Uncut was launched in May 1997 as "a monthly magazine aimed at 25- to 45-year-old men that focuses on music and movies", edited by Allan Jones (former editor of Melody Maker). Jones has stated that " the idea for Uncut came from my own disenchantment about what I was doing with Melody Maker. There was a publishing initiative to make the audience younger; I was getting older and they wanted to take the readers further away from me", specifically referring to the then dominant Britpop genre.