80s Music Mags

The 1980s saw two magazines dominate the High street shops. The periodicals in question were Smash Hits and Number One.

Smash Hits was launched in 1978 by Nick Logan who previously has been the editor at NME. The test magazine had been launched and became a success and after 4 issues became a fortnightly edition.

The magazine became a huge success in the 1980s and featured some top writers such as Mark Ellen, Neil Tennant and Mark Frith. The ethos of the magazine was aimed at the teen market and featured heavily posters of the most relevant bands along with the usual Q&A , the lyrics of the top 20 songs and the up to date UK singles and album charts.

Notably it was the producing of the lyrics that got people attention so that everyone would know the words to the songs and this saw a surge in sales as artistes tended not to produce lyrics on record sleeves mainly due to excess costs.

Number One magazine came onto the scene after Smash Hits and was seen as direct competition in the ever demanding teen market. The magazine kick started in 1983 and unlike Smash Hits the magazine was published weekly.

The format was very similar to Smash Hits such as posters pin ups, lyrics of the up to date songs, the charts on weekly basis. In addition they had guest writers from the world of music. The magazine was also a bit more direct in terms of belittling Smash Hits safe approach and were more forthright in there views and interviews.

In the end Number one publisher was bought out by BBC and the magazine was ended when incorporated into BBC Fast Forward magazine. The magazine lasted 9 years in total. In total opposite Smash Hits lasted over 25 years before it was shut down due to the digital revolution, but it's brand remained strong with TV Channels, CD compilations and big awards show.

The teen market had two real choices and both had there loyal fans but ultimately Smash Hits won the battle.