big shout out to the ghosts and the ghostettes on this episode we talk about biker magazines
the history of them starting from the easy rider magazine all the way to outlaw
biker we're not going to talk too much about motorcycle magazines this is
biker lifestyle magazines we're also going to talk about black magazines that stemmed
from the original easy rider not allowing blacks we're going to get into the real history of biker
magazines and we get into it on this episode a demons row tv and oh yeah we ghostin baby
big shout out to the ghosts and the ghostettes welcome to demons row tv the holy grail of mc
culture where we cover everything motorcycle and motorcycle club involved I'm sose the ghost
I'm your host for the evening and today we're going to talk about the history of biker magazines
and not to be confused with motorcycle magazines we're gonna get into the biker lifestyle the easy
riders the iron horse the outlaw biker we're gonna get into magazines that stemmed from easyrider
not allowing blacks to have the coverage that deserved it like the ben hardy's and we're gonna
really get into a real history and in a non-biased history because that's what we do on this channel
i know in this channel we got a very young demographic and we got to put y'all on to what
magazines are because growing up in the 80s it was magazines baseball cards with the hard bubble gum
chewing on it because it was stale as hell but those were fun times and we valued these type
of things because we didn't have the web at that time and it i almost feel bad for this generation
because everything is so digital you don't have that touch and feel like you don't have that
excitement when you first see something sitting on a newsstand or you know what i mean just being in
the store and seeing it in that aisle and you're like oh you know you're fascinated by the cover
and you're flipping through that mystery you know now with the web with all the advantages
you have that instant gratification so you don't get that surprise feel that oh wow
phil because you could just click and then you see it right away so the value is not there as
much as it used to be but back in our day these things really meant something to us and you know
the biker magazine era is a little bit before my time but like i always say i'm from the bronx and
i want to pay homage to those who paved the way so we're going to get into the history of this
but the first thing i want you to do like we always do on this channel is to hit me with that
pound ghosting and that lets me know you're alive and well sitting on tools doing what you do
or just part of the demons road community one of my ghosts big shout out to all my new subscribers
welcome to the roll make sure you hit that bell so you get the notification cuz a lot of people
are not getting the videos they're not sending out the notifications so you gotta hit the bell
and follow on instagram at demons row at sos the ghost underscore follow our second page the source
the goals page in case anything goes down here because of the censorship that we've been getting
lately and let's get into this so you'll never believe how hard it was to find info on history
on biker magazines i saw a lot of motorcycle magazine history but there was just like easy
rider and stuff like that but i saw a really great article from steel horse audio so we're gonna get
into that motorcycle clubs and bikers have changed dramatically in the 90 plus years since they first
appeared on the scene the public perception of bikers has run the gamut from post world war ii
vets with bomber jackets raising a little hell to craze long-haired maniacs and loud choppers
out to take over your town it's been about backyard builders who create custom bikes by
hand the old-fashioned way to big-name builders that have become superstars thanks to the miracle
of television throughout the history of bike adam motorcycle magazines have offered a lens
through which the riding world has seen itself they reflect on what's going on out there in
the world sometimes that's good sometimes that's not throughout it all motorcycle magazines such
as colors choppers easy rider biker in the wind outlaw biker super cycle custom choppers street
shoppers the horse iron horse cycle source and born to ride have succeeded because they
are not about the nuts and bolts parts and pieces rather the magazines mentioned above
are about the real people who have abiding passion for motorcycles bikers have oil running in their
veins and live for the thrill of riding their bikes and biker rags have always been dedicated
to those guys and gals who truly live the ride and ride to live sadly in this age of online blogs
and digital magazines the only noteworthy print magazines left for bikers out there are choppers
cycle source and born to ride outlaw bikers and one percenters were given a voice and a podium
to speak through biker magazines but outside the motorcycle world was the average so in 1970
easy riders came along it was published monthly by palacino publications for over 50 years in
addition to its coverage of motorcycles particularly harley-davidson and related
activities easy riders is also known for including pictures of nude or topless women in paintings by
david mann who was a california graphic and those painted celebrated biker culture the december 1979
issue featured an interview with willie nelson who also appeared on the cover the audit bureau
of circulation reported that easy riders had an average paid and verified circulation of 123
