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The Wall: social networking and user-created content from 1991
From an age before e-Bay, Myspace and Facebook… Here we have social networking and user-created content, 1991 style. The Wall was a far from perfect market-place, notorious for inflated ideas of what a worn-out deck might be worth. It was also one part of the magazine where the voice of the readers could be heard.…
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Billy’s SK8 Shop Advert May 1991
As I glance at these adverts I realise how little interest I had in the equipment, even though I was surrounded with it for most of my working life. Instead I find myself contemplating the technology which was used to produce pages like this: the effort which a shop would have had to put in…
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Freestyle Skate Ramps, Back Street Skates Adverts and others 1991
The odd one out here is the advert from the Advertising Standards Authority. These were used as fillers if the advertising space had not been sold to anyone. Every now and again we would find ourselves on the receiving end of their attention when someone got upset about an advert. The most bizarre example of…
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Rollersnakes, Off-beat and Skateshop Nini skateboard mail order adverts
The most interesting of these, for me, is the Skate-shop Nini advert. Rollersnakes and Off-beat are still very familiar names, but what’s the story behind a shop from Belgium advertising in a British magazine? The geography of skateboarding was different then and there was even less of a notion of ‘Europe’ than there is now.…
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Smallroom Skateboards, Clan and SS20 Adverts
Small Room Skateboards… I have only the vaguest memories of them. Perhaps someone can help out with more information? Tony Buyalos and Donny Wilson are listed as team riders. Other adverts are from classic ‘skater owned shops’ — Clan/Poizone and SS20 with SS20 claiming the fastest mail order in the UK! The SS20 ad also…
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Split Sports Advert – Manchester skateboard shops, 1991 style
Move along now: nothing to see here. I was about to go off on a rant about how cheap those delivery charges are, but in fact the 2006 equivalents are probably less when you allow for inflation. I don’t think anyone was charging extra for delivery to the Highlands, Northern Ireland or other islands back…
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M Zone Pillar of the Disestablishment
M Zone, heavy into Carnaby Street and Stussy by this time, but also trying to sell as well, by the look of it. Curious how I’ve completely forgotten these price-based adverts. Only the earlier styley muthas stick in the mind.
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Rage Magazine Advert May 1991
Rage was “the indispensable teen guide to dance, indie, rock, rap, tv, film… and more” according to the advert. This was another in-house Maxwell advert, but in this case there was some genuine overlap. I’m not sure what happened to Rage. I have a vague feeling that Steve Hicks, who was later to take R.a.d…
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Airbourne Zorlac Street Hell Advert
This from the days when Zorlac had their own UK distribution company. In this respect Airbourne Zorlac were up with Powell in the ‘ahead of their time’ stakes; they had a go at doing their own distribution in the UK long before most manufacturers. By 2006 this approach had become much more common. The European…
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Vision Street Wear Shoes Joe Gruber Advert 1991
It’s an advert. It’s for skateboard shoes. Skateboard shoes (DC, not these) kept me alive for many years and almost paid off the debts built up by publishing skateboard magazines, so they’re fine by me.