Pop an ollie and innovate!
-
0:00 - 0:05(Music)
-
0:20 - 0:26(Music)
-
1:00 - 1:03(Music ends)
-
1:07 - 1:13(Applause)
-
1:13 - 1:15So, that's what I've done with my life.
-
1:15 - 1:16(Laughter)
-
1:16 - 1:19(Applause)
-
1:19 - 1:20Thank you.
-
1:20 - 1:24(Applause)
-
1:25 - 1:28As a kid, I grew up on a farm in Florida,
-
1:28 - 1:30and I did what most little kids do.
-
1:30 - 1:34I played a little baseball,
did a few other things like that, -
1:34 - 1:36but I always had the sense
of being an outsider, -
1:36 - 1:39and it wasn't until I saw
pictures in the magazines -
1:39 - 1:41that a couple other guys skate, I thought,
-
1:41 - 1:42"Wow, that's for me," you know?
-
1:43 - 1:45Because there was no coach
standing directly over you, -
1:45 - 1:47and these guys,
they were just being themselves. -
1:47 - 1:50There was no opponent
directly across from you. -
1:50 - 1:53And I loved that sense,
so I started skating -
1:53 - 1:56when I was about 10 years old, in 1977,
-
1:56 - 1:59and when I did,
I picked it up pretty quickly. -
1:59 - 2:03In fact, here's some footage
from about 1984. -
2:03 - 2:08It wasn't until 79
I won my first amateur championship, -
2:08 - 2:13and then, by 81, I was 14,
and I won my first world championship, -
2:14 - 2:16which was amazing to me,
-
2:16 - 2:19and in a very real sense,
that was the first real victory I had. -
2:20 - 2:21Oh, watch this.
-
2:21 - 2:23This is a Casper slide,
where the board's upside down. -
2:23 - 2:25Mental note on that one.
-
2:25 - 2:26(Laughter)
-
2:26 - 2:28And this one here?
-
2:28 - 2:30An ollie.
-
2:31 - 2:35So, as she mentioned,
that is overstated for sure, -
2:35 - 2:39but that's why they called me
the godfather of modern street skating. -
2:39 - 2:41Here's some images of that.
-
2:46 - 2:49Now, I was about halfway
through my pro career -
2:49 - 2:52in, I would say, the mid-'80s.
-
2:52 - 2:56Freestyle itself -- we developed
all these flat ground tricks, as you saw, -
2:56 - 2:59but there was evolving
a new kind of skateboarding, -
2:59 - 3:04where guys were taking it to the streets,
and they were using that ollie, -
3:04 - 3:06like I showed you.
-
3:06 - 3:09They were using it to get up
onto stuff like bleachers and handrails -
3:09 - 3:12and over stairwells
and all kinds of cool stuff. -
3:12 - 3:14So it was evolving upwards.
-
3:14 - 3:17In fact, when someone tells you
they're a skater today, -
3:17 - 3:19they pretty much mean a street skater,
-
3:19 - 3:22because freestyle, it took about
five years for it to die, -
3:22 - 3:28and at that stage, I'd been a "champion"
champion for 11 years, which -- -
3:28 - 3:30Phew!
-
3:30 - 3:33And suddenly, it was over for me,
that's it -- it was gone. -
3:33 - 3:36They took my pro model off the shelf,
-
3:36 - 3:39which was essentially
pronouncing you dead, publicly. -
3:39 - 3:41That's how you make your money, you know?
-
3:41 - 3:44You have a signature board
and wheels and shoes and clothes. -
3:44 - 3:46I had all that stuff, and it's gone.
-
3:47 - 3:50The crazy thing was, there was
a really liberating sense about it, -
3:50 - 3:55because I no longer had to protect
my record as a champion. -
3:55 - 3:56"Champion," again.
-
3:56 - 3:59Champion sounds so goofy,
but it's what it was, right? -
3:59 - 4:02What drew me to
skateboarding, the freedom, -
4:03 - 4:05was now restored,
where I could just create things, -
4:05 - 4:08because that's where the joy
was for me, always, -
4:08 - 4:10was creating new stuff.
