The consumer music magazine market was booming during the 1990's although it didn't start off this way at the turn of the decade.
In late 1990 Select was launched by United Consumer Magazines. The first issue featured a Prince lookalike (they couldn't get the genuine megastar). It saw a mix of music news, features, interviews and reviews in a light hearted but serious tone.
However after a few issues it was announced that UCM were pulling out of the music magazine market (they also published Record Mirror and Raw) so EMAP, one of the biggest publishers in the UK stepped in and bought Select.
A couple of the existing writers came along from the previous regime and EMAP used their roster of writers from Smash Hits and Q to help generate new content.
Before long the circulation figures were rising, aided by the 'Madchester' music scene then 'Grunge' which the magazine featured, especially Nirvana, who were hugely popular in the early 90's.
Writers such as Steve Lamacq, David Cavagnh and Miranda Sawyer were providing inspired pieces along with some great imagery from the likes of Ian T Tilton, Kevin Westerberg and Hugo Dixon.
The magazine hit it's peak between 1994-6 when the 'Britpop' music scene took over and it became one of the biggest selling music titles in the UK.
Sadly from 1997 the magazine seemed a bit lost with it's identity as many of the above writers had moved on by that point and the new team struggled with what to focus on.
Finally in 2000 Select was put to rest. The final cover stars were a new group called Coldplay.
