Category Archive: Back In The Day
Let’s go Sadlands
This is from the April 1990 issue of Poweredge Magazine, hot off the scanner. And if you think that’s hot, there’s a contest going on right now at Upland. Wait, Del Mar? Help me out here…
G.O.N.E.
Ever wonder what one of those prefab skateparks look like when they show up at the old tennis court? Well, me either, but I thought I’d take a look as long as someone already had pictures. Hopefully most of our readers won’t have to get any closer to prefab than the pictures on G.O.N.E., which stands for Geezers of New England. Nice acronym, (but it’s no H.O.M.O.S….) While I can’t condone getting excited about prefab, I did get a good chuckle out of the appropriation of the famous Sex Pistols graphic.
Vert is Dead: More 90’s nostalgia
Ok, it’s more like a lot of late, late 80’s and 90’s nostalgia, but the title should give you an idea. Vert is Dead in a nice collection of magazine pages and flotsam from the era. Pictured above left is a 1989 photocopied product catalog from SMA. On the right we have a 1991 Thrasher advert for the infamous Natas graphic on his 101 skateboards. If you go back to the first post, Vert is Dead kicked it off in May of 2008 with a Tracker advert for GSD’s airplane evacuation graphic board. The advert appeared in the October 1988 issue of Transworld, the first issue of a skateboard magazine that the site’s author Justin ever saw.
I get around
“I Get Around” is a compilation from Ontario’s famous (?) TeeVee Records that might be related to the current operation named TeeVee operating out of Nashville Tennessee. The original TeeVee was pretty much the same as K-Tel records, which is also based in Canada. If you were lucky the record you bought would be a compilations of popular or formerly popular songs. If you were unlucky, it would be a compilation of cover versions of those songs. Sometimes you might find something more interesting, like a moog synthesizer studio band covering tripped out ABBA instrumentals. Today’s TeeVee appears to be focused on country music greatest hits compilations from yesteryear.
Metro Cross
Speaking of pixelated, it’s been a year and a half since we tackled bad skateboarding video games from the 8 bit days. It was called “Seven days of bad skateboarding video games” but apparently I abandoned the concept after only three ( 1 – 2 – 3) days. Metro Cross has the honor of winning the worst video game box cover in a PC World article. – Thanks to Bobcat for the tip.
Old School Skateboarding Slams
Just like the title says; it’s Old School Skateboarding Slams from the northern Indianapolis area, circa ’87-90. Nothing in it stands out as spectacular, but taken as a whole it’s got a big warm, fuzzy vibe. My favorite slam starts at the 1:35 mark. It’s way off in the background and doesn’t make a good screen capture, so I went with my second favorite slam that happens immediately after. GVK said he felt like he could have been at any one of these sessions. Watch the whole thing after the jump.
Another You
Joesf Heffner sent in a screen grab from the 1991 Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor film Another You. I watched the trailer and I can’t figure out how the road warrior on skateboard fits in. Looks like they chopped off the front of the board and attached a cow catcher, possibly even painted some 215’s blue. That board’s been actually used for more than just a prop.
Then and now: Collectable drink cups
That video of Rob Dyrdek eating it pretty hard while dressed up as a Carls Jr mascott has been making the rounds lately. He’s got some promotional drink cups coming out through Carls Jr, who have also made a donation to the Skate Plaza foundation. This is as good an excuse as any to trot out these old 70’s era collectable slurpee skateboard cups from 7-11. [Source: Pitch Engine]
The Chrome Ball Incident
I don’t know what the title of The Chrome Ball Incident refers to. Calls to mind pinball for me. This site picks up exactly where I stopped paying attention to the major skate mags. Even as someone who doesn’t really feel a connection with the popular culture of skateboarding during that time period, I still find these old archives interesting, sometimes even fascinating. It’s all about the hindsight and knowing how it all shook down in the end. Through all the cat fights and temper tantrums in the industry, there was still some great skating going down. One post I enjoyed reading was an interview with Matt Hensley as he was fading out from the public eye of skateboarding. HE was working at the Chicago Sessions shop, who was actually a client of the silkscreen company I was a partner in. He came in with the Sessions dude (Scott?) and we worked up the art for a Sessions T-shirt that looked like a “tribute” to the first Specials album. I remember I vaguely knew who he was, but totally didn’t recognize him. I only mention it (becauee I want you to love me) because in the interview Matt briefly talks…
My first comic
The first comic I submitted to Thrasher appeared in the February 1982 issue. That must have been my birthday present. I turned 21 that month. Thrasher Magazine has posted all of the issues from their second year on their website.











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