-
4:10 - 4:14The other thing that I had
was a deep well of tricks to draw from -
4:14 - 4:16that were rooted
in these flat ground tricks. -
4:16 - 4:19Stuff the normal guys were doing
was very much different. -
4:19 - 4:21So, as humbling and rotten as it was —
-
4:21 - 4:23And believe me, it was rotten.
-
4:23 - 4:27I would go to skate spots,
and I was already "famous guy," right? -
4:27 - 4:29And everyone thought I was good,
-
4:29 - 4:31but in this new terrain, I was horrible.
-
4:31 - 4:35So people would go,
"Oh, what happened to Mullen?" -
4:35 - 4:37(Laughter)
-
4:37 - 4:40So, humbling as it was, I began again.
-
4:40 - 4:44Here are some tricks that I started
to bring to that new terrain. -
4:44 - 4:49And again, there's this undergirding
layer of influence of freestyle -- -
4:49 - 4:51Oh, that one?
-
4:51 - 4:54That's, like, the hardest
thing I've ever done. -
4:54 - 4:56OK, look at that, it's a Darkslide.
-
4:56 - 4:58See how it's sliding on the backside?
-
4:59 - 5:02Those are super fun,
and, actually, not that hard. -
5:02 - 5:05You know, at the very root
of that, see, Caspers, -
5:05 - 5:06see how you throw it?
-
5:08 - 5:10Simple as that, right? No biggie.
-
5:10 - 5:13And your front foot,
the way it grabs it -- -
5:15 - 5:18I'd seen someone slide
on the back of the board like that, -
5:18 - 5:19and I was like, "How can I get it over?"
-
5:19 - 5:21Because that had not yet been done.
-
5:21 - 5:24And then it dawned on me,
and here's part of what I'm saying. -
5:24 - 5:26I had an infrastructure.
I had this deep layer, -
5:26 - 5:29where it was like, oh my gosh,
it's just your foot. -
5:29 - 5:31It's just the way
you throw your board over. -
5:31 - 5:33Just let the ledge do that, and it's easy,
-
5:33 - 5:36and the next thing you know,
there's 20 more tricks -
5:36 - 5:37based out of the variations.
-
5:37 - 5:40So that's the kind of thing --
here, check this out, -
5:40 - 5:42here's another way,
and I won't overdo this. -
5:42 - 5:44A little indulgent, I understand.
-
5:44 - 5:46There's something called a Primo slide.
-
5:48 - 5:50It is the funnest trick ever to do.
-
5:54 - 5:55It's like skimboarding.
-
5:56 - 5:59And this one, look how it slides
sideways, every which way? -
5:59 - 6:02OK, so when you're skating,
and you take a fall, -
6:02 - 6:05the board slips that way or that way;
it's kind of predictable. -
6:05 - 6:08This? It goes every which way --
it's like a cartoon, the falls, -
6:08 - 6:10and that's what I love the most about it.
-
6:10 - 6:12It's so much fun to do.
-
6:12 - 6:15In fact, when I started doing them,
I remember, because I got hurt. -
6:15 - 6:17I had to get a knee surgery, right?
-
6:17 - 6:21So there were a couple of weeks
where I couldn't skate at all. -
6:21 - 6:24It would give out on me,
and I would watch the guys, -
6:24 - 6:27I'd go to this warehouse
where a lot of the guys were skating, -
6:27 - 6:28my friends, and I was like,
-
6:28 - 6:31"I've got to do something new,
I want to do something new. -
6:31 - 6:32I want to start fresh."
-
6:32 - 6:35And so the night before my surgery,
I'd watched, and I was like, -
6:35 - 6:37"How am I going to do this?"
-
6:37 - 6:39So I ran up, and I jumped on my board,
-
6:39 - 6:41and I Cavemanned, and I flipped it down,
-
6:41 - 6:43and I remember thinking,
I landed so light-footed, thinking, -
6:43 - 6:47if my knee gives, they'll just have
more work to do in the morning. -
6:47 - 6:48(Laughter)
-
6:48 - 6:50And so, when it was the crazy thing.
