January 27 - February 9, 1988

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January 13 - 26, 1988

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December 30, 1987 - January 12, 1988

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December 16 - 29, 1987

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December 2 - 15, 1987

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November 18 - December 1, 1987

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November 4 - 17, 1987

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October 21 - November 3, 1987

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October 7 - 20, 1987

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September 23 - October 6, 1987

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September 9 - 22, 1987

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August 26 - September 8, 1987

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August 12 - 25, 1987

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Gary Crowley's Punk and New Wave

It's like punk happened!

Seventy-seven rare punk and new wave nuggets - many of which are appearing on CD for the first time - selected by Gary Crowley (everybody's favourite DJ) and Jim Lahat, plus a forty-page book of memories from the likes of Richard Jobson, Clare Grogan and Spizz - all for fewer than twenty of your Earth pounds! Pre-order your copy today....and yes, I *would* like one for Christmas!!

Gary Crowley's Punk and New Wave is available for pre-order from Amazon UK and iTunes.

Disc: 1
1. The Vibrators - We Vibrate
2. White Mice - Mo - Dettes
3. Automatics - When The Tanks Roll Over Poland Again
4. The Saints - Do The Robot
5. Ultravox! - Young Savage
6. Scars - All About You
7. Starjets - School Days
8. Suburban Studs - I Hate School
9. Advertising - Lipstick
10. TV 21 - Ambition
11. The Nice Men - Nuclear Summer
12. Eater - Thinking of the USA
13. Alternative - TV How Much Longer
14. 999 - Emergency
15. Altered Images - Dead Pop Stars
16. The Stiffs - Inside Out
17. The Carpettes - Small Wonder
18. The Fall - It's The New Thing
19. The Drones - Bone Idol
20. Skunks - Good From The Bad
21. The Nips - All The Time In The World
22. The Boys - First Time
23. Bee Bee Cee - You Gotta Know Girl
24. The Circles - Opening Up
25. Glaxo Babies - This Is Your Life
26. John Cooper Clarke - Suspended Sentence

Disc: 2
1. Fast Cars - The Kids Just Wanna Dance
2. New Hearts - Just Another Teenage Anthem
3. Clive Culbertson - Time To Kill
4. The Only Ones - You've Got To Pay
5. Lori And The Chameleons - Touch
6. The Things - Pieces of You
7. The Negatives - Love Is Not Real
8. The Photos - Barbarellas
9. Expressos - Tango in Mono
10. The Stukas Klean Living Kids
11. Tonight - Drummer Man
12. The Quads - There Must Be Thousands
13. Shake - Culture Shock
14. Girls At Our Best - Getting Nowhere Fast
15. The Cuban Heels - Downtown
16. The Donkees Listen To Your Radio
17. Spizzenergi - Soldier Soldier
18. The Telegents - Get Out
19. The Collectors - Talking Hands
20. The Stripes - One Step Ahead
21. The Doubt - Time Out
22. Bobalouis - Go Ahead
23. The Letters - Nobody Loves Me
24. Perfectors - YT502951D
25. Fun 4 - Singing In The Showers
26. Tours - Language School

Disc: 3
1. The Skids - Charles
2. The Tights - Howard Hughes
3. The Form - Start Again
4. The Head - Nothing To Do In a Town Like Leatherhead
5. Pop - Tones
6. Disguise - Juvenile Delinquent
7. Dolly Mixture - Been Teen
8. The Teenage Filmstars - Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape
9. Apocalypse - Teddy
10. Tinopeners - Set Me Free
11. The Plague - In Love
12. The Crack - Easy Street
13. The Smirks - Angry With Myself
14. Straightshooter - She's So Fine
15. Bleeding Hearts - This is the Way...OK?
16. Apartment - The Car
17. Knife Edge - Say You Will
18. The Tea Set - Parry Thomas
19. The Zips - Take Me Down
20. Really 3rds - Everyday, Everyway
21. The Kicks - If Looks Could Kill
22. TPI - She's Too Clever For Me
23. Gobblinz - Love Me Too
24. The Moondogs - She's Nineteen
25. Generation X - Wild Dub

July 29 - August 11, 1987

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July 15 - 28, 1987

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July 1 - 14, 1987

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June 17 - 30, 1987

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June 3 - 16, 1987

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May 20 - June 2, 1987

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May 6 - 19, 1987

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April 22 - May 5, 1987

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April 8 - 21, 1987

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March 25 - April 7, 1987

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March 11 - 24, 1987

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February 25 - March 10, 1987

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February 11 - 24, 1987

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January 28 - February 10, 1987

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January 14 - 27, 1987

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Top Of The Pops: With Thanks To Brian McCloskey

I was surprised and delighted by the news that my name appeared on the end credits of The Story Of 1983, shown on BBC4 today.

I can't see the programme in the USA, but viewers in the UK can watch it here for the next month. Enjoy!

December 31, 1986 - January 13, 1987

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December 17 - 30, 1986

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December 3 - 16, 1986

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November 19 - December 2, 1986

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November 5 - 18, 1986

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October 22 - November 4, 1986

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October 8 - 21, 1986

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September 24 - October 7, 1986

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September 10 - 24, 1986

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August 27 - September 9, 1986

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August 13 - 26, 1986

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siliconchipsuperstar

siliconchipsuperstar, the debut album by Peter Fitzpatrick​'s Circuit 3, featuring a collaboration with me on the track Ghost Machine, is now available to buy!

Order the limited edition vinyl LP/2xCD set and / or digital download here.

You can watch a video for Ghost Machine here.

Dear Mr. Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes

Derek Philpott's book of hilarious letters to pop stars and their genuine replies is now available from Plane Groovy and Amazon!

Happy Halloween - Ghost Machine!

I wrote the lyric for Ghost Machine, a song on the upcoming album Siliconchipsuperstar by Circuit3; it has an early-eighties snythpop vibe, so I hope readers of Smash Hits will enjoy it.

You can listen to Ghost Machine and download it for free here.

And you can watch a video for the song here.

I should be *extremely* grateful if you can spare a few minutes to listen to this track - and share it with your friends.

Ghost Machine: a song I co-wrote

I wrote the lyric for Ghost Machine, a song on the upcoming album Siliconchipsuperstar by Circuit3; it has an early-eighties snythpop vibe, so I hope readers of Smash Hits will enjoy it.

You can listen to Ghost Machine and download it for free here.

And you can watch a video for the song here.

I should be *extremely* grateful if you can spare a few minutes to listen to this track - and share it with your friends.

No More Heroes contest - prize draw!

Click the photo to see me drawing the winners of the No More Heroes contest!

No More Heroes - CDs to be won!

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