Matt Hensley : Street Evolution | Short Skateboarding Documentary

[@Don-lg3oy]

One of my all time favorite skaters. I still love watching all those clips of him. It’s all still sick today.

[@davidemms441]

my skating hero

[@larrybecker9565]

Is the days before I went skateboarding I would always watch Matt on VHS and then I would go skateboarding and I'd be pumped up and ripped thank you Matt

[@jimthecarper9873]

As a 52 year old ex skater who grew up in england, i can say that when shackle me not came out in the late 80 's it revolutionised everything for us. Matt Hensley was a god to us, everybody had a length of chain hanging out of their pocket for years afterwards, everyone wanted to skate like him.

[@jasonpatrick-x1k]

I was born in 1977. Matt was the King at the time of his retirement. We were sad to see him go.

[@bubbahotep7]

Yeah Matt

[@CIWise]

We knew he was unbelievable, but I don't we realized how far ahead he was of everyone else.

[@davidemms441]

yeh we did ;)

[@CIWise]

@@davidemms441 Sorry, no, we didn't. We couldn't know how amazing he was, because there was nothing to compare it to. It's like Pat Duffy on the rails in Questionable. No one came along and did anything like what Hensley did for YEARS. Who could predict, "Oh, it will take exactly ten years, and people will catch up." (Fuck! Honestly, this would all still be a decent video part today: not world-class maybe, but decent! And it's 30+ years later!) So, no, no one really knew his level: just that he was beyond anything we'd ever seen.

[@davidemms441]

To me that’s the reason we did, no one was doing anything as well as Matt. Could tell with that 540 one foot on the mini ramp in bootleg The most stylish skater still to this day. And I hear ya on Duffy (primus)

[@keyser021]

@@CIWise If you were a skater when Hokus Pokus came out, you definitely knew Matt was the best at that time, he was street skating after Natas and Gonz. His style and difficulty made street skating legit as a sport. Matt is a skateboarding legend who brought the sport to where it is today.

[@CIWise]

@keyser021 Forget Hokus Pokus, Shackle Me Not! That boardslide to 5-0 thing he did over benches? We all tried it; no one could do it! Of course we knew he was the new guy, but that's not my point. I'll give you a few examples. In Shackle Me Not, he did the first switch-crook: he slappied into it. I learned it, but I didn't realize and couldn't know that crooks would become almost the default grind in years to come. Sal ollied into them two years later (I learned that, too), and that was it! Admittedly, Sal's was the game-changer. But no one even thought to grind like that before Matt; he sparked it! Two: same video, the backyard mini-ramp scene where he is in all red with the cast on his arm. His closer was a kickflip on the extension. (He did two back-to-back.) That was the first street flip-trick on transition. Think about how much that would revolutionize even vert skating in years to come. But we couldn't foresee that back then: there was no way! Matt was the first I ever saw to ollie in pools. Before him, pool skating was the ol' school Salba-style (which I love!): he even changed the way pools are skated! Of course we knew he was the best. But, even now, I don't know if we truly appreciate the immense impact this man (a boy at the time) had on skateboarding. And we certainly didn't back then. We couldn't.

[@michaeljohn8905]

Golden age of skating if you ask me. I loved that board ! The last one with half half color way. I could Ollie tail grab of a jump ramp so high on that thing. It made me feel invincible ! Thanks Matt H ! I can’t imagine this footage was coming out a year after it was taken. Imagine what they were doing when we saw it. Damn !

[@Beau915]

Became a fan of his when the H-Street Hokus Pokus video came out.

[@jasonpatrick-x1k]

I loved h street

[@game-OJACK]

We all did

[@mikenoface]

I had a purple stain, Hensley Church Glass deck in 1991. Indys and Spitfires. Just before popsicle shapes came in. Still one of my all-time favorite setups and I probably did my best skateboarding on that one. Yeah, Matt! 🤘

[@chriskimbell5884]

Laid the foundation for modern street skating along with The Gonz and Eric Dressen. Legendary

[@lustforlow-end6022]

My neighbour named his dog Hensley after this steez merchant!

[@mondop5270]

In 88 dudes had a ramp outside school that was used to bang out lil grab ollies before clàss... by the time i started gettin any good in 92 no-one was skating except a few groups here and there in my city. Vids came out on vhs at one of the two sk8 shops which were basically surf shops. Wheels were getting smaller and smaller and 411 vids were cheap and our only access to overseas and american skaters ( aside from the odd sk8 vid like plan b etc which we were to poor to purchase). Youd see a sk8er and it was easy to strike up a convo... ten years later it had blown up again and a new wave of pop punk sk8 scene became the big scene.... Heres to the punks that never left from the 80s👍

[@MelissaMintz]

Before I even watch this video I have to say this about the Streets: Gonz, Natas & Guerrero took things to the next level. But when H-Street made the Hell Concave, it allowed Matt & others to take things to another dimension! I tip my hat to you Sir, Matt Hensley!!!

[@rahansk8200]

Flip BS melon iconic

[@vincentvancraig]

Is there anyway to turn the sound track off & still get the skate sounds?

[@4730301]

I'm seeing some of this footage for the first time.

[@utregsoulnorh715]

Matt used to visit my shop ina Utreg,Punch,always gave me gifts.....grtz from an old mate across the ocean....Keep the Faith .....Utreg Scooter Scene

[@MASONMAXEY22]

Yeah Matt!

[@christophehardy2085]

Great vid!

[@crazycatman5928]

Had his h-street double kick stained glass window deck. Best deck I ever owned.

[@T-Wrecks8]

THE KING. King Size

[@SoundbombSoldier]

So ahead of his time

[@timboslice45]

That fakie 540 though! (or full cab revert, if you wanna be pedantic) 🤯

[@ilfantasticobananajothesci3922]

remember we went skating 4ish in the morning lol what 4?

[@briantomcollins]

This man plays a wicked accordian... Flogging Molly Malones.

[@ryanrowe1975]

Yeah

[@tommibjork]

Retired 22 years old 😳

[@nocturnalron69]

The wallet-chain industry definitely skyrocketed after Matt came onto the scene. I know I bought at least 3.

[@big3ye378]

Please do one on Kien Lieu

[@hrdassmack3566]

Be nice if you told people where all these guys are tdy .even though I know mat plays the accordion for flogging Molly .it's a strange world ,also Jason Lee turned in to Earl . wired stuff that

[@caloyssk1]

#sidewalksbdistro