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NOW 6 - Autumn '85: Sanjeev Kohli Sep 10, 2026 1:10:05 Gimme Fried Chicken!Well, if that sentence means anything to you at all, other than being a slightly curt way of asking for, er, fried chicken, then you are in the right place!Yes, of course this was Queen's hilarious final line in their anthemic autumn pop sound 'One Vision'. It rhymes, you see?But, BUT, not only was One Vision an enormous No7 hit in the autumn of 1985, it was the opening track o

NOW 24 - Spring '93: Ray Harris Aug 28, 2026 33:34 Nineteen Ninety Three.It's a country we've visited on a number of occasions in this particular parish of variously compiled pop. And it's always one that welcomes us back warmly.There's our strident, shiny boybands working up a sweat down at your local nightclub or hanging around the street corners looking menacing.There's the noticeably older relatives who had hits back ion the 80s and are back,

NOW Yearbook '76: Alexis Petridis & Ian Wade Jul 20, 2026 1:07:40 1976. You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.Well, silly or not, the charts of this fascinating year were full of big, big hits. Crowdpleasers, I hear you cry? Well, whatever way you view 1976, and many so-called rock journos and hacks would do so rather disdainfully, the twelve months bookended by number ones by Queen and Johnny Mathis (!) were certainly colourful and (

NOW 43 - Summer '99: Rob Johnson Jun 25, 2026 1:01:59 Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 99:So the year/decade/century/millennium was coming to a close but before the apocalypse didn’t actually arrive at midnight on 31st December 1999, there was the small matter of a quite poptastic summer to be had. And did we party like it was 1999? Of course we did!We even squeezed in a completely rubbish total eclipse - remember that? No, neither do we.But

NOW 5 - Summer '85: Graeme Thomson May 22, 2026 1:14:25 The Big Pig is back!As July, turned into August in 1985, the world was still basking in the afterglow of, what was already being called the event of the decade. No, not the ceasing production of the Sinclair C5, or even the latest episode of Blind Date with our Cilla. Live Aid had defined the coming together of all things pop for a generation, in the name of raising money for African famine. And t

NOW 12 - Summer '88: Tom Doyle Apr 17, 2026 1:23:20 Oh, that’s bad!No, that’s good!If you know your 80s dancefloor bangers, you’ll recognise that S-Express vocal insert and will already be donning your sparkly bellbottoms, possibly even getting right-on one (matey) because it’s Summer 1988! What was making the headlines? (shuffles papers, looks directly into camera in a serious way):Poll tax announced!Gay rights activists invade the six o'cloc

NOW 37 - Summer '97: Marc Burrows Mar 18, 2026 1:03:47 Swing it, shake it, move it, make it!…is exactly what the nation was doing in 1997. Yes, that’s right, Channel 5 was here and fiddling with that aerial to try and get a reception to see The Jack Docherty Show was what we were all up to. Robbie Williams even changed the lyrics to his breakout hit ‘Old Before I Die’ in honour of this revolutionary fifth channel twiddlesome pastime. But of cours

NOW 10 - Autumn ‘87: Sue Charles Feb 24, 2026 1:10:50 Welcome back to 1987!The decade of decadence, extravagance, elegance and other words that end in -nce was powering its way towards the later end of its cultural tenure. And whilst there is no doubt that perceived wisdom (or, the internet as we now call it) would tell us that 1987 was the year of big hair, big shoulder pads, and big mobile phones, those of that were there can tell a different story

NOW 23 - Autumn '92: Josh Widdicombe Jan 15, 2026 45:52 How do you begin to describe 1992?Well, Her Majesty called it her Annus horribilis, for a number of reasons. Quite possibly including the three weeks Boyz II Men spent at number one, possibly not. But whatever the reason, we can safely say that the twelve months of glittering pop culture that we call '92 were definitely diverse and, quite frankly, bonkers.As we've ascertained in this pop parish be

