Writing about the magazine's influence in Resident Advisor during November 2021, reporter Harriet Shepherd observed, "looking back at it now Sleaze Nation is a historic record of the gentrification that has characterised London's cultural fabric—reported, almost unknowingly, in real-time.
"[8] The early of home of many writers, designers, photographers and artists who would go on to achieve success, Sleaze Nation has also been celebrated in its modern-day contemporaries Wonderland[9] and Show Studio.
[11] The founding 1996 editor was 22 year-old Steve Beale, who left in 1999 to work at EMAP on The Face and Arena after editorial director Ashley Heath read his article on The Sekhmet Hypothesis.
The magazine was an early champion of influential photographers including Ewen Spencer, Alasdair Mclellan, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, and Jonathan de Villiers, particularly through the black and white, documentary-style photography of nightlife accompanying the famously outspoken club listings guide.
Beale employed future urban art dealer Steve Lazarides as picture editor, where he would meet Banksy who soon also worked sporadically from the office, also producing covers and illustrations for the magazine.
Scott King's "Cher Guevara" cover[12] from the February 2001 issue won several magazine awards and was featured in the Barbican exhibition 'Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties'.