Natas Kaupas in Santa Cruz Skateboards' "Streets on Fire," from 1987, I think.
OK, I was working at Unreel/Vision when this came out, fierce competitors of Santa Cruz Skateboards. But this segment blew everybody's mind at the time. The three biggest pioneers of street skateboarding were spread among the Big Three skateboard companies as the mid 1980's turned into the late 1980's. Mark Gonzales was on Vision, Tommy Guerrero was a Bones Brigade member on Powell-Peralta, and Natas Kaupas skated for Santa Cruz. Freestyle skaters like Rodney Mullen, Per Welinder, Pierre Andre' and Don Brown did the technical flatland tricks, and didn't make much money. Vert still ruled skateboarding, with Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero, Chris Miller, Mark "Gator" Rogowski, and a dozen more living large in the late 80's skate boom by blasting in the remaining skateparks and on halfpipes.
But bubbling under the surface, Gonz, Tommy, and Natas were showing kids everywhere that any urban environment was its own skatepark. All it took was a creative mind to figure out how to use street obstacles. At the same time, fading freestyle skater Steve Rocco threw his life savings into a little start-up company, and named it World Industries, as a joke. Within a couple of years, the 1980's skate explosion died off, skateboarding went back underground, and street skating emerged as the new main form of skating.
This segment of Natas was one of the epic pieces of video that inspired thousands of kids to see what their local curbs had to offer, just as street skating was becoming its own thing. For the time, Natas' tricks were ground breaking, the rail slides were bigger than anyone had seen, and the roll bar slide at the end seemed unthinkable. Combined with the incredible Firehose song, "Brave Captain," and with Natas wearing Etnies shoes in their skate video debut, this video segment was a sign of changing times. I still watch this video once a month or more, just for the spirit and vibe of it.
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