NOW Smash Hits of the 80s: Justin Lewis Jan 1, 2026 1:03:02 Welcome to the utterly swingorilliant Autumn 1987! Frightwigs ahoy! Pass around the rock’n’roll mouthwash because the Ver Kids knew that pop was back, Back BACK!Actually, what this all really means is that in 1987 the nation’s favourite fortnightly pop magazine and the nation’s favourite compilation series had - quite literally - come together and created the greatest album in the world EVER (poss

NOW - The Christmas Album at 40! Dec 4, 2025 49:49 Welcome to a special festive episode of Back to Now. We first revisited Now - The Christmas Album in 2020. You remember 2020, don’t you? It was a Christmas that needed some light to overpower some rather dark shades.We did a track by track commentary. We shared thoughts on the classic Christmas songs. The sequencing, the rediscoveries. We shared personal - often emotional - memories. And of c

NOW Yearbook ‘80: Andrew Harrison & Mark Wood Nov 26, 2025 1:06:58 Gonna use my…imagination.1980 saw the UK chart taking some incredible leaps forward into the new decade. As the 1970s biggest superstars, Pink Floyd, stepped aside as the last chart topper of that decade and ushered in something fresh, new and suitably brassy. As always, the pop landscape would continue to be varied, diverse, sometime a bit bonkers but of course nothing short of fascinating. 

NOW 45 - Spring '00: John Matthews Nov 11, 2025 1:10:06 Welcome to the 21st Century!Or did you call it Y2K? And if so, can I ask WHY?Yes, pop fans and curators of variously compiled pop, we had survived the End of the Century. The millennium bug turned out to be nowhere near as life threatening as as we were told. No planes fell from the sky, no computer meltdowns and no return to the dark ages overnight. In fact the most terrifying thing about Decembe

NOW 32 - Autumn '95: Emma Harrison Oct 4, 2025 56:42 Is this the way they say the future’s meant to be?It’s November 1995. Pop was pulling in many different directions. But predominantly, it was swaggering its way towards the end of the century in a confident, Union Jack draped fashion. Whilst dance music, boybands, TV based retro crooners and a range of other co-stars were vying for our well earned pounds in the likes of HMV and Virgin, it was the

NOW Yearbook '79: Nick Heyward and Daryl Easlea Aug 29, 2025 1:01:36 It’s the end, the end of the Seventies.It was a decade that had started with Edison Lighthouse and ended with Another Brick in the wall. After 221 number one singles, the decade that had given us everything from Bowie to Bell bottoms, from Chopper bikes to Chiquitita, Glam to Punk, and Sapphire to Steel, was closing down - and at a sensible hour too!On the 31st December 1979, Kenny Everett asked t

NOW Yearbook '82: Ian Wade and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Jul 25, 2025 1:15:34 Poor old Johnnie Ray.Actually, I wonder what the heart wrenching vocal superstar of the fifties made of his starring role in the biggest selling single of 1982, thirty years after his own chart topping run? Did anyone ever ask how he felt watching the footage of his younger self in the video for Come On Eileen intertwined with Kevin’s dungaree festooned Emerald Express on a London street corner. P

NOW 30 - Spring ‘95: Grant Stott May 19, 2025 1:06:06 Wake up, it’s a beautiful morning!It’s the spring of 1995. That most eclectic of decades, the nineties if you will, was no longer the new kid on the millennial block. Pop culture has boxed up the eighties for another day, had shaken off baggy, was in the process of returning grunge back to the US and was now striding confidently onwards with a swagger all of its own. The country was beginning to l

NOW 53 - Autumn ‘02: David Manero Apr 21, 2025 1:15:52 2002. The pop culture landscape would never be the same again.No, we’re not talking about Robbie Williams £80m, six album deal (although Rudebox would indeed shift the landscape, if not exactly many copies).We’re not even talking about Pop Idol top ten contestant Jessica Garlick coming (joint) third in Eurovision, although that was pretty good. We could be talking about the arrival of 6M

