Saturday, June 21, 2014

June 21 - July 4, 1984

Smash Hits, June 21, 1984

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Bronski Beat
Centrespread: Dead Or Alive
Back cover: Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Interviews: Bronski Beat; Lloyd Cole and the Commotions; Human League; Morrissey; Midge Ure; Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; Alison Moyet
Lyrics: Seven Seas - Echo & The Bunnymen; Baby I'm Scared Of You - Womack & Womack; Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat; Change Of Heart - Heart; Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions; Waiting In Vain - Bob Marley & The Wailers; So Tired - Ozzy Osbourne; Jump (For My Love) - Pointer Sisters; Stuck On You - Lionel Richie; Talking Loud And Clear - OMD; Life On Your Own - Human League; I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Nik Kershaw; I Wanna Be Loved - Elvis Costello; Love Resurrection - Alison Moyet; Susanna - The Art Company
Start: Boy George, Madame Tussaud's; Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Paul Rutherford; I Dance Jazz; Working Week, "Venceremos (We Will Win)"; personal file - Chrissie Hynde 
Bitz: Robert Smith quits the Banshees; John Carruthers joins Banshees; The Jacksons; OMD; Madness, "Keep Moving" - US version; Shakatak, "Down On The Street"; Pointer Sisters; "Escape"; Streetsounds, "U.K. Electro": Rapologists, Zer-O, Broken Glass, Syncbeat, Forevereaction - Greg Wilson, Martin Jackson; "Crew Cuts"; Eurythmics, "Touch Dance" - "The First Cut", "Paint A Rumour", "Cool Blue", "Regrets" - John "Jellybean" Benitez, Francois K; Spitting Image, "Da Do Run Ron"; Steve Norman's five favorite soap operas; Art Company, Nol Havens, "Susanna"; The Chiefs Of Relief, Matthew Ashman; Afrika Bambaataa, Soul Sonic Force; Elvis Costello, "Goodbye Cruel World", "I Wanna Be Loved", Green; Nick Heyward; Belle Stars, "80s Romance"; Tom Robinson, "Back In The Old Country"; The Armoury Show; Zeke Manyika, "Heaven Help Us (Try)"; Prince, "Purple Rain"; Midsummer Night's Tube: Culture Club, Police, Echo & The Bunnymen, Alison Moyet, Howard Jones, Bryan Ferry, Hall & Oates, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Sade, Paul Young; Daryl Hall, Diana Ross, "Swept Away", Arthur Baker
Single reviews (John Taylor): Life On Your Own - Human League; When Doves Cry - Prince; Dissidents - Thomas Dolby; Love Resurrection - Alison Moyet; Dance Me Up - Gary Glitter; Waiting In Vain - Bob Marley & The Wailers; Stuck On You - Lionel Richie; You In The Night - Fashion; Seven Seas - Echo & The Bunnymen; Man On Fire - Roger Taylor; Talking Loud And Clear - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; Do It All For You - Saxon; Love's Crashing Waves - Difford & Tilbrook; Baby I'm Scared Of You - Womack & Womack; I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Nik Kershaw; Those First Impressions - Associates; Just Good Friends - Hazel O'Connor; Jump (For My Love) - Pointer Sisters; Too Up Two Down - Haircut One Hundred; Young At Heart - Bluebells; Closest Thing To Heaven - The Kane Gang; What's Love Got To Do With It - Tina Turner
Album reviews (Ian Birch / Ian Cranna / Fred Dellar / Mark Ellen / Linda Duff / Dave Rimmer / Vici MacDonald): Farewell My Summer Love - Michael Jackson; Going For Broke - Eddy Grant; Camouflage - Rod Stewart; In The Studio - The Special AKA; Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister; Now - Patrice Rushen; This Is What You Want This Is What You Get - PiL; Medicine Show - Dream Syndicate
Nights Out: Prince's Trust Rock Gala: Mike Read, Tracey Ullman, Imagination, Sade, Phil Collins, Paul Young; Billy Joel
Other: "Will the real John Taylor please stand up!"

Saturday, June 14, 2014

I never thought it would happen....