-
6:50 - 6:53I don't know how many
of you guys have had surgery, but -- -
6:53 - 6:54(Laughter)
-
6:54 - 6:55you are so helpless, right?
-
6:55 - 6:58You're on this gurney
and you're watching the ceiling go by, -
6:58 - 7:00every time, it's always that,
-
7:00 - 7:03and right when they're putting
the mask on you before you go to sleep, -
7:03 - 7:06all I was thinking is,
"Man, when I wake up and I get better, -
7:06 - 7:09the first thing I'm going to do
is film that trick." -
7:09 - 7:14And indeed I did, it was the very first
thing I filmed, which was awesome. -
7:14 - 7:18I told you a little bit
about the evolution of the tricks. -
7:18 - 7:20Consider that content, in a sense.
-
7:20 - 7:24What we do as street skaters is,
you have these tricks -- -
7:24 - 7:26Say I'm working on Darkslides, or a Primo,
-
7:26 - 7:28that you guys know this stuff now.
-
7:28 - 7:30(Laughter)
-
7:30 - 7:32What you do is, you cruise
around the same streets -
7:32 - 7:34that you've seen a hundred times,
-
7:34 - 7:37but suddenly, because
you already have something -
7:37 - 7:42in this fixed domain of this target,
it's like, what will match this trick? -
7:42 - 7:45How can I expand, how can the context,
-
7:45 - 7:48how can the environment change
the very nature of what I do? -
7:48 - 7:52So you drive and drive and drive,
and, actually I've got to admit, -
7:52 - 7:55just because I was struggling
with this because I'm here, -
7:55 - 7:57but I'll just say it,
is, I cannot tell you, -
7:57 - 7:59not only to be here in front of you,
-
7:59 - 8:02but what a privilege it is
to be at US campus, -
8:02 - 8:06because I have been escorted off
of this campus so many times. -
8:06 - 8:08(Laughter)
-
8:08 - 8:10(Applause)
-
8:10 - 8:16So let me give you another example
of how context shapes content. -
8:16 - 8:20This is a place not that far from here,
It's a rotten neighborhood. -
8:20 - 8:22Your first consideration is,
am I going to get beat up? -
8:22 - 8:25You go out and -- See this wall?
-
8:25 - 8:31It's fairly mellow, and it's beckoning
to do bank tricks, right? -
8:31 - 8:33But there's this other aspect
of it for wheelies, -
8:33 - 8:35so check this out.
-
8:35 - 8:37There's a few tricks, again,
-
8:37 - 8:39how environment changes
the nature of your tricks. -
8:39 - 8:42Freestyle oriented,
manual down -- wheelie down. -
8:43 - 8:46Watch, this one? Oh, I love this,
it's like surfing, this one, -
8:46 - 8:47the way you catch it.
-
8:47 - 8:50This one, a little sketchy
going backwards, -
8:50 - 8:52and watch the back foot.
-
8:53 - 8:54Oops --
-
8:54 - 8:56(Laughter)
-
8:56 - 8:57Mental note right there.
-
8:57 - 8:59Again, we'll get back to that.
-
8:59 - 9:00(Laughter)
-
9:00 - 9:01Here, back foot, back foot.
-
9:02 - 9:04OK, up there?
-
9:04 - 9:05That was called a 360 flip.
-
9:05 - 9:08Notice how the board flipped
and spun this way, both axes. -
9:09 - 9:14And another example
of how the context changed, -
9:14 - 9:18and the creative process
for me and for most skaters, -
9:18 - 9:21is, you go, you get out of the car,
you check for security, -
9:21 - 9:22you check for stuff.
-
9:22 - 9:24(Laughter)
-
9:24 - 9:26It's funny, you get to know
their rhythms, you know, -
9:26 - 9:28the guys that cruise around --
-
9:28 - 9:29(Laughter)
-
9:29 - 9:31Skateboarding is such
a humbling thing, man. -
9:31 - 9:34No matter how good you are,
you've still got to deal with -- -
9:34 - 9:36So you hit this wall, and when I hit it,
-
9:36 - 9:39the first thing you do
is you fall forward, -
9:39 - 9:40and I'm like, all right, all right.
