Bizarre Magazine Counterculture, Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll Magazine Archive

Bizarre, Counterculture

Archive

Bizarre Magazine. London: John Brown Publishing, 1998–2001. First editions. Archive of Eight Issues. Illustrated throughout in color and black-and-white. Perfect-bound in color pictorial wrappers. A striking archive of Bizarre, the provocative British counterculture magazine that carved out a distinctive space in late-1990s subcultural publishing. Spanning seven issues from 1998 and one from 2001, this run offers a concentrated glimpse into the magazine’s peak years under the editorship of Fiona Jerome and David McComb. Known for its outrageous photo shoots, shock journalism, sex-positive content, and coverage of fringe and underground cultures—including fetish scenes, body modification, censorship battles, and cult cinema—Bizarre spoke directly to a readership marginalized by mainstream media.

Cover imagery is consistently confrontational and highly stylized. Among the visual highlights are a topless woman draped with a live boa constrictor (Kiss My Asp!, 1998), and a dominatrix-styled Tara O’Connor under the headline Game On! (1998). The 2001 issue, Punk Is Dead, features a pale-skinned goth model with bleached buzz cut and facial piercings. This archive includes:

[1] January/February 1998 – “Banned!”A global censorship roundup focusing on film, literature, and sexual expression. Cover image features a woman styled as one of the Droogs in A Clockwork Orange. Features an pictorial expose into the grisly world of post-Soviet Russian grey market organ harvesting and insider information about the porn industry.

[2] May 1998 – “Tasty!” Sex industry expose highlighting “Porn Past Confessions”, as well as a profile on the burgeoning cosmetic surgery industry and its disasters. Includes the 16-page “Sealed Stranger Stuff” centerfold with user-submitted nude art and amateur bondage imagery.

[3] July 1998 – “Let’s Rock!” A countdown of “Top Ten Maddest Stage Performers,” including GG Allin and Wendy O. Williams. Interviews with heavy metal groupies, shock comic performance artists, and underground fire-breathers. Features DIY body piercing guide.Issue:

[4] September 1998 – “Kiss My Asp!”Cover story on “The Weirdest Sex Fetishes in the World—EVER!”. Also includes a profile on the Foreign Legion.

[5] October 1998 – “Bollywood Babylon”Focus on Indian cinema, and articles on Laotian “Opium Tribes,” censorship in Indian television, and infamous Mumbai crime syndicates. Cover is of a woman in South Asian adornments.
[6] November 1998 – “Read Yourself Raw”Special on transgressive aspects of Japanese culture, such as their peculiar forms of erotica as well as their biker gangs.

[7] December 1998 – “Game On!”Cover feature on gameshow host Tara O’Connor styled in a dominatrix latex suit. Inside are profiles on mercenaries, "Russian Murder TV", and The Drugs Do Work” feature on psychotropics in rave culture, and user-submitted fetish photography section.

[8] March 2001 – “Punk Is Dead” Post-millenium retrospective of punk’s commodification.

Light wear and rubbing to extremities; interior pages bright and complete; sealed sections (where present) opened but intact. Overall very good condition. A rare and cohesive archive capturing late 1990s to early 2000s underground sexual and subcultural media, notable for its intersection of alternative fashion, radical sexual expression, and anti-censorship advocacy.

Item #22447

Price: $350.00