Hit Parader
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| Categories | Music magazine |
|---|---|
| First issue | 1942 |
| Final issue | December 2008 |
| Company | Charlton Publications (1942–91) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Derby, Connecticut |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0162-0266 |
Hit Parader was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it was a general popular music title until the 1980s, when its focus turned to the genres of hard rock and heavy metal. The magazine reached its peak during the 1980s as heavy metal music achieved high levels of popularity and commercial success.
Hit Parader was launched in 1942 by Charlton Publications, based in Derby, Connecticut. Along with Billboard, Down Beat and Song Hits, it was among the first and longest-lasting American music magazines. Consistent with its title – which referred to the pre-music charts hit parade – Hit Parader began as a popular-song lyric newspaper. It continued to reproduce the words to contemporary songs until that practise became financially prohibitive in the mid 1970s.
For much of the 1960s, Jim Delehant worked as a staff writer and editor for the magazine. According to his recollection, it covered "an extremely boring music scene" before the emergence of rock groups such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys in 1964. In addition to Delehant's contributions, Hit Parader subsequently published articles by music journalists Ellen Sander, Keith Altham and Derek Taylor. Over the following decade, its contributors included Nick Logan, Barbara Charone, Lenny Kaye, Jonh Ingham and Alan Betrock. The magazine's future editor, Andy Secher, joined as a staff writer in 1979; he said in a later interview that the publication "functioned with an amazingly small staff throughout the years" and attributed its longevity to support from the music industry.
During the 1970s, Hit Parader frequently covered rock acts such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, David Bowie, Blue Öyster Cult, the Kinks, Three Dog Night, the Who, Cheap Trick, Kiss, and Van Halen. The magazine typically featured song lyrics, album reviews, interviews, fan mail, bits of trivia on popular rock acts, and readers' polls.
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