''Hit Parader'' was an American
music magazine A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with recorded music.
Notable mu ...
that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on
rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
and
heavy metal. By the early 1980s, ''Hit Parader'' focused exclusively on heavy metal
and briefly produced a spinoff television program entitled ''Hit Parader's Heavy Metal Heroes''. The magazine reached its circulation peak in the mid-to-late 1980s selling a half-million copies every month as heavy metal music achieved high levels of popularity and commercial success.
History
Early years
''Hit Parader'' was launched in 1942
by
Charlton Publications, based in
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. It borders the cities of Anson ...
. Publishing its first issue on September 16, 1942, the magazine's original mission statement read as follows:
''Hit Parader is designed to appeal to boys and girls in school, in colleges, and in the armed services... and the millions who listen to radio every day, the people who go to the movies and dances, the jukebox addicts, the people who buy phonograph records and sheet music for home use, and even the people who whistle while they work.''
Along with the likes of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', ''
Down Beat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' and ''Song Hits'', ''Hit Parader'' was among the first and longest-lasting American music magazines. The magazine's title referenced the popular music "
hit parade
A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined either by sales or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; ''Billboard'' magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936 ...
", a list of current
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
s determined either by sales or airplay. In its early years, the magazine largely consisted of lyrics to the hit songs of the day, a practice that remained until 1975 when licensing of the rights became too expensive. From that point onward it featured interviews, color photos, and feature articles on popular rock musicians.
Emergence of rock music
For much of the 1960s, Jim Delehant worked as a staff writer and editor for the magazine. According to his recollection, ''Hit Parader'' covered "an extremely boring music scene" in the early 60s prior to the emergence of hugely popular rock groups such as
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
in 1964. At that time, it was a common practice among music magazines to write fake articles pieced together from sources such as bios and publicity material distributed by the record companies. ''Hit Parader'' employed traveling rock journalists who spent time with the artists and wrote legitimate feature articles about them.
In addition to Delehant's contributions, ''Hit Parader'' also published articles by music journalists Ellen Sander, Keith Altham and
Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one ...
. Over the following decade, its contributors included
Nick Logan
Nick Logan (born 3 January 1947 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire) is an English journalist, editor and publisher.
Logan is best known for having founded '' The Face'', the magazine which forged a new "lifestyle" sector in British publishing in the 1980s ...
,
Barbara Charone Barbara Charone is a UK-based American public relations officer for musical artists and Board Member of Chelsea F.C. Formerly a journalist and music critic, she wrote regularly for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', the '' NME'' and ''Rolling Stone'' while ...
,
Lenny Kaye,
Jonh Ingham
Jonh Ingham (born 1951) is an English entrepreneur who has worked in music journalism, pop band and nightclub management, advertising, internet application development and management consultancy. In the mid-1970s he worked for the British pop ...
and
Alan Betrock
Alan Betrock (1950 – April 9, 2000) was an American music critic, publisher, editor, author and record producer.
Initially a music critic, Betrock founded the influential '' New York Rocker'' magazine in 1976 and the publishing house Sh ...
.
Transition to hard rock and heavy metal
During the 1970s, ''Hit Parader'' frequently covered hard rock acts such as
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
,
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
,
the Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
,
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, with founding members consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup ...
,
the Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen and ...
,
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
, and
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
. As the decade progressed the magazine began covering
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
and
new wave artists as well.
The magazine typically featured song lyrics, artist photos, feature articles, album reviews, interviews, reader mail, bits of trivia on popular rock acts, and readers' polls.
Secher era
Longtime editor
Andy Secher
Andy may refer to:
People
*Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds
*Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...
joined the magazine as an assistant editor in 1979 when the staff consisted of essentially two people. Secher was hired on the strength of an interview he had done with
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
which appeared in the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' and has said that ''Hit Paraders mission at that time was to simply survive month to month. During this period, editor Lisa Robinson had begun taking the magazine in the direction of new wave music, traveling to England four times a year to interview
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
and positioning ''Hit Parader'' to be on the cutting edge of what Secher would later refer to as "the whole Avant-Garde, New Wave movement". The magazine struggled, however, printing 200,000 monthly copies but only selling approximately 30% of them. In 1980 Secher replaced Robinson as the magazine's editor and Shelton Ivany came on board as editor-in-chief, and it was under their leadership that ''Hit Parader'' moved away from new wave music for good, becoming the first monthly publication to focus exclusively on hard rock and heavy metal.
