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Want another entertaining, funny, interesting book? Because life's too short for bad books This Bit Brilliant, looks into the chaotic, high-octane world of 1990s British media through James Brown’s memoir, Animal House. As the visionary founder and editor of Loaded magazine between 1994 and 1997, Brown didn't just witness the culture of the decade—illegally or otherwise, he helped define it.The Loaded RevolutionSimon and Paul discuss how Loaded completely upended the British magazine landscape. Before Brown, men's magazines like GQ and Esquire focused on high-end fashion and "£800 raincoats" that the average 20-year-old couldn't afford. Brown’s vision was different: a magazine with "nothing to lose" that captured his own life of music, football, nightclubs, and drinking. Despite its later reputation for "lad culture," the hosts note that during Brown’s tenure, the covers focused on cultural icons like Gary Oldman, Vic and Bob, The Simpsons, and Jimmy White.From Leeds Fanzines to NMEThe episode explores Brown’s relentless drive, tracing his path from a working-class background in Leeds to the top of the publishing world. Brown started in the 80s fanzine culture with Attack on Zag, aggressively selling copies for 20p at gigs with the pitch that it would "get you drunk and make you attractive". This ambition eventually led him to a features editor role at NME under the "non-nonsense" editor Alan Lewis, where Brown helped discover and commission legendary writers like Barbara Ellen and Stuart Maconie.Legendary AnecdotesThe memoir is packed with unbelievable stories from the epicenter of the 90s, including:
- The Stuart Maconie Break: Brown’s life-changing decision to send Maconie to Canada to interview INXS for his first feature—a moment that caused Maconie's entire classroom of students to cheer.
- The Gary Oldman Gamble: How Brown used an agency interview and stock photos to put a "twisted" Gary Oldman on the first cover of Loaded without the actor’s knowledge, only for Oldman to be shocked by his own face on London billboards.
- Dancing with Prince: An unforgettable night at an afterparty for Rock in Rio where Brown broke the ice on an empty dance floor, only to be joined by a "small guy in stack heels and a powder purple suit"—Prince himself.
- The Helen Mirren Night: A post-Loaded interview in LA that turned into a drinking session, ending with the iconic Helen Mirren drunkenly scaling a 15-foot mansion gate in her high heels "like Chris Bonington".
Whether you lived through the era of Britpop and "lad mags" or just want to hear how a driven writer bluffed his way into making media history, Simon and Paul highly recommend Animal House as an essential, laugh-out-loud look at a transformative era.
