Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
Hey, thought this would go best here, it feels like a CW article to me, well... I wish!
Some of my thoughts on the death of skating.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an OG. Much of this stuff will probably be wrong, but the idea at the end is the point!
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In the beginning, we made skateboards out of old roller skates. They got strapped to a piece of wood and you ran out into the street to skate. Kids everywhere loved it, people skated around and had a great time. The stoke was high, nobody had ever ridden the 'crete like this before!
After a few years, freestyle began to emerge. Crazy manouvers, handstands, spinners, general flat ground madness. The freestyle tricks got so crazy, people had to start finding quiet areas to go practice or they would more than likely hit someone with their stoke mobile. As freetstyle got bigger, skateboarding got bigger. It was new, fresh and exciting. Eventually, the Dogtown Crew (and others, but I cannot name them), thought "hey, I bet we could ride those empty swimming pools!"
Next thing you know, vert was born. The first great age of skateboarding. No longer was it seen as just a toy, but a new radical XXXtreme sport! It gradually got bigger and bigger, pros had their own decks, shoes and films. Eventually, it was impossible to skate the "cool" surfaces of the time unless you paid a whole bunch of money and went to a custom built facility on your fancy skateboard with graphic protectors (haha!). And thus the death of skateboarding happened for the first time.
By moving skateboarding away from the simple, fun past time it had been and into big business, fancy ramps, pro boards, big companies, it was taken away from the streets where it began and where it belongs.
A new generation of skaters decided they couldn't be bothered with all this nonsense and were gonna take back the streets were they wanted to be. Street skating was born. Once again, kids could grab their board, roll out the house and be in a skating wonderland where anything was possible. Hangin out at the local curb busting kickflips and slappies was fun. It was honest and nobody cared what you were doing because it wasn't cool.
Soon street started to get recognised. The X games, jackass, Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Soon the world was aware of skating again and it looked fun! Re-marketed and back on the streets it looked fun and everyone and their mum wanted a go. Next thing you know, all the money is back, Nikes on board, everyone wants to sponsor skateboarding and get a slice of the pie.
As street evolved, pros were doing bigger and more technical tricks. Skateboarding began getting banned on the streets due to property damage and noise complaints. People moved into the new XXXtreme super parks with terrain and ramps that would never be found on a street corner.
Now street is dying.
Here come the longboards!
As skateboarding gets bigger and more widely noticed, the companies that are supposed to be supporting it are changing the core soul of skateboarding. It gets removed from the simple 'playing in the street' activity that it IS and always will be. By removing the streets from skateboarding, we are taking away what makes it skateboarding. Longboarding is getting more and more popular as people realise they don't have to break a deck every month, they don't have to pay to go ride Vans super concrete park and they damned well arn't expected to bust a kickflip lipslide down a 4 foot high, twenty foot long rail. You can just get up, grab your board and get the #### out there and RIP!
Don't let longboarding get taken away from the streets where it belongs. Sure, we'd all love to have big sponsored events with closed off roads and longboard parks everywhere, but that is what will kill the activity that we love.
Re: Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
I would say "longboarding" in general is just as far from the "soul" of skating as commercialized park skating is. Look at all the super-long, super ergonomic, strangely shaped, and strangely constructed hi-tech boards and trucks and all the things that are done on them, and compare it to "original" skateboarding. Look at all the outfits cashing in on it, and look at all the no-name brands cropping up for money rather than love. Skateboarding is what you make it, not what other people sell it for.
Re: Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
great thread nice work
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Re: Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steez Police
I would say "longboarding" in general is just as far from the "soul" of skating as commercialized park skating is. Look at all the super-long, super ergonomic, strangely shaped, and strangely constructed hi-tech boards and trucks and all the things that are done on them, and compare it to "original" skateboarding. Look at all the outfits cashing in on it, and look at all the no-name brands cropping up for money rather than love. Skateboarding is what you make it, not what other people sell it for.
this guys right. but nevermind that, just go skate
Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
Re: Longboarding: Bringing skateboards back to the streets?
