June 25 - July 8, 1981

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Kirsty MacColl
Centrespread: Shakin' Stevens
Back cover: Siouxsie
Interviews: Kirsty MacColl; Crass; Adam & Marco & The Ants
Lyrics: Me No Pop I - Kid Creole & The Coconuts; There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop, etc. - Kirsty MacColl; Wikka Wrap - The Evasions; No Laughing In Heaven - Gillan; The Race Is On - Dave Edmunds & The Stray Cats; Going Left Right - Department S; Take It To The Top - Kool & The Gang; Multiplication - Showadyywaddy; Aquarama - The Scars; Piece Of The Action - Bucks Fizz; If Leaving Me Is Easy - Phil Collins; Liar - Graham Bonnet; The River - Bruce Springsteen; Dancing On The Floor - Third World; Doors Of My Heart - The Beat
Bitz: Chris Sievey, "I Can't Get Bouncing Babies By The Teardrop Explodes"; Doctor Feelgood, Johnny Guitar; David Bowie, "Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo"; Kim Carnes; Wah!, John Maher, "Nah Poo - The Art Of Bluff"; Bruce Springsteen, "Nicholas Nickleby", "The Elton Tapes", Andy Peebles; personal file: John Taylor; Iggy Pop; Undertones; Virni Lindt, Thomas Johannson; all time top ten: Johnnie Fingers
Single reviews (Tim De Lisle): Going Left Right - Department S; Wordy Rappinghood - Tom Tom Club; Not A Second Time - Robert Palmer; Hiawatha - Belle Stars; Doors Of Your Heart - The Beat; Martin's Gone - Sector 27; If You Want To Be Happy - Joe Dolce; Gotta Stop Messin' About - Prince; Shadowed - Fingerprintz; The Race Is On - Dave Edmunds with the Stray Cats; Poison Takes A Hold - Play Dead; Dancing The Night Away - Motors; Just For Tonight - Holly And The Italians; Better Things - The Kinks
Album reviews (Fred Dellar / Ian Birch / Beverly Hillier / Geoffrey Deane / Red Starr / Ian Cranna ): What's This For - Killing Joke; Rock The World - Third World; The Last Words Of The Great Explorer - TV Smith's Explorers; Duran Duran - Duran Duran; Magic, Murder And The Weather - Magazine; Juju - Siouxsie & The Banshees; A Product Of... - The Thompson Twins; Wanted Dread & Alive - Peter Tosh; Season Of Glass - Yoko Ono; Fiction Tales - Modern Eon; You Know It's Me - Barbara Dickson
Independent Singles (Red Starr): Forget The Down On Us / Checkmate Syndrome - Wah! (Eternal); Number Eleven / Namegame - Dead Or Alive (Inevitable); Giant Raft In The Philippines / No Place For A Prompter - It's Immaterial (Inevitable); You / Domestic Departure / Kerb Crawler - Au Pairs (021); Political / General - Musical Youth (021); Boys Game / Different Story - Tarzan 5 (021)
Independent Albums (Red Starr): Live At The Lyceum - Cabaret Voltaire (Rough Tapes); Whatever Happens Next - Swell Maps(Rough Trade); Penis Envy - Crass (Crass Records)
Other: Crystal Palace Garden Party: Madness, Tenpole Tudor, Ultravox; Smash Hits Book Of Pop Lists, Part 1

Like Punctuation Never Happened - Grammar Free In The UK!

Some people used lockdown to perfect their banana bread recipes. Others stayed indoors and learned a new language. Instruments were picked up for the first time in years and sheds that had only existed in dreams became reality.

The good people of Team Philpott did what they do best. They wrote letters. The comic geniuses behind Dear Mr. Kershaw and Dear Mr. Pop Star took up their pens and fired off more of their inquisitive missives to the great and the good of the British punk scene.

And, bless their pogoing, safety-pin-through-the-nose hearts, the likes of Max Splodge, Vice Squad, Gang Of Four, Sham 69 and many many more responded, patiently solving all the problems that Derek and co. have encountered whilst misunderstanding the lyrics of punk classics. All their correspondence has been collected and published in Grammar Free In The UK, with proceeds going to punk-related charities.

This collision between pensioners and punks [some of whom qualify for bus passes themselves these days] makes for a joyful, hilarious collaboration, offering plenty of laughs in these most serious of times.

Get your copy of Grammar Free In The UK here!

June 11 - 24, 1981

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Adam Ant
Centrespread: Linx
Back cover: The Human League
Interviews: Adam And The Ants; Whitesnake; Squeeze
Lyrics: Ghost Town - Specials; Would I Lie To You - Whitesnake; You'll Never Be So Wrong - Hot Chocolate; All Stood Still - Ultravox; Spellbound - Siouxsie & The Banshees; Throw Away The Key - Linx; Body Talk - Imagination; Nobody Wins - Elton John; All Those Years Ago - George Harrison; Going Back To My Roots - Odyssey; One Day In Your Life - Michael Jackson; More Than In Love - Kate Robbins; Will You - Hazel O'Connor; Let's Jump The Broomstick - Coast To Coast
Bitz: Magazine / Skids / Selector split; Diana Ross; Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel; Scars; Bruce Springsteen, Dave Edmunds; Madness; Elvis Costello; Barnsley Bill, The Evasions, Tom Tom Club; cardboard Elvis; all time top ten: Glenn Tilbrook; August Darnell; Joe Jackson; "Gary Numan By Computer"; B-52's; Split Enz; Martha Ladly, The Scenery Club; personal file: Marco Pirroni; Thin Lizzy, Milton Keynes Bowl
Single reviews (Fred Dellar): I Understand - Angelic Upstarts; Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache - Bram Tchkaikovsky; There's a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis - Kirsty MacColl; Join The Professionals - The Professionals; Ghost Town - The Specials; Piece Of The Action - Bucks Fizz; Musical Man - The People; I Never Know Where My Heart Is - Judie Tzuke; Lovers And Other Strangers - Flying Lizards; Dallas - Joe Ely; Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs; Spellbound - Siouxsie And The Banshees; Don't Stop By - Tygers Of Pan Tang
Album reviews (Robin Katz / Mark Ellen / Johnny Black / Beverly Hillier / Red Starr / David Hepworth): The Fox - Elton John; Heaven Up Here - Echo And The Bunnymen; Doll By Doll - Doll By Doll; Magnetic Fields - Jean-Michel Jarre; Present Arms - UB40; The Impossible - Ken Lockie; Phil Seymour - Phil Seymour; Red - Black Uhuru; Can't Get Enough - Eddy Grant
Independent Albums (Ian Birch): Playing With A Different Sex - The Au Pairs (Human); Kangaroo? - The Red Crayola with Art & Language (Rough Trade); New Opium / How The West Was Won - Local Heroes / Kevin Armstrong (Oval); For All And None - The Passage (A Disc By Day And Night)