NOW Dance '89 - Summer '89: Joe Muggs Mar 10, 2025 1:08:36 Can You Feel It?It’s July, 1989 and the temperature is hot! Actually, for a lot of the UK it surprisingly was, but let’s leave meteorological memories aside, we’re talking the dancefloor. The country, the WHOLE nation was completely right on one, matey. Well maybe not the entire nation, but there was no doubt that the BPMs were sweeping the nation much quicker than the BSB squarial was i

NOW, That’s What I Call A Musical - Sonia Jan 29, 2025 37:44 In 2025, the iconic NOW series moves into the world of musical theatre with a brand new show ‘NOW, That’s What I Call A Musical’ delivering a storyline that ties friendship and incredible 80s pop music together perfectly. A dynamic cast, a sure fire story from Pippa Evans filled with a rollercoaster of emotions and laughter is coupled by choreography from Craig Revel Horwood for a guaranteed hit n

NOW 40 - Summer ‘98: Rob Johnson Jan 20, 2025 1:16:45 The United Kingdom in Summer 1998 was an interesting place indeed.In June, the DVD was released for the first time and presumably the first person to ignore random extras, interviews and photo galleries was welcomed with open arms. The Crime and Disorder Act introduces Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOS) was introduced into our vocabulary and the tabloids jumped for joy at the possibility of a pl

The Back To Now Review - 2024 Dec 9, 2024 59:17 Welcome, everyone, to the Back to Now review for 2024!Following in the well-loved festive traditions such as fingering your way through the double edition Radio Times, fumbling your way to the back of the cupboard for the remnants of last year’s Baileys or just thumbing through some nuts next to an open fire, we bring you a finale to another variously compiled year in pop in the company of s

NOW 33 - Spring ‘96: Neil Collins Oct 24, 2024 1:03:54 Ideas, experiments, imagination.So, what was the optimum Britpop™️ year? Academics, thinkers and BBC documentary makers have wrestled over this question for many a year. Possibly even as long as it takes to listen to Be Here Now.1993 - Yanks, go home?1994 - Maybe, perhaps definitely?1995 - Different class, I’d suggest?So where were we by the spring of 1996? Three years of evolution, trademarked Be

NOW Yearbook ‘81: ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Sep 16, 2024 1:02:49 Dylan Jones once described the Eighties as being shaped by ‘a new type of bohemianism, one empowered by a certainty and an optimism that was only fleeting back in the sixties.’ *Moreso, K.Tel records importantly reminded us that home taping was killing music. So, it’s November 1981, and this young music fan is feverishly taking ownership of two cassettes in his local Woolworths. One blue, one

NOW - The Summer Album - July ‘86: Tim Worthington Aug 19, 2024 1:05:12 We’re going where the sun shines brightly,We’re going where the sea is blue…1986 really was very Cliff. He had celebrated his first No1 of the 80s with the cast of The Young Ones, featured in some devastating billboard action in the (rerun) finale of the aforementioned BBC comedy show, been covered by the TVam rat and gerbil, and even had one of his most famous songs feature on a rather unique (an

NOW Yearbook ‘84: Ian Wade and Jude Rogers Jul 15, 2024 1:04:17 “What we’re gonna do right here is go back, way back!”If you were really down with the cool kids in 1984, you would have most definitely have been passing around the school prized C90 cassettes featuring much copied Streetsounds compilations. And somewhere in there was Kurtis Blow’s AJ Scratch track with those immortal sampled words from the Jimmy Castor Bunch in 1972. Straight out onto The BMXs a

NOW 15 - Summer ‘89: Matthew Horton Jun 17, 2024 1:13:31 August 1989.The final year of ‘the finest pop decade ever’™️ is moving along quite nicely thank you very much. There’s most definitely a change in the air, and we don’t mean the launch of the FOUR channel Sky TV network. Relax everyone, UK Gold and TOTP reruns are coming in three years!No, real change was coming. The second summer of love in 1988 (sorry Danny Wilson, probably a year

