Big Brother (magazine)

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Big Brother was a skateboarding magazine founded by Steve Rocco [1], which was notable for ushering in street skating and promoting Rocco brands and companies Rocco favored.

No subject was taboo. Early articles featured step by step ways to commit suicide and rip off schemes such as how to make a fake ID. They would often use odd gimmicks like printing the magazine in different sizes, packaging it in a cereal box, and throwing in items like trading cards and a cassette tape. Early writers were Sean Cliver, Earl Parker (Thomas Schmidt) Jeff Tremaine, Marc Mckee, Mike Ballard, Pat Canale, and others. [2].

They also released a few videos with a few Jackass-esque stunts and pranks, but the videos were mostly skateboarding-oriented.

Contents

[edit] History

It contained mostly articles about skateboarding [3], as well as nudity, stunts, and random ramblings from its staff. Its later days were characterized by the clever wordplay of editors Dave Carnie and Chris Nieratko[4]. The magazine was purchased by Larry Flynt in 1997. After Flynt began publishing the magazine, ironically the nudity was toned down or scrapped altogether, though the vulgarity remained.

In one of the most bizarre episodes of the magazine's history, the subscriber list for Big Brother got mixed up with one of Larry Flynt's hardcore magazines - Taboo. Subscribers were sent pornography, and those who subscribed to Taboo got a skate magazine. This incident was parodied on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which one of the band members was delivered an issue of Big Brother live on stage, suggesting that he subscribed to Taboo and received it in error [5].

The magazine was unexpectedly dropped by Larry Flynt publications in February 2004. In early 2008, it was announced on Jackassworld.com that Big Brother would be returning in a digital format. [6] Also noted on jackassworld.com a Big Brother documentary is in the works.

[edit] Videos

Each of the titles in Big Brother's videos dealt in some way with feces [7].

[edit] Shit

Year Released: 1996

  • Cover: Showed Wee-Man in blue body paint.

[edit] Number Two

Year Released: 1998

  • Cover: Johnny Lee Countee in a Devo suit
  • Showed an obscure old school skateboarder (Johnny Lee Countee) skating in front of his house, the only area he ever skated at.
  • Showed Johnny Knoxville testing out self-defense equipment, including pepper spray, two types of stun guns and a small caliber pistol. This footage was later reused for the first season of Jackass, though Jackass omitted the last part of the segment that showed Knoxville shooting himself in the chest with a small handgun while wearing a kevlar vest [8].

[edit] boob

Year Released: 1999

  • Cover: Editor Dave Carnie in a gold spandex suit and rollerblades; "boob," (when looked at in a mirror upside down, reads "poop.")
  • Contained several skateboarding tours and also featured a Steve-O stunt section and editor Dave Carnie skateboarding in a gold spandex suit [9].

[edit] Crap

Year Released: 2001

  • Cover: photographer Rick Kosick in a Depends diaper while tied to a cross
  • Showed the "Depends Olympics" and/or "Jesus Games," which involved the Big Brother staff getting drunk, wearing Depends diapers, and participating in games. One of the games was the Jesus Race, where people race while heaving a large wooden cross on their backs.

[edit] External Links

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