As I’ve said many times, the early ‘90s were a very strange and transitional time for skateboarding. Things were changing rapidly, and many of the big companies didn’t know how to keep up. Powell-Peralta, Santa Cruz, and Vision nearly fell off the map completely as skateboarding’s popularity took a nosedive. Meanwhile, Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen’s technical street skating behemoth World Industries seemingly took over the entire industry, leaving very little room for anyone else.
But there were outliers, and among them, Alien Workshop led the charge.
The story of Alien Workshop is a long and unusual one, but its influence on skateboarding’s history and culture is undeniable. Founded by iconoclast Neil Blender with friends Chris Carter and Mike Hill in 1990, Alien Workshop made its home in Ohio, far away from the industry’s California nexus point. Its first batch of riders included John Pryor, Duane Pitre, Bo Turner, Thomas Morgan, Scott Conklin, Steve Claar, and Ohio native Rob Dyrdek. In 1991, it was these seven skaters who would make up the roster for the company’s first video, Memory Screen.
In a move that should shock no one familiar with Blender’s career, Memory Screen is far from a traditional skate video. In its 41-minute runtime, Memory Screen features less actual skating than most videos half its length, but its artistry never stops. Its collage approach mixes an assortment of oddball Americana with bursts of early ‘90s skating that showcase both the personalities of the skaters and the free-for-all of innovation that was happening at the time. Put simply, there had never been anything like it before and there wouldn’t be again until Jason Lee and Chris Pastras assembled Stereo’s A Visual Sound in 1994.
Alien Workshop wouldn’t release another video for almost a decade, but in that time, they cultivated the future of the industry. Legends like Josh Kalis, Jason Dill, Anthony Van Engelen, Fred Gall, Mark Appleyard, Anthony Pappalardo, Brian Wenning, Arto Saari, and many, many more helped redefine what was possible on a skateboard. If you were around at any point between 1990 and now, you’ve admired Alien Workshop’s contributions, whether you realized it or not.
Memory Screen won’t be for everyone, but for those of us who love this era of skateboarding and appreciate the unapologetic self-expression of skaters like Neil Blender, this video is a no-brainer.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.