NOW 69 - Spring '08: Justin Lewis May 21, 2024 1:12:38 It was the wise prophet and occasional flower impersonator Peter Gabriel that said, ‘I don’t remember, I don’t recall,I have no memory of anything at all.’Do you remember 2008?Yes, it's only (!) 16 years ago, so I’ve no doubt you still have packets in the kitchen cupboard that are older, but do you also remember how the pop landscape of 2008 was mapping out? Indeed, what on earth was goi

NOW 116 - Autumn '23: David Quantick Apr 15, 2024 57:24 It's November 2023, and the world's most successful compilation series is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Five decades of compiling the latest hits, the occasional miss, but always the songs that soundtracked our lives. Always there, always democratically and expertly sequencing the music that the UK buying (downloading/streaming/swiping) public were grooving to, laughing to, dancing along with,

NOW 29 - Autumn ‘94: Anna Doble Mar 20, 2024 1:19:04 Confidence, they say, is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as……1994, darlings! And of course, as perceived wisdom now dutifully dictates, we were all completely mad for it, lemon hooch in hand, union jacks draped around our football tops, waving two fingers to those damn yanks. Go home!Except, of course, the truth couldn’t be further away from the, er truth. Whilst it

NOW 25 - Summer '93: Niall McMurray Feb 2, 2024 1:16:51 Pop. The way that we process everything.So, it's the summer of 1993. According to meteorological 'experts', the UK experienced its lowest maximum temperatures since 1972. Only 4 days were officially classified as 'HOT'.Well, I would argue, pop fans, that is UNLESS you had a swingorilliant copy of NOW, That's What I Call Music 25!(We'll take this quite frankly, cheesy line out in the edit - Ed.)Yes

NOW 24 - Spring ‘93: Sam Lidicott Jan 5, 2024 1:11:10 Welcome to Spring 1993.And, I’m sure you’ll all agree, there was only one phrase on everyone’s lips.I lick-he boom, boom down.(Checks notes)Anyway, more of that later.The legendary NOW compilation series has reached its twenty-fourth volume and is now standing proud as the finest collection of chart hits around.HITS who?And as the fourth year of that craziest of decades ‘The Nineties’ got underway

The Back to Now Review - 2023 Nov 30, 2023 1:32:59 Welcome, one and all, to the 3rd annual Back to NOW review! As is now tradition, this end of year episode of the variously compiled podcast provides us with a festive opportunity to glance back over our shoulders at the pop landscape of yet another 12 months.Let’s celebrate a dazzling year of NOW compilations that in 2023 have included something for everyone - fabulous yearbooks scanning

NOW Yearbook ‘73: Mark Wood and Pete Paphides Oct 25, 2023 1:17:06 They all know it’s Dynamite, And the music went on and on and on…The history books will tell us that, in theory, 1973 shouldn’t have worked.Terrorist campaigns, oil shortages, petrol rations, power cuts. Peters and Lee.However, as the saying goes from great adversity comes great art. Or was it great sitcoms? Either way, 1973 stands not just as one of the greatest pop years of the decade,

NOW 50 - Autumn ‘01: Lee Thompson Sep 18, 2023 1:18:41 La, La, La.Autumn 2001. In many ways, it has been a challenging year. 5ive and Steps split, Hearsay don’t.Pop, just like the most boybandish of the latest boybands, Blue is (all) on the rise. The new millennium has most definitely set up its shiny new stall and is fully decked out in its cargo pants, vest tops - and that is just the boys. Mobile phone ringtones were being catapulted into polyphoni

NOW Dance: The 12” Mixes - Spring ‘85: Tim Worthington Aug 28, 2023 1:06:49 It’s a Saturday night in April 1985 and a queue is gathering outside Raffles nightclub in, well pretty much every town and city across this sceptred isle. Feverishly excited boys and girls wait and dream of Malibu and coke, Quatro and ice, whilst expectant beams of pink neon shoot out from beyond the velvet rope and the intimidating bouncers (possibly both called Dave). Through the door,

Back to Awesome! - Summer ‘91: Johnny Kalifornia & Ian Wade Jul 25, 2023 1:04:20 It’s summer 1991 and school’s out which means it’s time for your latest compilation! It was probably on cassette, possibly from your local high street and most definitely slotted straight into your parent’s car stereo for that sweet-fuelled, motorway exodus to the sun!But WAIT!After NOW 19’s release in the spring, the horizon isn’t delivering the nation’s favourite 20th variously compiled selectio