"''...we were the first magazine in the world to focus exclusively on hard rock/heavy metal. We were a bit lucky in that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...
was just kicking in, and the West Coast Metal Explosion was about to launch. Our timing was very good. We've stayed loyal to hard rock throughout the years because that's where my interest remains. Trends, bands and fans have come and gone, but hard rock has stayed strong.''" - Andy Secher in 2004
The move paid immediate dividends and ''Hit Parader'' began selling a half-million copies every month, a 450% increase in sales.
Secher recognized the magazine's target demographic as the young suburban male, whom he referred to as "some 17-year-old kid in Iowa, not a socialite in Manhattan", and attributed ''Hit Paraders longevity and success to its ability to anticipate trends in music months in advance.
By 1984, the magazine was focusing solely on heavy metal.
The magazine's top-selling issue of all time was its June 1984 issue which was the first cover story devoted to a rising band from Los Angeles called
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
. Upon arriving in Mexico in December 1983 to interview the band, Secher was met by lead vocalist
Vince Neil
Vincent Neil Wharton (born February 8, 1961), best known by the stage name Vince Neil, is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, which he fronted from their 1981 forma ...
and taken to the group's hotel where he found "this young woman, spread eagle on the bed, naked, and they're going at her with a wine bottle". Though he had to sanitize the story heavily before it could be published, the issue nonetheless created a firestorm of controversy which saw retailers such as
7-Eleven
7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
threaten to take the magazine off its shelves. Over the ensuing decade, ''Hit Parader'' became one of America's leading heavy metal publications, providing extensive coverage of the era's popular acts such as Mötley Crüe,
Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni.
The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow and drummer Drew F ...
,
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
,
Ratt
Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...
, and
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
. During this period the magazine also published special bonus issues with titles such as ''Hit Parader's Heavy Metal Hot Shots'' and ''Hit Parader's Heavy Metal Heroes''. Secher often went on the road to meet the artists personally. "Ozzy in Brazil,
Dio in Japan,
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...
in Canada,
the Scorpions in Sweden...it goes on and on. There's no question that the times were bigger and brighter in the '70s and '80s," he has said of this era.
Secher produced a spinoff television program entitled ''Hit Parader's Heavy Metal Heroes'' on
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
which featured heavy metal music videos and short interviews with the artists who regularly appeared in the magazine.
During its 1980s heyday, ''Hit Parader'' featured the work of rock journalists such as Charley Crespo, Jodi Summers, Wolfgang Schnapp, Adrianne Stone, Rob Andrews, Winston Cummings, and Rick Evans.
Post-1980s decline
''Hit Parader'' fell into decline in the 1990s, with a handful of factors contributing to this. Facing financial troubles in 1991, Charlton sold off ''Hit Parader'' to raise money.
Later that year,
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
' hugely successful ''
Use Your Illusion II
''Use Your Illusion II'' is the fourth studio album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The album was released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart ''Use Your Illusion I''. Both albums were released in conjunction with ...
'' album included a track entitled "
Get in the Ring
"Get in the Ring" is the fifth song on the Guns N' Roses album '' Use Your Illusion II''. Written by Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Slash, it is a diss track directed at music critics. Mentioned by name are critics from ''Hit Parader'' (Andy Secher ...
", the lyrics of which accused Secher and ''Hit Parader'' of "printin' lies instead of the things we said" and "rippin' off the fuckin' kids …
ndstartin' controversy". The song was written in response to a March 1991 ''Hit Parader'' cover piece written by Secher in which the band's vocalist
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born February 6, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its incep ...
and
Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and ha ...
of
Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
were ostensibly interviewed together for the first time. However, it soon came to light that rather than the exclusive it claimed to be, the interview was instead merely a transcript of a telephone conversation between the two musicians and
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
that had earlier been broadcast on Stern's popular radio-show. The pair, along with Rose's then-wife Erin Everly, had talked to Stern during a party at Rose's home, and some observers questioned whether it even constituted a true interview.
