EXPloaded

IT’S A WRAP for the inaugural season of the EXPloaded and so, naturally, we are looking back at ten weeks of working within an efficient and well-oiled media machine at the cutting-edge of new technology and a sophisticated product in perfect sync with its constituent parts and its listeners, viewers and subscribers. Which brings us rather nicely onto Episode 11 and our guide to “How NOT to make a...

It’s the mid-90’s and the Tories are running on fumes, New Labour is finding its voice, and loaded magazine is hitting that sweet spot where instinct, chaos and confidence collide. Structure? Optional. Impact? Massive. In this episode, Tim, Bill and Ben dive back into the landmark Vic and Bob issue in the company of Catherine Zeta-Jones doing the splits on a television - not on television but on a...

But not the one at the Hanover Grand in December 1994 where the first loaded Xmas party is in full swing: Weller, Albarn, blaggers, Sir Les Ferdinand, Paul Smith, liggers, Steve Coogan, more celebs, Harry Hill and loaded staff running on fumes but flying on several other things. Hottest ticket in town and it suddenly begins to dawn that something extraordinary is taking place. Tim and some colleag...

“Friends” lands on TV but new movie “Pulp Fiction” is closer to the mood in the U.K.. Tim, Bill and Ben unpack a moment when Britain was pulsating with youthful creativity and seething with anger in the face of a full-blown Middle England moral panic over ecstasy and rave culture. The foredoomed crackdown continues to fill the tabloids and the streets as demonstrations against the government’s lud...

Somebody once said - and don’t worry, he makes an appearance [“Disapearance, surely?” Ed.] - fame can “play hideous tricks on the brain” but who’s naturally built for the experience, and who gets swallowed whole? Tim, Bill and Ben spent the 90s and early 2000s surrounded by the most famous people in the world and have eye witness accounts. Some embrace fame, some try to shrug it off. Others strugg...

It’s FA Cup semi-final weekend and, unbelievably, all the EXPloaded team have skin in the game but while Bill and Ben are born and bred City and Chelsea fans, Tim reveals that only a celestial intervention sealed the deal with his love for Leeds. Whatever. Bill gets a promise about his cock from Calvin Klein, Ben has a weird thing with misaligned nipples and a legendary interview with Damon Albarn...

Back in the 90’s, somebody somewhere thought it was a good idea to let a chaotic group of dysfunctional berks loose on A-List celebrities all over the world. We were in over our heads but nobody told us. Tequilla-soaked Reservoir Dog Michael Madsen – still dressed as Mr Blonde for a photoshoot – is taken to an East London “boozer” by Bill on a Friday afternoon. The Hollywood actor soon breaks down...

Remember when Gary Oldman gave loaded magazine a legally-binding promise? (we do and we will be calling it in very soon) Meanwhile, Liz Hurley can’t stop flirting with us; and Kurt Cobain’s tragic demise almost stops the launch issue from hitting the shelves. Post loaded launch, there is plenty of love but also immediate hostility from the usual suspects who just didn’t get it. The Guardian brande...

Tim Southwell, Ben Marshall, and Bill Borrows recap the first issue of loaded and talk about how it gatecrashed the early-90s men’s magazine party looking for trouble. The EXPloaded podcast team discuss Gary Oldman as cover choice and other features such as Tim’s interview with Liz Hurley and Tiger Woods, once the 17 year old golfing prodigy had been dragged out of the shower by his mum. His own m...

Tim Southwell, Bill Borrows, and Ben Marshall bicker their way through the origin story of loaded, starting with how soulless and try-hard the early-90s men’s mag scene felt and asking: what if a magazine actually sounded like your funniest mate in the pub? Tim recounts teaming up with James Brown via Leeds United and being on a Barcelona trip in 1992 that sparked the “best night ever” vibe the ma...

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 magazi...

Come back on 1st April for the first EXPloaded podcast episodes