Smash Hits June 14 - 27, 1979

One Thursday afternoon in June of 1979, shortly after my tenth birthday, my Mum and I went to Coleraine with some aunts and cousins. In Gardiner's bookshop - I think it was next to Crazy Prices - I found a magazine which had lyrics to a bunch of songs, including Up The Junction, by Squeeze. Music was on its way to replacing football as my passion in life and from the start I had been intrigued by the words of songs, so this was an invaluable resource....and would prove to be so for the next six years....

In June 2009, on a visit to Derry from California, I boxed up my collection of Smash Hits and mailed it to myself in Santa Monica.

In June 2014, thirty-five years after first reading Smash Hits, I finished the (rather time-consuming) task of scanning every issue in my collection, uploading those scans to Flickr and preparing the blog posts that have allowed me to share my collection in this online archive.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

June 7 - 20, 1984

Smash Hits, June 7, 1984

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Spandau Ballet
Centrespread: Ultravox
Back cover: Marc Almond
Interviews: Spandau Ballet; The Associates; Limahl; Nik Kershaw; Boomtown Rats
Lyrics: Absolute - Scritti Politti; Farewell My Summer Love - Michael Jackson; What I want - Dead Or Alive; Thinking Of You - Sister Sledge; Only When You Leave - Spandau Ballet; Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Those First Impressions - Associates; Infatuation - Rod Stewart; High Energy - Evelyn Thomas; Thin Line Between Love And Hate - Pretenders; Sad Songs (Say So Much) - Elton John; Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen; I Feel Like Buddy Holly - Alvin Stardust
Start: Michelle Palmer, Mike Read, Boy George, Kim Wilde, Timmy Mallett, Princess Margaret; Alvin Stardust, Shane Fenton, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly", Gary Glitter, "Dance Me Up"; personal file - Pete Burns 
Bitz: Bronski Beat: Steve Bronski, Larry Steinbachek, Jimi Somerville; David Jensen, "Great Rock 'N' Roll Trivia Quiz"; David Bowie picture discs: "Hunky Dory", "Diamond Dogs", "Pin Ups", "Aladdin Sane", "Ziggy Stardust"; David Sylvian; Feargal Sharkey, "Listen To Your Father", "The Undertones EP"; Thomas Dolby, "Dissident"; "Break Dance"; Tony Fletcher, Apocalypse, "People", Jamming!, "A New Optimism"; Simon Bates, Stephen Luscombe, Helen Terry; Gary Crowley: the five most impressive people I've met; Style Council; Twisted Sister, "Stay Hungry"; David Bowie, "Into The Night", John Landis; Pete Wylie, Wah!, "A Word To The Wise Guy"; Ultravox; Deniece Williams; Mark Johnson, "Design For Living", Joy Division, New Order, "several passages of utter drivel contributed by some former rock writer called Paul Morley"; Mick Jagger, Michael Jacksons, The Jacksons, "State Of Shock"; Haircut One Hundred not breaking up nor reforming with Nick Heyward; "White Lines (Don't Do It)", Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel
Single reviews (Neil Tennant): Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol; Only When You Leave - Spandau Ballet; Building On A Strong Foundation - The Questions; Get Your Feet Out Of My Shoes - Boothill Foot-tappers; Venceremos - Working Week; Farewell My Summer Love - Michael Jackson; Change Of Heart - Change; The Boy Who Came Back - Marc Almond; Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Walk Through The Fire - Peter Gabriel; The Upstroke - Agents Aren't Aeroplanes; Like A Cannonball - Menudo; Absolute - Scritti Politti
Album reviews (Neil Tennant / Lisa Anthony / Kimberley Leston / Dave Rimmer / Ian Cranna): Hyaena - Siouxsie & The Banshees; Everything But The Girl - Everything But The Girl; Lost Boys - Flying Pickets; Brilliant Trees - David Sylvian; Der Osten Ist Rot - Holger Czukay
Nights Out: New Brighton Rock: Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Weather Girls, Nik Kershaw, Helen Terry, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Eddy Grant, Flying Pickets, Spandau Ballet, Madness, Gloria Gaynor, Nick Lowe
Other: High Energy: Boys Town Gang, Hazell Dean, Eartha Kitt, Divine, Weather Girls, Gloria Gaynor, Village People, Evelyn Thomas, Bobby 'O' Orlando, Donna Summer, Slyvester