Author Topic: Do we need another Bill Phillips? (Read 3193 times)

Topskin69 · « **on:** April 12, 2009, 12:24:37 PM »

I got to thinking the other day.... I'm not sure how many of you on this board were around in the hey days of MM2k, (some of you were for sure), and he does get made fun of a lot, but Bill Phillips had the right idea about a number of things.

For example.... He would refuse to run an advertisement in his magazine without first sending a test batch of the product to be assessed by an independent laboratory. Some of you might remember what happened when the Pure Protein brand of bars first hit the market.... He didn't get his lab report back in time, so he gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to let their ads run in his magazine.

Well as it turns out the lab assessment didn't come anywhere close to the label claim, (something like 9grams of fat instead of 2, way more carbs, etc). He then decided to refund the money of anyone that bought any Pure Protein bars, if they could furnish a receipt that was dated in the month that ads ran.

He also personally had his cover models tested for anabolics. I remember talking to Danny Hester once, and he would tell me how Bill would send him down every three months or so to the same place that crackheads, and other addicts would get tested...somewhere in L.A. I think....

And say what you will about him....in EAS's heyday...the customer service was always top notch.

The question is....do we need to see some of these ideas implemented again..... could Steve (Schome) Blechmen really steer bodybuilding in a better course if he was so inclined?

Discuss

M!

BB · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2009, 12:40:13 PM »

I'd take a Dan Duchaine or Peary Rader clone before a Bill Phillips clone, but I can see your point. Too many major magazines are afraid to call out folks on stuff, but then again all of the magazines are involved in snake oil sales, whether directly or indirectly. Even Phillips was.

HMB feels like Deca.

Captain Equipoise · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2009, 12:45:00 PM »

Quote from: Topskin69 on April 12, 2009, 12:24:37 PM

I got to thinking the other day.... I'm not sure how many of you on this board were around in the hey days of MM2k, (some of you were for sure), and he does get made fun of a lot, but Bill Phillips had the right idea about a number of things.

For example.... He would refuse to run an advertisement in his magazine without first sending a test batch of the product to be assessed by an independent laboratory. Some of you might remember what happened when the Pure Protein brand of bars first hit the market.... He didn't get his lab report back in time, so he gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to let their ads run in his magazine.

Well as it turns out the lab assessment didn't come anywhere close to the label claim, (something like 9grams of fat instead of 2, way more carbs, etc). He then decided to refund the money of anyone that bought any Pure Protein bars, if they could furnish a receipt that was dated in the month that ads ran.

He also personally had his cover models tested for anabolics. I remember talking to Danny Hester once, and he would tell me how Bill would send him down every three months or so to the same place that crackheads, and other addicts would get tested...somewhere in L.A. I think....

And say what you will about him....in EAS's heyday...the customer service was always top notch.

The question is....do we need to see some of these ideas implemented again..... could Steve (Schome) Blechmen really steer bodybuilding in a better course if he was so inclined?

Discuss

M!

Hahahaha...that's quite a riot considering how much gear Bill used himself!!! LOL

Doug_Steele · « **Reply #3 on:** April 12, 2009, 12:47:30 PM »

Gimme Vince Gironda!! I would loved to have trained at his gym

Topskin69 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 12, 2009, 12:53:03 PM »

Phillips was not without his faults...and towards the end, he completly lost the plot..... but for a while his magazine was the best in the industry, and he was doing things that were unheard of at the time. He was also the first one to really give Dan Duchaine major exposure, and the first to really deal with the practial side of Anabolic use.

This industry is compltely without any transperency, and it seems like Steve Blechmen is the only one in any position to try and change things, but he seems to be content being a gorified schome.

I hope to see a shift in the industry.... Jeff Everson and planet muscle seemed decent in the begining, but I simply dont think that he has the resources to do much.

M!

tendonitis · « **Reply #5 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:05:04 PM »

phillips lost a lot of us with his HMB feels like Deca bullshit

BB · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:06:02 PM »

The problem is that you more or less have to sell out to have a competitive print magazine. The revenue from honest supplement ads, equipment sales, and the like just isn't enough.

Perhaps, a web based venue could do it, but they too, would either run out of money or turn to the darkside.....:cough:testosterone.net:cough:........

