Best Music for a Part #5: John Lennon

John Lennon has some very laid back music, ideal when it comes to certain styles in skateboarding.
Take Madars Apse in DC's Where EU At? above for instance. Madars easily has one of the best styles in the game with his natural lankiness that translates into very fluid-looking tricks. He oozes creativity and a sense of having fun while he skates, which matches up perfectly with Lennon's "Oh Yoko!" I especially like the part where the harmonica comes in around 2:50 right as Madars nails an enormous ollie into a bank from one of our dreams. It's also pretty cool how a quick cloud/skyline clip is shown with "in the middle of the clouds" at 2:07 and Madars pops up bobbing his head right on with the beat. The entire part, from Madars style to Lennon's cheerful song, is really feel-good; it's inevitable to start smiling when this part is playing.
John Lennon also has "Watching the Wheels" in Nick Trapasso's part in And Now. It's hard to think of any skater more laid back than Nick, so pairing this super chill song with his lazy yet gnarly skating is a soothing combination. "People say I'm lazy...dreaming my life away" appears to be a very accurate outside view of Nick. It's like the song was recorded specifically for this part. The 3 drum beats right around 3:26 with the surge in the music and the slow-mo'd switch frontside 360 add just the right amount of hype even with all the calming vibes from the part, as oxymoronic as that sounds. And the last few clips or so are as if Nick's listening to John saying "...just have to-oo let it go-oo", stomping down some serious bangers without even trying.
John Lennon's laid back music fits right with Madars' and Nick's easy styles, but it also works very well with The Boss in his part in Baker has a Deathwish, as Reynolds casually drops hammers to "Whatever Gets You Through the Night". Lennon's count-up at the start (of the song anyway, after the initial Baker hijinx clips) sets up Reynolds for his bolts fakie flip to kick off the happy music. At the first chime in of "whatever gets you through the night", Reynolds switch tres to switch manual at nighttime with the spot lit up from nearby lampposts it seems. For a trick I haven't seem much from Reynolds, he literally does whatever gets him through the night. The rest of the part feels very jolly as you watch The Boss demonstrate his master flick. And it's also pretty cool that at 3:16 I believe Lennon says "STOP!" but it sounds way to close to "STOMP!" to be a coincidence. Because Reynolds most certainly stomped that nollie inward heel (not to mention popping it unnecessarily high) down that set.

Next Week: Ams that Should be Pro

This is always a very heavily discussed topic among skateboarders.  There are hundreds of skaters that are killing it right now, of which some are in the industry's spotlight and sponsored by some well recognized brands.  Some have been killing it for quite a while but for one reason or another have not finally passed that last industry barrier into professionalism.  A lot of my interest in this subject over the past year or so was because of one guy: Moose.  I became a Moose fan ever since he came out of nowhere in Thrasher's Bust or Bail contest with that gnarly back 360 at 3:36.  Since then, he's consistently put out quality footage over the past few years including his Berric's Recruit part, a solid minute of footage for his Omit Apparel introduction (2:58) (RIP Omit), footage in Shake Junt's Chicken Bone Nowison, his Mag Minute, a super sick part in the Bones video New Ground (25:54), some more darn good clips in Ambig's Modern Art (4:52), and of course his nutty display of gnarly and technical skating in the Deathwish Video. Somewhere along that path of destruction that Moose left behind him I would have expected him to go pro, especially considering Neen went pro within a year of getting on Deathwish I believe and Jon Dixon getting on after Neen and going pro right after the Deathwish Video dropped. No disrespect to either of those two, cause I must've rewatched their parts at least 5 times, but I felt like they hadn't put in the time with Deathwish like Moose has. (Same thing goes for the 3 Trunk Boyz that recently went pro, but I digress.)  So when Deathwish finally took some hints and turned Moose pro a week ago, I was elated! Though I wouldn't be able to complain about him being am anymore, I was still pumped that he finally has his name on the bottom of a board.  Along with that, shoutout to Julian Davidson who I'd say also deserved professionalism after dropping 3 absolutely stylishly banging parts with his Cons x Thrasher part, his Future Nature part, and most recently his Perpetual Motion part.

While I can no longer use these two guys in this week's postings, I would also like to go through a few names that could definitely be in the running for professionalism pretty soon that I won't be dedicating a day to this week.  Youness Amrani's has had 3 key video parts (Welcome to Almost, SB Chronicles Vol 1, and Marrakesh Express) that are so ridiculous it's like playing a video game; but I think being on a legendary team like Almost requires putting in a little more time to turn pro.  Trevor Colden has been on a serious tear over the past couple years with stuff like his Color Theory part, tons of web clips like his Spitfire Wheels Introduction, and most recently his Stone Colden part for Thrasher.  However, it may just be me but Mystery is not looking to be in the best of shape, especially after losing Jimmy Carlin, so I have my doubts for turning Trevor pro for them just yet.  I also need to mention Madars Apse from this part I still don't know the full origins of, his Future Nature part, and most recently his shared part in Hold it Down.  With his one of a kind style that is quite possibly the most fun to watch and his infectious positive attitude, I would love to see him go pro for Element but I feel like his roots in Europe unfortunately do hold him back in that respect.

Now that I have finished my ramblings about some key guys in the skateboarding world that are either just over or just behind the line of professionalism, this week I present to you 5 guys that I think should be over that line already.