Here’s a look at what was hot back in the day!
New! Star Hits with Duran Duran (February 1984)
Plus Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Rolling Stones, Pat Benatar & Stray Cats
The Police (May 1984)
Plus Van Halen, Duran Duran, Culture Club, John Cougar Mellencamp, Thomas Dolby & Cyndi Lauper
Van Halen on Star Hits magazine (June 1984)
Also Thompson Twins, The Pretenders, Queen, & Lionel Richie
Vintage music magazine featuring The Cars (July 1984)
Plus Culture Club, Rockwell, R.E.M, & Paul Young
Star Hits with The Go-Gos (August 1984)
Plus Micheal Jackson, The Alarm, Bruce Springsteen, & Steve Perry
Star Hits: Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran (September 1984)
Plus Boy George, The Pretenders, Human League, Cars and Huey Lewis & The News (Image from our partner site, DuranArchive.com)
Billy Idol on the cover of Star Hits (October 1984)
Plus INXS, Tom Bailey, The Jacksons, The Human League, Prince, Duran Duran, & Madonna.
Music from Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, & Spandau Ballet (November 1984)
Plus Bananarama, Stray Cats, Corey Hart, & Huey Lewis
December 1984: Madonna
Plus David Bowie, U2, Wham, Duran Duran, Prince & Cyndi Lauper
Holidays 1984: Wham! George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley
Plus Scandal, Hall & Oates, Prince, Boy George & U2
March 1985: Andy Taylor & John Taylor of Duran Duran/Power Station
Plus Billy Idol, Wham!, Hall & Oates, String, Prince, Bryan Adams, & Eurythmics
ALSO SEE: Remember Dynamite magazine, with ’70s & ’80s stars kids loved? See 60 classic covers here!
April 1985: Bryan Adams on the cover of vintage Star Hits
Plus UB40, Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, Frankie, Power Station & Wham!
May 1985: John Taylor of Duran Duran
Plus Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Wham & Madonna
June 1985: Whamareica!
Plus Julian Lennon, Billy Idol, Madonna, Mick Jagger, & David Lee Roth
MORE: Live Aid concert videos (1985)
September 1985: Power Station
Plus Wham!, Tears for Fears, R.E.M, David Bowie, Prince, Sting, & Sade
November 1985: Duran Duran
Plus Thompson Twins, Madonna, Power Station, Wham!, Tears for Fears, UB40, Tina Turner, & Sting
December 1985: Tears for Fears
Plus Corey Hart, Dead or Alive, A-HA, Paul Young, ABC, Thompson Twins, & Arcadia
Vintage Star Hits magazine 2nd annual Readers’ Poll (March 1986)
Madonna – Duran Duran – A-ha – Tina Turner – John Taylor – Bob Geldof
June 1986: John Taylor of Duran Duran on the cover
Plus Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Charlie Sexton, ABC, OMD, Nick Rhodes, Dream Academy, Scritti Politti, Michael J Fox, & The Bangles
November 1986: Aha! (Morten Harket)
Plus Belinda Carlisle, UB40, INXS, Glass Tiger, The Cure & The Smiths
December 1986: Bananarama
Plus Max Headroom, Pet Shop Boys, Dr. Robert of the Blow Monkeys, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, The Smiths, Don Johnson, & Talking Heads
ALSO REMEMBER Lip Smackers from Bonne Bell: The super trendy vintage lip balm from the ’70s & ’80s
March 1987: Howard Jones contest
Plus The Monkees, Madonna, Nick Kamen, Max Headroom, Paul Young, ‘Til Tuesday, & Dead or Alive
May 1987: Duran Duran, Beastie Boys & Billy Idol
Plus Hipsway, Bruce Willis, Dead Or Alive, Pseudo Echo, Bon Jovi, Monkees
June 1987: Jon Bon Jovi
Plus Beastie Boys, Charlie Sheen, Psuedo Echo, Cutting Crew, Psychedelic Furs, & Robbie Nevil
July 1987: Beastie Boys
Plus Crowded House, INXS, Madonna, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Poison
October 1987: Madonna
Plus George Michael, Beastie Boys, Boy George, Fuzzbox Bowie, Nick Kamen, Suzanne Vega, Simon Le Bon, Simple Minds, ABC, The Smiths, & Echo and the Bunnymen
NOW SEE THIS: Sixteen covers of 16 magazine from the ’80s
February 1988: INXS
Plus Depeche Mode, Swing Out Sister, Belinda Carlile, ABC, Love & Rockets, Debbie Gibson, The Cure, & U2
MORE: Remember those mail-order record clubs that offered vinyl albums & tapes for a penny?
March 1988: George Michael
Plus Robert Smith/The Cure, U2, Billy Idol, INXS, Hurrah!, Depeche Mode & Bananarama
April 1988: U2 + more
Plus Rick Astley, Eurythmics, Billy Idol, Duran Duran, Robert Smith (the Cure), Madonna, & Curiosity Killed the Cat
ALSO SEE: The OG Rickroll? Subscribe to Star Hits & get Rick Astley (1988)
May 1988: The Cure (Robert Smith)
Plus INXS, Tiffany, Boy George (Culture Club), Curiosity, Simon F., The Bangles, ABC, & Terence Trent D’Arby
June 1988: Rick Astley on the cover of Star Hits
Plus Sinead O’Connor, Depeche Mode, INXS, Pet Shop Boys, David Lee Roth, Gene Loves Jezebel, & Johnny Hates Jazz
July 1988: Pet Shop Boys
Plus U2, Michael Jackson, Kingdom Come, Glass Tiger, & Poison
6 Responses
Wow, thanks for sharing. I definitely had that ’84 issue with Madonna and David Bowie on the cover. Star Hits was a godsend for teens like me who just couldn’t figure out some of the lyrics to awesome songs (whose LP/cassette liner notes didn’t include lyrics to either).
But I remember Star Hits mostly for the ton of letters I received when I posted in the Pen Pals section, looking for fellow mods/rudies in the world. I got easily over a hundred responses in the mail, yet almost 99% of them from people who had absolutely no interest in the mod/ska scene but were thrilled that I was from L.A….wish I kept them all, nevertheless. Thanks for sharing.
omg… I got hundreds of letters from all over.. I was 16 and would get bundles of mail every day, what a blast. just trying to remember what the name of that section was called
Hey. The pen pal section was simply called ‘RSVP’.
I had packed up my Star Hits (later Smash Hits in the U.S. and U.K.) years ago and had forgotten about them until I saw this post. I’ve just unpacked them and I’m currently re-reading them, issue by issue (about 70 issues from 1984 to ’89). I’m glad that I hung onto them all these years!
Could you please confirm if the February 1984 issue had an article about Madonna written by Neil Tennant and photos by Deborah Feingold?
Thank you so much!
I liked Star Hits because it was a lot like Creem. I was raised on Creem (and to a lesser degree, Circus and Rock Scene) before I encountered Star Hits and I was delighted that SH shared Creem’s waggish sense of humor (it even had funny captions under some of the photos like Creem did). I also made friends via pen-pal with a lovely Bananarama fan from Wisconsin thanks to Star Hits. SH might’ve looked very Tiger-Beat-ish just going by the covers but their record reviews were usually very intelligent and insightful (and often pretty funny too). Fun mag.