Maximum Rad: Some Gnarly Shit

Skateboarding is more than a sport itself; it is a sub-culture marked by music, fashion and a strong sense of community. It is a lifestyle, shared. Well, at least it used to be…

Kicking it all off back in 1981, Thrasher Magazine is one of the longest running magazines and most important magazine in skate history, with editor-in-chief Jake Phelps being a skater before being an editor. And now, Universal has released a book to commemorate over 30 years of Thrasher history, entitled Maximum Rad: The Iconic Covers of Thrasher Magazine. Rash and anarchic in content, Thrasher embodies what it means to be a true skate-fiend, creating the image of the ‘Thrasher Man’. In a recent interview with Dazed and Confused Magazine, Jake Phelps comments

I’ve been skating for 38 years, and I still skate every fucking day and it drives me nuts.

Jake, known as one of the ‘great living authorities on skateboarding’, sees skateboarding as the only true art form that there is.

It’s what people wish that they had in their lives but they don’t. You can’t buy culture. Skateboarding is a culture to itself, it’s our own thing; we speak our own language and shit. (Dazed and Confused)

Thrasher can be seen as the voice of skaters out there manifesting their art (in whatever form this might come in), and the Maximum Rad project is a tribute to that the individuals and the culture.

Maximum Rad: The Iconic Covers of Thrasher Magazine is a hardbound collection of every Thrasher Magazine cover in the San Francisco skate magazine’s 30-year publication history. Naturally this translates into a monumental collection of legendary skate photos across time, from Jay Adams, Tony Alva, and Steve Caballero through to Tony Hawk and Brian Anderson, and present-day heroes James Hardy and Justin Figueroa. To accompany the photos are behind-the-shoot stories as told by editors, photographers and the skaters themselves.

Phelps, on being the editor of Thrasher, feels that it is no big deal; with the fuss and hassle-free attitude of skateboarders, they will say it as it is.

In Thrasher we merely document what’s happened over the last 30 years. If you look back on Thrasher, it’ll always tell you straight: ‘That Park closed down because the dude was a dick.’ That’s it, that’s the way it works. I don’t feel the weight of it because I’m just a skater like anyone else. (Dazed and Confused)

Max Rad, image: everypeoples.com

Thrasher aims to maintain integrity by consistently being straightforward and candid in its content, with covers that attempt to convey the raw street-spirit of skaters. Phelps comments

it not always the ‘gnarliest’ trick that hits the cover: “Sometimes that works for us, because it starts off the mag like, ‘Woah, check this out: the guy feeble ground 20 stairs, that’s gnarly.’ But sometimes it can just be a portrait. (Dazed and Confused)

Jake Phelps as skate legend has no regrets as he reminisces over his life as a skater; a philosophy we could perhaps all learn a little something from.

Maximum Rad: Some gnarly shit.

‘This is one of the wildest trips we’ve been on. Phelps, Figgy, Dustin, Nuge, TNT, and too many other dudes to name. This tour becomes its own beast as the shows are crazier, the spots get gnarlier, and the crew grows bigger. Here’s the second and final installment of the best Skate Rock tour yet.’ (Thrasher, YouTube)
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