he only started skating street just to fit in, its like he was playing a 100 string guitar and nobody could relate so he just started playing a normal 6 string. Ive seen Rodney skate in person two seperate times in the early 90s. He would start freestyling and shut the demo down, it was all eyes on him and the other pros would just stare.
Rodney Mullen didn't kill freestyle by killing it at freestyle. He did bring freestyle to my friends and I with his video ending in THPS2. He had an amazing attitude too. All the other skater's endings were videos accompanied by monologues they did on themselves that really made them look like they were jerks or pretentious or just trying to hard to be cool, despite their talent. In his ending he has "I don't what to say about myself" on his board, "except" on his hand and flips the board to see the logo I love skateboarding instead of a spoken monologue . I really think that had a huge effect on the kids inspired to skate freestyle by him, in the way off not having a dickhead attitude about skateboarding, not doing it as an ego game, but because you love it, and there's nothing cooler than that. Even now most freestyle skaters at least that I skate with are chill and encouraging, verses the street skaters I skate with who are the opposite.
Mullen inspired so many Skater. He did kill Freestyle, he pushed the Limits to the max and above. He tried to keep Freestyle alive but at the End everyone leaved and he wanted to stay. Him saying, it took him 8 Months to skate at things really opend my eyes. Mullen is the Skater, we all hoped to be. Hawk is the Skater we all wanted to become. But without Mullen there wouldnt be any streetskater or any sick tricks. People call him the Godfather of skateboarding. I think, he is the only one which understood skateboarding and loved it more than anything else. And his persona is just nice af. A lot Skater should be more like him. it would make the scene abetter place...
I really appreciate the love for Rodney Mullen that this channel gives. In 1996, at the age of 11, I got my 1st board. Kris Markovich and Andrew Reynolds were skaters I enjoyed keeping tabs on but didn't have a favorite. It wasn't until I saw Mullen in Tony Hawk 2 that I was completely blown away. I was immediately a fan and followed his every move and watched all of his parts. I skated Enjoi and Darkstar boards and Tensor Trucks and I owned his wicked Globe shoe model that had a huge ass rubber part on the ollie area. Freestyle wasn't a big part of my skating but learning to flip into and out of a primo was directly inspired by him. Also, I really, REALLY wanted to do darkslides and could not get it down. I could set the board upside down and run and slide on it and flip out successfully but never got the flip into part. Anyways, thanks Rodney Mullen!
this might seem like a dumb question but where does the term "euro gap" come from? was there an original euro gap that those style of gaps are named after or is it something else?
VLSkate that's a really good question. in every other extreme sports discipline, that kind feature is called a step up. Is it because a specific spot in Europe or something?
VLSkate I believe it was initially called a Wembley gap because the first one purpose built was for something in a stadium in Wembley, then it sort of mutated into "Euro gap".
Brother Rad Rat, I haven’t skated since a really gnarly injury years ago. I was never a street guy, mostly mini ramps and some vert at the skate parks. I said all that to say this, I had to stop watching skating because it gave me the “fever” to skate and I couldn’t do it anymore. I stumbled across your channel and now I’m hooked. Your positivity is inspiring. You always give everyone their due, and you never speak negatively about anyone. The skate universe would a different place if everyone was a little more like you. Thanks brother.
What do you think is more impressive in a street video: one massive/tech trick down a big rail or gap (maybe even a sketchy/unusual skate spot), or a longer Kirchart style line with a couple smaller tricks and a big topper trick down a similar big rail or gap?
I feel like the big advantage street has over most other stuff is the constantly changing scenery and obstacles keeping things fresh and giving a bit more artistic feel to the video. There's a Andy Anderson part with street, park and a lot of freestyle. That feels like the future of freestyle, being integrated into the toolkit with everything else
Late to this.. not sure how I missed this video I've been watching RR for years. But regardless of what anyone says.. wear one if you're just getting started. Brain damage/loss of life etc isn't worth it.. I stopped after a couple years of progress and thankfully never had any head accidents but yeah just get one.
Until I got ahold of a thrasher magazine in 84' I thought freestyle was skateboarding and no other forms existed. It wasn't until i found thrasher and built a wood quaterpipe from their advice that I discovered there were other skaters in my town. That's the 80's for you.
I can't remember where I read it I'm pretty sure it was in his autobiography, but if I remember correctly the main factor as to why he lost his one and only competition as a pro was because he was very sick.