-
9:40 - 9:42As you adjust ...
-
9:43 - 9:45you punch it up,
and then when I would do that, -
9:45 - 9:47it was throwing my shoulder this way ...
-
9:48 - 9:53which as I was doing it, I was like,
"Oh wow, that's begging for a 360 flip," -
9:53 - 9:56because that's how
you load up for a 360 flip. -
9:56 - 10:00And so this is what I want
to emphasize that, as you can imagine, -
10:00 - 10:03all of these tricks are made
of submovements, -
10:03 - 10:05executive motor functions,
-
10:05 - 10:08more granular to the degree
to which I can't quite tell you, -
10:08 - 10:09but one thing I do know is,
-
10:09 - 10:13every trick is made of combining two
or three or four or five movements. -
10:13 - 10:16And so, as I'm going up,
these things are floating around, -
10:16 - 10:19and you have to sort of
let the cognitive mind rest back, -
10:19 - 10:20pull it back a little bit,
-
10:20 - 10:23and let your intuition go
as you feel these things. -
10:23 - 10:25And these submovements
are kind of floating around, -
10:25 - 10:28and as the wall hits you,
they connect themselves to an extent, -
10:28 - 10:32and that's when the cognitive mind:
"Oh, 360 flip, I'm going to make that." -
10:32 - 10:34So that's how that works
to me, the creative process, -
10:34 - 10:36the process itself, of street skating.
-
10:36 - 10:38So, next -- Oh, mind you ...
-
10:38 - 10:39(Laughter)
-
10:39 - 10:40Those are the community.
-
10:40 - 10:43These are some of the best
skaters in the world. -
10:43 - 10:46These are my friends --
oh my gosh, they're such good people. -
10:46 - 10:49And the beauty of skateboarding is that,
-
10:49 - 10:51no one guy is the best.
-
10:51 - 10:54In fact, I know this is rotten to say,
they're my friends, -
10:54 - 10:58but a couple of them actually don't look
that comfortable on their board. -
10:58 - 11:03What makes them great is the degree
to which they use their skateboarding -
11:03 - 11:04to individuate themselves.
-
11:04 - 11:06Every single one of these guys,
you look at them, -
11:06 - 11:09you can see a silhouette
of them, and you realize, -
11:09 - 11:11"Oh, that's him,
that's Haslam, that's Koston, -
11:11 - 11:14there's these guys, these are the guys."
-
11:14 - 11:18And skaters, I think
they tend to be outsiders -
11:18 - 11:22who seek a sense of belonging,
-
11:22 - 11:24but belonging on their own terms.
-
11:25 - 11:29And real respect is given
by how much we take what other guys do, -
11:29 - 11:34these basic tricks, 360 flips,
we take that, we make it our own, -
11:34 - 11:37and then we contribute
back to the community -
11:37 - 11:39the inner way that edifies
the community itself. -
11:40 - 11:42The greater the contribution,
-
11:42 - 11:45the more we express
and form our individuality, -
11:46 - 11:50which is so important to a lot of us
who feel like rejects to begin with. -
11:51 - 11:53The summation of that
-
11:53 - 11:56gives us something we could never
achieve as an individual. -
11:58 - 11:59I should say this.
-
11:59 - 12:01There's some sort of beautiful symmetry
-
12:01 - 12:04that the degree to which
we connect to a community -
12:04 - 12:06is in proportion to our individuality,
-
12:06 - 12:08which we are expressing by what we do.
-
12:09 - 12:10Next,
-
12:11 - 12:15these guys, very similar community
that's extremely conducive to innovation. -
12:15 - 12:16(Laughter)
-
12:16 - 12:19Notice a couple of these shots
from the police department. -
12:20 - 12:22But it is quite similar,
I mean, what is it to hack, right? -
12:23 - 12:26It's knowing a technology so well
that you can manipulate it -
12:26 - 12:30and steer it to do things
it was never intended to do, right? -
12:30 - 12:32And they're not all bad.
