I have to confess that I didn’t have a particularly big record collection growing up. My parents couldn’t afford a lot of pocket money, so I didn’t have a lot of disposable income for singles – and certainly not for albums; it was easier to spare 25p or 30p for Smash Hits every fortnight than to buy records on a regular basis, which is why I have been able to spend the last six years sharing my collection on this archive.
Ever since I first dived into my Smash Hits collection and began reliving those times, the question I have asked repeatedly has been: "Did we realise how lucky we were?" We were spoiled. During my formative years, the charts were bursting with great music; there was so much variety and invention in the British top 40 of the late seventies and early eighties – an explosion of talent that has never been repeated to such a degree.
No More Heroes tackles the well-nigh impossible task of distilling the spirit of those heady days into three discs. Listening to its sixty tracks is a whirlwind spin through the golden age of punk, post-punk and new wave. Chart-toppers from The Jam, The Specials and Ian Dury rub shoulders with classics from Madness, Buzzcocks and Adam and the Ants; American acts like the Ramones, Modern Lovers and Talking Heads pogo with Generation X, XTC and X Ray Spex. Alongside the more familiar titles are things you might have forgotten: I am particularly excited by the inclusion of Back Of My Hand by the Jags – why wasn’t that a bigger hit?!!?
From calls to action by the likes of Sham 69 and Secret Affair to the endearing goofiness of the Toy Dolls and Tenpole Tudor, this is a reminder of that incredible outpouring of energy. Some of these acts cast long shadows; others crashed and burned spectacularly, but from the unmistakable opening of Teenage Kicks to Jona Lewie’s anthem for wallflowers, there’s hardly a dull moment here.
No More Heroes is an ideal way to fill some of the gaps in your collection – or a great introduction to the great sounds of a great moment in musical history. It doesn’t claim to be all-inclusive, but what it does include is good enough for me: Blondie, The Fall, Echo and the Bunnymen, Bow Wow Wow, Dr. Feelgood....Realising that some of these songs were recorded forty years ago should make me feel old, but listening to them puts a spring in my step. So go ahead, open up a copy of Smash Hits, crank up the stereo and enjoy!
No More Heroes is available from Amazon UK and iTunes....but keep reading to find out how you could win a copy for yourself in our very first competition!
The makers of No More Heroes have given us three copies of the boxset to give away to fans of this Smash Hits archive. To have a chance of winning, go to our Facebook page and leave a comment listing your three favourite tracks from the compilation and three songs which you think should have been included. Everybody who posts a comment listing six titles will be entered into a draw - three names will be selected and those winners will get the CDs.
Disc: 1
1. Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
2. Going Underground - The Jam
3. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker – Ramones
4. If The Kids Are United - Sham 69
5. No More Heroes – Stranglers
6. Public Image – PIL
7. Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie And The Hot Rods
8. Ever Fallen In Love - The Buzzcocks
9. Turning Japanese - The Vapors
10. Neat Neat Neat - The Damned
11. Germ Free Adolescents - X Ray Spex
12. Automatic Lover - The Vibrators
13. Swords of A 1,000 Men - Tenpole Tudor
14. Go Wild In The Country - Bow Wow Wow
15. Into The Valley - The Skids
16. Top Of The Pops – Rezillos
17. 2 4 6 8 Motorway - Tom Robinson
18. Blank Generation - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
19. Ca Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand
20. Is Vic There? - Department S
Disc: 2
1. Hanging On The Telephone – Blondie
2. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop
3. Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs
4. The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen
5. Time For Action - Secret Affair
6. Shake Some Action - Flamin' Groovies
7. I Got You - Split Enz
8. Brass In Pocket - The Pretenders
9. Back Of My Hand - The Jags
10. Making Plans For Nigel – XTC
11. Sound of The Suburbs - The Members
12. Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Adam And The Ants
13. I Think We're Alone Now - The Rubinoos
14. Lucky Number - Lene Lovich
15. Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones
16. A New England - Kirsty MacColl
17. Ghost Town - The Specials
18. 7teen - The Regents
19. Drowning In Berlin - The Mobiles
20. One Step Beyond – Madness
Disc: 3
1. Road To Nowhere - Talking Heads
2. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury And The Blockheads
3. Roadrunner (Twice) - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers
4. Rich Kids - Rich Kids
5. Babylons Burning - The Ruts
6. Jimmy Jimmy - The Undertones
7. Hersham Boys - Sham 69
8. Miss The Girl – Creatures
9. New Rose - The Damned
10. The Day The World Turned Day Glo - X Ray Spex
11. Drummer Man – Tonight
12. King Rocker - Generation X
13. Butcher Baby - The Plasmatics
14. Homicide – 999
15. Cherry Bomb - The Runnaways
16. Nellie The Elephant - The Toy Dolls
17. Get Rhythm - Dr Feelgood
18. Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
19. It's The New Thing - The Fall
20. You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties - Jona Lewie
