The main reason I (Tom Brinkmann) wrote “Bad Mags” was that I wished I’d had something similar when I started collecting these magazines—a guide if you will. “Bad Mags” covers such a broad range of subjects that any chapter could have been its own book. It’s not an exhaustive list of the magazines and tabloids on these topics (if that were even possible), but an attempt to provide a more complete picture of what was published about them at the time.
Beyond that, “Bad Mags” is dedicated to strange, bizarre, and peripheral magazines because the hidden corners of the publishing industry have rarely been explored in print. In most cases, there’s little to no information readily available beyond what’s in the periodical itself.
I hope this contribution to the limited literature on this subject will spark more interest and encourage others to help bring the blurry picture we have into sharper focus. With more of this material becoming accessible to a wider audience online, it makes sense to try and document their history as thoroughly as possible.
“Bad Mags” is a compilation of titles, each a time capsule that ended up under my scrutiny. Some I bought when they first hit newsstands, others as pulp curiosities and collector’s items on eBay and elsewhere.
I’ve focused on the amusing, sleazy, sexual, violent, and sensational aspects of these peripheral and adult magazines, with occasional forays into tabloids and the mainstream press.
It’s a carnival of covers, ads, photos, and art from the adult magazine rack sideshow of the late 20th century. With so much written about the film equivalents of these magazines, it was time to examine the printed side. This is what I’ve tried to do, hopefully adding another dimension to the available information.
Researching this book, I noticed recurring themes in the adult magazines: Ed Wood, Manson, outlaw bikers, hippies, and the countercultural scene in and around Los Angeles, particularly the San Fernando Valley, from the late ’50s to the early ’70s. Many of these magazines emerged from that same environment.
The birth of the modern “Sexual Revolution,” at least in magazines, can be traced to the first issue of “Playboy” in 1953. Many magazines here cover the spectrum of this revolution, from its infancy in the ’50s to its maturity in the ’70s, focusing on its wild adolescence in the late ’60s and early ’70s—when it got most interesting. To continue the metaphor, it reached puberty with the introduction of pubic hair in nudist magazines, and then mainstream ones around 1971, thanks to “Penthouse.” It lost its virginity with the explosion of hardcore films after “Deep Throat” and the 1974 launch of “Hustler” with its revealing spreads.
Some of these periodicals touched on social movements like Women’s Liberation, the hippie and outlaw biker subcultures, communal living, nudism, the occult, true crime, and Vietnam War protests. Others aimed for pure shock value and succeeded. Compared to today’s offerings, with advanced graphics, information overload, and an “anything goes” attitude, much of this may seem tame. But in context, it was revolutionary and bizarre.
Many publishers were fly-by-night, changing names and addresses frequently, or publishing under multiple names from the same address. Content would reappear years later in other magazines, by seemingly different publishers. Many of these had to be bought by mail order or at adult bookstores, adding to their allure. You wouldn’t find them at the local candy store; the ones that made it that far were likely one-offs or short-lived.
Decades later, making sense of these neglected publications isn’t easy. The first step was discovering their existence, which I often did online. The internet has been crucial for uncovering these curiosities and bringing them to a wider audience. This book wouldn’t exist without it.
Alan Betrock’s publications from Shake Books shed light on newsstand scandals and gossip magazines and were an inspiration. I’ve tried to avoid overlap, though some were inevitable. Adult slicks and even hardcore porn are included here, as they haven’t been explored much before.
The sheer volume of titles and subjects is overwhelming. Much of what was published as adult slicks was unremarkable—softcore or hardcore porn with little or no text. More research is needed to complete the picture. This is my contribution; feel free to add your own.
This website went live on June 6, 2004, as a work in progress. I hope to keep adding information and images. For more detailed descriptions, read “BAD MAGS” Volume 1, available from Headpress/Critical Vision and in stores since late 2008.