Mens Magazines.

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In May 1994 James Brown wrote this as the introduction to launch a new concept in magazines:

"What fresh lunacy is this? Loaded is a new magazine dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of sex, drink, football and less serious matters. Loaded is music, film, relationships, humour, travel, sport, hard news and popular culture. Loaded is clubbing, drinking, eating, playing and eating. Loaded is for the man who believes he can do anything, if only he wasn't so hungover."

Prior to Loaded the only magazines men bought either came from the top shelf or were about cars. Accordingly the idea that IPC had decided to break away from producing Woman’s Own to print something that might actually be relevant to men was quite exciting. I remember the promise of the first few issues filled with surreal humour, gonzo journalism and a determination to stay away from the tacky grot mag image. Loaded was genuinely different than anything that had gone before it, mainly due to Brown’s vision of how he wanted his magazine to be.

It soon turned to complete shite though.

The purchase of the failing men’s fashion magazine FHM by Emap a few months after the launch of Loaded began the downward spiral. FHM went straight for the groin. Ignoring the idea that some men might want more than mere T-ts&Ars#,and articles about lager from a magazine, FHM launched with d-list, pop acts in bikinis on its cover, and pub conversation starters for mongos inside. Loaded followed suit and within 2 years James Brown had gone and the mens mag market was headed down the shitter pan. The initial intentions of producing something for men to get their heads around was replaced by teenage w@#k fodder, predictable “humour” and so called celebrity interviews and other total crap and boswellocks.

The circulation figures for these grossly dumbed down sh!te-rags soon attracted the ad industry vultures. Shortly after coming into being mens mags became nothing more than catalogues filled with sponsored features and product placement. The mens bible you must live up to this “lifestyle” magazine was born.

We now end up in the current situation where the drones that consume this utter tat take it as gospel. Just look around any High Street and you’ll see swarms of identikit FHM readers with their mangled, girlie Rod Stewart hairdos, shredded jeans and scarves staring into shop windows trying to buy themselves an identity. Listen to their conversations and you’ll note the topics are related to whatever was on the cover of Nuts last week or regurgitating the bar room jokes from FHM.

In Lads mens magazine world conspicuous consumption is all and superficiality reigns. It makes me bloody sick to think that this is what the modern man has become, a pathetic victim trapped inside an ad agencies vision of mens masculinity.