NOW 58 - Summer ‘04: Michael Cragg Jun 22, 2023 1:14:38 WARNING!This episode contains scenes of graphic and often gratuitous pop perfection. Listener discretion is advised.Summer 2004. The wettest summer in the UK for fifty years, and with it being another three years before Rihanna invents the umbrella, there is a need for something more drastic to help dodge the dampness. So where does one shelter from the storm? Well, certainly not th

NOW 27 - Spring ‘94: John Aizlewood May 15, 2023 1:32:32 Welcome to the middle of ‘the nineties’! Sort of! Spring 1994, to be exact. And indeed, the popworld is revelling in the ‘seed of the new breed’.Again, sort of…You know the drill by now, the glorious NOW, That’s What I Call Music 27 steers you though the wonderfully choppy waters of the UK charts. Sometimes the shore is graced with the wonders of perfect pop from the likes of Swedish Global grabbe

NOW 22 - Summer ‘92: Catrin Lowe Apr 1, 2023 1:16:13 It’s the summer of 1992!The UK had accidentally voted in the Conservative government again but to make amends wins lots of medals at the Freddie and Monserrat Olympic Festival Sporting thingy in Barcelona, so everyone forgets for a while.Alan Shearer becomes the most expensive soccer star in the whole of history and the English FA celebrate their winning bid for Euro96 - spoiler, it still doesn’t

NOW 3 - Summer '84: Mark Savage Feb 24, 2023 1:25:03 Alexa, show me 1984.If you were to ask a certain searchable device (others are, obviously available), there’s a high probability that the year George Orwell predicted would see us living in a terrifying future nightmare would instead be adorned with a wash of neon, colour and an array of sunshine pop. And the character staring back at us wouldn’t be Big Brother, it was a pig in shades. O

NOW 26 - Autumn ‘93: Will Hodgkinson Jan 19, 2023 1:20:44 Welcome to 1993. Autumn, to be exact. And how was it all looking?Well, it wasn’t really baggy like 1990, or rave-y like 1991, but it wasn’t Britpoppy like 1995. It was all a bit…well, who knows? Can we say, a bit of a pop hinterland?And were there any clues across our ever reliant pop culture landscape for how ‘93 had shaped up? Well in a year that saw the launch of two modern icons - the Vau

Back to NOW Christmas Flexidisc 2022 Dec 19, 2022 17:22 Welcome to this bonus edition of Back to Now!A small but perfectly formed bite-size extra serving of Festive Pop!To compliment the end of year review of 2022, enjoy a collection of previous lovely guests as they revisit some memorable Christmas hits.Or should that be December hits? Or Christmas adjacent pop?You decide, wonderful listeners!Indeed, in the true sense of pop memorabilia, consider this

The Back to NOW Review - 2022 Dec 6, 2022 1:12:39 Festive greetings and welcome to what all of the Pop Kids are rightly calling the 2nd annual Back to Now review for 2022!Can it really be a whole 12 months since we last pulled up a cosy chair, poured ourselves a large creme de menthe and ruminated on the variously compiled world of pop? Well, yes indeed and so much has happened since! We don’t talk about politics here, no, no no - it’s all about

NOW 9 - Spring '87: Will Harris Oct 28, 2022 1:23:52 Jack, jack, jack….wait? What? Who is this Jack?It’s 1987, and the future has arrived in the shape of the first No1 of the year courtesy of Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley - House Music is here!Hold up, wait a minute!As the ninth edition of the famous Now, That’s What I Call Music testified from within it’s (so 80s!) Ring binder cover, the charts were much more varied. Whilst dance music was loading up its rec