587 for the six month period ending december 31st 2007. in 1979 pasciano launched a companion
publication called iron horse which would continue to many years on the various owners
so easy rider was the birth of the biker lifestyle kind of magazine not to be confused with a regular
motorcycle magazine being how things were racially when easy rider was at its popularity they had a
clearly white fan base and they had people that would not want to see blacks on the publication
so we lost out on certain legends that should have got the shine so we're gonna show a little clip
from the history of the chopper sugar bear breaks down what was going on and how some magazines
stemmed from this situation and there are a lot of people who will not tell you that that
there was prejudice because that would mean that they recognized it and they did nothing about it
so and and these people probably don't want to be associated with that at this time this is america
we had to have a civil rights movement so when you're you can't be too amazed about this
because it was happening through our society all the time anyway in the bike magazines like
any other publication they tend to feature whatever identifies with the readership
and the predominant readership is white easyrider at the time had white ads
ss insignia's in the ads in the magazine and that was their clientele at that time
they did say that they had wanted to put my bikes in there but they didn't want to
put a picture of me in there because they weren't sure how it it would be handled at
that time because again that was their clientele there was a business decision they they said so i
told them well if you can't put my picture in then you can't put my bikes in i looked at easy rider
to see what they call motorcycles and for me it's kind of funny because a lot of stuff that i see
is old stuff renewed that we were doing in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s that's
brand new stuff to a lot of people now because they don't know their history
african-american writers took their media exposure into their own hands by starting magazines like
soul spokes and soulful wheels but they couldn't get nationwide distribution i mean you know you
had guys in there with big afros and and it was all black so i doubt very seriously that
very many whites saw the magazine uh the audience should have been there for them because
you know like i said there's a few bike builders that built some stuff that were just awesome and
it wasn't a color barrier thing we were all just guys riding motorcycles together i believe there's
a couple of magazines out there right now that are published by colorful but because it doesn't come
up i couldn't even name them it wasn't until the late 1990s that easy riders decided to put sugar
bear in their magazine and since then he can't keep up with the demand for his radical front ends
they've made a full circle the industry has changed i guess i was fortunate enough to ride
it out so let me know what you think about that in the comments and let me know what your favorite
biker magazine of all time is what's your favorite my personal favorite i have to go with outlaw
biker magazine i know it's a um you know the newer out of all of them but i really enjoy that one
um and obviously easy riders because it was it was the classic you know what i mean so yours you can
never go wrong with the classic so let me know that in the comments give me a pound easy rider
pound iron horse whatever your favorite biker magazine of all time is and if you have a favorite
issue let me know what that issue was and let me know how you feel about magazines not really being
a thing anymore do you think that we need our own magazines circulating like back in the days
like maybe we create something where we're all involved with it and everybody has a piece and
and we create something of our own and we all chip in and press it up and it would be like a like
a printing press for the culture it's not about money or you know if we can't make money and bring
it back to the culture i'm down for that it's not a a fashion contest so you got to be famous
or anything like that just whatever's the best story that we could get something positive out
of it you know and maybe we do an online version of it you know since it's a newer day and age you
know i know they do the magazines and the comic books and stuff like that now let me know if you
think that you know because we got the platform if we could get a bunch of people that want to
write articles and you know put stuff together i'm totally down to do it we could all talk about it
and create a name together or whatever you know separate from demons wrote like like a name that
we all believe in that's something that's dope so if you guys have ideas and you want to do
something collaborative like that that'll be fun i would really enjoy doing something like
that and connecting with the community and we could break bread together however y'all
want to do it and that's why i call demons road a holy grail of mc culture because i wanted to turn
into something bigger than just me i wanted to be the whole entire culture like all of us you
know united doing special things like running our own press and we could get our word out our way
you know and nobody could censor that because if it's on a magazine they can't censor it so take
this and share this on your timeline spread this history of our culture and thank you for tuning in
to demons row tv the holy grail of mc culture like subscribe and comment and oh yeah we ghostin baby