. Wolfe’s video showcased skaters like Tim O’Connor, a New Jersey native with a loose, bouncy style, and Philadelphia’s Ricky Oyola, who shunned the more technical tricks of the time in favor of high-speed lines through the city streets. The black-and-white aesthetic made the skating feel even rawer, and the video ushered in an era of big boards, big wheels, and basic, powerful tricks.
Alien Workshop – Photosynthesis (2000)
A couple of years after it revamped its team, dropping some OGs and adding skaters like Jason Dill, Anthony Van Engelen, and Anthony Pappalardo — oh, and launching Habitat, its sister brand — Alien Workshop released the heavily anticipated Photosynthesis. Aside from popularizing nosegrind pop-outs, the video marked a return to the aesthetic of Memory Screen, the company’s first effort. It was also Philly-centric, with standout sections from Josh Kalis, Brian Wenning, and more. Dill, who joined the team with the ill abduction graphic in 1998, single-handedly made it cool to pick up your board and run down a set of stairs mid-line.
Lakai – Fully Flared (2007)
Fully Flared was easily one of the most hyped skate videos of all time. Lakai advertised it for years before its release, and over the course of making it, added Eric Koston and Guy Mariano to a roster that already included legends like Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, and Marc Johnson. The video was significant on a few levels. For one, it signaled the return of ledge combos — Smith grinds to switch crooked grinds, frontside tailslides to switch backside tailslides, and so on. It also marked a turning point in video production, when footage shot on the trusty VX1000 finally began giving way to crisp hi-def fare. Fully Flared may have polarized skaters, but its impact on skating can still be seen today.
World Industries, Blind, 101 – Trilogy (1996)
A couple of years ago, Jimmy Gorecki, a one-time Aesthetics and Zoo York rider, took to Twitter to say that if a trick wasn’t done in Trilogy, it shouldn’t be done at all. In retrospect, the video — the second combined effort from the World Industries camp — marked the apex of a certain kind of skating. Kareem Campbell, who switch hardflipped a picnic table, would never release another part. The 101 section, which contained a classic Gino Iannucci part set to the “Motherless Child” instrumental and began with what remains as one of the best intros of all time, seems futuristic almost 20 years later.
Powell-Peralta – The Search for Animal Chin (1987)
The Search for Animal Chin captured the heyday of the Bones Brigade. Yes, it was cheesy: The skaters themselves, including Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, and Mike McGill, scoffed at the notion of bringing a cringe-inducing script to life. But the skating — which reaches its crescendo with the discovery of a vert ramp with a spine in the middle of nowhere — was incredible for the time. More importantly, the video humanized the pros by giving viewers a glimpse into their personalities. For proof of Chin’s influence, look no further than Girl and Chocolate’s videos, which have always relied on skits (one of which, in Goldfish, paid tribute to Chin) to add levity to skating.
H-Street – Hokus Pokus (1989)
When Hokus Pokus came out, it became clear that the future of street skating would be devoid of bonelesses and no complies, and that grabs were on their way out. Matt Hensley, whose style was emulated by the skate world at large, pieced together tricks like backside nosegrind reverts and kickflip backside lipslides, while Danny Way closed the video with a barrage of technical vert and miniramp moves. Kids everywhere wondered where they could find the Kirk and Jerks and Sub Society songs the team skated to.
Girl – Mouse (1996)
Mouse is a classic on every level from the opening skit (Rick Howard skating the streets of Los Angeles in a mouse costume) through the concluding part from Guy Mariano, who had been laying low for a few years. The Chocolate section, sandwiched in the middle of the video, boasted a shared Keenan Milton and Gino Iannucci part that closed with the former switch flipping a picnic table from flat, a trick that still holds weight today. The skits—Koston as Chaplin, Brothas from Different Mothas, and Little Keenan—that appear throughout the video are still considered some of the best that Girl has ever done.
Plan B – The Questionable Video (1992)
Not long ago, Danny Way said that The Questionable Video cemented the direction skateboarding would tak. Released less than a year after Plan B was formed, the video showcased the technicality of Mike Carroll and Rick Howard, the vert progression of Way and Colin McKay, and the handrail annihilation of Pat Duffy. It turned San Francisco’s Embarcadero into the absolute center of skateboarding, and it turned every skater in existence onto the Hieroglyphics crew, whose music Carroll skated to. Questionable really helped shape everything that came after it.
Blind – Video Days (1991)
Praising Video Days is cliché, but in 1991, Blind dropped what would form the blueprint for street skating. The team was only five guys deep—Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson, Jordan Richter, Jason Lee, Mark Gonzales—but what they brought to skateboarding was immense. Their individual sections showcased a diminutive Mariano doing noseblunt slides with ease, and Lee putting together some of the smoothest lines ever seen, foreshadowing skating’s future. And then there was the Gonz, whose entire part, which included the first ollie down the Wallenberg four, looked spontaneous. Combine that with the skits that bookend this thing (a Spike Jonze touch) and you have a video that remains as relevant as ever, even 22 years after its release.
Dozens of skate videos come out each year. While most are forgotten, some come to define eras, not just through the skating they showcase, but the style in which they’re edited and the music that serves as their soundtrack. They color the skate world’s collective memory of every period from the big pants of the early ‘90s through the East Coast revival that took hold a few years later. Though some of the fashions and tricks they popularized may seem dated, the videos themselves will always prove relevant. These are the 10 most influential skate videos of all time.