Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits is a video project that began with one question: What would a Terribleco video with only the best footage from the past 20 years look like?

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A shitshow 20 years in the making

I thought about all of the various parts I have filmed (which, if I’m being honest, I look back on with disappointment). I wondered whether combining all of my favourite clips from every part I’ve filmed, across the 20 years I’ve been skating, would finally give me a part I could be proud of? This was a fun experiment I was keen to try out, but at the time I didn’t think it was worth sharing with the world. 

The idea gained traction when I talked to a few of my mates about the best footage they had filmed over the years. With more people interested in a similar idea, this was something I thought had legs, and was something I thought would be great to share on the blog. Thinking of the best footage from people like Ralph Cooper, Stan Byrne, Daryl Nobbs, Joxa and more being compiled in a video made me stoked. Slapping on some cheesy “Greatest Hits” infomercial graphics was basically a joke that wrote itself at this point, and thus the video project was born.

Not only is this a condensed record of the many videos I’ve put out – this thing is really a great archive of a specific time in Coventry’s skateboarding scene. For example: If you want to see footage of spots that don’t exist anymore, or see a small selection of people who were deeply ingrained in the scene around the mid to late 2000s, this video does a great job of surfacing that.

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Caveats

(aka excuses for anything you might call “poor quality”)

The video did not come without its complexities though. I had a really shit external hard drive I bought from a back alley IT shop during the period of 2005-2009. This thing failed on me a lot, and ultimately bit the dust – meaning I lost the raw source video files used for 4 of the videos I needed to make this thing work. 

I had to rip the shoddy DVDs for these videos to get access to any form of footage (luckily ripping the DVDs worked, because they sure as hell don’t play properly anymore). Unfortunately this meant that any footage from these 4 videos had to be silent, as I was effectively using the final video (music and all) to grab the tricks I wanted from that era. 

Also, because I’m an idiot who didn’t archive stuff for a time, this “silent movie” treatment also applies to any tricks from Batface, the Sitting On The Toilet tour video and Red Cross Episode 1. Still, I’m just glad I was able to save a bunch of these videos. 

I say this video pulls from every Terribleco video, but that’s not technically true. I chose to omit footage from the first 3 videos I made: Consortium Black, Consortium Pink, and Beastly (aka Consortium White). Fun fact: Consortium was basically the first name of this blog, long before I settled on Terribleco, hence the videos were all named Consortium. 

These videos were all filmed using a really shit camera: meaning the resolution was terrible, the frame rate was worse, and due to these videos being made so early in our skateboarding lives, the tricks weren’t very good either. You’re really only missing out on some prime early Ade and Rosko footage by omission of footage from these videos (including tricks we both did better in later videos), so it’s not much of a loss. If I ever feel like publicly embarrassing myself and unleashing an 18 year old part of axle stalls and rock & rolls, I might post it up in the future… 

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The parts

With all of that said, the 10 parts in this video deserve more than the lacklustre, excuse filled introduction above. Here’s a breakdown of each part depicted here and a little bit about what each person has meant to The Terrible Company over the years.

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1. Chris Mander

My brother from another mother gets first part duties, and honestly you need some good old fashioned Chris Mander footage in your life to get the party started. Combing through Chris’ footage was like reliving one of the best friendships of my life all over again, and a reminder that Chris is insanely natural on a skateboard. I chose a funky old bendy track for the Bendy Man himself. 

After an extended hiatus, Chris has now fallen back in love with skateboarding and is currently (despite his reservations about it a year ago) filming a full part with me for The Terrible Company’s next full length video. Like a fine wine, I genuinely think the new part he’s filming might turn out to be his best yet. With that said, get yourself a primer in why Chris Mander rules with this opening banger. Love ya, bruvva.

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2. Alex McGhie

Some of the parts in this video are extremely odd because the same skater goes from being a child to a fully grown man as the clips bounce around time. In the case of someone like Moose this is probably just proof that he was always good at skateboarding. Another thing that is painfully obvious is that the dude is just an all up ATV – crusty ditches, marble ledges, mini ramps… Moose shreds it all.

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3. Rosko

I’m not sure if Rosko ever agreed, but he most definitely was a driving force in making this blog what it is today. When our initial skate crew of the “Consortium” era disbanded, literally me and Rosko were the only ones left. If I didn’t know him I probably would have quit skating. I owe this dude a lot, and it was great to once again become reacquainted with one of the most inventive, quirky and technically gifted skateboarders I ever had the pleasure to skate with. 

For each part in this video, I tried to get in touch with each person, get them to watch their section ahead of time and collaborate on any changes – unfortunately the one person I just couldn’t get ahold of was Rosko. Truth be told I’m gutted to have lost touch with him, but he’s somewhat of a ghost on the internet and I hit a proper dead end after going down a rabbit hole of old school contacts trying to get in touch with him. Either way: Thank you, Rosko, you’re a living legend.

