Skateboarding. Partying. Goofing off. In most cases, these are words that would be synonymous with what we at TTWAAR would call "rad", however you cannot live by absolutes, as a wise Jedi warrior once said. (note: it was Obi-Wan.) We therefore present to you a weary tale of what happens when these sacred acts are bastardised and perverted - the life and times of one Bam Margera. From a young age Bam was eager to expose himself to the world, beginning with the runaway success of his CKY tapes and skateboarding career, before hitting his peak just a year later at the age of 21 - when he appeared alongside his fellow cast-members on the hit show Jackass. Both CKY and Jackass were a big deal back in the '00s; to the lost, confused, and angry kids of that era it was an earth-shattering realisation that it didn't matter if they didn't perform well in school or felt like they didn't fit in, because seeing people like Bam on screen becoming rising stars by behaving like jackasses, it gave them hope - something the execs at MTV quickly grew weary of as "hope" morphed into "let's send them videos of us doing stupid shit and see if they'll put us on the show, too". The legacy that Bam and co created can still be seen in this current generation of kids too, only now instead of sending their home videos in to MTV's mail room, kids can throw them straight onto YouTube and become 15-second stars without the need of a middleman. It was during these glory days that I, like many people watching Jackass, thought Bam was pretty fuckin' cool. He was a professional skateboarder with big name sponsors, he had his own clothesline of skatewear, he was a TV and film star, and he'd achieved all of this off his own back by just doing whatever the fuck he wanted - what could be cooler to some clueless kid hanging out in his bedroom all day playing video games and listening to skater rawk albums? Looking back on it though, especially now that the rose-tinted view of the world that comes with teenhood have well and truly worn off, replaced by an understanding that the world is in fact horrifying and grotesque, I've come to realise that maybe the Bam we see today isn't too far off from the Bam I loved so much as a kid. The Bam back then was as young and naive as the rest of his fans, sure, however there were still always those telltale signs that you seem only able to see now that time has past - signs that perhaps giving Bam the attention he craved was on par with feeding a Mogwai after midnight.
First and foremost, Bam has always been largely on the arrogant side. It never seemed that big a deal at the time, in fact it just felt like it was part of his shtick for the show, but with recent scenes of Bam's arrogance gone wild, evolving into far more dangerous personality traits and behaviours, it becomes apparent that perhaps his attitude wasn't just for the camera.
Because of this ab-nominally high ego, Bam has always seen himself at the head of the pack in whatever he sets his mind to, and because of this, he seems content to talk down to and ridicule those around him. His most unfortunate victim of this pecking order is probably his close friend Brandon Novak, a fellow skateboarder who was a suffering heroine addict during the initial run of CKY and Jackass. In his autobiography Dreamseller Novak made some attempt to justify Bam's behaviour towards him on screen, due to the fact Novak would often steal from Bam's home to fund his drug habit, when Bam had taken him in in hopes of helping him kick his addiction. Years later however, a now sober Novak continues to be at the mercy of Bam on Instagram, despite the fact Novak has challenged and conquered his demons, whereas Bam has given in to his. Anther notable instance of Bam's childish behaviour was one from the third Jackass movie, in which the cast decided to pull a prank on Bam, given that Bam had pulled multiple, often cruel ones on the cast himself. This was The Snake Pit skit, in which the cast decided that Bam's "Rocky" prank had gone on long enough, so set up a faux snake pit for Bam to fall into when he attempted to catch Jeff Tremaine unaware. The second Bam realises he is in a pit of snakes, one of his main fears next to bulls and stun guns, he begins to flip out. Sure he may not have been screaming abuse and obscenities at his co-stars as he did recently to his manager, but you can tell by his tone that Bam is more unhappy to be the butt of the joke than to be in a pit of snakes, despite him finding it absolutely fine to make all others around him the butt of his, regardless of their own personal fears or feelings. Furthermore, following the end of the Jackass TV series most of the crew begun to fade away from the limelight, at least until they would be called upon for future Jackass film opportunities, but Bam pushed for more screen time, leading to a five season run of his own reality show Viva La Bam, which was like Keeping Up With the Kardashians for kids who listened to Drowning Pool, and then the mini-series Bam's Unholy Union, which covered his marriage to childhood friend Missy.
