DISQUS

WHarrisBullzEye · 1 year ago

Just about everything I know about music journalism came via my voracious reading of the British press.

jefito · 1 year ago

Amen, brother Harris. I spent a good portion of my teenage years kneeling at the altar of Mojo and (to a lesser extent) Q. God, I wish we still had music rags like that here.

DwDunphy · 1 year ago

Now all we have are just plain rags.

allen · 1 year ago

Thank you for bringing this back to light. I only had some early 80s issues but I read it from cover to cover. Between that and Trouser Press I really got to learn about great (and not so great) music. I guess that's what blogs are today...eh?

DwDunphy · 1 year ago

So conflicted! The "Avalon" review made me wince as much as the "Meat Is Murder" review made me smile.

My hmphs · 1 year ago

Thanks - you just made me go grab mine off the bookshelves (I have 1983-89) and spend my evening going through the one-line scathing reviews of albums and album covers, the "Thanks" and "No Thanks" awards, and of course, the charts. I still amaze my friends and family by being able to name the chart positions of many 80s songs because of those books. And I'm still trying to track down the music of acts such as Bucks Fizz, Mari Wilson and Kid Creole & the Coconuts to see why the UK press went ga-ga over them.

I would get these every Christmas from my parents, and I was antisocial for the rest of the holiday as I digested every word. Man, what great books. I'm glad someone else obsessed - er, appreciated them as much as I did :-)

Now I need to track down 1981 and 1982...

Fudgester · 1 year ago

"I'm still trying to track down the music of acts such as Bucks Fizz, Mari Wilson and Kid Creole & the Coconuts to see why the UK press went ga-ga over them"
Don't , just don't. You'll live longer, be happier and have more faith in human kind.

JonCummings · 1 year ago

I had a Kid Creole album (I think it was "Ole") and it wasn't too bad. But I also picked up a 99-cent Bucks Fizz album at one point, and it was kinda excruciating--way, way sub-ABBA. Mari Wilson I never heard, but I still remember the beehive hairdo from her album covers.

The '81 and '82 books can be had pretty cheap from Amazon Marketplace.

twostepcub · 1 year ago

OMG! I like totally forgot about these books! (How 80's is that?)

Anyway, I had no idea anyone else besides myself in America knew what these books were. And I agree - I was captivated by the snark that was missing in the pandering Rolling Stone review (where it was more about how "cool" they thought the band was) or the total advertisement-style reviews in Billboard (they haven't gotten much better).

I'm going to have to dig through my basement to find them for a good laugh. The best was the "Worst album covers of the year" section. That always made me roll over in laughter.

Besides, where else could you learn about Orange Juice, the Smiths, and Kim Wilde to reckless abandon?

Sam · 1 year ago

Haha... Awesome.