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www.gwangjunewsgic.com
December 2020
THOUGHTS & OPINION
one-time amateur skateboarder in the ’80s, “the Phelper” was among the most well-known people in skateboarding and the walking symbol of all things Thrasher until his untimely death from completely preventable substance abuse in 2019. While it is not my common practice to speak ill of the deceased, I think it is important to point out that the Phelper was an all-around windbag and imbecile with the brain power of a watch battery who could barely string together a sentence not peppered with profanities and obscene references. To see him on the street, one would have easily concluded that he was a crazy homeless person, and Thrasher’s celebration of his antics was curious to say the least.
▲ The last issue of Transworld Skateboarding. Even though it was a more stylish and better-produced publication, it could not compete with Thrasher’s digital marketing saavy. (Image via www. skateboarding.com)
quitting the wrong sponsor, doing the wrong tricks, wearing the wrong gear, not skating the way the editors wanted, or just angering certain people in the industry. While I suppose it is well within their purview to exclude whoever they want, it goes to show that Thrasher sees itself as the gatekeeper of what is real, legitimate skateboarding and what is not. To this day, Thrasher positions itself as the ultimate authority in skateboarding and, through its exclusive practices, imposes its prescriptive vision onto skateboard culture.
The last thing to understand about Thrasher is that for many, many years, there was basically a rule that could be succinctly articulated as “Don’t wear Thrasher if you don’t skate,” a mindset encouraged by the magazine itself. Anyone who wore any clothes or gear with the magazine’s logo would be opening themselves up to unrelenting ridicule unless they could ride a skateboard with a reasonable level of proficiency. Elementary school girls and models wearing Thrasher just was not to be done.
Thrasher Korea
When I am out skateboarding or walking around Gwangju and see some Thrasher beanie-wearing fashionista who clearly knows nothing about riding a stickwheel, I really have to scratch my head. For everything Thrasher is, something it is not is a corporate brand that is in line with the values that most Koreans adhere to, such as, you know, getting a good education or respecting group harmony.
Incidentally, while a lot of people are drawn All that being said, the old rule of to skateboarding because of its apparent “don’t wear Thrasher if you don’t skate” lack of rules and structure (such as coaches summarily died the moment www. and regularly scheduled practice times), it thrashermagazine.com went online. is worth mentioning that skateboarding While still a quality magazine, Thrasher is has standards and norms that for the most part are tacitly adhered to. That is to say, Hoodie featuring the “burning” logo. definitely not the symbol of the hardcore you cannot just pick up a board, twirl it around your arm, demographic it once was. If you want to wear Thrasher, and then call it a trick. There are certain techniques that I say go for it. As for Thrasher, which is no-doubt raking can and should be mastered, and to overlook these, to use in the big bucks from licensing agreements, they might the parlance, would be “wack.” In addition, while there is consider changing their slogan from “Skate and Destroy” no uniform (except for the Olympic skateboard teams, I to “You Gotta Sell Out to Eat Out.” suppose), there is certainly a dress code of sorts. So yes, The Author there are standards and norms within skateboarding, but Thrasher seems to take this stuff to a whole new level and William Urbanski is the Gwangju acts as basically the fashion police of the entire industry. Inextricably linked to the physical publication was Jake Phelps, the figurehead and ringleader of the entire operation and the long-term editor-in-chief of Thrasher. A
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News’ managing editor and its special skateboarding correspondent. Instagram: @will_il_gatto
11/24/2020 4:51:49 PM