Rose and Bach both claimed that ''Hit Parader'' editor Andy Secher was misleading his readers with such tactics.
With the dramatic decline in the popularity of heavy metal in the 1990s, ''Hit Paraders monthly readership began a steady decline. Many observers have noted that everything changed almost overnight with the emergence of
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
and
grunge music
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of pu ...
in 1991, and Secher agrees wholeheartedly with this conclusion. Of the magazine's 1970s and 1980s heyday, Secher has said "The stories are too many, and in some cases too wild, to be printed here."
Speaking to the music website rockcritics.com in the early 2000s, Secher identified the magazine's target readership as "a young, male demographic … They want short, pithy interviews and features – along with BIG color photos. The formula is fairly basic." He also defended ''Hit Parader''s championing of heavy metal, despite the disapproval the genre attracted from some music critics, saying: "I always sensed that people like
Christgau had to justify their existence by promoting the artistic aesthetics of the rock form. I've never taken any of this that seriously. ''Hit Parader'' isn't the ''New York Times'' … it's a frikkin'
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
, and proud to be exactly that."
The magazine closed down following the publication of its December 2008 issue.
During its years of operation, ''Hit Parader'' also published issues dedicated to "Top 100" lists, such as "Top 100 Metal Bands", "Top 100 Guitarists", "Top 100 Vocalists" and "Top 100 Bassists & Drummers".
Rebirth as a production studio
In 2020, entertainment industry veterans
Matt Pinfield
Matthew Pinfield (born May 28, 1961) is an American television host, disc jockey, and music executive. He first reached national prominence as VJ on MTV. He served two stints as the host of the alternative music program ''120 Minutes'', from 19 ...
,
Ash Avildsen
Ashley Greg Avildsen (born November 5, 1981) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and the founder and CEO of Sumerian Records and Sumerian Films. The son of director John G. Avildsen, he wrote and directed the films ''What Now' ...
, and
Josh Bernstein
Josh Bernstein (born February 24, 1971) is an American explorer, author, executive producer, survival expert, anthropologist, and TV host best known as the host of '' Digging for the Truth''. He later appeared for one season as the host of the ...
purchased the rights to ''Hit Parader'' and resurrected it as a branded
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...
. The new ''Hit Parader'' was headquartered in the Panasonic building in
Universal City with a mission statement to focus "on original content and immersive experiences." It announced plans for a new television series entitled "
Paradise City
"Paradise City" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, ''Appetite for Destruction'' (1987). Released as a single in January 1989, it is the only song on the album to feature a synthesizer. The song pea ...
" which Avildsen described as "A mix of the young angst of '
Euphoria
Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...
', the entertainment biz authenticity of '
Entourage
An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...
' and the supernatural fun of '
Sabrina
Sabrina may refer to:
* Sabrina (given name), a feminine given name, including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name
People
* Sabrina (actress), stage name of Norma Ann Sykes (1936–2016), a British glamour model and actres ...
'", featuring
Drea de Matteo
Andrea Donna de Matteo is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Adriana La Cerva on the HBO television drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2006), for which she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...
and
Bella Thorne
Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series ''Dirty Sexy Money'' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series ...
. An eight-episode season airing on
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
released in 2021 with plans for a second season to film in 2022.
There are no plans to resurrect ''Hit Parader'' as a magazine. "I think the legacy and history of ''Hit Parader'' brings a modern-day value that would take many years to recreate," said Avildsen. The ''Hit Parader'' brand's longtime focus on heavy metal would also be abandoned, with Avildsen promising "all genres and styles are welcome and will be given platforms".
References
{{Reflist
External links
Hit Parader website
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Heavy metal publications
Magazines established in 1942
Magazines disestablished in 2008
Magazines published in Connecticut
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Music magazines published in the United States