Farewell, Smash Hits
 

Smash Hits is closing down, after almost 28 years. The last issue will be published on February 13th. I think it's a real shame to see it disappear from the shelves. It provides a good stepping stone before people are ready to move on to the more serious publications such as NME, Q, etc.


From the Guardian:

Smash Hits falls victim to fans' eclectic tastes and internet

Dan Milmo, media business correspondent


Smash Hits, the magazine that postered teenage bedrooms across Britain for nearly 30 years, is to close after its mix of pop lyrics and heart-throb interviews lost its appeal with young readers. The last edition of the loss-making title, published by Emap, will appear on February 13. Smash Hits has seen its circulation decline from a height of 1m in 1989, when Kylie and Jason graced the cover, to 120,000 as it lost out in the competition for "bedroom time" to the internet and mobile phones.

Mark Frith, editor of Emap's Heat magazine and a former editor of Smash Hits, said the "pioneering" fortnightly had been caught out by the rise of digital media. "Today's teens want faster, deeper information about music and can now satisfy their hunger by accessing information on a whole range of new platforms including TV, the internet, mobile and so on."

Marcus Rich, head of Emap's Metro division, added that the magazine's market of 11- to 14-year-old girls has much more eclectic views and music tastes than it did in September 1978, when the first edition appeared with Belgian one-hit wonder Plastic Bertrand on the front cover. "We were noticing that the traditional tribal allegiances of liking pop or rock has changed."

Those cultural shifts have affected the entire teen entertainment magazine market, which has seen a sales decline of 30% over the past three years. Advertising revenues have deteriorated as the food and drink industry curbed advertising to under-18s, in response to government warnings about marketing sugary snacks. Over the past three years the number of drinks adverts in teenage entertainment magazines has declined from 50 pages per year to four. As a consequence, advertising revenues at Smash Hits have nearly halved over the same period.

Mr Rich said the Smash Hits brand would live on as a digital radio station and a music TV channel, but its parent company would not pump cash into an ailing print title. "The market has suffered in terms of advertising and the decline in circulation," he said. "We have recognised it by moving our products to other platforms. Because we are a public company we have to look really closely at portfolio management. The issues that we have seen affecting Smash Hits show no sign of changing, so the level of shareholder return we are going to get will be minimal."

He added that the closure of Smash Hits due to its teen audience moving onto digital platforms was not a gloomy portent for the magazine industry. Emap, which also owns radio and trade exhibition businesses, spends more than £20m per year on product development, most of it invested in new magazines. "Our biggest investment last year was in Grazia magazine. We fundamentally believe that magazines will continue to grow, as the next ABC [circulation] figures will show."

Despite owning a number of market-leading brands such as Heat and FHM, Emap is unsentimental when a famous title gets into trouble. The Face, one of the iconic brands of British magazine publishing, was closed by Emap in 2004 after it struggled to defend its counter-cultural niche. Emap still owns the rights to the Face brand, but has no plans to revive the title.

The closure of Smash Hits will affect 10 Emap staff, with the group hoping to relocate "most" of them elsewhere. The current editor, Lara Palamoudian, is working on a new, unspecified project for Emap.

The editor's seat at Smash Hits seems an unlikely springboard to success, but a number of journalists have gone on to bigger things after editing the title. In one of the most rehearsed pop anecdotes, Neil Tennant was an assistant editor in the early 80s before forming Pet Shop Boys. The founding editor, Nick Logan, edited the first edition under a pseudonym in case it was a flop - he considered calling it Disco Fever - and launched the Face two years later. Other 80s editors included David Hepworth and Mark Ellen, who later founded Word magazine, and Barry McIlheney, the Emap executive who oversaw the debut of Heat. Kate Thornton edited Smash Hits in the 90s and is now a presenter on ITV, while Emma Jones had a short-lived career as a columnist on the Sun. Heat editor Mark Frith, who was also in the Smash Hits chair, said former staff "will always have a special place in their hearts for it".

My mum told me she bought the first ever smash hit magazine and is sadded its ended, she thought it ended ages ago tho.

never heard of it

About time too..

SMC, You come across as a highly intelligant bloke..Why dont you read smash hits? :laugh:

I loved smash hits when I was younger - shame that it couldnt move with the times really :spin2:

I've heard of it, never bought a music magazine before though. Sounds like an alright idea, but still...

Oh i am, infact i often have my head in a book by Shakespeare..

I didn't know that, but the quality of Smash Hits magazines really has hit an all time low.
Did you know there are some interviews featured that never actually happened?!

I'm glad to hear it because it is definitely losing in the race as best pop mag!

If they ever wanted to interview someone special they could of just called me, i wouldn't of charged much either

Just compensation for them having to interview you.

Booooo, cheap shot!

Ah, that's a shame. I used to love that magazine when I was younger. Although frankly, I'm surprised it laste this long.

Lol, I know I know, Sorry just couldnt resist

Well it's a long time since I've bought it, but looking at the covers I've seen in the last few years, it seemed it had pretty much become a girls' magazine. They had free gifts on the cover that would make boys run a mile before they'd even think of buying it. But surely teenagers still want posters on their walls of their favourite pop stars at least, and a basic A4 print-out from the pc doesn't really cut it compared to a glossy that was the pick of the photo-shoot, does it? I was made up when I had my first ever issue, rather than an old one with the crossword already done and all of the competition coupons cut out by my cousins. And it was a real wrench to finally admit that I was too old to be buying it any more. I think I'll buy the last issue, just for sentimental reasons. :sad:

I used to love reading Smash Hits when I was teenager - probably because pretty much every issue featured Duran Duran back then. I used to look forward to the magazine coming out. I moved on to NME and Melody Maker afterwards. I've actually still got several back issues from the 80's. I also might buy the last one out of nostalgia.

Smash Hits used to be a good read when I was younger.

In a way, Im not sad its going because it shows that kids are perhaps getting into more serious music again.