John Rodney Mullen - Best Skateboarder in the world?

Another one of my favourites of Rodney.

rodney mullen

That's nice!

One of my faves, and he's been doing it like that for some time.

What is interesting is, he's not your all regular type of skater. He does really different things that many people don't think of or could do if they put their minds to it.

Unreal...I've seen other videos of this dude and I watch with my mouth open.

It almost goes against the laws of physics. His feet/eye coordination are off the charts.  Definitely the best "Street" skater I've ever seen. What Tony Hawk did for Vert, Mullen does for street. Just unreal!!!

It's like he has perfect balance and perfect timing.

It must suck entering a street comp. and then seeing Mullen is in the same competition.

Wish I could do what he does so easily.

That Scouse one off Tony Hawks.

Depends what style you're into. Tony Hawk was amazing in the air while Rodney Mullen was the fella for freestyle floor stuff. (See first post.)

Yes, CRK. They both are legends of the sport.

Tony Hawk is/was a boss on the ramps. His son, Riley is a street skater, though.

Whereas, credit will have to go to Rodney Mullen for inventing most of the tricks and especially the 'Ollie' a.k.a. the jump of skateboarding, that revolutionized the sport to what it is today.


FYI, the 'Ollie' was actually invented by Alan 'Ollie' Gelfand. However, he did it on a ramp. No one thought of doing it off a flatground till Mullen did when he was 14.

Just for those who are interested.
Some interesting facts of Rodney.

1. He won the first pro contest he ever entered in 1977, aged 11.
2. In his whole career, he has entered 35 competitions (including a vert contest) and has only lost once. He came in 2nd and was because he was sick.
3. Rodney Mullen Skateboarding Tricks Invented:

    * Flatground Ollie
    * Godzilla Rail Flip
    * 540 Shove-it
    * 50-50 Saran Wrap
    * Helipops (360 Nollie)
    * Gazelles
    * No Handed 50-50 Kickflip
    * Heelflip
    * Double heelflips
    * Ollie Impossible
    * Sidewinders
    * 360 Flip
    * 360 pressure Flip
    * Casper 360 Flip
    * 50-50 Sidewinders
    * One footed Ollie
    * Backside 180 Flip
    * Ollie Nosebones
    * Ollie Fingerflip
    * Airwalks
    * Frontside Heelflip Shove-its
    * Switchstance 360 Flips
    * Helipop Heelflips
    * Kickflip Underflip
    * Casper Slides
    * Half Flip Darkslide
    * 540 double kickflip
    * Caballerial impossible
    * Half-cab kickflip underflip
    * Handstand flips
    * Rusty slides
    * Kickflip

He has pretty much changed his way of skating. Here's an old clip

Best skateboarder in the world, Rodney Mullen in 1989

It's weird how he's not as known as those other Bones Brigade skaters and 90's legends.  The majority of the press and fame went to Hosoi and Tony Hawk,Caballero Tommy Guerro. With the exception of Tony Hawk and Mullen, the rest of those 90's guys just played the fame game and never really continued to Improve or create tricks.

You can debate who was better for EVER!!!! But they were 2 totally different styles and both just revolutionary. But, If were going to name who was more influential.  I have to give it to Tony Hawk, he not only continued growing as a skater but really turned it into a "sport" and was able to commercialize his name and skills.   Their would be no X-Games if it wasn't for him.   Plus he was the first to nail the 900. C'mon.

Fair enough, YANK_LFC_FC.

Take nothing away from Tony. He's probably one of the best, if not the best vert skater ever. But nowadays, many vert skaters are able to do the 900. There's the Brazillian, Bob Burnquist who i think is the first to skate on a loop and Danny Way who jumped over the Great Wall of China.

But think of it this way, without that 'ollie' Rodney invented, skaters this generation would only be still riding around, doing slaloms and freestyling.
Rodney's tricks are really different because he's not just any skater. He's done tricks that no one has even thought of or could od if they put their minds to it. What's interesting is, he invented most of the tricks when he was a teenager.

I always liked Eric Koston

Eric Koston in Fully Flared

I kinda tried to take after his style when I skated years ago he's boss!

Also Geoff Rowley as he's scouse and went to my school haha

Fair enough, YANK_LFC_FC.

Take nothing away from Tony. He's probably one of the best, if not the best vert skater ever. But nowadays, many vert skaters are able to do the 900. There's the Brazillian, Bob Burnquist who I think is the first to skate on a loop and Danny Way who jumped over the Great Wall of China.

But think of it this way, without that 'ollie' Rodney invented, skaters this generation would only be still riding around, doing slaloms and freestyling.
Rodney's tricks are really different because he's not just any skater. He's done tricks that no one has even thought of or could od if they put their minds to it. What's interesting is, he invented most of the tricks when he was a teenager.

