December 20, 1984 - January 2, 1985

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Julian Lennon, John Taylor
Centrespread: Duran Duran
Back cover: Wham!
Lyrics: Thank God It's Christmas - Queen; Soul Deep - Council Collective; Everything She Wants - Wham!; Nellie The Elephant - Toy Dolls; Another Rock And Roll Christmas - Gary Glitter
Bitz: Paul Young, "The Secret Of Association", Laurie Latham; Michael Jackson, The Jacksons; Council Collective: Paul Weller, Mick Talbot, Dee C. Lee, Vaughn Toulouse, Junior Giscombe, Jimmy Ruffin; Martyn Ware; Thompson Twins, Band Aid; Matt Bianco, Breekout Krew; Slade, "Merry Xmas Everybody", Roy Wood and Wizzard, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", Dan Fogelberg, "Some Auld Lang Syne", Perry Como, "Christmas Dream", Neil Diamond, "You Make It Feel Like Christmas", Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "Christmas Without You", Tony Jackson, "Snowy White Christmas", Terry King, "Stay With Me For Christmas", Marie-Anne Emmanuel, "Merry Christmas And Happy New Year", Eden Perry, "Christmas Elvis Presley Style", Father Christmas, "It's Christmas", Jingle Belles, "Christmas Spectre (Medley)", Krankies, "Hand In Hand At Christmas", Giant Haystacks, "It's OK For Santa", Bonnie Langford, "Just One Kiss"; "Gremlins", "Ghostbusters", "Give My Regards To Broad Street"; Thompson Twins, "Into The Gap - Live"; "20 Reggae Classics Volume 2", Trojan Records; Hamish the Frog, Ian the Frog, Keith the Frog, "We All Stand Together"; "Slade: Feel The Noize" - Chris Charlesworth, "Def Leppard: An Illustrated Biography" - Chris Welch, "Joy Division + New Order: Pleasure and Wayward Distractions" - Brian Edge, "Break Dancing" - Lucy Blandford, "Judas Priest HM Photo Book", "Judas Priest Heavy Duty" - Steve Gett; "Saturday Superstore Replay Selection Volume 2": Depeche Mode, Paul Young, Ultravox, Special AKA, Shakin' Stevens, Matt Bianco Bluebells, Wham!, Musical Youth, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones
Other: Pop Quiz: Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet; Readers' Poll results

Groove Is In The Heart

If you ever made or received a mixtape, you will love this wonderful short play.

Back in October 1984, Morrissey did a feature with British music magazine Smash Hits where he reviewed some popular singles at the time. It was unearthed today (30 years to the day after the issue’s publication date) by Brian McCloskey, a collector of the magazines who has been uploading his archives digitally on his blog Like Punk Never Happened. It’s all pretty great.

"The kind of stealthy eroticism which makes a life of religion madly attractive"

The one we've all been waiting for: Morrissey reviews the new singles!

In 2009, Smash Hits superfan Brian McCloskey, an 80’s kid who had hung on to his copies of Smash Hits since youth, decided to rescue his collection from his parents’ attic at his childhood home in Derry, Ireland.

I never thought it would happen....

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.

"a modest sort of transvestite"

It has nothing to do with Smash Hits or music from the 1980s, but if you want to know a bit more about the person responsible for this archive, you can read this interview in the latest LA Weekly.