Question, it seemed back in the day, when I was into skating, pros seemed to gear their styles to the companys they skated for. THUG was a good example of this, as you got to pick which company you skated for and the style you skated in the game. But even more so in general, you see companys like Zero and their more grungy styles, Element had a more fun feeling, Birdhouse was more vert, Zoo York was kind of like big city street, etc. Heck even how you dressed seemed to play a part in who your sponsor was. So my question is do pros still take that approach when looking to get sponsored? Do companies still have individual "styles" or whatnot? Thanks.
Very very enjoyable, I hope you don't lose your character because of attention like most skateboarding youtubers. +you actually know what you talking about, good job
He did release that Liminal part, but I remember him talking, years ago on a free lunch, about that he was still skating and filming. From the 5 incher teasers I think his name was in there and he was supposed to be in the video, but he didn't have one clip in there. Do you think we'll get a serious part from him ever again?
Rodney totally inspired me as a street skater by watching his part in plan b second hand smoke later on I learned most of his moves were actually freestyle moves being transferred to the street. As time went on I met a group of other skaters who had the plan b virtual reality video and showed me Rodney's part. I felt robbed of missing out on it for so long most of these tricks didn't matter if they were at curb height we all felt the same about the same tricks as you and were inspired to skate gritty like him
Rodney Mullen also apparently worked on the shape that would very much become the shape we're riding today with World Industries in the early nineties. This was in his Transworld Interview from the early millennium. He apparently wanted to make skateboards look more like a freestyle deck. So he even has influence in that aspect. He's one crazy kook!
Hi dude I discovered your channel recently and I really enjoy it so thanks. Gotta say I love Rodney I believe he's the most influential skater in history closely followed by The Gonz. In my opinion Rodney did not killed freestyle on the long run at least, maybe at the moment he did hurt it because of the no real competition issue you said. I just think that he elevated the bar so high that only now other skaters are being able to get to tat point of skills that Rodney presented during the 70's and 80's. And if you look closely you can see that freestyle is making a comeback.
Looking at Rodney doing caspers and impossibles made me wish those tricks were in Skate 3. Doing an impossible over a 20 set on THUG feels like nothing and caspers on said game are nothing more than combo fillers. A question for a future video: If you could go to any skatepark in the world, what would it be? (you can make a list)
True. I used to do half kickflip to dark catch to shove its in Skate as kind of a way to do caspers. Thanks for the question. I'll see if I can come up with something for that.
How do you kill something that's dying? Did someone kill barrel jumping? High jumping? Slalom? Things run their course, evolve. When street skating became something on it's own (We just called it skating), it was very underground, the industry not supporting it. If you're rolling around on flat ground doing nollie hardflips; that's freestyle. So, freestyle is not dead I see people doing it everyday. A game of skate on flat is a freestyle challenge. If Rocco and others hadn't convinced Rodney to take freestyle to the street I'm pretty sure street would not have progressed as fast as it has because the big companies thought they determined what the people want. Tons of little companies popped up and their videos were dominated by street. I think if Danny Way had came up at the same time as Tony Hawk, we might be playing Danny Way Pro Skater.
My friend was doing flatground tricks and he kickflipped and landed in primo by accident. He played it off and flipped out and rode away which was crazy to me lol
Mullen wasn't a ramp or transition skater so you cant compare him to that but flat ground freestyle and trick street obstacle skating..Mullen is by far and hands down the best and greatest ever of all time bar none. He did stuff then that no one can do or even attempt today. The guy was a freak. The true Lord of Board. Rodney "the Mutt" Mullen.
I think flatground freestyle "died" around the time technical street skating became possible, basically due to Rodney. When he invented all the flip tricks, he thought of them as freestyle tricks; it took guys like Natas and Gonz to realize they could do this stuff off curbs and stairs, and into railslides. A lot of the interesting stuff from freestyle could be ported over to street, and I think this is what happened; perhaps what we now think of as freestyle is the stuff that got left behind because you can't really do it while moving. I think Rodney's stuff in the 90's was his attempt to port basically everything over, but a lot of it didn't catch on because the learning curve is too steep; as you say in the video, casper slides are really, really hard. However, note that we have started seeing darkslides from decidedly non-gimmicky pros in the last few years (Wes Kremer, Jim Greco). Anyway, that's my $.02. Side note, I think even in the 80's, videos were not that ubiquitous and magazines were still the primary method of consumption for skating.
