As we said in our first installment of parts that we believe aged well, there are no set criteria for something hitting differently. Maybe it’s aged really well and embodies the best of a generation or discipline. Maybe it was ahead of its time, and you see traces of it in skateboarders and videos today. Maybe it was overshadowed by the day’s trends, or maybe the passing years have given you a little bit of perspective

For round two we’ve compiled seven more video parts worth revisiting, with hindsight bias. These parts go beyond the obvious, so please, save your comments about Jake Johnson’s Mind Field part for another list.

Casey Rigney – “Arcade Promo” (2011)

I’m struck by the sheer volume of things Casey Rigney was doing on a skateboard long before anyone else: switch backside noseblunting ledges, christening waist-high spots with ease, and taking the nollie heelflip onto rails and into nose manuals on the LA Courthouse manual pad.

His straight-to-the-web Arcade part from 2011 stands strong a decade down the line as some of his best (and unfortunately, final) output shows that beyond his deep bag of tricks, he had a great eye for spots (for example, the kickflip manual where he gaps out to one block, then another). Honestly, he has us thinking about trying a pair of Adios in the year 2021.

Phil Shao – Damage (1996)

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “well-rounded”? Probably nothing that encompasses virtually every aspect of modern skateboarding the way this part does. An ATV in the truest sense of the title (and far before it was a cliché term), Phil Shao could kickflip indy on vert (sans helmet), end a line with a switch backside tailslide a ledge, smith grind a kinked rail, combo over a pyramid ramp, and much more—and somehow, all of these clips meshed together perfectly in his video parts.

Writing nice things about skaters who are no longer with us feels redundant and cheap at times, but in this case, it cannot be overstated: Phil Shao was a one-of-a-kind talent and there’s no doubt he would have continued to do great things, were it not for his untimely passing.

Fred Gall – Real Life (1994)

Fred Gall’s been a fan favorite for so long it’s easy to forget how he commands that level of devotion. In 1994, at the ripe age of fifteen, Fred Gall worked with his friends at Sub Zero Skateshop to put Philadelphia (and, by proxy, the East Coast) on the map, stringing together long lines at City Hall and Love Park, skating big rails, and 360 flipping street gaps.

This part is only sweetened by the knowledge that, in the years following, Freddy would go on to skate the crustiest spots New Jersey has to offer, wallride moving buses, build amazing DIYs, and save monks from burning buildings. A true renaissance man.

Jerry Fowler – Continuum (2002)

By 2002, Jerry Fowler was a well-established figure in the Boston scene, and the city’s distinct architecture served as the backdrop to some of his best footage. Jerry’s muted approach to tech skating favored popping out, popping over, spinning the wrong way, and taking uncomfortable tricks to crusty spots—a stark contrast to many of his peers at the time. He was also an early adaptor of the modern no comply, doing one in a line and taking another into a fakie 5-0.

Speaking of Boston, Jerry’s neighbors, Jahmal Williams and Joey Pepper were strong contenders for this spot on the list.

Justin Strubing – That’s Life (2004)

2004 was when handrail skating, as a discipline, really put skateboarding in a vice, but you wouldn’t know it watching Justin Strubing’s part in That’s Life. Everything in this part is done as if the camera is an afterthought to him, rather than the focal point of his session.

There are no flatground 360 flips, no flipping into tricks, and no overload of handrail clips (beyond a double kink 5-0 grind, the first of its kind). Instead, there are hill bombs, pushing, carving, and lots and lots of banks—in short, a heavy emphasis on the fundamentals of skateboarding above all else, a rarity for the time that wouldn’t feel out of place in a modern video.

Green Apple – Supper’s Ready (2007)

Anyone paying attention to the Winnipeg skate scene in 2007 was in for a real treat. While the rest of skateboarding was consumed by ramped slow-mo and smith grind kickflips, Green Apple Skateshop local Ryan McGuigan was compiling b-roll and figuring out how to stretch thirty seconds of footage into full parts. His efforts culminated with Supper’s Ready.

Bold, chaotic, and captivating, Supper’s Ready quickly rose to prominence thanks to McGuigan’s unorthodox editing style and the high level of Canadian talent involved with the project. A cult classic ever since, the video’s impact is still felt to this day. Peter Sidlauskas has cited Supper’s Ready as an inspiration in multiple interviews and even paid homage to the video in Bronze56k’s 2020.

Tengu, God of Mischief (2013)

In 2013, Colin Read & co-released Tengu, God of Mischief, breathing new life into low-impact skateboarding and pushing avid spot-seekers into the sky and towards the center of the earth. The video’s roof and subway sections mixed urban exploration and skateboarding in a way that’d never been done before and broadened the idea of a spot to include ordinary obstacles with spectacular details.

True, people had been skating spots in subway stations and on top of buildings for years, but not in ways that could so easily kill you. I mean, the Red Hook Grain Terminal? The ollie over the tracks at the 145th Street station? The slightest misstep could send you down a ten-story drop or straight into an electric rail. Plus, it’s Colin Read: we don’t need to tell you the filming and editing is immaculate.

Words by: Andrew Murrell
Check out his ultra-nerdy new IG page, Overthinking Skate Videos
Illustration by: Ryan Parks
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