I wrote an essay for Rolling Stone celebrating the 30th anniversary of the demise of The Smiths, explaining why we’re really lucky that they split in 1987 There’s nothing quite like realizing that it’s three entire decades since the most perfectly beautiful,… Read More »The Smiths Are Dead – Long Live The Smiths!
Mark Simpson on how George Michael was the missing, subversive gay link between Bowie and Beckham (Rolling Stone, 28/12/2016) Back in the early 1980s, I was one of those annoying ‘alternative’ teens who, when pressed, would admit they quite liked… Read More »The Straightness of George Michael
The famously homoerotic ’80s fly-boy flick used to be totally no-homo (Originally published in the Daily Telegraph May 12, 2016) Thirty years ago today, the stars of Top Gun were taxiing the red carpet at the premiere in New York. The film,… Read More »How Did Top Gun Get So Gay?
As the 80s boy racer dreamboat the Peugeot 205 GTI turns 30 Mark Simpson remembers stroking its stick-shift Hot. Hatch. In the world of car porn there is no other conjugation that raises the punter’s pulse more than that one –… Read More »Straight Down the Hatch
Scourge of The Eton Rifles Paul Weller was sending out quite a statement to his die-hard Jam fans in this video for his 1983 Style Council single ‘Long Hot Summer’, shot on the River Cam in Cambridge. Acting the big… Read More »Long Hot Punter: Paul Weller’s Topless Video Revisited