Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

entertainment.howstuffworks.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 207 posts

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#91

Post by q-big »

Fricken wrote: post #57
bobbytit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically the one famous joke (that even made it onto The Sopranos).... What is the hardest thing about roller blading? Telling your parents you're gay. I never knew a joke could change the course of history.

Lower back tattoos were popular amongst young women in the 90s. Then the term "tramp stamp" caught on like wildfire and the practice came to an abrupt stop.

> Then the term "tramp stamp" caught on like wildfire and the practice came to an abrupt stop.

In Germany, the same happened, but via the term "Arschgeweih" ["ass antler"].

For the readers who understand German: there also existed a song "Bye Bye Arschgeweih" by Ina Müller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIY1SZ_boEQ

(the song title is of course a pun on the refrain line "Bye-bye, Miss American Pie" of the song American Pie by Don McLean)

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#92

Post by hef19898 »

brandall10 wrote: post #50
Svperstar wrote: post #12

About 10 years ago I read a bunch of former roller bladers and skateboarders talking about the death of rollerblading in the 1990s. It is much easier to do tricks on rollerblades, also it was viewed as a "gay" activity in a much more homophobic time in society. There was a picture of a rollerblader in a skating mag and they photoshopped pink makeup on his face and made his rollerblades purple. Skaters started calling…

I was a skater from '85-'89 in the San Fernando Valley. I remember there being a narrow lane of what was cool... most activities that weren't skateboarding weren't, because it was a lifestyle, and if you weren't fully dedicated to it and had a good sense of what was currently accepted in the brands/decks, clothing, how you setup your board, etc, you could quickly be labeled a poseur. And this was a moving target. If…

I used to be a street skater in the mid nineties in a small German town. Was pretty cool, doing all the street skating stuff. And we made sure to not be associated with "Rollerbladers", the guys and girls (obviously girls were different so) using the stoppers to brake. It stopped being cool so, no idea why exactly. Hell, we even had people with home made half and quarter pipes in their backyards back then...

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#93

Post by hef19898 »

apgwoz wrote: post #51

The decline of (popularity) Aggressive Inline is talked about in this documentary “Barely Dead” ( https://youtu.be/DArRi_PooDc ). Spoiler alert: it has to do with being canceled by the X-Games, which reduced exposure, which reduced new kids coming on the scene. Really, it just went underground. There are still aggressive skates being produced by many companies, with a wide selection of wheels, frames, etc. There are…

That documentary was the first thing that came to mind. That and Jon Julio, crazy guy.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#94

Post by analog31 »

neilv wrote: post #77
brandall10 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a skater from '85-'89 in the San Fernando Valley. I remember there being a narrow lane of what was cool... most activities that weren't skateboarding weren't, because it was a lifestyle, and if you weren't fully dedicated to it and had a good sense of what was currently accepted in the brands/decks, clothing, how you setup your board, etc, you could quickly be labeled a poseur. And this was a moving target. If…

That sounds like, instead of those skaters being free individualists or rebels, they were excessively controlled commercial consumers. If so, how did that happen, in that case?

I suspect that it has to do with any trend that gets too big, and the only antidote is to make the rules into a moving target. This happened with punk rock when I was into that. At some point, the punk bands rebelled against punk fashion, and started showing up in worn but otherwise regular looking street clothes.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#95

Post by klipt »

neilv wrote: post #77
brandall10 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a skater from '85-'89 in the San Fernando Valley. I remember there being a narrow lane of what was cool... most activities that weren't skateboarding weren't, because it was a lifestyle, and if you weren't fully dedicated to it and had a good sense of what was currently accepted in the brands/decks, clothing, how you setup your board, etc, you could quickly be labeled a poseur. And this was a moving target. If…

That sounds like, instead of those skaters being free individualists or rebels, they were excessively controlled commercial consumers. If so, how did that happen, in that case?

That sounds like a riddle. Do the trendsetters control fashion, or does fashion control the trendsetters?

It's probably a complex dynamical interaction.

The fact that the favored brands kept changing though, suggests to me that the corporations weren't exactly in control (otherwise the first winning brand would have presumably preferred to permanently monopolize the market).

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#96

Post by the_third_wave »

mkl wrote: post #35
the_third_wave wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is that I moved to the Swedish countryside and as such was confronted with hills and unpaved roads. When I lived in the Netherlands I used skates for transport in lieu of a bicycle because they're far easier to take along on public transport. I skated to the station, skated into the train, skated off it after 1.5 hours and 150 km, skated to my job and repeated this on my way home. I was just as fast as…

You spent >3 hours a day just commuting? I can't imagine doing that. What did you do on the train?

Read, work, speak to people, look out of the window, drink some tea, nothing at all - there are many ways to spend time in a train. The commute would have been just as long (if not longer) by car but that would be time wasted instead of time for myself. Seeing those traffic jams from behind the train window (in the morning, by the time I went home the evening rush was already over) just was the icing on the cake, imagine sitting there in a tin can, waiting for the tin can in front of you to move, with another tin can behind you waiting for you to move...

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#97

Post by latchkey »

Funny this should come up.

I'm now in San Diego near the beach, where there are many miles of boardwalk, perfect for blading. First thing I did was buy a pair of skates (k2 84 boa). I love going out in the early evening to watch the sunset.

As I skate by with a big smile on my face, I often hear tourists say they should get some.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#99

Post by the_third_wave »

vanderZwan wrote: post #66
mkl wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You spent >3 hours a day just commuting? I can't imagine doing that. What did you do on the train?

More likely twice a week: at the start of the weekend when going home to parents (and their washing machine), and at the end of it when going back to uni.

Nope, 5 days a week, left home around 07.00, came home around 21.00. I even had a washing machine all of my own together with a house to put it in. I actually had a washing machine as a student as well, it was old but it worked - until a house mate destroyed it, that is.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#100

Post by WalterBright »

Svperstar wrote: post #12

About 10 years ago I read a bunch of former roller bladers and skateboarders talking about the death of rollerblading in the 1990s. It is much easier to do tricks on rollerblades, also it was viewed as a "gay" activity in a much more homophobic time in society. There was a picture of a rollerblader in a skating mag and they photoshopped pink makeup on his face and made his rollerblades purple. Skaters started calling…

When I was young, skateboarding was considered something only kids did, something you grew out of. Of course, the boards in those days were pretty primitive, just roller skate wheels on fixed axles.
Post reply on HN