NOW 19 - Spring ‘91: Niall McMurray Sep 16, 2022 1:12:38 1991.It was the first palindromic year since 1881, and to be honest I’m not really up on the hits of that particular Victorian number. (Newsflash: Bruckner’s 6th Symphony was pretty hot that year)Fast forward to the 2nd year of the ‘nineties’ as we called it, and there are plenty of other newsflashes abound. War in the Gulf dominated the spring (news and charts, but more of that later), Easte

NOW 18 - Autumn ‘90: Lucy Bright Aug 23, 2022 1:07:40 1990. Well it certainly was time for the guru, but as the first year of the new decade was drawing to a close, it was time - a little time, if you will - for so much more. And as always, our favourite compilation series was there to capture it all.So volume 18 provided us with the NOW albums second numbered album of 1990 in the shape of big ballads, bigger ballads, pop, rock, dance, indie and

NOW 6 - Autumn ‘85: Polly Birkbeck Jul 30, 2022 55:06 ‘One goal, one mission…one vision!’.November 1985, and the latest poptastic edition of NOW kicks off with the unifying cry from Freddie and the boys, after an unforgettable summer when music really did seem to change the world from London to Philadelphia and beyond. But how representative of those wonderful UK charts is Now, That’s What I Call Music 6?Well, the events of Live Aid had certainl

NOW 14 - Spring ‘89: Andrew Harrison Jul 5, 2022 1:11:47 Welcome to the end of the eighties! Pop’s greatest (it was, wasn’t it?) decade was getting ready to pack away it’s shoulder pads, leg warmers and Rubik’s cubes (not being too stereotypical are we?) and was heading at breakneck speed towards the nineties, and the latest edition of the Now series absolutely represented the change ahead!Well, sort of.As ever the democratic forces behind the UK charts

NOW 35 - Autumn ‘96: Neil Kulkarni Jun 9, 2022 1:06:54 In memory of a wonderful guest and outstanding writer, Neil Kulkarni. Welcome to Autumn 1996. Royal divorce, Mad Cow disease, Take That helplines, TFI Friday. But it wasn’t all bad news, oh no – the pop charts were continuing to dazzle and amaze the CD buying public! Indeed, if we weren’t snapping up those hits on £5 CD singles (both one and two, to complete the set) we were most definit

NOW 23 - Autumn '92: Zoë Howe Apr 12, 2022 1:06:31 It's Autumn 1992! Damn, Would I Lie To You?What an interesting time for the UK singles charts. Is it fair to say the decade was at some sort of apex point? Well, the tracklist for November’s NOW, That’s What I Call Music 23 album was certainly not giving us a clear a view of what the next big thing was going to be. Or was it?Whilst the start of the 90s had exploded with a colourful wave (or s

NOW 12 - Summer '88: Jude Rogers Mar 3, 2022 1:13:36 Enjoy this trip.And it is a trip!What a poptastic year 1988 was turning out to be at NOW HQ! As the 80s were speeding their way towards a dayglo regeneration into the 90s, the charts were chock full of a glittering arrays of sensational delights and 7” wonders! The first instalment of NOW That’s What I Call Music – Volume 11 in April – had delivered a chart topping selection of skyscraping hi

Now Millennium 1996 - Grant McPhee Feb 3, 2022 46:57 For this episode I am joined by award winning film director Grant McPhee.Amongst Grant’s films are Big Gold Dream, which tells the story of FAST Product and Postcard Records, two of Scotland’s most loved independent record labels and Teenage Superstars the story of what happened next in the uncompromising world of Scottish indie music, featuring music and interviews from the likes of The Vaselines

NOW 34 - Summer ‘96: Lee Thompson Jan 1, 2022 1:12:46 Can 1996 really be over a quarter of a century ago? Yes it can, and this is where we find the hot hits of summer as sizzlingly delivered in NOW34!The charts as ever, were serving up a veritable feast of genres, hits and headlines. The feelgood factor was in full swing, in part due to the excitement of Euro96 but also a UK culture scene that was embracing a vibrant period of creativity across music

