It was a moment. An almost perfect storm. In the USA, the old guard was being challenged by a new wave fresh out of CBGBs. Across the Irish Sea, punk rock was exploding. And here at home, the music scene was beginning to take flight.
Some bright young sparks spotted that the ingredients were being gathered for a heady cocktail. But there was one missing, vital, piece of the jigsaw: a medium to get the word out and drive the scene ever onwards and upwards to new heights. A platform. A meeting of minds. A magazine. That would also aim to drive wider social change, in what had been a crushingly stagnant, conservative country.
We decided to step up to the plate. Hot Press was born, launching in the Summer of ’77 in time for Rory Galagher’s blistering, first ever Irish rock festival in Macroom and Thin Lizzy’s subsequent, memorable Dalymount Park concert. And also for The Boomtown Rats full frontal assault on the charts in the UK. There were stories to be told! We got busy telling them...
That was then, this is now. The Hot Press 45th Anniversary Issue hits the streets in July 2022.
Students of arcana will know that, as both a triangular number and the sum of all the decimal digits (do the Maths!) – 45 is a very special number indeed. And so, we’re celebrating with a very special issue!
To honour the magical mystery tour we’ve all enjoyed in Irish music since, we revisit a world that spun magnificently and intoxicatingly at 45rpm. And take readers on an extraordinary trip through the intervening years via the music that was our soundtrack – and yours – and the social and political changes we helped to drive.
Hot Press at 45 on the 45s that shaped our world. And a whole lot more besides, in our special bumper, birthday issue.
