Big Brother

Big Brother
	; The first issue's cover.
Key information
Editor	Earl Parker
Staff writers	Sean Cliver, Earl Parker, Jeff Tremaine, Marc Mckee, Mike Ballard
Founder	Steve Rocco
Format	Monthly
First issue	1992
Last issue	2004
No. of Issues	?
Average price	$4
Country	United States
Language(s)	English

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Big Brother was a skateboarding magazine founded by Steve Rocco,^[1] SkatingTools which was notable for ushering in street skating and the sub-culture of skateboarding.

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, including "Shit", then "Number 2", with a few stunts and pranks, but the videos were mostly skateboarding-oriented.

History[]

Origin[]

Big Brother started after Steve Rocco had an argument with his editor when he was working for ???? Magazine. Steve wanted to print a controversial advert and the editor wouldn't allow it. Steve Rocco decided to start his own magazine with no morals and complete freedom. He had considerable funding and hired many of the writers from ??? Magazine to come and work for him.

Changing hands[]

The magazine changed hands at some point due to funding issues. ^{[citation needed]}

Ending[]

The magazine was dropped in 2006. There have been various claims that it will start up again, but so far it has not. ^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[]

Big Brother is credited as the origin of Jackass. The format of the early Jackass episodes resembles Big Brother videos and many of the Jackass cast were already working with Big Brother.

Big Brother is a significant piece of skateboard culture. It's style represented a whole group of people and pushed the limits of publishing at it's time.

Content[]

The magazine contained mostly articles about skateboarding,^[3] as well as some nudity, stunts, pranks, 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, the nudity was toned down or scrapped altogether, though the vulgarity remained.

In 1998, Dr. Laura Schlessinger was in Beach Access, a Costa Mesa surf shop, with her son when she began perusing Big Brother. Schlessinger deemed the magazine to be "stealth pornography" and said so on her radio show. When Tom Moore, the owner of Beach Access, publicly denied that she found pornography in his store, Schlessinger sued Moore for lying and claimed that his denial had hurt her reputation.^[5] When Schlessinger's case went to court, the judge said it was a frivolous lawsuit and dismissed it. Moore's $4M countersuit^[6] against Schlessinger, lodged for hurting the reputation of his store (defamation) was allowed to stand.^[7] The suit has since been settled, but terms of the settlement have not been revealed.^[8] Behind the scenes and off the record, Moore's lawyers and friends claimed victory, indicating the settlement was "about the amount of a moderately priced Orange County home" (at the time, $650,000 to $2 million).

In one of the most bizarre episodes of the magazine's history, the subscriber list for Big Brother got mixed up with Taboo, one of Larry Flynt's hardcore magazines: Big Brother 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.^[9]

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.^[10] Also noted on jackassworld.com, a Big Brother documentary is being planned.

Volume 1 No. 1 of KingShit Magazine, based in Toronto, Ontario was released May, 2009. Dave Carnie is the editor-at-large and Chris Nieratko is a contributing editor.

Big Brother was also credited for the development of the television series Jackass, as Jeff Tremaine recalled in the Jackass episode "Where Are They Now?".

Big Brother Videos[]

Each of the titles in Big Brother's videos dealt in some way with feces.^[11]

Shit[]

Year Released: 1996

Cover: Showed Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña in blue body paint.
Dave Carnie attends Wigstock and calls cross dressers fruitcakes.

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 the basis for the MTV reality series Jackass, though MTV omitted the last part of the segment that showed Knoxville shooting himself in the chest with a small handgun while wearing a kevlar vest.^[12]

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.^[13]

Crap[]

Year Released: 2001

Cover: photographer Rick Kosick in an adult diaper while tied to a cross
Showed the "Depends Olympics" and/or "Jesus Games," which involved the Big Brother staff getting drunk, wearing adult 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.

Gallery of Covers[]

References[]

External links[]

[1] ttp://www.skateboardermag.com/skateboarder-news-features/magazine/bgbrthr/

[2] ttp://www.skimthefat.com/provideos/showvideo.cgi?videoID=123597

[3] ttp://www.skateboardermag.com/skateboarder-news-features/magazine/bgbrthr/

[4] ttp://www.chrisnieratko.com

[5] Dr. Laura Goes After Surf Shop For Porn

[6] Dr. Laura: Surf's Up

[7] Judge Dismisses Dr. Laura Schlessinger Suit Against Beach Access Owner

[8] Dr. Laura Makes Nice

[9] ttp://www.concretewavemagazine.com/blog_archive.php?month=2&year=2006

[10] ttp://www.jackassworld.com/blog/2008/02/28/big-brother-part-three/

[11] ttp://www.skimthefat.com/companies/showcompany.cgi?companyID=69

[12] ttp://www.skimthefat.com/provideos/showvideo.cgi?videoID=123595

[13] ttp://www.skimthefat.com/provideos/showvideo.cgi?videoID=123597

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