happy birthday 
1 Like
I suppose it must’ve been, it seems equally weird that I would’ve missed or that it wasn’t put out there properly.
I only remember one adidas clip of his after Away Days.
This is probably the most recent clip I’ve seen shared, not that it should’ve made it on to YouTube or anything:
1 Like
Am I dreaming it or wasn’t there a clip/interview of him at his new house with a few obstacles in the drive way? After all the shoe business. His place was right out in the sticks with a bit of land. He talked about how if he slammed up there alone he’d be in trouble so found himself just doing the basics on a board most days? I tried looking for it but type in his name now and it’s a sea of tributes to get past.
1 Like
That was in Epicly Later’d so well before adidas.
I remember that, on an A frame ledge?
Anyhow, bummed out by this still. Watched his GOS vs Rick Howard yesterday. Old Berrics.
1 Like
Ah right, fair enough. Still a rad little interview him if I remember.
1 Like
There you go.
2 Likes
Yeah I watched the one of him against Crobs legion of doom (or whatever they were called). That came up randomly the other day. Back when it was just a bit of fun. He destroyed them, haha.
MJ’s unpopped 3 shuvs are magic. Love seeing them done right…well, overall his skateboarding is magic.
2 Likes
Actually watching it back it was a pretty dark interview knowing what we know now. He seemed super bummed with Lakai, which is a side you don’t see that often in the shoe talk.
1 Like
It does make you wonder how much pressure the riders were put under for that video, MJ did say that Danny Garcia quit at that time because it was too much. We’ll probably never know.
It’s a collective pressure, you can’t blame any individual, not that you are doing that particularly. Seems like more than most MJ put pressure on himself and really wanted to battle until he could do a trick on film. FF was the most hyped up superteam video of all time and it seemed like a watershed for everyone in the industry being kinda tired of putting themselves through that, esp as online content started coming through. I remember at the time hearing that MJ had a full part within a year and the rest were always playing catch up. He just kept going and ended up doing a marathon 3 songer that would leave anyone burnt out.
1 Like
He talks about everyone being unhappy (not just him) and feeling pressure being put on them from about 6mins to 8mins+ … feeling like things were going on in the background that the team or he at least wasn’t privy too.
1 Like
The brand would’ve already been under significant pressure from the sports brands at that point you’d think, a lot of people seemed to snap up Manchester’s at that point but I’m less sure that the other stuff sold too well.
Maybe they felt like they really needed to come out swinging with this video?
Well of course they did. Everyone did. It was so hyped that it could never live up to it. It’s the skate video Wu Tang Forever
2 Likes
It’s still insane to me that Mariano didn’t win SOTY that year. I remember being at the premiere and although the video was amazing there was a weird feeling that it was all a bit much too. Everyone had known Koston was going to Nike for ages and it all dragged out far too long
This is my feeling from what he said in that Basement Tapes vid, if they’d all just filmed in a less pressurised way (they’ll always be some) and just put it out earlier would it have been so bad or a let down? Not sure.
Yeah. Personally I’m a big advocate of filming less and not trying things over and over. But obvs everyone is different. I think if people skated without filming more or were less serious when they did we would have less content but of a much better quality. Even the whole idea of skateboarding for a living is a pretty abstract thing. There is not enough focus on people who just work a job and rip imo. I think MJ was hyper analytical and critical of himself, and don’t think the isolation was good for him through personal experience.
3 Likes
He seems like someone that lives in his own head too much and beats himself up over every mistake he’s ever made. I’m sure most of us can relate to that. So yeah that could have been a bad thing.
It can also be very positive if it gets you away from negative situations and people but I think you need to be in a mentally strong place first.
3 Likes
Exactly. Double edged sword
2 Likes