Topskin69 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:18:03 PM »

Quote

The problem is that you more or less have to sell out to have a competitive print magazine

You are probably right, but it seems like there could be more trasperancy then there is. It seems like Muscletech has every magazine by the balls with all the ADs that they run. I doubt any magazine could afford to lose Muscletech ad revenue. Though in all fairness Musclemag is getting a lot better these days. While Robert Kennedy isnt doing anything innovative per se, he doesnt seem to really cater to anyone ethier.

The days of it being a Muscletech bible seem to be over with....(if anyone knows the story of why Kennedy allowed Muscletech to run rampant in his magazine back in the day...while having no financial stake in the company....I would love to hear about it.

Ursus · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:19:02 PM »

Quote from: Doug_Steele on April 12, 2009, 12:47:30 PM

Gimme Vince Gironda!! I would loved to have trained at his gym

i would have done bench pressing to spite him

Topskin69 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:21:29 PM »

Quote

i would have done bench pressing to spite him

Or you could show up with some Platz like legs...

Ursus · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2009, 01:23:06 PM »

er...that second one would be tricky

Doug_Steele · « **Reply #11 on:** April 12, 2009, 02:08:33 PM »

Quote from: Ursus on April 12, 2009, 01:19:02 PM

i would have done bench pressing to spite him

x2 He could yell at you and scream at you and then take the change out of the cash register and throw it at you and get the hell out of his gym

YoungBlood · « **Reply #12 on:** April 12, 2009, 02:34:38 PM »

Quote from: Topskin69 on April 12, 2009, 12:24:37 PM

Some of you might remember what happened when the Pure Protein brand of bars first hit the market.... He didn't get his lab report back in time, so he gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to let their ads run in his magazine.

Well as it turns out the lab assessment didn't come anywhere close to the label claim, (something like 9grams of fat instead of 2, way more carbs, etc).

I seem to remember Bill apologizing to Pure Protein for the incident too. I don't remember that the label claim was off, but that the lab did not know how to deal with the glycerine contained in the bar. So they lumped the ingredient in with BOTH fats & carbs. Making the labels far off from what they should have been.
Or maybe Bill just said that to save face? You never know in this business.
In my dealings with EAS when I first started working out, they were top notch.

chainsaw · « **Reply #13 on:** April 12, 2009, 03:56:49 PM »

Bill phillips was roided out more than anyone.
He is a Hypocrite, and is not around cause people
are outing him.

Ursus · « **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2009, 04:07:06 PM »

my friend won the body for life challenge

MB_722 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 12, 2009, 04:10:33 PM »

MM2K was grreat back in the day. I miss Dan Duchaine articles. They were good reads. miss that stuff.

Other than that I could careless for a new "Bill Phillips" I'm not going buy another BBing magazine again. Haven't bought one in 5 years +.

WillGrant · « **Reply #16 on:** April 12, 2009, 04:55:42 PM »

Conman former drug dealer that got rich sellling hmb and telling his readers it was just like decca

all the while being loaded on drugs to push his line of supplements whilst touting his natural status..

Topskin69 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 12, 2009, 06:18:33 PM »

Some of you guys are missing the point I think. No doubt Bill was about selling suplements, and he was quite fond of exgagerating. However he admitted his steroid use, and in fact was one of the first underground authors on the subject. MM2k's articles on the pratcial application of AAS, Slin, etc, really hasnt been matched even to this day.

He was the best that we had....for the brief time that his magazine was on top. At least his company was ran in a classy fashion, and he really pushed hard for label claims being accurate.

The problem is now, that due to the unregulated nature of this industry, anything could be in the supplements you are taking, and no one in the industry is trying to police it. Sadly if this continues....its only a matter of time before the FDA gets involved, and starts cracking down on what can or can not be sold....

Perhaps there are some ideas/suggestions on how one (with the cash and werewithall), could move to correct this.

M!

Parker · « **Reply #18 on:** April 12, 2009, 06:41:46 PM »

Quote from: jr on April 12, 2009, 06:40:05 PM

#4

Her chest is should be the Getbig mascot. There would loads more traffic here.

