Smash Hits

Dudess

Who here is old enough to have purchased Smash Hits in the 80s/early 90s? A former editor was on TV earlier and her deadpan manner reminded me of just how funny and clever that magazine could be. I mean, there was a really dry wit there - and more than a bit of piss-taking. No teeny-bopper hysteria - and lots of great artists/bands, even though it was a "pop" (as in, commercial) magazine.

And the lyrics pages were awesome...

Nolanger

It's like the NME down - dumbed down to suit modern tastes.

candy-gal1

i loved that magazine, and also TOTP, back ages ago think i was about age8-12!

anyone remember Ellegirl magazine? and used to get it?
i thought that was the most excellent and brilliant magazine ever! still do now but was taken off the shelves in October2005 with no warning wish they would start up making it again!

Kold

ITT: Old women :pac:

abouttobebanned

the cool kids bought Look-In

gustavo

Bought it between 94-97 when it suited my musical interests at the time , The writing was good as I recall , Then around 97 it seemed to abandon "indie" music just as that was beginning to become my main interest

Namlub

candy-gal1 wrote: »

anyone remember Ellegirl magazine? and used to get it?
i thought that was the most excellent and brilliant magazine ever! still do now but was taken off the shelves in October2005 with no warning wish they would start up making it again!

Aha yeah, used to rob that off my older sister and I thought it was the coolest magazine ever because it wasn't all 'OMG, does he fancy me?!'. And Peaches Geldof used to be in it too, back when she was an ok person...

stovelid

I adored it. I read it religiously in the mid-eighties. I think the modus then was to be very pro-pop and any serious, solemn or - heaven forbid - old artists got the piss ripped out of them.

They used to call people names like Sir Billiam of Idol. I still use the phrase The Dumper (where you go when you flop horribly), as in Brother Beyond - the dumper beckons...

I'm think they described Fleetwood Mac along the lines of being hundreds of years old and they all got married to each other on a tennis court or something.

They brought out a best of Smash Hits annual a few years back and I bought it. They reprinted the interview with Pete Burns and Morrissey (then friends) that I remember reading back in the day. It's hilarious and camp, Choice quotes:

You provocative little minx you.

He sent me 26 roses when it was my birthday and I sent him 48 naked sailors.

Copy of it here.

Dudess

Brilliant!

Yes, the "dumper"! I remember that so well.
I'm less happy about memories of Brother Beyond being dredged up though... :mad:

The letters page was often quite funny too - great responses to some of the correspondence sent in (often quite funny itself). Either the letter of the week or perhaps just any letter that got published was rewarded with a "token and towel." Not sure what the token was for - WH Smith I'm guessing.

Very intelligently written - Neil Tennant was actually editor for a while... Other writers are now journos with the Guardian, Independent etc.

Edit: Some very kind Music mod (not sure who) moved this to All Things Retro at my request, as I think it's more of a nostalgia thread than a music one.

DublinWriter

stovelid wrote: »

They reprinted the interview with Pete Burns and Morrissey (then friends) that I remember reading back in the day. It's hilarious and camp, Choice quotes:

You provocative little minx you.

He sent me 26 roses when it was my birthday and I sent him 48 naked sailors.

I remember reading that back in the day too.

I used to get it occasionally in the mid-80's, but I found the tone of writing very annoying, things such as using 'ver' for 'the' to suggest a mockney tone of voice.

'Q' was the magazine for grown-ups. Then the editor of Smash Hits moved over to 'Q' in the late-80's and turned it into Smash-Hits Heavy.

kelle

I bought this in the mid-80s. It was great to have access to song lyrics, and reading interviews with the stars of the time. Aw, Dudess, Brother Beyond were quite good! I remember the Jetts were frequently in this magazine, they were a family from some Pacific island - there was 13 of them and their mam was pregnant again! But they had great songs.
Anybody here remember Just Seventeen?

stovelid

In retrospect, I always thought the terminology was a bit of a spoof on yoof phrases. I didn't read it much once I got to about 15, but it always made me chuckle.

<old_fart_bit>
It's funny to think of how exciting it was to get the correct lyrics for songs you liked. An innocent time, really.
</old_fart_bit>

lil'bug

i had a letter published in smash hits

Ann22

I used to flick through it on the shelf before I'd buy to see what song lyrics were in it. I remember an issue having the words of 'Girls just wanna have fun', a schoolmate tortured me for days to bring it in to her and I kept forgetting it.

