Ryan Bradley’s no stranger to seeing skateboarding through a lens, although usually it’s for the purposes of taking photos rather than the moving image. Seeing as he’s already ran down his Top 5 Skate Photos for us here at The Terrible Company, this time RB has decided to introduce us to his Top 5 Video parts. – Ade
It’s almost difficult to know what parts to choose as entries for my Top 5, purely because there’s just that many that have stood out and stuck with me over the years I’ve been skateboarding. Whether it’s videos from the early days of the industry, or the cinematic directions of present day sections, it’s almost as hard to know what order to label them. – RB
5. Jason Lee in “Video Days”
Number 5 was a big toss up between this Jason Lee part and Ray Barbee in “Ban This”. The former choice is such a fluid and lovely section to watch that I can easily view over and over again, yet Barbee’s ageless steeze in his part is something I can so easily envision as a reference point of many other’s style today.
Lee’s Video Days section has everything you could want – grabless tricks on vert, street cruising back 3’s up off drop curbs, a completely seamless style and even street transition. Sometimes less is more, especially in an industry where tricks and overall skating is advancing at a mind splitting rate year after year, or practically month after month, and Jason Lee’s part only emphasises that with such an easy watch to a more than suited song.
4. Mike Carroll in “Fully Flared”
Mike Carroll has been one of my favourite skaters since before I actually stepped on a skateboard full time, and for good reason. Even after that time period I remember being in school and not being able to wait for Fully Flared to drop. The Kenilworth crew and I would always be discussing which sections we were most excited to see during break times. The hype for Lakai’s video was real.
Fast forward to the present day and Carroll’s double song section is still one of my favourite parts I’ve seen. Not only is the company owner a legend in the industry and a fan favourite of all ages, but his trick selection and saucy steeze will always keep my eyes glued to his footage, more specifically to Fully Flared. This section was yet another statement of his technical ability of mixing his historic old school talent and blending it with predominant new school adaption.
Skating to contrasting songs by both Judas Priest and Three 6 Mafia together in the same 4 minutes has never looked so good as it does in that part. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone perform such gnarly and perfectly executed Feeble grinds on ledges like Mike Carroll does in this section, let alone the Front Feeble on Hubba Hideout.
3. Dylan Reider’s “Gravis” Part
One of many videos I’ve watched quite literally countless times, I think Dylan Reider’s one part video speaks for itself. The iconic impossible over the bench in New York, above other ridiculous clips and other explosive impossibles, tells you everything you need to know about the rest of his unique and powerhouse skateboarding. It’s safe to say Dylan has left a lasting impact and a legacy within our industry after be taken from our world far, far too soon.
His authoritative skateboarding, his timeless steeze and his preppy freshness in this part now feel like a celebration of his skating from all those years ago, and his Gravis Part will always go down as a video full of hammers and individuality. It’s no surprise that his part on YouTube has collected a massive 1.2 million views: this is an ode to somebody who could make even the simplest 50-50 or Boardslide look so damn incredible.
2. Andrew Reynolds in “Stay Gold”
What can I say about this section, really? It was one of those parts that the whole skateboarding world seemingly waited in anticipation for, because The Boss is just that kind of main event attraction, and rightly so. When we talk about hammers, who better is there that can put together not only a masterpiece, but a masterpiece full of constant hammers in a variety of spots, ways and lines that just never gets boring just like in Stay Gold? Well, not very many, really.
After all, I can say that I’m fortunate enough to see even his ‘tame’ side of skating in the flesh back when I saw him skating at Mile End around 2012, to which I realised those delicious FS Flips are even more beautiful in real life. Just to top it off that little bit more, and cement my reasoning for including this part at number 2 in my Top 5 – I also met him and he really was the nicest dude.
I remember attending the Stay Gold premier in the cinema around the corner from Ideal Skateshop, in what ended up being a room full of hype, crazy cheers and applause as Reynold’s part (and final section in the video) ended with the Kickflip over the Davis Gap. There was no Reynolds in attendance that day, there were no Emerica officials providing the premier, it was just a room full of local skateboarders showing appreciation in a deafening manner to what is, in my opinion, The Boss’ greatest part, or one of the greatest parts ever made.
1. Torey Pudwill in “Dudes, Dudes, Dudes”
Of course there are a plethora of parts I’ve watched which stand out to me through the 14 odd years I’ve been skateboarding and the 14 odd years of knowledge accumulated, however some of the most iconic (to me personally) are the videos which I initially found in the first few years of being a skater which shaped my personal taste and my own style for years to come.
The number 1 entry on this top 5 for the above reasons is Torey Pudwill’s part in the DVS video “Dudes, Dudes, Dudes“. I remember watching this in my adolescence and being completely hyped by his style, pop, trick selection, song choice and editing in this part. It’s a perfect example of everything coming together so wonderfully to create such a full part which ultimately added to the overall video, or took over the video.
Even though he was still so young and green in the industry, he was known, and this section was almost a passive statement of putting himself on the map and stamping down his name for years to come. This part shows his skating was far ahead of its time and he conclusively had one of only 2 dedicated parts (the other coming from Paul Shier) in what was only intended to be a promo video full of montages by the shoe company.
You could really see in this section that this dude was already beginning to make his inevitably bright future a reality during that time. Even though he was the new school side of skateboarding rising up in the industry, it was clear to see he lived skateboarding, with his attitude and natural ability, as well as already being a complete OG during the latter 2000’s. To me this section pushed the boundaries of the level of skateboarding during that time period, and his level of success since Dudes Dudes Dudes speaks for itself.
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