I think other skaters can pull off the 900, but Hawk was the first and its about being first and being an Innovator.  Mullen doing the first stand alone OLLIE was a huge leap for street. Also we cant forget the whole Venice beach/DogTown guys.  They were the first to actually due any sort of pool rides or actual Vert.  Tony Alva and Perallta.   Now it seems the trend is not really tricks but just BIG AIR. Which kind of scares me for skating.  I think big air takes any sort of technical or groundbreaking tricks out of the equation.  Dont get me wrong, jumping the Great Wall was awesome, but that tends to get more into Daredevil sh*t and less into actual skate. It takes balls and skill to hang on and clear the jump, but its not really technical.  I want to see something once impossible possible.

I don't skate, but i love watching the sport on TV, X-Games and all that fo-shizzle. And i think that comparing these two skaters is something that will never come out to any conclusion. As Adryan and YANK said they are both different but oh so revolutionary in what they have done. But Hawk has to take credit for what he has done to make the sport a SPORT. It is now recognized around the world, and hell, i would say more people would know who Tony Hawk is than if you ask who Steven Gerrard is. He is just that well known. His video games are how i first knew what skating even was! And right now i own two shirts and a pair of jeans that are Tony Hawk brand Very far reaching!

But i have a DVD back in Australia that's got a bunch of street skating on it, and the end clip is this fantastic set of footage on Rodney Mullen. And sh*t, it really is something to watch. Like i actually noticed a change in the DVD, as in up until then it all seemed like going through the motions stuff. But then when he came on it was like going from 2nd gear right up into 5th, just brilliant stuff.

I guess.

Yeah, Tony Hawk did make the sport famous especially due to the fact that he has Tony Hawk Skateboarding games. I remember reading in Rodney's book that Hawk even did a trick called 'Mutt Air' which involves a Fingerflip in the air as a tribute to Rodney. They're good pals, though. I also heard that Rodney loves keeping a low profile, that's probably why he doesn't have his own games.

Well, there are loads of other skaters I love watching namely PJ Ladd, Paul Rodriguez and Mike Mo Capaldi. They are normal street skaters, though.

Here's a clip of Mike mo. Embarassingly, he's my age.
Lakai Fully Flared-Mike-Mo Capaldi

I love it how his clips fit and flow with the music. Amazing that he can do them tricks with both his feet equally well.

I wasn't saying Hawk is better though I'll sit on the fence and say equally in what they do they are just brilliant. Both innovators, in the way the dog town boys were and such. I feel like watching Dogtown and Z Boys now

I love skating, snowboarding, bmx, fmx etc videos eh. Like the way they are filmed and the music that accompanies is usually spot on and just makes ya wanna keep watching. I watch a fair bit of snowboarding stuff on Fuel TV, along with most other sports such as skating, and i just love the way its filmed.

So it's agreed then.

They are both very influential skateboards. Rodney is boss on street while Tony is boss in the air.

I actually love skateboarding songs. I've got alot of them in my laptop.

And as Danny2304 stated, Geoff Rowley is a profesional skateboarder who is scouse.

Here's his part from Really Sorry with YNWA as the song.
geoff rowley's part in really sorry

*handshake* Agreed

I like Bob Burnquist for air stuff too. This final run at X-Games '01 after doing sh*te in his first runs was just huge. Had to do something phenomenal to get the points to beat Bucky Lasek, who had also just done a ripping run, and he did it. One for the ages. I aint even a skater and i get chills watching this. And the commentators are awesome too
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

I got the chills when I watched the 07-08' X games. I forget which one. The Big Air when that skater Jake Brown bit it'.  Oh GOD.  I watched it live and swore I just watched someone die on live tv.   You need a set of NUTS the size of Footballs to enter that contest.

I got the chills when I watched the 07-08' X games. I forget which one. The Big Air when that skater Jake Brown bit it'.  Oh GOD.  I watched it live and swore I just watched someone die on live tv.   You need a set of NUTS the size of Footballs to enter that contest.

Aussie lad him too, but i got the same feeling. Could not believe what i had just seen. it was '07 as well i do believe, and he got gold in that same competition this year too. Gotta have even bigger balls to come back and win it after a fall like that!

I remember that fall Jake Brown had. Poor guy, thank god he survived.

You lot heard of Bam Margera before? I just hate him!

I remember that fall Jake Brown had. Poor guy, thank god he survived.

You lot heard of Bam Margera before? I just hate him!

Very much heard of Bam, watched a little bit of Jackass in my time He is a bloody tosser though isn't he, he's the one dude i would never use when i played Tony Hawk on playstation