Smash Hits to cease publication

House of Usher · 02 February, 2006, 06:45:45 PM

Okay, not a story of any great interest: I was just bored. Really, really bored. I never in all my teenage years bought or read a copy of Smash Hits, so I won't really mourn its passing, but one thing I read that struck me as a curious little fact was this:

"Smash Hits was first published in September 1978 with Belgian one-hit-wonder Plastic Bertrand - real name Roger Jouret - on the cover."

Well, fancy that! ("Ca plan pour moi!")

Oddboy · 02 February, 2006, 06:55:34 PM

So 2000AD has out-lived Smash Hits...

House of Usher · 02 February, 2006, 06:57:24 PM

...but 2000ad never sold 500,000 copies, more's the pity.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4673136.stm" target="_blank">The link I forgot to include

DavidXBrunt · 02 February, 2006, 07:03:36 PM

Like the recently departed Henry Magee I'd filed Smash Hits under 'long gone' already.

Quirkafleeg · 02 February, 2006, 07:59:21 PM

I think I bought it once... on the school trip to France. Ah nostalgia.

Mike Carroll · 02 February, 2006, 08:19:31 PM

I used to LOVE Smash Hits... Especially the incredibly irreverent Black Type. I recall an event many years back when ZZ Top first made it big in the UK, and there was a huge press conference, during which all the journalists were asking questions about musical motifs and video concepts. The interviewer from Smash Hits asked, "Do you sleep with your beards inside or outside the covers?"

- Mike Carroll

Oddboy · 02 February, 2006, 08:42:15 PM

....and what was the answer??

Matt Timson · 02 February, 2006, 08:58:12 PM

My sister used to get it. I never read it, of course.

Or her 'Bunty' comic.

The Enigmatic Dr X · 03 February, 2006, 05:12:54 AM

This news made my wife sad.

Bico · 03 February, 2006, 07:12:12 AM

Only the NME to go now, and the world of music will be a marginally better one.

Will I. Cooling · 03 February, 2006, 07:44:02 AM

Quite shocked about this, I kinda always assumed they'd always be a Smash Hits on the shelves. I think this is further sign of the general move away from specialist magazines to the internet/mainstream media. Those who want edgy, irreverent, etc pop culture coverage can go to amatuer websites and get it free. Whilst those who want professional and measured analysis, news and interviews can that from the papers or TV. Living the specialist magazines caught in a pincer movement.

And I couldn't see the NME kicking the bucket, it'd probably survive in some form even as a monthly or subscription website.

Devons Daddy · 03 February, 2006, 09:17:24 AM

thats a sad passing of an icon, of my youth at least.

good mag,produced on a tight budget i always heard.

Oddboy · 03 February, 2006, 04:15:31 PM

Smash Hits isn't completely ceasing... it's just not going to be a magazine publication anymore. They're keeping their Smash Hits TV & website.