When We Was Rad:
Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

Category: Adverts

  • Union Wheels Chet Thomas Advert Rad Magazine July 1992

    I confess: I have nothing to say about this. At the moment I’m struggling to even upload the images — but I found this scan hidden away on an old computer, so I decided it deserves a better home. Excuse me while I blow the dust and cobwebs off the file.

  • Mambo ‘More a Pair of Shorts’ advert 1988

    Here’s a Mambo advert which did not get us into trouble the Advertising Standards Authority and nor did it cause us to be denounced from pulpits. Some of their other efforts had those effects. There isn’t really much more to say about this, is there?

  • Pacer Advert by Doug Cameron

    Where did this come from? I had forgotten this. I can remember Doug Cameron doing graphics for Pacer, but this advert had slipped from memory. There’s so much in here, even if you don’t get half the in-jokes (and I certainly don’t). I wish they had done more of these, but in pure commercial terms…

  • Price List Style BMX and Skateboard Mail Order Advert 1988

    Other than contemplating what things cost back then, there is little to get excited about here. But a lot of people DID get excited about such things. Some shops and mail order companies built up cult followings. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who used to buy their gear from Everything at Your…

  • The shape of things to come: Opening of Slam City shop in Neal’s Yard

    At first I wondered if there was anything particular to say about this Slam City Skates advert, other than that it features Ken Park at the wonderful Latimer Road ramp, and that the un-credited photograph would almost certainly have been taken by Paul Sunman. Then I noticed that it listed the famous shop in Covent…

  • Mike McGill Powell advert from 1991

    The issue closes with an advert which seems like an enigma now. Why Powell on the back page, not Santa Cruz? The back page was almost always a Shiner advert, but they normally used it for Santa Cruz, so I wonder what was going on here. And what really was the message Powell were trying…

  • Death Box Alex Moul Advert from 1991

    So much from this era has survived. Death Box evolved into Flip and soared to success. Their original wunderkid, Alex, is also still very much around as well. Their determination paid off while others eventually fell by the wayside. But all of this did eventually involve both parties in trips to the States, after all.

  • Sketchy Skates and Yah-Dude adverts plus South African skate company

    Sketchy Skates and Yah-Dude were two of the hard core of skate shops at this time. You’ll find their adverts scattered throughout the issues on this site. I’m struggling to remember what happened with Hi Ramp. Like all the companies trying to make skateboard equipment outside of the USA (or California, really) they would have…

  • Rodolfos, Method Air and Skate City Adverts

    This was still a long way before the era of skateboard shops in prime locations. At this point it was still a few dedicated pioneers who kept us all supplied. They supplied much more than just equipment: shops were the real focal point for many local scenes in a time when ramps and parks were…

  • Strange Small Adverts

    I glazed over when I saw this kind of thing back then. Now I wonder about it. Even here there’s stuff going on: two skateboard shops in Banbury? Spice of Life in Southend? What’s the story behind this kind of thing?