May 24 - June 6, 1984

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Wham!
Centrespread: Depeche Mode
Back cover: Tom Bailey
Interviews: Wham!; Roy Hay; Madonna; New Order; Billy Joel; Siouxsie and the Banshees
Lyrics: I'll Be Around - Terri Wells; Pearl In The Shell - Howard Jones; Borderline - Madonna; Love All Day - Nick Heyward; Let's Hear It For The Boy - Deniece Williams; One Better Day - Madness; Break Dance Party - Break Machine; Stay With Me Tonight - Jeffrey Osborne; Too Much Trouble - Limahl; Each And Everyone - Everything But The Girl; Searchin' - Hazel Dean; Somebody Else's Guy - Jocelyn Brown; Assassing - Marillion; Dazzle - Siouxsie & the Banshees; Heaven Knows (I'm Miserable Now) - Smiths; Major Tom (Coming Home) - Peter Schilling
Start: Morrissey, Ken Livingstone, Mari Wilson, Billy Bragg, Misty In Roots, Flying Pickets, "Jobs For A Change"; Die Totenhosen, Five Fab Freddy; Gary Numan, Royal Navy Air base, Yeovilton, Red Baron; personal file - Morrissey 
Bitz: Smeggy (King Kurt): the five worst haircuts ever; Depeche Mode; Limahl, "Don't Suppose"; Womack & Womack; Thompson Twins; James Cuts, "Sexify You", Kate Haysi, Alan Rankine; Bluebells; Pretenders, "Thin Line Between Love And Hate", Chrissie Hynde, Jim Kerr; Nick Cave, "From Here To Eternity", Einsturzende Neubaten; Howard Jones, "Pearl In The Shell", "Law Of The Jungle"; Zingari, "One More Chance"; Rod Stewart "Infatuation", "Camouflage"; K-Tel, "Hungry For Hits"; Fashion, Mulligan,soldering iron, tour delay, "Twilight Of The Idols"; King Kurt; Labour Party, " A Better Song For Europe", Eric Heffer, Geoff Travis; Peter Schilling, "Major Tom (Coming Home)", Armin Sabol; Billy Bragg; Modern Romance, "Tokyo Live!", GBH, UK Subs; Sade; Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing In The Dark"
Single reviews (Ian Cranna): Hip-Hop-Bommi-Bom - Die Totenhosen (The Incredible T*H* Scratchers Starring Freddy Love); Dazzle - Siouxsie & the Banshees; (Heaven Knows) I'm Miserable Now - Smiths; Illuminations - Swans Way; Pearl In The Shell - Howard Jones; Hey Presto - Black; Borderline - Madonna; Romancing The Stone - Eddy Grant; Yippe Yi Yay! - D. C. Lee; All Or Nothing - Fiction Factory; The Ghost In You - Psychedelic Furs; Love All Day - Nick Heyward; Turn To Gold - David Austin; (I Love You) When You Sleep - Tracie; Ten Thousand Voices, A Message From The People - Zerra I; One Better Day - Madness; Spiritwalker - The Cult; Too Much Trouble - Limahl; Infatuation - Rod Stewart; Dance With Me - Carol Kenyon; Take Him Back (Taxi) - Anne Lesear; Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat
Album reviews (Fred Dellar / Peter Martin / Tom Hibbert / Ian Birch / Lisa Anthony / Ian Cranna): Mirror Moves - Psychedelic Furs; Ready For Battle - Rock Steady Crew; In 3-D - Weird Al Yankovic; Pajama Party Time - Indeep; Talk Show - Go Go's; No Sense Of Sin - Lotus Eaters; Legend - Clannad; Reckoning - R.E.M.
Nights Out: Crystal Day: Echo & The Bunnymen

May 10 - 23, 1984

(click on the image to see the full issue)

