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.
Thanks for it all Brian. You certainly dealt out rations of some of our passions, as Squeeze almost said. I look forward to browsing through the scans whenever nostalgia overtakes me.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this blog. I used to read every single printed word every fortnight as a kid and reading these again takes me right back. Thank you so much :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for all the hard work. I've been following this space with excitement like many, many people for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteI bought my 1st ever copy of S.Hits a few weeks earlier, because it had the words to "Cool For Cats" in it... great minds, etc!
ReplyDeleteYour efforts are appreciated!
ReplyDeleteExcellent work - you have brought back some excellent memories for me, and I am sure many others.
ReplyDeleteBrian, your brilliant work documenting a unique period in music and pop culture is hugely appreciated. Thank you. I hope this means you have a year of updates still to publish?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these brilliant memories
ReplyDeleteThank you soooooooo much!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a pleasure and a privilege to read these again. So many memories! Your labours are much appreciated. Archiving rocks!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the effort you've put into scanning the magazines. So many memories.
ReplyDeleteEvery two weeks (well, more than that actually) I click on my bookmark that says Smash Hits Archive and read from front page to back that fortnights edition. What am I going to do with that time now? Will someone continue your astounding work? I do hope so. Thank you Brian x
ReplyDeleteAgree with ximeremix this has to continue!
ReplyDeleteReading the new Smash Hits is always something I look forward to reading and really do appreciate your efforts in doing so.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for doing this and I agree with Mr.Brown, this has to continue!