Smash Hits
ISSN 0260-3004 | |
Smash Hits was a British
Overview
Smash Hits featured the lyrics of latest hits and interviews with big names in music. It was initially published monthly, then went fortnightly. The style of the magazine was initially serious, but from the mid-1980s became increasingly irreverent. Its interviewing technique was novel at the time and, rather than looking up to the big names, it often made fun of them, asking strange questions rather than talking about their music.[2][3]
Created by journalist Nick Logan, the title was launched in 1978 and appeared monthly for its first few issues. He based the idea on a songwords magazine that his sister used to buy, but which was of poor quality. His idea was to launch a glossy-looking magazine which also contained songwords as its mainstay. The publisher was Emap, a small-time company based in Peterborough, and the magazine was originally titled Disco Fever, before they settled on Smash Hits.[4]
Smash Hits launched the career of many journalists, including
The magazine was also available in continental Europe, especially in Germany, where the issues could be bought at railway stations or airports. The title was licensed for a French version in the 1990s. There were other licensed versions in the magazine's history. In 1984, an Australian version was created and proved just as successful for that new market as the original had back in Britain, whilst in the United States, a version was published during the 1980s under the title
It was published by
The magazine's sales peaked during the late 1980s. In the early part of the decade it was regularly selling 500,000 copies per issue, which had risen to over one million by 1989. Sales began to drop during the 1990s and by 1996 it was reported that sales were dropping roughly 100,000 per year.[4] By the time of its demise, it was down to 120,000.[5]
Final years of publishing
In the 1990s, the magazine's circulation slumped and it was overtaken by the
In February 2006, it was announced that the magazine would cease publication after the February 13 edition due to declining sales.[6]
In July 2009, a one-off commemorative issue of the magazine was published as a tribute to singer Michael Jackson.[7] Further one-off specials were released in November 2009 (Take That), December 2010 (Lady Gaga)[8] and November 2019 (Max Martin), the latter was a free magazine at certain London Underground stations to mark the debut of Martin's West End musical & Juliet.[9] In April 2022, another free special issue was released to promote the third series of Derry Girls.[10]
Editors
- 1978: "Chris Hall" (pseudonym of Nick Logan, who refused to use his name as editor, instead inventing the name from those of his children, Christian and Hallie)
- 1979: Ian Cranna
- 1981: David Hepworth
- 1983: Mark Ellen
- 1985: Steve Bush
- 1986: Barry McIlheney
- 1989: Richard Lowe
- 1990: Mike Soutar
- 1994: Mark Frith
- 1996: Kate Thornton
- 1997: Gavin Reeve
- 1999: John McKie
- 2001: Emma Jones
- 2002: Lisa Smosarski
- 2005: Lara Palamoudian
Compilation albums
Australian edition
The Australian edition of Smash Hits magazine began in November 1984 as a fortnightly. The magazine blended some content from the parent publication with locally-generated material. Australian Smash Hits was originally published by
See also
- Smash Hits (TV channel)
- The Hits
- Number One
References
- ISBN 978-1-317-86402-8. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ^ Simpson, Dave (6 August 2018). "How we made Smash Hits magazine". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ "12 reasons Smash Hits was the best music magazine ever". Metro. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Can 'Smash Hits' survive the end of Take That?". The Independent. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ "Smash Hits magazine closing down". 2 February 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ "Smash Hits magazine closing down". BBC News. 2 February 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
- Yahoo News, Retrieved 4 July 2009
- ^ Smash Hits returns for GaGa special Music Week.
- ^ "SMASH HITS RETURNS: A ONE-OFF SPECIAL OF THE ICONIC MUSIC MAGAZINE TO BE PUBLISHED". Bauer Media Group. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ^ "Derry Girls (and Smash Hits) are back!". Heat.
- ^ "Emap - Emap shuts Smash Hits after 23 years". Archived from the original on 14 February 2009.