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Marc Johnson Gave Everything to Skating

Remembering the skater, who has died aged 49, and whose virtuosic technical ability and insoucianct style influenced a generation.

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For an activity that often puts a high premium on self-destruction, it means something when a skateboarder dies.

For an activity that often puts a high premium on self-destruction, it means something when a skateboarder dies.

A skater’s death seems to mark the community—whether or not the circumstances bear any relation to the culture’s rebellious mythos, which often they do not. This is the case with Marc “MJ” Johnson, who died aged 49 on May 26, as revealed in a moving Instagram tribute from his friend and former colleague Louie Barletta. “It was less than a month ago that Marc came to San Jose to hang out,” Barletta wrote, clearly shaken by the abruptness of his passing. “He was sober, healthy, and full of life […] He seemed genuinely excited about the future.”

The skating world is diminished without Johnson. He had a virtuosic technical ability, grace, and a puckish way about him. Where skaters at the turn of the millennium brought elements of languorous hip-hop machismo or punk’s louche delinquency to street skating, Johnson exhibited an idiosyncratic, considered style on a board. Juxtaposed by a clowning sensibility in skits and B-roll footage, the performance was belied by his unassuming indie presentation: brown cords, white tee, striped Matix sweater—with the added, unlikely flair of a fedora.

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Johnson founded Enjoi with Rodney Mullen in 2000, a company that would become known for pop-colored ads defined by a puerile absurdism and insouciance. The ads often had very little to do with skateboarding: their in-jokes were more likely to send up their own riders’ dorkiness or the self-seriousness of skateboarding at the time. Notwithstanding the controversy the brand would later court under different stewardship for its sexist jokes, Enjoi cultivated an alternative form of masculinity in a culture pushing increasingly narrow norms. Johnson’s life in front of the camera—both on and off the board—shared this spirit.   

His approach to the technical side of skating was singular. Johnson is so light touch he practically levitates; the crouch he takes before a trick is balletic, as is the articulation of his arms as he rides away fakie. He........

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