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The magazine that defined lad culture 30 years ago

BBC A montage of around seven covers of Loaded magazine showing a combination of pop stars and scantily clad women. BBC
Loaded was published for more than 20 years from its inception in 1994

Thirty years ago a magazine was founded which some claim defined 1990s lad culture.

Loaded offered a mix of irreverent humour and celebrity interviews - alongside raunchy photos.

In its heyday it sold more than 400,000 copies a month and twice scooped the title of magazine of the year.

Sussex-based Tim Southwell, one of the magazine's co-founders, said "no-one had ever seen anything like it".

He wrote a book on the magazine's eventful history and features in the BBC documentary Loaded: Lads, Mags and Mayhem.

Mr Southwell, who now lives in Lindfield, said Loaded had a "seismic impact on the 90s".

It was the decade that brought us Britpop, Cool Britannia and the emergence of a new-found national swagger.

"The readers had this empathy and they were part of a big national gang," Mr Southwell said.

Before settling on Loaded, creators James Brown, Mick Bunnage and Tim Southwell considered titles Rogue and The Right Stuff.

Eventually they settled on the name that was, well, loaded with meaning, in 1994.

Its publication, along with other "lads' mags", attracted criticism for its photos of scantily-clad women featured in each edition.

Tim Southwell standing in a room wearing black jumper and glasses in front of a montage of Loaded covers
Tim Southwell has written a book about the history of Loaded and taken part in a BBC documentary

'Paid to go out and have a good time'

Mr Southwell told BBC South East the magazine was "a massive celebration".

"The whole thing was so hedonistic. We were basically paid to go out and have a good time."

Mr Southwell looks back nostalgically on an extraordinary era of hanging out with celebrities.

"My favourite memory was the night I played tambourine in Paul Weller's band," he recalled.

"That was the moment I thought it was never going to get any better."

Martyn Goodacre/Getty James Brown (left) and Tim Southwell (right) holding a mock-up of the first ever Loaded magazine in 1994 in a black and white photoMartyn Goodacre/Getty
James Brown (left) and Tim Southwell (right) first got Loaded published in 1994

Loaded lived on for more than two decades.

Its last printed issue was in 2015 before it moved online due to changing times and trends.

Thirty years on, Loaded remains a publishing phenomenon and a cultural barometer of the times.

Tim Southwell looks back on his lads' mag years with affection.

He said: "I think the spirit of Loaded would be appreciated today. But the world is a very different place.

"I'm really proud of that connection it had with people."

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