Twenty-Five Years Of Smash Hits

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Did anyone else see this on C4 last night? More importantly, did anyone *TAPE* it, as I missed the first hour due to watching CSI? Beardy Alex James and shell-shocked Busted discussing the sociological implications of Robbie leaving Take That, do we not like that?

I channel-surfed onto it right as Acid House was ending and Take That were starting, cueing much interesting discussion of the boyband phenomena, but unfortunately it means that I missed the total classic 80s era Hits. Anyone catch it and see any of the mad earlier stuff? Was there more Neil Tennant stuff earlier on?

(Sub-question: does anyone know if there is such a thing as a comprehensive history of the boyband? I'm kind of looking for something that traces it from its roots in teen idols, touching on Beatlemania, tracing it through the Bay City Rollers to Menudo and the New Kids, to the 90s explosion. Does such a book exist?)

― Psycho Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

(Please don't recommend "Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth" as I'm currently trying to find it again... can't remember who it borrowed if off when it came out!)

― Psycho Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i taped it but have yet to watch it. i'll report back.

smash hits holds a particular resonance for me as (believe it or not), it a sthrough reading smash hits that i learned about joy division, the slits, the pop group and throbbing gristle!

― stirmonster, Sunday, 28 March 2004 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, I learned about Love & Rockets and the Jesus & Mary Chain... OK, I didn't actually learn about them in Ver Hitz, but I certainly read about them there!

― Psycho Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh! And I found a book called "Bubblegum: The History Of Plastic Pop" which looks like a good starting point - starts with Frankie Avalon and ends with Blue, so there you go.

― Psycho Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

wasn't there something like this on a few months back? was it a repeat?

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't tell me that... have I missed it twice now? ::shoots self::

::remembers new Jazzmaster and decides not to commit suicide after all::

― Psycho Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

In 1980-81, when all I really knew was Adam, Blondie and 2-Tone, I remember being utterly fascinated by the 'weird' names on the Indie page edited by Red Starr (where is he now ?). Who are these Orange Juice, Pigbag, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Josef K, Farmers Boys people, I would wonder. That's what made SH so Klassik for me.

― darren (darren), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:33 (twenty-two years ago)

.... though I blame Red Starr for the years of utter indie-ness that followed for me !

― darren (darren), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)

It was a repeat, yes.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 28 March 2004 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

gah, I'm lame. But wow, this history of plastic pop book has turned out to be a goldmine! There's a whole section on Malcolm McLaren. Kiss and the Osmonds on the same page. Rock! Or, as the case may be, POP!

― Super-Kate (kate), Sunday, 28 March 2004 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah lots of neil tennant earlier on, saw the first hour and then switched off:- the transition point from post punk to the pop of duran duran seemed to be adam and the ants, going great 9circulation-wise) until acid house and then pop coming back with take that.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 28 March 2004 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

red starr - that was the fella!

― stirmonster, Sunday, 28 March 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Pete Burns does complain a lot, no?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 28 March 2004 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

His lips are scarier and more cosmetically enhanced than Genesis P.Oriddge's! Can he even sing at ALL any more?

― Super-Kate (kate), Monday, 29 March 2004 08:25 (twenty-two years ago)

he does a rousing version of 'HELP, I'M A FISH' i'm told

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 29 March 2004 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't Red Starr become.....Ian Cranna? Ian Penman? Someone like that. TimH will know. His journalism carrer certainly lasted beyond Smash Hits, but it would have been good to see him in the prog over the weekend, which was a little disappointing. How strange it was to read reviews of the Glass Torpedoes and the Prats in ver Hits.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 29 March 2004 08:40 (twenty-two years ago)

It didn't seem strange at the time...

Classic : Page with words for "No-one is Innocent / My Way " Sex Pistols, and "Bright Eyes" Art Garfunkel, and all the layout was in the blackmail lettering and the rabbit had a safety pin through its lip.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 29 March 2004 09:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyone remember a Smash Hits sticker book that had the likes of The Fall and New Order in it?

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 29 March 2004 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, it had a Felt sticker too.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 29 March 2004 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I think (but I'm not sure) that Red Starr was a pen name of Ian Cranna's.

I tried to find a list of Smash Hits Editors (with dates) on that internet thing but I couldn't. I wish N. was here, he'd know how to do it.

Mark: the Smash Hits coverage of low-profile early indie / post punk (esp Red Starr's apparent obsession with Swell Maps and associated projects) seemed strange to me at the time. You couldn't buy those records out in the sticks and you couldn't hear them except on John Peel, which was on too late for me to be allowed to hear.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 29 March 2004 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Indie Bitz page on Smash Hits was the start of my love of mysteriously unavailable music. I still love to read a review and dream of how a record might sound, that thrill is still so important to me that I don't do the downloading business. Good old Smash Hits!

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 29 March 2004 09:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that's got to be Ian Cranna, who assigned a lady Smash Hits journalist to go and interview Nick when Circus Maximus came out. The journalist returned from her assignment FOUR DAYS LATER.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 29 March 2004 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

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