The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2020 — QS Readers Poll Results

Illustration by Cosme Studio
Ballot Tally Assist by 4Ply Magazine

One of the biggest cliches is discussing just *how much* skate content there is. Everything is available at once, and keeping track of it for one viewing — let alone multiple — is hard.

Last year’s decade poll aimed at a snapshot of skateboarding in a ten-year span, as it grew exponentially into the content waterfall it is today. It was very fun to do, but perhaps easier in that with ten years to reflect on, it was apparent what loomed large over tricks, styles and trends. We brought it back for a single year to try and form a canon at a time when so much of the conversation is geared around things moving too fast for a consensus.

Yes, you’ll notice an inherent recency bias here, and year-end content is obviously an imperfect art — the poll closed on December 4, which is before John’s Vid and Third Shift came out online, two projects that definitely would’ve ranked if eligible. (Honestly, John’s Vid might’ve ended up being #1 or #2 given the readership of this website.)

So here it is. No commentary for the full-lengths this round. Full-length skate videos capture a zeitgeist, and sometimes, it takes a while for those effects to truly make themselves known.

Shout out to all the writer friends from the internet who helped with write-ups, and extra major shout out to the team at 4Ply Magazine for the help on tallying the ballots.

And if you’re joining us, this ranking was voted on by QS readers during the first week of December, with voting ending on the 4th.

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A Deadstock German Shepherd

Shout out to Twitter for tracking this one down. More skate photos with friends in the background please ♥

Interblend” is a New York / New Jersey montage by Tokyo-based filmer Rob Taro, who made the full-length Time Scan video from last year. Features a mini Central Park section in the middle. Eby’s ollie over the barrier into the rock is fucked.

A fun Twitter thread, which hones in on a #trend that we had not noticed until now: skaters whose parts are set to recent movie scores, some of them totally random. Cheers to Henry for the research.

#Skatevideohouse lives! “Parking Lot Music Video Installation 1” is a montage with some new faces at a very #current circuit of spots around the city.

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Louie Lopez Remix For $5

The other day, we were entrenched in an office convo about 2010s skate video #musicsupervision. It was observed that in Bronze’s Trust, there’s just something extra in how the video’s energy level reaches new highs once the Speaker Knockerz song kicks in halfway through Chachi’s part. Then came the subsequent dive back into his discography, the somber realization that the timelessness of “Lonely” would hit just as hard if it came out today, and proof that “Flexin’ & Finnessin'” helps cure depression. Rest in Peace ♥

For the past half-decade, Guy Riza’s summer 2014 Quote of the Week (“My favorite skater is Louie Lopez and my second favorite skater is Louie Lopez when he gets older”) has been taped to the fridge in the QS breakroom. With that always in mind, we obtained a stash of Louie loosies that have come out since Purple. And with “Lonely” playing for the 140 millionth time, E.J. said, “If Louie’s born in ’94, you have to edit the video to it.” (In reference to “I was born in ’94, got the tattoo,” naturally.)

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The Best Skate Video Parts of the 2010s — QS Reader Survey Results

Illustration by Cosme Studio

Back in October, we asked QS visitors to choose their favorite video parts of the 2010s. If civilization and skateboarding were to end today, which five parts would you bury in a weather-and-nuclear-proof time capsule for post-apocalyptic earth dwellers to reference when they rediscover skate culture of these past ten years?

QS prides itself as being a destination for people who think a lot about skateboarding. Rather than poll a few close colleagues for their favorites, we felt we had a wide enough reverberation in the skate nerd universe to try and crowdsource a canon of the 2010s from anyone willing to sit down and think about it. I can emphatically say that in reviewing the mountain of ballots, everyone took their votes seriously — save maybe the guy who voted for five Micky Papa parts.

As we tallied the results, consistent trends in the count were apparent. Any fears about a recency bias went out the window; there’s only one part from 2019, and the average year of the top 25 is 2014. QS obviously has its own breed of skate nerd audience — this poll would look different if taken by Thrasher or Free — but I would bet that their lists wouldn’t be TOO far off from this one.

Presented without comment for the top 25-11, and then via a lot of favors from writer friends on the internet for the top 10: here are the 25 best video parts of the past ten years.

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QS x Savage x Fenty

Sign + share the petition to keep synthetic turf off the Tompkins flat.

Not a ton of New York news this past week…

4 Cities, 100 Nuggets” is a mini video featuring some Canadian dudes (…I think?) doing a two-week road trip through North Carolina, Philly, New York, and Boston. That back noseblunt bigspin at Baldi really came out of left field + good to see people coming up victorious over the speed bumps at the recently-knobbed plaza on 110th and 8th (which is sure to be utilized by absolutely nobody now, considering it’s in the middle of the street, with no shade, and across from a 840-acre park full of trees…)

Thoroughly enjoyed this… a lot: Kris Brown in the Philadelphia-based, A Regular Ass Video by DJ Traceman.

“It’s not a boot-camp for the Olympics.” “No, it’s a boot-camp for life.” Given the stature of its alumni, you likely know of its existence, but you probably don’t know much about the skateboarding high school in Mälmo, Sweden. Skateism has a full interview about Bryggeriet, and how’s its not exactly what you would expect.

Brian Delaney and a few others skate some Boston classics in a collab clip between Grand and Orchard Skate Shop. (Is that the first time somebody has backside 360 kickflipped a trashcan on flat?)

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