@Rad Rat - How did you miss Mullens flatground invert from 1988 or so. An invert with no launch from a transition just brute strength. Thats never been repeated. A video reference in Rodney Mullen/ From the ground up ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ieC_5foElVk.html @6:20 is sick.
"I don't know how he did it." You said it a couple of times during the casper slide segment. Take a second look at the underside of his tail. Board is red, tail is black. Might be grip tape. Been watching those clips since they came out and never noticed this myself. That would explain a lot for grip, keeping the slide angle and momentum perfect , and helping to scoop the 360 flip out of the casper slide. Just something to ponder...
I think it was accepted during a interview with another skater that he rocked grip tape under the nose and tail. I too spent hours slicking my foot off trying to understand where to pop or dig into. A great magician be never tells
On the nose casper slide... there mustve been grip tape on the under side of his nose and, to me, it looks like he does tweek it a bit, like the anti-casper
I always thought of street and freestyle as if compared to school subjects... street is to english/creative writing as freestyle is to chemistry/algebra... even though filming became more accessible, freestyle is still kinda like the nerdy square kinda thing and street is the cool expressibe hip thing. Both are super important and impressive but algebra and chemistry just dont have the style and hippness that creative writing and english classes do... i hope this makes sense.
You're safer from bone breaks, but probably more in danger of ankle injuries. But I haven't really heard of a freestyler being out with a major injury that often.
I also was most tripped out by the casper sliding variations in virtual reality video. but that weird nose casper on top of that bank was a trip out I knew there was no reason the physics work
Mullen's primo combos are the reason his hips are fucked these days. Discuss. It must be all in the hips these tricks especially the 1.5 flip in one and the tre out one.
All I can say is he killed it he killed it the right way. Natrual progression. These days people are killing things by trying to cash in on something or ruin it's name by doing something in a different way or not taking it seriously. He killed it because he stayed to himself and was just awesome. That's what happens.
I always kinda felt that freestyle was partially killed by haters. I was about the only one of my friends who wanted to watch a freestyle segment on a vid, but even I cringed sometimes.
hey whats the name of the artist who drew that wave picture behind you i saw it in anartbook yesterday and i realised damn this looks like rads background in his videos :p
Really enjoyed the thoughts to think about, but really disagree with blaming Mullen in any way for the vanishing of freestyle. I'm no expert in skate history, but it seems to me that Mullen had a very difficult time adapting to the changing environment around him and to his realtionship with parents and other people on the skate industry. Being always the fisrt place should be seen as an effort to keep what he loves to do at a high level, and I don't think other people being frustrated or disencouraged is somehow his fault. It's even more amazing to me that he decided to try and adapt those tricks to street as a way to mash the worlds he was presented with and keep being able to live off skateboarding. I wouldn't say he killied anything, just the opposite. In my opinion his parts are somewhat responsible for all the upcoming "weird and creative'' skaters, wich by the way are probably my favourite kind of skater.
To me it seems obvious that he slided slightly sidewards when doing the nose casper into the bank. He is def not sliding straight ahead. Would physically not be possible?
Just Stewie what's with Wes kremers darkslide in crusty by nature? You could say that the material was more of a downledge, but I think I saw him do another one on a skatepark downrail the year after
Christopher Rowe I know the clip you are referring to, from his part in Art Bars yah? I always thought that was really bad ass and creative. That part also exposed me to modest mouse for the first time as well :)
It's hung straight, but it has a slit down the middle and both sides kind of split to the sides. If anything is crooked, it's probably my camera. I'm a bit taller than my tripod so I have to have the legs almost straight and it's tough to keep them perfectly balanced.
i swear to you i saw him doing a truckstsnd slide right on these curbs in 2002 some internet footage and he did like shift on front and back sides, i never have seen again :/
is there even anyone today doing stuff as difficult as mullen was pretty much 20+ years ago? i know guys like jaws and kwalks go hard and huge but pure technicality i still don't see people touching rodney.
he still does freestyle tricks these days. i think its mainly all he does, if you find more recent footage all he does is flatground ollie tricks and some primo tricks. hes too old to be doing obstacles these days. or at least to take the time to film a line of it anyway
Has the internet ruined skate videos? Theres two interesting articles with opposing sides one article on jenkem one of slap id like to know your opinion.
Rodney Born freestyle, before him it where just a skating on a board. No tricks of any kind. He artist which make it look beautiful in complicate technique