2021 - The Back to NOW Review! Nov 26, 2021 1:03:00 Welcome and indeed the most festive of greetings, as the back to NOW podcast brings 2021 to a close. And from a variously compiled world of pop viewpoint, what a fabulous year it has been!For this special end of year episode, like the most treasured of Christmas present annuals nestling under the Christmas tree, we unwrap the last twelve months of NOW – and indeed pop culture as a whole – to

NOW 64 - Summer '06: John Earls Nov 4, 2021 1:08:21 Welcome to summer 2006!  And things were, indeed, Crazy. That top selling nine-week run at No1 was significant for not just featuring (the not crime fighting rodent) Dangermouse but for being the first UK chart topper to make it there purely on downloads (remember them?) alone. But of course, you knew that chart fact already, didn’t you, pop pickers?But there is so much mo

NOW 57 - Spring ‘04: David Manero Oct 11, 2021 59:59 So, where were you in 2004?The pop charts were as fast moving as Dame Kelly Holmes in Athens and every week brought another selection of shiny pop hits. 29 tracks topped the charts across the twelve months as pop buyers rushed to purchase the newest CD singles from their latest favourites. And unless you were the sparring, fall-out potty mouthed pair Eamon or Frankee , it was generally a one week

NOW 43 - Summer '99: Daryl Easlea Aug 13, 2021 1:03:13 Summer 1999.The End of the Century beckons.As we prepared to send the clocks back to zero, millennium bugs threatened our very existence. David Bowie foretold us (well Jeremy Paxman, at least) that we were on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying and what this new Internet was going to do was unimaginable.Party over, oops out of time..?Not a bit of it, as the team at NOW That’s What I

Back to NOW - We Are One! Jul 29, 2021 34:21 The podcast that celebrates the variously compiled world of pop is one year old.Over the past twelve months, thirteen wonderful guests have joined me to open up gatefold sleeves, slip out cassette inlays and flick through CD booklets of their chosen compilation albums.And in doing so, we’ve not only shared some great musical memories, we’ve also explored the shifting pop cultures of the past four

NOW 16 - Autumn ‘89: Siân Pattenden Jul 8, 2021 1:09:17 It’s autumn 1989 and a decade where pop has transformed itself into an all encompassing mass culture is drawing to a spectacular close. Ten years have seen huge growth in music sales and an explosion of genres, with rock morphing through glam metal and beyond, disco had danced through electro towards a new house, and hip hop had grown from the streets of New York to become an emerging and exciting

NOW 10 – Autumn ’87: Justin Quirk Jun 1, 2021 1:16:36 Autumn 1987 and the pop world is at a crossroads. Some of music’s Big Names are in need of some inspiration, trends were fast moving and the decade that brought us a plethora of pop glitz and glamour was looking for some direction to the next chapter.As always, the NOW! team were on hand to gather up all that was happening across the charts and NOW 10 provides a fascinating snapshot of a very dist

NOW 13 - Autumn '88: Pete Paphides Apr 27, 2021 1:15:48 It's November 1988, and the latest chapter in the successful NOW compilation series is launched - and looking at the cover, it really is heading out of this world! And what an interesting period Autumn 1988 was! Shiny pop classics from the likes of Yazz, Erasure and Brother Beyond rubbing shoulders with seasoned artists rediscovering the glories of the charts - that's you Bryan Ferry, The Hol

Now, That's What I Call Music: Alexis Petridis Mar 19, 2021 1:10:50 Every story has a beginning and in November 1983, EMI and Virgin came together to create their own piece of compilation history. And so it was, that a poster of a certain pig signalled a change in how various artists would be viewed and consumed from NOW on. As the first Now That’s What I Call Music LP curated thirty of the years biggest hits, the story of pop in 1983 was much more. Whilst the pop

NOW 8 - Autumn '86: Johnny Kalifornia Feb 22, 2021 57:48 It’s Autumn 1986 and the charts are once again filled with a glittering array of colourful, confident pop. The post-Live Aid landscape of 1985 has enabled its stars and supporting cast to build their singles and album popularity. Shiny new CDs are ensuring an aspirational digital era is on the way. But the singles chart still manages to reign supreme with an exciting range of tastes and flavours -

