Friday, March 19, 2021

March 19 - April 1, 1981

Smash Hits, March 19, 1981
(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Centrespread: Toyah
Back cover: Talking Heads
Interviews: Rainbow; Rick Buckler; British Funk - Freez; Linx; Light Of The World; Beggar & Co.
Lyrics: Mind Of A Toy - Visage; Respectable Street - XTC; D-Days - Hazel O'Connor; Lately - Stevie Wonder; Swing Shift - Nash The Slash; Pretending To See The Future - OMD; Car Trouble - Adam and the Ants; Can You Handle It - Sharon Redd; You Better You Bet - The Who; Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen; New Orleans - Gillan; Oh God, I Wish I Was Home - Rod Stewart; Intuition - Linx; I Missed Again - Phil Collins; All American Girls - Sister Sledge
Bitz: Kim Wilde; Lenny Henry; Andy Partridge; Udo Pope, Vivienne Westwood, Bowwowwow; personal file: Rusty Egan; Stiff Little Fingers tour; Undertones accidents; Sting; Coast To Coast; Toyah Willcox; Clem Burke; Bill Haley; Pink Floyd; Adam And The Ants; all time top ten: Phil Oakey; Diana Ross; The Great Rock & Roll Swindle, Michael Moorcock; Magazine, Ben Mandelson; Gary Numan live albums; Graham Bonnet;
Single reviews (David Hepworth): Plan 9 - Dexy's Midnight Runners; Only For Sheep - The Bureau; New Orleans - Gillan; Dancing With The Rebels - Original Mirrors; What We All Want - Gang Of Four; Diamond Head - Plastics; Almost Saturday Night - Dave Edmunds; One To One - Joe Jackson; Shut Out The Light - Steve Diggle; Celia (Growing Up In Hollywood) - Jane Kennaway; Respectable Street - XTC; Take A Trip - Shakin' Pyramids; D-Days - Hazel O'Connor; On The Run (Who's Gonna Get Me First?) - TV21; Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown - Nash The Slash; Heartbeat - Dalek I Love You; Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight - Rod Stewart; 9 O'Clock - Snips; Tonight - Modern Romance; Euthenics - Modern Eon; Slow Motion / Quiet Men / Hiroshima Mon Amour / Dislocation - Ultravox
Album reviews (Red Starr / Beverly Hillier / Robin Katz / Mike Stand / David Hepworth): Anywhere - New Musik; Into The Fire - Russ Ballard; Rapp Payback - James Brown; Labour Of Love - Detroit Spinners; Spikey Dream Flowers - Spizzies; Giving All My Love - Tata Vega; Tied To The Tracks - Shona Laing; Magnets - The Vapors; Ice On The Motorway - Wilko Johnson; Intuition - Linx
Independent Singles (Red Starr): Ceremony - New Order (Factory); The Act Became Real - Bollock Brothers (Fresh Records); Back To The Start - Nikki Sudden (Rather / Rough Trade); Angels And Devils (Night And Day) / Watching You Dance - The Passage (Virgin)
Independent Albums (Red Starr): Egg-clectic (Fried Egg Records); Dome 2 - Dome (Rough Trade)
Other: Strange Tails From A Music Paper

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