EMAP have announced that top pop mag Smash Hits is to close its doors after 28 years of supplying the nation's teens with foolish interviews and cut-out-and-keep song lyrics. It's a crying shame. Ordinary Boy Preston has the dubious honour of appearing on the cover of the very final issue of the mag, which will be published on 13 Feb.
The brand will live on, of course, through the Smash Hit TV station, website and digital radio station - all of which now sit in different divisions of the media group from the magazine that inspired them. Current Smash Hits editor Lara Palamoudian is said to be moving to another project within EMAP, whilst the company are trying to find alternative positions for the magazines nine remaining staff.
EMAP Metro MD Marcus Rich described the fortnightly title as an "old favourite" whose "time has passed", and added: "The audience for the magazine was getting younger... as teenagers migrated to new platforms to satisfy their interest in music."
Rich continued: "Smash Hits revolutionised the world of teen publishing when it was launched in 1978, but 28 years later, the world is a very different place and the magazine's role and relevance on the news stand changed. The closure of the magazine allows us to concentrate our resources on developing the Smash Hits brand on these emerging platforms."
Mark Frith, a former editor of the pop publication and current editor of Heat said: "People have an incredible sentimental feeling towards Smash Hits. Anyone that grew up with Smash Hits or was lucky enough to work on it will always have a special place in their hearts for it. It has been a pioneering force in pop and we can look back fondly on the last 28 years."
Smash Hits was first published way back in September 1978, and saw its heyday during the eighties, regularly selling around half a million copies and recording its highest sales figures in 1989 when an issue featuring Kylie and Jason shifted more than a million. Previous editorial types at the mag have famously included subsequent Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant and the ubiquitous Kate Thornton.