NOW 11 - Spring '88: Mark Wood Feb 4, 2021 1:00:22 It’s Spring 1988 and pop music is BIG once again!And as always, NOW That’s What I Call Music is there to capture the charts in all of its late 80s bombast as symbolised by Volume 11 and THAT wonderful, mirrored skyscraper cover.The Pet Shop Boys are reigning supreme in their imperial phase, the girls are conquering the charts from Kylie to Belinda and Vanessa to Sinead.But change is in the air as

Compiling Stories: Bob Stanley Dec 13, 2020 56:28 For this special episode, I am joined by musician, writer, DJ, and film producer Bob Stanley.Bob is a founder member of Saint Etienne, and a regular contributor to amongst others, The Guardian, The Times and Record Collector. Bob has compiled and produced an enviable collection of compilation albums for his own record label Croydon Municipal and with a host of collaborators for Ace records. Bob sh

NOW - The Christmas Album: Ian Wade Nov 19, 2020 1:13:26 It's Christmas!!!In this episode we shamelessly deck the halls, crack open the eggnog and pass around mince pies in honour of NOW - The Christmas Album. Cue, sleigh bells!Join pop pundit & musician Ian Wade and I as we celebrate the classic festive compilation. From Band Aid to Bing Crosby via Slade, Macca and a dazzling array of hits, the first off-shoot LP from the NOW brand set the tinsel-drenc

NOW 2 - Spring ’84: Simon Philo Oct 23, 2020 1:00:12 In 1984, it wasn't George Orwell's Big Brother that was beaming out of our TVs, it was (to quote Rick Astley), the Ruddy Big Pig.As the year began, the first NOW LP was dominating the charts, but its successor was not far behind. As sequels go Now, That's What I Call Music 2 was pretty spectacular, bagging the top spot in the LP charts for five weeks and proving that the most successful compilatio

NOW4 - Autumn ‘84: Richard Drew Oct 2, 2020 56:28 Joining me for this episode is RTS Nominated TV Production Designer Richard Drew. As well as ‘creating the magic’ for, amongst many others, The Inbetweeners, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and most recently After Life, Richard describes himself as a self confessed Pop Fan since he can remember. Richard and I explore the pop landscape of autumn 1984 and whilst NOW 4 was gearing its assault of the

NOW 17 - Spring ‘90: Michael Mulligan Sep 10, 2020 57:48 1990 - A new decade dawns and with it comes a genre-bursting variety of pop opportunities. Dance, Indie....Indie dance!Whilst the top of the artist album charts celebrated classic artists such as Phil Collins, Elton John and the Carpenters, the first full year of the compilation chart was exploding with an eclectic mix of dance -and the Top 40 singles chart was becoming increasingly exciting, vari

NOW 5 - Summer '85: Simon Galloway Aug 20, 2020 1:04:18 1985 - a positive jamboree of pop and a fascinating year for the increasingly competitive compilation LPs. As NOW! faces stiff opposition from the record companies in the shape of HITS & OUT NOW! amongst others, the gloves were off for a slice of the various artists market. At the centre of the year sits the Big Pig and NOW 5. But how did this expanding market affect the tracklist for the UK's

NOW 7 - Summer ‘86: Pete Selby Jul 29, 2020 55:44 For this episode I had the great pleasure of chatting with author and publisher with Nine Eight Books Pete Selby. Amongst other accolades, Pete has co-authored two official books on the history of Now That’s What I Call Music", and as Head of Music for Sainsburys, launched the exclusive ‘Own Brand’ vinyl record label with Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley. Pete and I travelled back to the summer of 1986

Back To Now! Trailer Jul 24, 2020 0:48 Welcome Back to NOW! A series of podcasts that celebrate all things related to the variously compiled world of pop. As we open up the gatefold vinyl sleeves, unfold the cassette inlays or slip out CD booklets, we will also consider the wider world of pop culture and how our favourite compilation albums shaped our lives at and now fondly stand as time capsules for our own musical journeys. The epis

Episodes

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