120_Minutes

Dudess wrote: »

Brilliant!


The letters page was often quite funny too - great responses to some of the correspondence sent in (often quite funny itself). Either the letter of the week or perhaps just any letter that got published was rewarded with a "token and towel." Not sure what the token was for - WH Smith I'm guessing.

My older sisters who were teens in the 80's used to get it, and i'd read it. the letters page was my favourite, answered by Black Type or le type noir...

also loved whenever a photo of paul mccartney was printed it was usually followed by a "fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption.

when black type was axed it went to ****....the was the exact moment.

gidget

In the 90's, when i was a teenager i used to buy Smash Hits, Big, MG and TV Hits for the boy band interviews and posters and then at 14, i discovered American Magazines were being sold in Easons so i started buying Teen Machine and 16 so i could read all about the cute American teenage fellas from my favourite tv shows.

stovelid

120_Minutes wrote: »

"fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption

That phrase still goes through my mind whenever I see him in that pose.

clartharlear

I bought my first copy of Smash Hits in 1992. Right Said Fred and Manic Street Preachers were on the cover. Says it all, really. I hope I still have it somewhere though I've read it right through dozens of times over the years. The self-conscious humour/passion thing made it absolutely perfect for young teenagers.
*happy nostalgia buzz*

pikachucheeks

Remember the free cans of Tizer?

Or the free stickers of bands like 3T and 911!

Dudess

DublinWriter wrote: »

I found the tone of writing very annoying, things such as using 'ver' for 'the' to suggest a mockney tone of voice.

That's the kind of thing I used to find funny though. I don't know why - think they were doing it in a piss-takey way.

kelle wrote: »

Aw, Dudess, Brother Beyond were quite good!

Nowhere near as good as Jason though... :mad:
BB were more Bros's rivals actually - I disliked both though.

I remember the Jetts were frequently in this magazine, they were a family from some Pacific island - there was 13 of them and their mam was pregnant again! But they had great songs.

The Jetts: a poor man's Five Star. :pac:
"How did you know? 'Cuz I never told. You found out... I've got a crush on you". Loved that song!
Can't say I remember anything else by them though...

120_Minutes wrote: »

also loved whenever a photo of paul mccartney was printed it was usually followed by a "fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption.

LOL yeah! I only vaguely knew who Paul McCartney was. I remember they always referred to Shakin' Stevens as "raven-haired Welsh rocker" and they did a cartoon piece on Morrissey house-hunting and saying to the estate agent "I'll buy it if it lets rain in"...
Good times.

ghost_ie

Kold wrote: »

ITT: Old women :pac:

Thanks. I really feel old now. Smash Hits was a magazine my daughter read. In my teenage years we read FAB 208 :eek:

candy-gal1

kelle wrote: »

I bought this in the mid-80s. It was great to have access to song lyrics, and reading interviews with the stars of the time. Aw, Dudess, Brother Beyond were quite good! I remember the Jetts were frequently in this magazine, they were a family from some Pacific island - there was 13 of them and their mam was pregnant again! But they had great songs.
Anybody here remember Just Seventeen?

lol yeah i remember that just seventeen, then twas called seventeen, then J17! got that first at 14 or 15 i think, and thought it was a real "grown ups" magazine! lol

kelle

Dudess wrote: »

.

The Jetts: a poor man's Five Star. :pac:
"How did you know? 'Cuz I never told. You found out... I've got a crush on you". Loved that song!
Can't say I remember anything else by them though...

.

I loved this one, and the words were in Smash Hits!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe5rg05ZQNs

And remember those bows? I remember fashion experts advising those with full moon faces to wear very wide bows to give an illusion of a slimmer face!

cinnamon

120_Minutes wrote: »

also loved whenever a photo of paul mccartney was printed it was usually followed by a "fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption.
.

Hah! I loved this mag. I read it religiously in the late 80s and loved the sense of humour. They totally ripped the piss out of all the bands. I remember a caption on a New Kids on the Block (rubbish boy band) had their names as Donny, Danny, Mickey, Mungo and Midge!!
The journalists would ask the musicians really mad questions and there was always notes from the Editor in interviews like: [Ed. You're fired!]

remeber Down the Rave up? And Gordon Bennett- I think he answered the letters. They always called the UK Blightey. And down the Dumper.