-
12:32 - 12:36You can be a Linux kernel hacker,
make it more stable, right? -
12:36 - 12:37More safe, more secure.
-
12:37 - 12:39You can be an iOS hacker,
-
12:39 - 12:42make your iPhone do stuff
it wasn't supposed to. -
12:42 - 12:45Not authorized, but not illegal.
-
12:45 - 12:47And then, you've got
some of these guys, right? -
12:47 - 12:49What they do is very similar
to our creative process. -
12:50 - 12:52They connect disparate information,
-
12:53 - 12:58and they bring it together in a way
that a security analyst doesn't expect. -
12:59 - 13:00It doesn't make them good people,
-
13:01 - 13:03but it's at the heart of engineering,
-
13:03 - 13:08at the heart of a creative community,
an innovative community, -
13:08 - 13:11and the open source community,
the basic ethos of it -
13:11 - 13:14is, take what other people do,
make it better, -
13:14 - 13:16give it back so we all rise further.
-
13:16 - 13:19Very similar communities, very similar.
-
13:19 - 13:21We have our edgier sides, too.
-
13:21 - 13:22(Laughter)
-
13:22 - 13:23It's funny, my dad was right.
-
13:23 - 13:25These are my peers.
-
13:26 - 13:28But I respect what they do,
and they respect what I do, -
13:29 - 13:31because they can do things,
it's amazing what they can do. -
13:31 - 13:33In fact, one of them,
-
13:33 - 13:37he was Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur
of the Year for San Diego County, -
13:37 - 13:40so they're not -- you never know
who you're dealing with. -
13:40 - 13:44We've all had some degree of fame.
-
13:44 - 13:49In fact, I've had so much success
that I strangely always feel unworthy of. -
13:49 - 13:52I've had a patent, and that was cool,
and we started a company, -
13:52 - 13:54and it grew, and it became the biggest,
-
13:54 - 13:57and then it went down,
and then it became the biggest again, -
13:57 - 14:00which is harder than the first time,
and then we sold it, -
14:00 - 14:01and then we sold it again.
-
14:01 - 14:03So I've had some success.
-
14:03 - 14:06And in the end, when you've had
all of these things, -
14:06 - 14:08what is it that continues to drive you?
-
14:08 - 14:10As I mentioned, the knee stuff
and these things, -
14:10 - 14:11what is it that will punch you?
-
14:11 - 14:13Because it's not just the mind.
-
14:13 - 14:16What is it that will punch you
and make you do something -
14:16 - 14:19and bring it to another level,
and when you've had it all, -
14:19 - 14:23sometimes, guys, they die on the vine
with all of that talent, -
14:23 - 14:26and one of the things
we've had, all of us, is fame -- -
14:26 - 14:29I think the best kind of fame,
because you can take it off. -
14:29 - 14:31I've been all around the world,
-
14:31 - 14:34and there will be a thousand kids
crying out your name, -
14:34 - 14:36and it's such a weird,
visceral experience. -
14:36 - 14:37It's like, it's disorienting.
-
14:37 - 14:40And you get in a car, and you drive away,
-
14:40 - 14:42and 10-minute drive, and you get out,
-
14:42 - 14:44and no one gives a rat's who you are.
-
14:44 - 14:46(Laughter)
-
14:46 - 14:49And it gives you that clarity
of perspective of, man, I'm just me, -
14:49 - 14:52and popularity, what does that
really mean again? -
14:52 - 14:53Not much.
-
14:53 - 14:55It's peer respect that drives us.
-
14:55 - 14:58That's the one thing
that makes us do what we do. -
14:58 - 15:02I've had over a dozen bones,
this guy, over, eight, 10 concussions, -
15:02 - 15:04to the point where it's comedy, right?
-
15:04 - 15:07It is actually comedy, they mess with him.
-
15:07 - 15:08(Laughter)
-
15:09 - 15:10Next,
-
15:10 - 15:12and this is something deeper.
