Headline illustration by Cosme
As 2019 came to a close the first ‘Quartersnacks Readers Poll’ was launched to chronicle the most influential skateboarding videos of the 2010s.
Inviting Quartersnacks’ readership to pick their five definitive full-length videos and individual video parts to stand as a testament to the decade where the “skateboard content machine kicked into hyperdrive”, the ensuing results were published over the holiday season. The top ten media of each category were then accompanied by blurbs from esteemed writers including Boil The Ocean (of the eponymous blog), Willy Staley of The New York Times, Kyle Beachy — author of The Most Fun Thing, alongside a handful of Quartersnacks‘ regular contributors.
The Readers Poll returned in 2020 as an effort to “form a canon at a time when so much of the conversation is geared around things moving too fast for a consensus.” What began as a novel writing exercise has now turned into a yearly, somewhat de-facto, democratic ranking of the year’s most significant skateboarding media.
Each year’s Readers Poll accompanying article brings together harmonious voices from various pockets of skate culture to weigh in one what mattered to them and skateboarding writ large.
Collected here for posterity, in chronological order, are all of the Quartersnacks Readers Poll results and write-ups from the close of 2019 up to the most recent which was published on Christmas Eve 2024.
The Best Skate Video Parts of the 2010s — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
Quartersnacks prides itself as being a destination for people who think a lot about skateboarding. Rather than poll a few close colleagues for their favorites, we felt we had a wide enough reverberation in the skate nerd universe to try and crowdsource a canon of the 2010s from anyone willing to sit down and think about it. — QS
“If the Gravis part was the realization of his potential, [Dylan] Rieder’s turn in “cherry” is the man in his prime, complimented by INXS and a saxophone solo. Never has a skateboarder been so aesthetically complete — crouches, elbows, shoes and black pants, an entire 6-foot-something lanky frame angling to hold a front blunt kickflip — with such easy power. “It turns you on?” he asks.
Mike Munzenrider on Dylan Rieder in Supreme’s “cherry” ( 2018)
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The Best Skateboard Videos of the 2010s — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
The experience might’ve changed. We’re not huddling around a skate house’s TV covered in stickers to watch a DVD bought from a shop anymore (if this past weekend is any indication, it’s more like AirPlaying a leaked .mp4 file via a link obtained from a guy who knows a guy), but the experience of viewing a fully realized skate video with your friends for the first, second or twentieth time is still sacred. — QS
The 917 Video … felt like it was made for the twenty people who were around while they were filming it — the crew that kicked around flat tricks in the Rosyln parking lot as Nik Stain went down and up and back down the bank that Gino [Iannucci] made famous, the friend who first found the cutty spot between two houses that Aidan [Mackey] ended up skating, the dudes whose day off got sidelined into becoming moral support for Max [Palmer] as he tried whatever the fuck he was trying — but in the best way possible.
Quartersnacks on ‘The 917 Video’ by Logan Lara (2017)
Skate videos, at best, translate maybe 20% of the magic of being there to a third-party viewer. The twinkle in the lens that filmed The 917 Video probably tripled that. I’m not sure a video of the past ten years has incited more smiles than this one.
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The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2020 — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
Last year’s decade poll aimed at a snapshot of skateboarding in a ten-year span, as it grew exponentially into the content waterfall it is today. It was very fun to do, but perhaps easier in that with ten years to reflect on, it was apparent what loomed large over tricks, styles and trends. We brought it back for a single year to try and form a canon at a time when so much of the conversation is geared around things moving too fast for a consensus. — QS
“While the soft-news journalists may keep coming back for the feel-good story of the Olympian with a master’s degree in architecture, we know, without a doubt, that Alexis Sablone is more. In a year with nothing to prove — perhaps even because she has nothing to prove — she went and proved that she’s a heavyweight champion. That is how legends are made.”
Pete Glover on Alexis Sablone in ‘Seize The Seconds’ (Converse)
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The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2021 — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
The votes are in, the ballots are tallied, the blurbs by writer friends from the internet are written, and our annual exercise of trying to combat content fatigue and fried attention spans is live. — QS
“Some believe that skateboarding acts as a cudgel against aging, that you don’t get old until you give it up. A seasoned skater’s aches might say otherwise, but within that beat up body remains the You that first fell under skateboarding’s spell, its innocent spirit still intact.
Christian Kerr on Trung Nguyễn in ‘RESPECTFULLY’ by Chase Walker
Trung Nguyen’s RESPECTFULLY part is a celebration of this juvenile self, dusting off the cultural touchstones crystalized in the the early aughts and letting them shine in the light of the present.”
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The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2022 — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
All jokes aside, beyond light output from Mr. Knox in 2022, this is perhaps the year that the multiple part approach wielded by S.O.T.Y. hopefuls began to adapt itself to people’s recollections of the past twelve months. Whereas in past years, when multiple releases tended to split the vote in clear favor of one over another, 50% of this year’s Top 20 parts are from the same five people. — QS
“Ever had the munchies but felt really nauseous at the same time? This year on 4/20, as I was languishing head deep in a toilet bowl, Tristan Funkhouser – presumably less pregnant than me but with his head also possibly maybe deep down a toilet bowl – released a stunning Baker part. No queasiness could keep me away from watching the long-awaited footage of that China Banks ollie. It’s magic, really, but in its purest form: velocity, levitation, and fearlessness beyond comprehension.”
Claire Alleaume on Tristan Funkhouser in ‘Tyson and T-Funk’ (Baker Skateboards)
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The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2023 — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Cosme
We are committed to the belief that nobody wants to talk about 2023 after Christmas. And for a year when it felt like Skateboard Oscars Season™ began in August, we had to make the call. All those parts that missed the cutoff will be eligible for next year’s voting, same as years past. — QS
“It’s hard not to share in the good time on display whenever Karim is on screen in anything, and his appearance in Johnny’s Vid is no exception. There is a vicarious joy. We’re hyped because he’s hyped — on the roll up, after the make, when someone else does something, when food has arrived. He exudes such a genuine appreciation of life and skateboards and friends and shit that I, for one, can’t help but feel eerily positive about stuff, too.”
Zach Baker on Karim Callender in ‘Johnny’s Vid’ by Johnny Wilson
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The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2024 — QS Readers Poll Results
illustration: Francesco Pini
There were no last-minute surprises. There are some new names, and some longtime favorites who have only ranked 20-11 in the past have finally broke into the top ten. — QS
“So what makes her first-ever full-length part for Adidas transcendent is watching her completely shed the weight of expectations and “just” …skate. In this four-minute wonder, shot and edited by Chris Mulhern (and a bunch of other filmers) over three years, her infectious joy and technical prowess radiates through every line. I love the little snippets of her personality that the part captures. Momiji embodies a new generation of skaters, proving that competitive success and street credibility aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Hannah Bailey on Momiji Nishiya in ‘MOMIJI’ (Chris Mulhern for adidas Skateboarding)
