Friday, March 5, 2021

March 5 - 18, 1981

Smash Hits, March 5, 1981
(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Duran Duran
Centrespread: Stray Cats
Back cover: Honey Bane
Interviews: Talking Heads; Chris Sievey; Duran Duran
Lyrics: Something ‘Bout You Baby I Like – Status Quo; From A Whisper To A Scream – Elvis Costello; Walking On Thin Ice – Yoko Ono; Boys And Girls – Human League; Please Don’t Touch – Motorhead / Girlschool; Don’t Go – Judas Priest; It’s A Mystery – Toyah; I’m In Love With The Girl – Freshies; (Somebody) Help Me Out – Beggar And Co; Planet Earth – Duran Duran; E.R.N.I.E. – Madness; Star – Kiki Dee; Kids In America – Kim Wilde; Jones vs. Jones – Kool and the Gang; Can You Feel It? – The Jacksons
Bitz: Gen X breakup; Bunny Wailer; Mike Barson wedding; Debbie Harry, George Burns, Diana Ross; David Byrne, Brian Eno, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts; Paul McCartney, Wisconsin; Status Quo tour, Adam and the Ants, Kevin Mooney; New Sounds, New Styles; The dB’s, Stands For Decibels; personal file: Ian McCulloch; Moondogs; Phil Collins, The Cure; Dexy’s Midnight Runners; The Wanderers (Dave Parsons, Dave Treganna, Ricky Rocket, Stiv Bators); Rockpile split, Tourists split, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart from Eurythmics; all time top ten: Noel Davis; Only Ones final gig; Echo and the Bunnymen tour; Human League; Modern Romance, Geoffrey Deane, David Jaymes
Single reviews (David Hepworth): From A Whisper To A Scream – Elvis Costello; Sherry Darling – Bruce Springsteen; Celebrate – Simple Minds; All American Girls – Sister Sledge; New Toy – Lene Lovich; Risk – Spizzies; You Better You Bet – The Who; Being With You – Smokey Robinson; Thin Ice – Yoko Ono; I Missed Again – Phil Collins; (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang – Heaven 17
Album reviews (Robin Katz / David Hepworth / Fred Dellar / Red Starr / Beverly Hillier ): All American Girls – Sister Sledge; Stray Cats – Stray Cats; Difficult To Cure – Rainbow; Solid Gold – Gang Of Four; Another Ticket – Eric Clapton; In Our Lifetime – Marvin Gaye; Healing – Todd Rundgren; Brian Damage – Brian Briggs; Defunkt – Defunkt; Journeys To Glory – Spandau Ballet
Independent Albums (Red Starr): The Live Rise Of Richard Strange – Richard Strange (PVC/Ze)
Independent Singles (Red Starr): Dreaming Of Me / Ice Machine – Depeche Mode (Mute)
Other: Strange Tails From A Music Paper; Smash Hits Readers’ Poll Results

10 comments:

  1. just wanted to say huge thanx for sharing these scans...it's always fascinating to see.

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  2. Brilliant I get so excited evertime you post a new one for us all seeing my cartoons strip again is such a thrill thank you thank you thank you

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  3. This was the first issue I bought; because it had the lyrics to Kids In America in it and I had a huge crush on Kim Wilde. Kids was the first single I bought. 30 years ago....man oh man....

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  4. Fantastic! What memories this brings back. Love re-reading all the interviews. Its also a great historical resource. Thank You!

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  5. This is the one I've been waiting on ... that picture of Honey Bane brings back very fond memories !

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  6. great site, great endeavour. this was my very first issue too, and, as with David, i remember getting just a little excited about the Honey Bane back cover too. if memory serves i was terrified my mum would see it and confiscate the mag...xxx

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  7. p.s. - this is incredibly anorak-y stuff, but i have a feeling that the Ultravox cassette single advertised within was never actually released in that format. forgive me, i've been waiting 30 years to use that particular fact ;0)

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  8. Bloody hell! Seven comments!

    Thank God for Honey Bane....she has given us all something to talk about :)

    I'm glad you're all enjoying the archive - thanks for reading!

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  9. BRAVO! Such a fantastic archive. I used to read Star Hits here in America and save all my favorite pics and songs - until (I assume) my @#%* father threw them out in the garbage!! I'll be back to read more later. Keep 'em coming.

    I have a radio show on www.kzsc.org from 9am-noon PST from Snata Cruz, California called "Living In The '80s" that any fan of this mag would enjoy.

    Also have a blog at livinginthe80sblog.blogspot.com.

    Toodles!

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  10. Love, love, love!!! As a Durannie stuck in Canada, we rarely saw these really early Smash Hits issues. When I finally found one it was in 1984 and luckily, had Simon Le Bon on the cover. Fate! ;)

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