A museum-style display of the Icon’s evolution lined the hall of the entranceway when you walked in. Well, maybe not right when you walked in. First, guests were checked in by Skullcandy intern (Security? Athlete? Assistant?) Reid Smith. But that’s beside the point.
The Icon has grown with the times—losing that damn wire all those old headphones had was a step in the right direction. The exhibit ran from the early aughts to now, each box showing a different year the headphone was produced. Seeing an old pair in its clear glass display evoked something akin to nostalgia. The Icon—with its thin headband and almost dot-sized little speakers—was the seminal headphone for anyone growing up in the snowboard world during a certain period. There was also a sentimentality about the rider whose photos ran back in tandem with the product. Shots of Eero Ettala throughout the years served as the box display on each pair of headphones. There is no point in hiding the subtlety. An icon for the Icon. But it does make sense. If the Icon was the seminal headphone for people in this space, then Eero was the seminal rider, a commanding force going back to the early 2000’s.
It’s been 10 years since Eero “retired.” Although, one doesn’t really retire from snowboarding. Do they? Perhaps this is the argument for snowboarding being an art rather than a sport. A sport can be walked away from, art cannot. Art eats away at a stagnant artist. An artist cannot put down the brush because there is always something inside of them, there’s a painting begging to be seen by the world. Snowboarders can’t stop snowboarding. There have been countless examples of this. Hell, Mikey LeBlanc took the cover of this very publication at the age of 50.
A few things happened before the video. First, there was the congregation. There was standard mingling that occurs at every premiere (and hey, this was the first one of the year!). Little clusters of people dotted the main floor of the Skullcandy office like candy buttons on a sheet. It was a glorious sight to see. Next, there was Eero Ettala themed Kahoot. With a large crowd in a small space, it’s easy to overhear what people are saying. The conversation was split generationally and took one of two forms. On one end of the spectrum there was the, Oh, I played this in high school! On the other, What’s Kahoot?
This was all in anticipation of the video and it seemed the video was in anticipation of something else. Eero said the video could serve as a trailer for the documentary about the video. And maybe it’s better to simply speak about the documentary rather than the video. Eero requested no phones (leaks) during his part, so that will be respected here as well. However, it could be described in broad terms. That nostalgia from earlier in the night came through again in his part. There were the roof gaps and high production value of a bygone era. It was a refreshing take, a welcomed departure from the contemporary street video.
It seems Eero is a well-oiled public relations machine. You have to if you want to keep sponsors for two decades. But it’s more than that, he’s a sports commentator in Finland, he's always in front of the camera. Of course, then, he knows one of the golden rules of PR: Get out in front of the story. Maybe that’s what the documentary was, a preemptive strike so Eero wouldn’t have to field hundreds of people asking him the same question over and over again. Hey Eero, he would imagine them saying, what was it like to film a part at 40?
The documentary answers that question and a line from Eero sums it up nicely. “Strong in the mind, weak in the body.” It was also a fascinating look at the balancing act between snowboarder and father. Not many people can say they tuck the kids into bed before gearing up for a night spot. But maybe that’s what it takes to be an icon. Maybe it takes that level of tenacity or, at the very least, it requires a fire that cannot be extinguished. Watching Eero find spots while pushing the kids in a stroller, watching him film alongside all the other stresses of adult life was inspiring. Maybe that’s the marker of an icon. Maybe they simply have to inspire.
Check out the new Icon headphone right here!