Loaded (magazine)

Loaded, first published by IPC in 1994, is the oldest British "lads' mag" - "For men who should know better". It was founded by James Brown, a former deputy editor of the music weekly New Musical Express. In its early days, the magazine's readership was once memorably described as "50% Sun readers and 50% Guardian readers". Brown has described the irreverent comic Viz as an inspiration for Loaded (and he later bought the comic when he founded the company I Feel Good).

Related Topics:
IPC - 1994 - Lads' mag - James Brown - Sun - Guardian

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Loaded captured the lad culture of the 1990s like no other magazine; its glorification of British male "rogues" (Liam Gallagher, Oliver Reed, Paul Gascoigne &c.) was only outstripped by its fondness for titillating photoshoots with nubile C-, B-, and occasionally A-list celebrities. However, early covers led on male icons for film and TV - Gary Oldman was on the first cover.

Related Topics:
Lad culture - Liam Gallagher - Oliver Reed - Paul Gascoigne

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The Loaded style has been cloned numerous times, most successfully by Emap's FHM, which overtook it in the sales stakes, and Maxim, which became the biggest-selling men's magazine in the US for Dennis Publishing. An offshoot, Eat Soup, quickly failed however. Loaded also influenced women's monthlies, with Emap launching Minx, "For girls with a lust for life". In January 2004, IPC launched the weekly Nuts, announced as the world's first men's weekly, and Emap quickly followed with Zoo.

Related Topics:
Nuts - Zoo

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Deputy editor Tim Southwell (Brown's former boss at New Musical Express) wrote about the early years of Loaded in Getting Away With It (Ebury Press, 1998).

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