It was during these two television outings that Bam's jerk-off behaviour began to become more apparent to viewers, and unlike with Jackass, attempts to re-visit Viva La Bam can often be painful, as you begin to fully realise in your older years what a child Bam was, and how horrible he could be to the people he called friends. His assertion that he will do "whatever the fuck I want" at the end of the show's intro is realised through his relentless terrorising of his parents and friends. Unsurprisingly, the world had now had its fill of Bam's behaviour, and as his two solo projects dried up he began to truly come into his own as a piece of shit. Recently Bam has gone on record to say that his alcoholism was a resul to him becoming bored, and given the sudden ceasing of Bam-helmed projects at this time, it would certainly seem there may be some truth to this claim - however I would wager what Bam's words really translate to are "I cannot stand not being the centre of attention, and if I don't have attention I will act out until I receive it".
Bam was more than capable of keeping himself busy following his final TV outings, the problem was that the world was losing interest in his type of entertainment, and he was unable to do anything about it. Knoxville went on to land the acting career he'd always wanted before he got caught up in the wacky world of Jackass, Wee man opened his own Taco joint, Wee man's Chronic Tacos, and the rest of the crew simply faded away quite content with what they had been a part of and leaving it at that.
But not Bam.
Bam had tried to milk the Jackass teat two extra times, and although he'd succeeded in doing so, he still had not managed to set himself up for life after Jackass. He made one final attempt at capturing the magic when he self-released a straight to video film, Bam Margera Presents: Where the ♯$&% Is Santa?, however I can imagine that like the majority of the world, this is the first you've ever heard of it. Nobody asked for it, nobody was interested in it, and so it faded into obscurity. SpikeTV also tried one final time to rekindle the Bam Margera brand with a one-off special, Bam's World Domination, but once again, it became apparent that without the rest of the Jackass crew, Margera was no longer a surefire thing.
Around this time, Bam also split from his wife Missy, who I can only assume had had enough of his wallowing and four-day binges, as well as the fact he now lived in a separate city to her, was openly dating other women, and made a brief appearance in a porno - not to mention the fact he'd quite possibly thrown racial slurs at a black woman who responded by beating his ass with a baseball bat.
Then, in 2011, something happened which created a toppling domino effect that would shape the Bam we see today.
On the 20th June at approximately 3:30am, Bam's closest friend and Jackass co-star Ryan Dunn was involved in a devastating car accident, in which his Porsche collided with a tree and burst into flames, instantly killing both Dunn and his passenger. Dunn had been drinking in a bar before the crash, and was believed to have been twice over the legal limit when he crashed the car at an estimated speed of 140 mph in a 55 zone. As news of the event began to spread around the world, one particular piece of footage was to many as harrowing as the image of the gnarled and shapeless metal that was once a car being towed away. It was Bam Margera, who had arrived at the scene as soon as he'd been told of the incident. As if the news of Dunn's death wasn't already enough of a horror to Jackass fans across the globe, the footage of a distraught and inconsolable Bam was the final dagger in the heart.
From here on Bam's life began to spiral even further out of control, and unlike in his prime, his antics were now met with annoyance and disgust rather than support and admiration. With Dunn gone, and his other hometown friends either sober or settled in civilian life, Bam no longer had the strong friend circle he'd had as a kid, and this led to Bam becoming friends with some rather unsavoury characters. Any appearance or post by Bam post-2011 would often see him with an entourage of unknown faces, people who clearly did not have Bam's best interest at heart, and were simply there to feed his darker side and ride the wave that came with it. Now in his mid-30s, Bam's projects such as Fuckface Unstoppable were viewed by even his most hardcore fans as immature trash, making videos such as his Skeletor vs. Beastman song a work of art by comparison. I would like to go on record before we go on though, that all criticism of Bam's childish shenanigans aside, Skeletor vs. Beastman is still great. With new friends and a forever stalling career in entertainment, we were now at peak fuckheadery. Bam was now being videoed pulling his usual shit but with darker consequences than that he received in the safety of his Pennsylvanian home, such as in 2015 when he picked a fight with an Icelandic rap group and rightfully got his ass handed to him. Soon enough it was Bam himself uploading incriminating footage, such as his numerous Instagram posts outlining his descent into madness, notably in one video in which he throws a temper tantrum over his city council forbidding him from throwing anymore parties on his property, stating "how did I let this happen, how did I let Pocopson fuck my career?".
