RATE IT! Smash Hits ~ Saved Online

Duran Duran once professed to loving this magazine, so it's not surprising that as an '80s era Durannie that I would follow suit. 


It took me some time before I found my very own imported copy of 'Smash Hits' on a magazine stand here in Toronto. Being a suburban kid in 1984, I'd travel down every Saturday to search out any UK imports that I could get my greedy hands on. Imported 12" singles, magazines, buttons, posters... they were all fair game if we could track them down. That was the hard part. Finding said items. Usually record shops would get one, maybe two in at a time so the key was to get downtown early, and make your decisions quickly otherwise someone else's score was your heartbreak. 


My first issue of 'Smash Hits' as fate would have it, featured Simon Le Bon on the cover. I still own that very special issue, so it was with great excitement that I came across this terrific website that aims at capturing every issue of 'Smash Hits' available. Like Punk Never Happened - Brian McCloskey's Smash Hits Archive is my new home away from home. I love it. The coolest thing? If you click on the Smash Hits cover images on his site, it opens up scans of the ENTIRE issue. Brilliant. I'm so hyped that we can explore all the issues that we never found - like the one depicted here with Duran's Roger & Nick as cover stars. 


Brian's hardwork in saving and scanning these fabulous music mags should be applauded. So many of us grew up with Smash Hits, and the bands it so lovingly featured (or, made fun of!) - it would be a shame for them to vanish without a trace. Thanks to Brian, we can relive their magic again and again - without all the clutter at home! Well, maybe for some.. I still have many Smash Hits and No. 1 magazines in my midst. Once a Durannie, always a Durannie...