Cover: Sade
Centrespread: Madness
Back cover: Shakin' Stevens
Interviews: Sade; The Bluebells; David Sylvian; Boy George, Marilyn, Pete Burns, Tasty Tim; Blancmange; John Taylor; Matt Bianco; Bob Marley
Lyrics: Rough Justice - Bananarama; The Lebanon - The Human League; Panama - Van Halen; You're The Best Thing - Style Council; When Am I Going To Make A Living - Sade; Going Down Town Tonight - Status Quo; Footloose - Kenny Loggins; Red Guitar - David Sylvian; Love Wars - Womack & Womack; Eat It - Weird Al Yankovic; State Of Love - Imagination; Automatic - Pointer Sisters; Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham!; Mack The Knife - King Kurt; Dancing With Tears In My Eyes - Ultravox; When You're Young And In Love - Flying Pickets
Start: Boy George at Heathrow; Duran Duran; Belouis Some, "Target Practice", "Some People"; Jermaine Jackson, The Jacksons; personal file - Red Stripe  
Bitz: Cocteau Twins: Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser, Simon Raymonde; "So Many Men So Little Time", Miquel Brown, "Where Is My Man", Eartha Kitt; Bourgie Bourgie, "Careless"; Bamboo: Japan fanzine, David Sylvian, Masami Tschuya, Ippu-Do, Twisted Sister; Bronski Beat, "Small Town Boy", Mike Thorne; Musical Youth, "She's Trouble", Eddy Grant; Matt Bianco; Melody Makers: Cedella, Sharon, Ziggy, Steve Marley, "I Met Her On A Rainy Day", "Children Playing"; Nik Kershaw, Andrew Ridgeley, Bucks Fizz, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, Donny Osmond, Jimmy Page; Wham!, "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go", "Ray Of Sunshine"; Ficton Factory, OMD; "Streetsounds 9": Gap Band, Real To Reel, Jones Girls; King Kurt, "Dirty Dick Tour"; Johnny Marr, "2 From Quando", Quando Quango; Siouxsie & the Banshees; Nick Rhodes: my five faovurite artists and designers
Single reviews (Dave Rimmer): Red Guitar - David Sylvian; When Am I Going To Make A Living - Sade; You're The Best Thing - Style Council; State Of Love - Imagination; State Of Love - Imagination; What People Do For Money - Divine Sounds / The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight - Dominatrix; Ain't That Peculiar - Mari Wilson; She's Trouble - Musical Youth; Dancing With Tears In My Eyes - Ultravox; Bad Life - PiL; Assassing - Marillion; Going Down Town Tonight - Status Quo; I Just Wanna Make You Feel Good - The System; What Presence?! - Orange Juice; Sweetest Sweetest - Jermaine Jackson; Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham!; Professor Night - Was (Not Was)
Album reviews (Peter Martin / Lisa Anthony / Ian Cranna / Ian Birch): Hysteria - Human League; Mange Tout - Blancmange; A Walk Across The Rooftops - Blue Nile; Touch Sensitive - Bruce Foxton; The Art Of Defence - Nona Hendryx; Dynamite - Jermaine Jackson
Nights Out: The Alternative Country & Western Festival: Blubberry Hellbellies, Pogue Mahone, Gleesome Threesome, Men They Couldn't Hang, Last Bid For The Recess, Cut Loose, Skiff Skats, Boothill Foot Tappers

Pop Idle - another winner from Team Philpott!

Over the last few years the genial genius of Derek Philpott has been bemusing pop stars and amusing pop fans with a series of books in which confusion is feigned and explanations are requested for clarification of some of the most memorable hits - and forgotten classics - of the seventies, eighties and beyond.

Now the maverick mastermind behind the endlessly entertaining epistles, Dave Dawson, has slipped off his Derek disguise and stepped out from behind the wizard's curtain with a memoir detailing some of his exploits during a thirty-year career as a professional musician. For over three decades, Dave has crissed and crossed the country, performing in a variety of venues and encountering a cast of thousands, on a schedule that makes Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour seem like a walk in the park.

Pop Idle is every bit as delightful as the Derek Philpott books - a wry and affectionate look at life on the road, seen through the eyes of one of the many performers who play for thousands of people every year, without ever making the front cover of Smash Hits. It's probably the best account of an aspiring pop star's life - and the best handbook for anybody barmy enough to follow a similar career path - since Giles Smith's classic, Lost In Music.

Get your copy of Pop Idle here or here [US edition]!

And, in case you missed them, the Philpott books are still available: Dear Mr. Kershaw [US edition here], Dear Mr Pop Star [US edition here], Grammar Free In The UK [US edition here] and Dear Catherine Wheel [US edition here].