"Ads were just so fun. They were probably the biggest creative outlet I ever had... besides skating." -Steve Roccozorlac, thrasher, powell, santa cruz... not even his own company could stay out of the crosshairs.
...still sweatin' that "Search for Gonz" shirt to this day.
13 comments:
Skateboarding -- the whole industry, media, etc. -- was just so much fun then; you literally didn't know how dramatically the next issue of Transworld/Thrasher/Poweredge/whatevs was going to change the game. Ads, team rider switches, new (actual new) tricks: it was all wide open. And Rocco was a huge part of unleashing that destructive/reconstructive creativity.
He was skateboarding's Joker.
He got me paid on Powell..
He also put Acme out of business witch ment the end of my pro daze..lol..
Saw him a few years ago rollin around on his beach cruiser..So he took me and my homie out for dinner and said no hard feelings it was business nothing personal against me...lol..
Thanks Steve for keeping it business like no hard feelings...lol..
Rocco, for better or for worse, introduced a much needed sense of chaos into the world of skateboarding. He also got some artists to change up the game in graphics, ad design, etc.
The golden years. There was some epic shit going down when Rocco was running shit.
I remember a friend of mine bought some gizmos... one of them wasn't even round! brutal quality control. Stickorama was a classic board. It was the first I ever broke.
Venture ad is hilarious!
rocco did OK for himself for a guy that couldn't really skate.
How did Rocco put Acme out of business?
The same way he put out at least a half a dozen other skate companies out of business in the late 90s..
They poked fun at World Industries in adds so Steve got his lawyers and decide to sue all the companies who did this...
Ironic considering the early 90s this is how he made his millions by making fun of Powell Peralta and other companies....
I never liked the fact that Rocco was all about image. He put down a lot of company's that were about quality. It's kinda funny but now that I'm older I've gone back to NHS and Powell.
Is SMA an acronym for Santa Monica Airlines? And how did that turn into World Industries? I'm a little hazy on this timeline since I started skating in '92. Been watching the Rocco documentary but they don't really explain this detail.
Where'd the WI Zorlac ad come from? Thanks.
Only problem with those early WI boards was that they weren't well made and broke and chiped easily. I had one or two and then went back to H-Street and Santa Cruz.
@Random Matt, SMA did indeed stand for Santa Monica Airlines because it was initially started as an offshoot of that company. Skip Engblom showed Rocco how to press up boards and basically start his own company. So to differentiate this new venture, they used the SMA acronym with the “Rocco Division” tagline. Throughout 1988 to 1989, this gradually morphed into SMA Industries, then SMA World Industries, and finally simply world industries or “world.” You can see this gradual transformation in the ads. I think the evolution of the company name is just another fascinating aspect of the Rocco era; it’s admittedy confusing (see the “confusion in the marketplace” ads), yet enigmatic.
As far as “Anonymous” mentioning the “Zorlac” ad, that’s Marc McKee’s tribute to and spoof of Pushead. Such an amazing ad. “A Stoner Company.” 21st century Skateboarding could really use a Rocco-like figure. The closest it’s come is with J Strickland or FA/Hockey-era Dill.
Are you that g@y skater?
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