Some of Bam's diehards/idiots gave their support for his right to party, but honestly, if you've seen the photos of said parties, you'll agree that maybe it's for the best they're stopped. Grown ass men in their fucking 40s acting like they're 17 again, causing trouble and smashing shit up like a bunch of fucking mouth breathers in some pathetic attempt to be seen in favour of the mighty Bam Margera, who had sent out an open invite on social media ala Corey Worthington. This kind've behaviour is weak as fuck, and it's no surprise somebody put their foot down eventually. What makes this story all the more painful is that before announcing another party and sparking a cease and desist, Bam had decided to check himself into rehab to deal with his drinking problem, for what I believe was the 3rd time he'd attempted sobriety. Bam lasted a whopping 10 days, before deciding that the clinic's "harsh" rules, such as disallowing him phone usage or contact with the outside world, was too much for the attention starved Margera, and so he packed up and returned home, confident that he'd do just fine completing a 10-hour online course. Just a month after checking out of rehab, we are now at Bam's most recent outburst, which took place just a few days ago. A video emerged online of Margera flipping the fuck out at his manager, screaming in the man's face to take him home, before going on to say that his wife better turn up "in a new fucking outfit" because "she always wears the same fucking thing" and he would "start breaking shit"if she did. It is unknown who was brave enough to upload the footage of Bam's outburst, but even if they'd opted not to, it wouldn't have helped the issue because hours prior Bam had posted to Instagram calling out his wife for taking his car and fucking off, which frankly I cannot blame her for if this is the kind've behaviour he feels is acceptable. Acting as childish as ever, Bam then failed to show up for a scheduled and promoted podcast appearance, before missing his 7pm stand up show, only to turn up an hour late and then be surprised nobody was there.
So this is where we stand now with Bam, a nearly 40 year old man who is no longer relevant in modern times, who has chosen to allow his overtly negative behaviour to be brushed off as a reaction to; being bored, his friend's passing, and drinking, the latter of which he has made little effort to actually deal with in a productive way. He has even resorted to blaming his mother on occasion, despite the fact he first had a drink at 21, and didn't start heavy drinking until he was 25. Yes Bam, it's your mother's fault, she should have reigned in a grown man in his mid-twenties because he apparently cannot do it himself. Maybe some of you do think April's mothering is the root of his problems - personally I don't see it but it is easy to see why that is the opinion of some. Bam dropped out of high school and dedicated his free time to pestering residents of his hometown for a homemade DVD, so surely it could be argued she never had control of him? Well even so, it could also be argued that April gave Bam the freedom to pursue a career in the one thing she knew he truly enjoyed - skateboarding. For a while that is exactly what he did too, and he was very good at it. However only once Bam was an adult, admittedly a young one, did he start to drink and act like an even bigger tool than previously, so surely by that point all blame of behaviour falls on the shoulders of Bam. What will Bam do next? It's hard to say. He seems to have given up on television appearances and his music projects, and it would appear that a documentary he is making on himself, which unsurprisingly he has recorded eleven terabytes of footage for, is on an indefinite hiatus. On his first run at sobriety he also got back on the board, but again, this has soon ceased. His current stand up show has also been cancelled following his violent outburst, meaning that all Bam has now is hosting unwanted parties, hanging with fucking fools, and trying to sell his shitty jewellery on Instagram.
Here's an idea though Bam - if you're so fucking bored that you can't control your drinking and feel the need to talk to people like you're a fucking god and not some washed up has-been who can't get his shit together, why don't you get back at skating and stick with it this time, finish your fucking passion project documentary, and maybe spend some time with your fucking kid? It might also be an idea to ditch the losers who are only hanging out with you for the Instagram cred and who clearly have no intention on ensuring you don't have a drop of alcohol at all of your shitty fucking parties attended by scumbags who equally have no investment in your best interest. Just a thought.
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