#videodays

guy mariano from 1991 blind "video days"

after being amateur for powell-peralta, guy mariano joined mark gonzales on his new formed "blind skateboards". mark just quit his former sponsor vision (on which the name "blind" is a pun, it´s the opposite of "vision") and founded blind in 1989 with the help of steve rocco, owner of world industries. gonz "stole" guy mariano from powell and took jason lee from "santa monica airlines". along with spike jonze, blind released "video days" in 1991. skaters featured in this classic video are mark gonzales himself, jason lee, guy mariano, rudy johnson and jordan richter (with a kick ass soundtrack. guy mariano skates to the jackson 5′s ‘I Want You Back’ and Mark Gonzales’ music bed is ‘Traneing In’ by John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio.

While I have been covering mainly semi-modern skateboard films from the new millennium, I wanted to go back and observe skateboardings most beloved roots. Coming into the early 90's, skateboarding and skate culture was essentially dead as the popularity of vert skating on ramps had reached its limit in innovation and reliability. Not every kid and adult could relate to the Tony Hawk’s or Christian Hosoi’s of the world and therefore skateboarding became stagnant but nevertheless primed for a new force to take the lead in the cultures progression. Then, 1991 a company called Blind Skateboards came into the picture producing the most influential skate video in history, Video Days.  

Spike Jonze, now an Academy Award and Oscar award winning director for the film Her (2013), started his entire career as the main videographer and director of the project. Jonze’s modest and humble beginnings in the world of cinema to becoming one of the world’s most renowned film directors proved to be a direct culmination of his work in the world of skateboarding. With such riders as Mark Gonzales, Rudy Johnson, Jason Lee (yes, the famous Hollywood actor Jason Lee), and Guy Mariano, one could view Video Days as the quintessential template for how skateboard videos should be. Raw, urban, fast, and dirty aesthetical street sections are paired with an eclectic and dynamic soundtrack that any viewer, skater or not, would enjoy. 

The quintessential magic of Video Days is its power to motivate the viewer to go out and skate. This is the ultimate goal and ethos behind any good, worthwhile skate video; to get the skater out of their chair and into the world. The films impact on the skate world was so drastic it essentially revitalized the monetary side of skateboarding into new peaks. This peak is still progressing to this day due to the freedom of skating street having much more relatability to the average viewer versus skateboarding on a large vert ramp. Anyone can skate outside their front door and the Blind Skateboards team set out to take that same spirit to new dimensions and terrain.         

Being inspired by this video and its beautiful, raw essence, I wanted to include one of my own photos as an homage and tribute to the greatest skateboard video in history, Video Days.