Obviously it's very exciting that a whole magazine will be devoted to the lovely That boys, but what's even more thrilling is that this is the second special "one-off" Smash Hits in the space of about six months, the first one having been a Jacko special just after he died. This is VERY SIGNIFICANT: is it the start of a trend? If the Take That edition sells well, are we going to be treated to regular Hits publications? Now that the possibility is there, I honestly don't know if I can live in a world where this doesn't happen.
If you're not familiar with it, in its day (the 80s and early 90s) Smash Hits was the best thing a young pop fan could read. When people speak of it now, they normally make some sort of reference to the songwords section, in which all the lyrics to the pop hits of the day were written out so that you could sing along. And yes, that was incredible (and quite confusing at times), but the best thing about it was simply the way it was written.
Smash Hits loved pop, and wasn't afraid to show it, but it never blindly followed a previously-adored artist who'd started going off the rails. If a popstar was going mad with power, or looked ridiculous in their new video, Smash Hits would be the first to bring them down a peg or two. But not in a tabloidy 'let's get a photo of her in her undies' sort of way - just with a bit of gentle pisstaking.
'Ver Hits', as it was known, famously ridiculed Paul McCartney, Oasis, Jacko and all the rest. But it was almost like the journalists were bantering with their friends, and that really showed in interviews with clever, funny popstars like Jarvis Cocker (in one of my favourite Jarvis interviews he told Smash Hits that he'd recently fallen through his living room ceiling from the attic). Anyone who took themselves too seriously was shown up as a buffoon.
The Smash Hits writers of my youth were intelligent, charming and passionate about music, but above all else they were funny. They had a great eye for a hilarious quote, caption or headline. And their punning skills were second to none. Observe...
Take Hat! Hahahahahahaha! Sigh... And not only did they write 'Take Hat', they put it on the front page! What self-respecting magazine would do that sort of thing these days? If you know, please tell me - I want to work for that magazine.
Unfortunately it all went downhill soon after they changed the 'Smash Hits' typeface on the cover. The final regular edition was published in 2006: the only people who buy music magazines now are bearded Q and Mojo readers, apparently. Anyone younger than 50 just illegally downloads their favourite magazines while happy-slapping their own mums, or something, apparently. According to the all-knowing so-called "focus groups" and so-called "sales figures", we don't want hilarious pop-based punnery or song lyrics.
OH REALLY? WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT. *Prepares to empty bank account buying multiple copies of Take That special.*
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment