The Giddy Carousel of Pop

The Giddy Carousel of Pop


Smash Hits - February 1979 (issue 4) with Simon Philo

February 04, 2020

Simon and Gavin welcome you aboard The Giddy Carousel of Pop!

In this episode we go all the way back to February 1979 to dissect issue 4 of Smash Hits. The last of the mag's initial monthly issues, it only takes a moment to realise that this actually hit the streets in the January of 1979, tying up the loose ends of 1978 with its mix of pop, punk and disco before moving to fortnightly publication the following month, clearly marking out its future musical territory along the way.

Academic, author and broadcaster Simon Philo joins us to peruse its pages, with artists discussed including: Elvis Costello, Leo Sayer, Generation X, Olivia Newton John, Boomtown Rats, Rachel Sweet, Earth Wind & Fire, The Jacksons, Elton John, Paul Evans, Manhattan Transfer, Bay City Rollers, Sid Vicious, Funkadelic, Racey, Sally Oldfield, The Beach Boys and many more. We even take a look at the horoscopes!

You can read the issue for yourself thanks to Like Punk Never Happened and Smash Hits Remembered and also check out the music from its pages on our Spotify and YouTube playlists. It’s the next best thing to taping it off the radio!

MAGAZINE SCANS
Like Punk Never Happened: https://tinyurl.com/yjvedge2
Smash Hits Remembered: https://tinyurl.com/tbx9gmn

PLAYLISTS
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/t6wlpo5
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/ue2ru7x

The Giddy Carousel of Pop is part of the We Made This network of podcasts.