NEW PODCAST!

Tim Southwell, co-founder and editor of loaded and the magazine’s former editors-at-large Bill Borrows and Ben Marshall introduce their new podcast - EXPloaded. The chat is about the hedonistic 1990s, being recruited to join loaded and how they were all in the right place at the right time. They discuss how DIY punk journalism shaped loaded as a “national fanzine” as much as a magazine. Looking back at early-90s Britain, they cite post-80s grimness, political disillusionment, football violence, and then the optimism sparked by acid house and other emerging cultural shifts as catalysts for change. They also argue that existing men’s magazines like GQ felt fraudulently aspirational, exclusionary and London-focussed. There was a gap for a magazine that reflected their lives. Guess what happened next?

00:00 Podcast Setup

00:40 Meet Bill Borrows

01:12 “Different Times”

02:14 Bill Joins Loaded

04:25 Ben Marshall Tapped Up

06:58 IPC - Very Big Magazine Company

08:09 Fanzines and DIY Roots

12:43 Early Nineties Mood

15:20 Acid House Turning Point

16:02 House Hits Britain

17:09 From Gloom to Optimism

18:13 Smash Hits meets Take That

19:37 Pushing Robbie Over The Edge

21:20 Fun At Gay Times

23:29 All Change

25:59 Aspirational Magazines Stink

28:51 Why Magazines Mattered

30:34 Next Episode Tease