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4. Ade The Terrible

Bringing this full circle to why I even had this idea to begin with: turns out I actually do have enough “good” tricks to make a part I am finally proud of. I probably should have just held onto the good shit until now and did this as my first ever part, huh? I’m never gonna get sponsored, but at least I had fun doing this stuff.

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5. Joxa

Steve has been such a huge influence on me over the years, and the many years I have spent behind the lense capturing his raw, aggressive skateboarding have contributed to some of the best times of my life. I lost count of how many Tailblocks, Sweepers and Slash Grinds I’ve filmed Joxa doing, but I would gladly spend another 15 years doing it all over again. Get the teas on, Ste!

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6. Harry Myers

To put it simply, Harry Myers is just a bloody lovely human being who is very good at skateboarding. An overwhelmingly genuine and honest person who grafts for every trick, even when it looks effortless. He walked away from skateboarding for about 5 years, and came back just as good as he was when he quit. There is also honestly no better person to go on a skate trip with – I’ve been on many trips with Harry and he’s just a great companion to take on a journey around the country. He’ll always chip in for petrol, he’ll always help you get your shit sorted, and he’ll always skate harder than anyone I know. As you’ll see, he’s just consistently rad and a proper ATV.

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7. Stan Byrne

My absolute fave. Beautiful shapes on a skateboard, flowy style, and every transition trick you could think of. I am a firm subscriber to the cult of Stan Byrne, and I was backing this guy’s fantastic presence in skateboarding since very early on. Every time I watch him skate I swear I see a trick and have to rewatch it in disbelief, and filming him throwing out surprises for your camera is just genuinely a real treat as a filmer. What we have here is a tight 4 minutes of gnarly as fuck skating to a straight up 80s banger.

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8. Daryl Nobbs

Considering I’ve not been able to meet up with Cov Sid for many years, this part consists of some classic Nobbs vintage. Basically the best clips I filmed of Daryl between 2006 and 2010 – when he rode for Heathen and long before he built some of the world’s best skateparks. Some of the tricks in this video come from the “Ride Day Trip 2006” video I made for Jim The Skin: a tour video filmed across the space of a single day, where Daryl unsurprisingly filmed half of his banger curtains section for Corrosive Materials. That fact alone should tell you that this part consists of a non-stop assault of transition blasting insanity, with a sprinkling of rare Cov Sid street footage. The ender is one of the most mental tricks I ever saw go down at Stratford skatepark as well!

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9. Ralph Cooper

Ralph almost certainly had to have the second to last part. I think he has had the most last parts out of all of my videos – at his peak he was just an all out street machine and practically every spot in Cov got shut down by him. The first 10 years of this blog were basically defined by Ralph’s last parts in videos, so to re-visit his transformation from the early days of literally looking like Thor (long, bleach blond hair) to his later parts where he dressed like a 90s rapper whilst skating to Kiss was a real trip. 

The last of the “4 Horsemen Of The Terrible Company” (i.e. Chris, Rosko, Ralph and myself) to appear in this video – Ralph was honestly one of my best friends for many years back in the heyday of this blog being a Coventry scene website. With a formidable reputation on a skateboard, and a cheery, friendly attitude, as well as a downright daft sense of humour, Ralph fit in with our crew since the minute I started filming with him (despite Sidewalk calling him out for not being “hesh” enough to hold the last section in our unbelievably crass coping crushfest “Batface”). There was honestly no better person to set up the final curtain…

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10. Lucas Healey

I mean, it had to be Goose, right? One of the UK’s most quick footed and inventive Street skaters filmed a fair few parts with me during his teenage years. If Ralph’s last parts defined the first 10 years of this blog, Lucas’ last parts defined the next 10 years – attacking all terrain with whatever you got, and having fun doing it. Like Moose’s part, there’s some really weird juxtapositions with footage of this tiny kid, followed by footage of modern day Lucas – what’s interesting is that some of his older tricks are just incredible even compared to how good he has become.

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Conclusion

Editing this thing has been such a nostalgia trip and truth be told I am so happy I have all of these videos in some form or another to comb through. There are tricks, skate sessions and great times I completely forgot that I only now remember after watching this footage. I’m honoured to have been there to film so many rad human beings and humbled that any of them would trust me to make a video full of their amazing skateboarding. 

I initially had a much more expanded list of people who I wanted to include: dudes like Pro Marky, Swampy, Duffman, Tony Lui and Joe Fleming (among others who are incredibly important to this blog’s history) are unfortunately absent from this video, which I make a joke about in the small print during the intro. There are also a selection of people who I’ve filmed the odd clip of over the years, that surprise surprise, have enough footage in total to put out a full length part! No spoilers though *cough*Jim The Skin*cough*Frocker*cough*

I really didn’t want to make this thing too long, and truth be told I was worried it already ran a bit long as it is. A version of this video with everyone I wanted to include could easily clock in at 2 hours, and I was worried people wouldn’t sit through what I have here, let alone a version of this that’s longer than a Marvel movie! If people enjoy this, maybe I’ll do a Volume 2?