Britpop bible closes

Select helped make Oasis - but the band's success broke Select

Music magazine Select, which helped create the mid-90s Britpop boom, is to close, publishers Emap have announced.

It is credited with sparking the vogue for British guitar bands in 1993 by featuring Suede singer Brett Anderson on the cover, backed by a Union Flag with the headline "Yanks go home!"

But sales have fallen in recent years and the success of the bands it championed has led to its demise, according to Emap's managing director for rock, Dave Henderson.

He said in a statement: "Market conditions mean that the indie sector, which Select emphatically championed, has been completely absorbed into the mainstream, illustrated by the huge success of the magazine's core bands - Oasis, Blur and Radiohead."

Staff are to be offered work on sister publications Q, Kerrang!, Mixmag, and other new projects due to launch in 2001.

Recent years have seen the traditional weekly music magazines - and Select's rivals - NME and Melody Maker lose readers, while rock magazine Kerrang! and dance publications such as Ministry have boomed.