My vote for Ron to have her Chest on the Getbig Homepage.

WillGrant · « **Reply #19 on:** April 12, 2009, 06:45:07 PM »

Quote from: Topskin69 on April 12, 2009, 06:18:33 PM

Some of you guys are missing the point I think. No doubt Bill was about selling suplements, and he was quite fond of exgagerating. However he admitted his steroid use, and in fact was one of the first underground authors on the subject. MM2k's articles on the pratcial application of AAS, Slin, etc, really hasnt been matched even to this day.

He was the best that we had....for the brief time that his magazine was on top. At least his company was ran in a classy fashion, and he really pushed hard for label claims being accurate.

The problem is now, that due to the unregulated nature of this industry, anything could be in the supplements you are taking, and no one in the industry is trying to police it. Sadly if this continues....its only a matter of time before the FDA gets involved, and starts cracking down on what can or can not be sold....

Perhaps there are some ideas/suggestions on how one (with the cash and werewithall), could move to correct this.

M!

I agree with you that all magazines should not run adds by supplement companys if.
1.The product doesnt meet label claims with in a cetain %
2.The product is proven to work in the real world
3.The magazines should be the ones running the tests payed by the supplement companys as part of there ad fee.
4.Magazines should be audited on these tests to stop back handers going on..

Would it happen? I doubt it though it would be nice and insure the customer/reader was not wasting there money when buying alot of this junk.

Topskin69 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 12, 2009, 07:25:13 PM »

Quote

I agree with you that all magazines should not run adds by supplement companys if.
1.The product doesnt meet label claims with in a cetain %
2.The product is proven to work in the real world
3.The magazines should be the ones running the tests payed by the supplement companys as part of there ad fee.
4.Magazines should be audited on these tests to stop back handers going on..

Would it happen? I doubt it though it would be nice and insure the customer/reader was not wasting there money when buying alot of this junk

This is a good post.... yes a Magazine's credibility is on the line when they completly bow to a supplement companies b.s.
However I think that #2 on your list would be a bit impractical. As long as the product meets label claims it should be sufficient. IMO. That is as long as the ad's are too outrageous.... however most of the major compaines, (outside of labrada and gaspari), seem to be getting more and more absurd with their claims.

MHP is soon to rivial muscletech in absolute bullshit advertising...

Sadly it seems like Blechmen is the only one with the cash flow to make this happen....he wont do it though... sad really...

M!

The Renaissance Man · « **Reply #21 on:** April 12, 2009, 07:29:53 PM »

Great thread Topskin69.

Bill is a great guy and brought EAS to the next level, no doubt about it...

this industry reaps with hypocrisy but there is still hope.

Parker · « **Reply #22 on:** April 12, 2009, 07:33:50 PM »

I often thought that if Peter McGough could team up with a former pro, say Mike Francios, Shawn Ray or Troy "Zukester" and Tom Price, and come up with a e-mag or a magazine, that was no Bullshit, informative, and no ghost written articles that it might do well. If not pitch a idea to ESPN2 and have a show as well.

Topskin69 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 12, 2009, 07:42:12 PM »

I appreciate the feedback. As emo as it might sound, I care about bodybuilding, as I see it that it shares valid parallels with various existential ideas. And as much as the silliness is rightfully made fun of here at getbig, I think that we overlook the aspects of this subculture that appealed to us in the first place.

That said, I would love to see a turnaround in this industry. I think the very first thing that needs to be done is that we need to not only accept the fact that this is a subculture, and nothing more, but to also embrace that idea. We act as if that is a bad thing...we really don't need mainstream acceptance, (not that it would ever happen). However I think that we could get it out more in the public eye.

The only way to do this in my opinion is to have a reality show on the topic. Once people can identify with the philosophical reason, and hardships that are involved in bodybuilding, will it get some of the respect that it deserves. When one only sees the end-product, (the oiled up man in thong), it will always be seen as silly to the lay person.

M!

Parker · « **Reply #24 on:** April 12, 2009, 07:44:48 PM »

There also needs to be less of this "gay mess" (read schmoes) around, or at least not as overt. For the past couple of yrs, my eyes have been opened about that. And it makes me ashamed of even lifting weights or say "i follow bodybuilding"