-
15:14 - 15:18I think I was on tour when I was reading
one of the Feynman biographies. -
15:18 - 15:20It was the red one or the blue one.
-
15:20 - 15:24And he made this statement
that was so profound to me. -
15:27 - 15:31It was that the Nobel Prize
was the tombstone on all great work, -
15:32 - 15:36and it resonated because
I had won 35 out of 36 contests -
15:36 - 15:39that I'd entered over 11 years,
and it made me bananas. -
15:39 - 15:42In fact, winning
isn't the word, I won it once. -
15:42 - 15:44The rest of the time,
you're just defending, -
15:44 - 15:46and you get into this,
turtle posture, you know? -
15:46 - 15:49Where you're not doing --
it usurped the joy of what I loved to do -
15:49 - 15:53because I was no longer doing it
to create and have fun, -
15:53 - 15:54and when it died out from under me,
-
15:54 - 15:56that was one of the most
liberating things, -
15:56 - 15:58because I could create.
-
15:58 - 16:03And look, I understand that
I am on the very edge of preachy, here. -
16:03 - 16:04I'm not here to do that.
-
16:04 - 16:07It's just that I'm in front
of a very privileged audience. -
16:07 - 16:10If you guys aren't already
leaders in your community, -
16:10 - 16:13you probably will be,
and if there's anything I can give you -
16:13 - 16:16that will transcend what I've gotten
from skateboarding, -
16:16 - 16:19the only things of meaning,
I think, and of permanence, -
16:19 - 16:21it's not fame, it's not all these things.
-
16:21 - 16:25What it is, is that there's
an intrinsic value in creating something -
16:25 - 16:27for the sake of creating it,
-
16:27 - 16:31and better than that,
because I'm 46 years old, or I'll be 46, -
16:31 - 16:35and how pathetic is that
I'm still skateboarding, but there is -- -
16:35 - 16:40there is this beauty in dropping it
into a community of your own making, -
16:41 - 16:44and seeing it dispersed,
and seeing younger, more talented, -
16:44 - 16:47just different talent, take it to levels
you can never imagine, -
16:47 - 16:49because that lives on.
-
16:49 - 16:51So thank you for your time.
-
16:51 - 16:58(Applause)
-
17:01 - 17:03Kristina Holly: I have a question for you.
-
17:03 - 17:07(Applause)
-
17:07 - 17:11So you've really reinvented yourself
in the past, from freestyle to street, -
17:11 - 17:14and, I think it was about four years ago
you officially retired. -
17:14 - 17:16Is that it? What's next?
-
17:17 - 17:21Rodney Mullen: That's a good question.
KG: Something tells me it's not the end. -
17:21 - 17:25RM: Yeah. Every time you think
you've chased something down, -
17:25 - 17:28it's funny, no matter how good you are,
and I know guys like this, -
17:28 - 17:30it feels like you're polishing
a turd, you know? -
17:30 - 17:33(Laughter)
-
17:34 - 17:36And I thought, the only way
I can extend this -
17:36 - 17:38is to change something infrastructural.
-
17:39 - 17:42And so that's what I proceeded to do,
through a long story, -
17:42 - 17:46one of desperation, so if I do it,
rather than talk about it, -
17:46 - 17:48if I do it, you'll be the first to know.
-
17:48 - 17:51KG: All right, we won't ask you any more.
RM: You'll get a text. -
17:51 - 17:54KG: Right, thank you, good job.
RM: Thank you. Thank you. -
17:54 - 17:59(Applause)
- Title:
- Pop an ollie and innovate!
- Speaker:
- Rodney Mullen
- Description:
-
The last thing Rodney Mullen, the godfather of street skating, wanted were competitive victories. In this exuberant talk he shares his love of the open skateboarding community and how the unique environments it plays in drive the creation of new tricks -- fostering prolific ingenuity purely for passion's sake. (Filmed at TEDxUSC.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 18:19
![]() |
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! | |
![]() |
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Pop an ollie and innovate! |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 11/28/2016.