I am going to look out for that annual

stovelid

cinnamon wrote: »

I am going to look out for that annual

This is the one I bought. Maybe it's still in the shops..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Smash-Hits-Mark-Frith/dp/031602709X

jonas7

I was cleaning out the attic a couple of weeks ago and found and old smash hits annual from 1988 with a young Kylie on the front.A real blast from the past.I even remember buying the thing!

JP Liz

I think i got free cd or cassette with one issue still have it somewhere - oh god i feel old

gipi

JP Liz wrote: »

I think i got free cd or cassette with one issue still have it somewhere - oh god i feel old

You feel old??? I think I bought the first Smash Hits (1978 or thereabouts.....:eek::D)...wonder if I have it stashed somewhere!!

rainbowtrout

120_Minutes wrote: »

My older sisters who were teens in the 80's used to get it, and i'd read it. the letters page was my favourite, answered by Black Type or le type noir...

also loved whenever a photo of paul mccartney was printed it was usually followed by a "fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption.

when black type was axed it went to ****....the was the exact moment.

ya, the letters page with Black Type was the best, think I remember that they had a penpal section in there for a while as well. All I remember is that everyone looking for a penpal seemed to like The Pixies, The Smiths and The Cure which I wouldn't have been into at the time ( I was about 9) but am now!

It went downhill in a big way once they got rid of the letters page and it started becoming more like Heat and similar stuff and not really focused on music at all.

Actually just had a flashback, I think their address for sending letters, competitions etc was Carnaby St, London and they used to refer to it regularly in the magazine 'Just saw Morrissey walking down Carnaby St' type stuff and at the time it sounded like the coolest place in the world. Or where you would go to see famous popstars.


And how many of you tuned into the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party?:D

candy-gal1

rainbowtrout wrote: »

ya, the letters page with Black Type was the best, think I remember that they had a penpal section in there for a while as well. All I remember is that everyone looking for a penpal seemed to like The Pixies, The Smiths and The Cure which I wouldn't have been into at the time ( I was about 9) but am now!

It went downhill in a big way once they got rid of the letters page and it started becoming more like Heat and similar stuff and not really focused on music at all.

Actually just had a flashback, I think their address for sending letters, competitions etc was Carnaby St, London and they used to refer to it regularly in the magazine 'Just saw Morrissey walking down Carnaby St' type stuff and at the time it sounded like the coolest place in the world. Or where you would go to see famous popstars.


And how many of you tuned into the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party?:D

ME!!!!!!

that was my VMAS back then!!

StargazerLily

I bought it in the early eighties at the height of all the New Romantic era - still have a a box of them in the attic that I never get to whenever I'm dumping stuff. After a few years of just getting Smash Hits, it's rival came out, called 'No1'....anyone remember that? A bit more like the celebrity Heat style mags today but I did buy it whenever I was flush and could afford both of them.........simple pleasures!:)

mrsdewinter

LOVED Smash Hits - not past 1990, tho, it just moved into parody - and started to cover hip-hop and dance and other music I hated.
Also, just like everything else, it lost a lot of its value. When I first bought it in about 1986, it was crammed with good writing: as others have mentioned, even the captions were worth reading. My favourite was Mutterings: almost Twitteresque roundup of gossip and factoids on the back page. Plus, the song lyrics kicked ass. I remember myself, aged 12, and about 5 other girls standing around our newly purchased copy, whooping hysterically as 1 of the girls read out the lyrics to George Michael's 'I Want Your Sex'. Ah the innocence

kelle

mrsdewinter wrote: »

I remember myself, aged 12, and about 5 other girls standing around our newly purchased copy, whooping hysterically as 1 of the girls read out the lyrics to George Michael's 'I Want Your Sex'. Ah the innocence

I remember that particular edition! The song was banned from TOTP and could only be played on radio after 9.30 pm. I knew all the words of the song before I actually heard it, and to this day I still know them thanks to Smash Hits (sad, I know!)

joyce2009

Damn you make me feel old now :Dused to buy it in the early -mid eighties and loved it,,

Gauge

I used to buy it in the late 90s... my favourite part was the Biscuit Tin, where a musician would have to answer questions pulled out of a tin. I think they were coloured by type of question and there was particular type of question that was more risque than the others.

