Comments on: Skateboarding History Lessons

Skateboarding History Lessons

snsranch — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:19:40 -0800

To commemorate their 25th anniversary, Thrasher Magazine has posted their first 12 issues! Tons of skater nostalgia here.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:20:32 -0800

Via: BB

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:38:17 -0800

Rad! Maybe the letter to the editor I remember from some poor kid who crapped himself in the middle of a trick on a halfpipe is somewhere in there...

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:25:09 -0800

There is a file for Thrasher deep in my brain, buried beneath fluorescent orange and green t-shirts, fingerless leather gloves, a Christian Hosoi board and anything else I might have thought made me look cool in 1988. Thank you so, so much for unearthing these memories. Cool post, btw. 25 years...jesus.

By: Tube

Tube — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:33:32 -0800

You know you are getting old when your girlfriend's 12 year old son tells you that Tony Hawk is "old school"... Sorry, I never graduated to Thrasher, it was always Skateboarder magazine; all about "Dogtown", Tony Alva, Jay Adams, "tail taps", and something mysterious called "greenies". Before we figured out Tracker trucks rocked, we were stuck with Bennett trucks, with their plastic baseplates which were advertised as "unbreakable". "Mr. Bennett" never showed his face in his Skateboarder magazine ads, and I can understand why, as his trucks sucked purulent donkey dick. Back then we had to make our own skateboards out of old slide rules...

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:46:12 -0800

OK, that is cool. That really brings back memories of skinned knees, skinned palms, falling on my ass, and other assorted pleasantries. Empty pools are God's gifts to kids though. "Oops, they're home, let's get out of here!"

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:55:09 -0800

The bits on Iggy and Bow Wow Wow in the December '81 issue are spot on, even if they do have the grammatical style of a sixth grade drop-out.

By: freebird

freebird — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:19:41 -0800

Damn. My time logged in to this game has become a very large number. When did I unlock the "Nostalgia" combo? Anyhow - thanks I think.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:38:08 -0800

caddis, yea, I wish I could see the early issues of Skateboarder again. I think I remember an issue that had a pre Van Halen David Lee Roth getting air in a pool on the cover. His hair was so long it looked like it was going to wind around a wheel. Yea, there was a big difference in the "counter culture" of skating and music between the '70s and '80s. I often wish I was just a few years older. At least so I could have seen Led Zeppelin play live, although I'm told I didn't miss much.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:41:30 -0800

Oh yea, Logan Earth Ski? I probably could have done a better retrospective post, but I was just excited to share the old Thrashers.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:43:50 -0800

Between this and the "anti-wrinkle, anti-blemish" cream I've been using, I am feeling very, very old.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:22:00 -0800

I sold my collection of old skate mags and skate zines a few years ago. It included the first nine "big" issues.

By: plumberonkarst

plumberonkarst — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:25:54 -0800

Thanks for the heads up!! This post reminds me why I should have never Ebay-ed my boards. Does anyone remember the cartoon in the back of Skateboarder magazine,he rode a Shwinn bike. Stroker/Stoker??? Sims snake conicals,roller balls,OJ's,Magnesium trackers,Sims graphite composite,Logan earth ski's with Gullwing/Sims Pure Juice, 8 wheelers for 360's (What was the guy in TO's name?) The Pepsi Plexiglas tube ramp,ordering Black Flag bootleg cassettes from the small ads in the back.etc .. etc .*SIGH* Some of us grew up at a great time!I would never change a thing.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:42:15 -0800

*drops in to the pool, carves into a full coping backside smith grind, goes for air bails out 10 feet above the deck and lands in a pile of stinky beer cans*

By: gompa

gompa — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:39:00 -0800

I wish I could see the early issues of Skateboarder again. Here are digital versions of a handful of early Skateboarder features under the heading of "The Original Dogtown Articles."

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:38:34 -0800

Growing up on the side of a mountain outside a tiny rural town in upstate New York, the nearest paved surface almost a mile away from our house, Thrasher Magazine was like a portal into a weird sunshiny world where kids could somehow suspend the laws of physics and hang upside down in the air forever with a skateboard stuck to their up-pointing feet. I loved Thrasher, whenever I was lucky enough to get the 40 miles to the nearest mall and buy it. I envied the guys who were in it and I would have sold my grandmother for one of those nasty little skater chicks.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:44:13 -0800

They've got my picture in an issue of Thrasher I look so fucking raw I hope they didn't use Photoshop

By: TuxHeDoh

TuxHeDoh — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 06:22:47 -0800

I was trying to remember what type of skateboard deck I had back in the late 80's - I think it began with a G - anyone have any ideas. I feel like an idiot that I can't remember.... but you know how that goes as you get older.

By: plumberonkarst

plumberonkarst — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 06:35:01 -0800

TuxHeDoh Maybe you can find it here : collector site