I moved onto J17, Bliss, and Sugar when I was about 11. They were actually fairly decent magazines, lots of true stories and articles and I remember J17 in particular being fairly progressive in terms of how they presented sexuality, feminism and reproductive choices- very interesting. I haven't looked at those teenage magazines in a while but they seem to be very bland, mostly focused on celebrities now which is a shame.

milly4ever

candy-gal1 wrote: »

lol yeah i remember that just seventeen, then twas called seventeen, then J17! got that first at 14 or 15 i think, and thought it was a real "grown ups" magazine! lol

just seventeen disappeared off the face of the earth! loved it

moonstreet

Dudess wrote: »

Who here is old enough to have purchased Smash Hits in the 80s/early 90s? A former editor was on TV earlier and her deadpan manner reminded me of just how funny and clever that magazine could be. I mean, there was a really dry wit there - and more than a bit of piss-taking. No teeny-bopper hysteria - and lots of great artists/bands, even though it was a "pop" (as in, commercial) magazine.

And the lyrics pages were awesome...

omg, SMASH HITS, my music bible... sigh... I used to buy it off and on from 1987/ 1988 and then every issue from 1989 to 1994, the years I was in secondary school. I even gave my friend money when I went on holiday so that I wouldn't miss an issue. I still have them all in a box, stored in chronological order, yes I know Im sad :P:P At one stage, my bedroom walls were completly covered in Smash Hits posters.

The lyrics were soo amazing, to sit with my home made mix tapes , my fav songs taped from the radio, with my Smash Hitslyrics was just pure bliss:D

Dudess wrote: »

Very intelligently written - Neil Tennant was actually editor for a while...

He was editor of Smash Hits first, and Pet Shop Boys was his part time job/ hobby. He left Smash Hits to concentrate on his music career with Pet Shop Boys. I think I have the issue or maybe its an interview in one of the Smash Hits Yearbooks, where he does his final editorial and all the staff are wishing him well etc.

120_Minutes wrote: »

also loved whenever a photo of paul mccartney was printed it was usually followed by a "fab macca wacky thumbs aloft" caption.

the moment I read that, I just laughed as I remember that caption soo well:D

pikachucheeks wrote: »

Or the free stickers of bands like 3T and 911!

the free sticker pages omg, still have them somewhere, I used never peel them off though, I used to cut them out, still with the backing paper on, so that I could decorate things like my school journal etc and then at the end of year could reuse them again...

rainbowtrout wrote: »

And how many of you tuned into the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party?:D

jumps up and down... me... meee:P I think I still have a few of them on video tape somewhere. Anyone remember the one when Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine stage crashed and almost took out Phillip Schoefield?? ahh the days of live music awards shows.... I always wanted to go to one but being in Dublin, and aged aged 14 to 16, there was no way I would be allowed

anyone remember the yearbooks and the sticker books. I was soo proud of myself, I managed to complete the sticker book, bought all the packets of stickers from the shop and then when they stopped selling them, I sent off for the ones I was missing. I still have that too:D

Ann22

kelle wrote: »

I loved this one, and the words were in Smash Hits!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe5rg05ZQNs

And remember those bows? I remember fashion experts advising those with full moon faces to wear very wide bows to give an illusion of a slimmer face!

Ah kelle, thanks for that. I used to love that song! I would've loved the song words, it drove me mad that I couldn't make out this line, can you fill me in?
you must have been heaven sent, hearing me call you went.......out on a limb??? I'm embarrassed as I fear this is ridiculously wrong:o

deadhead13

Ann22 wrote: »

Ah kelle, thanks for that. I used to love that song! I would've loved the song words, it drove me mad that I couldn't make out this line, can you fill me in?
you must have been heaven sent, hearing me call you went.......out on a limb??? I'm embarrassed as I fear this is ridiculously wrong:o

Yeah, you're right...

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/the_jets/you_got_it_all.html

Ann22

Thanks a mill Deadhead. I used to feel silly singing it out loud thinking I had it arseways:o

Firetrap

Neil Tennant made it to the lofty heights of Deputy Editor of Smash Hits before he left to concentrate on his Pet Shop Boys career full time.

I loved this magazine when I was in my early teens - 1986 onwards. Like most people I suppose, I got less interested in it when I got a bit older and had probably stopped reading it by 16. For those few years earlier though it was crucial reading and I don't think I've liked a magazine as much since. I used to go into the local newsagent's on a Wednesday (I think) to get it because that was the day it hit the shelves. I loved the big posters that were the size of four pages (I was an A-Ha girl ), the lyrics and the interviews where they used to ask very strange questions. For some reason the question "Do parsnips scream when they're cut" they asked of Enya has stuck in my mind.