NOW That's What I Call Music!

BLITZ_Molloy · 14-09-2005 7:34pm #1

I found a copy of NOW! 21 just now when doing a bit of Autumn cleaning. Did anybody else grow up on a diet of pop compilations as a child? I couldn't afford to buy lots of albums so NOW! tapes always seemed like a good choice.

Man, just look at the quality:

Stay by Shakespeare Sister
I Can't Dance by Genesis
Am.. the theme song from The Adams Family movie.

edit: found a fan site: http://gratrix.net/now/#

Hehe.. that Adams Family song is by Hammer. Makes sense. Still, it's pretty respectable. Jesus and Mary Chain and The Cure, I had good taste for a 9 year old.

Mossy Monk · 14-09-2005 8:28pm

lol
i think most 9 year olds got one of them albums

i had the now 20 on audio cassette. ****ed if i know where it is now but i got it when i was about 12

Kolodny · 15-09-2005 9:24am

I had loads of the NOW compilations. Always got given them at Christmas and birthdays. The earliest one I had was Vol. 10 (yes, I'm that old). Can hardly remember anything that was on it now. It's probably a safe bet to say there were tracks by Bananarama and the Pet Shop Boys though.

grumpytrousers · 15-09-2005 9:53am

Kolodny wrote:

I had loads of the NOW compilations. Always got given them at Christmas and birthdays. The earliest one I had was Vol. 10 (yes, I'm that old). Can hardly remember anything that was on it now. It's probably a safe bet to say there were tracks by Bananarama and the Pet Shop Boys though.

It did - Love in the First Degree by the 'rama and the Pets did Always on My Mind.

It also had Fairy Tale of New York (no chart position given as it was one of those 'just released' songs) and Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Cabelle (the first song to appear on more than one Now album - i.e. same artists, same song, different albums)

Pump up the Volume by MARRS was Side one, Track 4 and was prolly the song that kicked off the whole acid-house thing - at least it was the first acid-housey number 1..it's quite funny to look at the track listing and see how incongruous (sp?!) that MARRS is with the rest of the acts...

(it's also my first NOW album! - Christmas '87)

BuffyBot · 15-09-2005 10:58am

Somewhere in this house lies the original Now Thats What I Call Music! album. Scary.

monkeyfudge · 15-09-2005 11:06am

Yep.. I have the first one on LP at home somewhere too.

Now That's What I Call Music just isn't the same without the Culture Club tracks each year.

Looking at the website it seems that they started doing boring covers at Now 20. I miss the pig with the sun glasses.

Devon · 15-09-2005 6:58pm

I've got all of the Now! albums in .mp3 format! Sad I know, but I just love 80's music.

You can get track listings at www.nowmusic.com

Blisterman · 17-09-2005 7:10pm

I got now 6 when I was born. I still have it, but i can't play it as i don't have a record player.

DublinWriter · 17-09-2005 7:14pm

I got the original "Now" album for Xmas 1982, featuring such evergreen artistes such as Shakin' Stevens and Tight Fit!

I wonder what will be on "Now, That's What I Call Music Gogoplex"? Maybe it will come in pill form? Soylent Green anyone?

Larianne · 17-09-2005 7:14pm

I got the greatest hits of '91,'92,'93 and a NOW! I dunno which one. Had Saturday Night by Whigfield on it. STill have them all.

KdjaCL · 17-09-2005 7:21pm

Thought the old cases had a pig on them?

kdjac

Pigman II · 17-09-2005 7:28pm

KdjaC wrote:

Thought the old cases had a pig on them?

kdjac

http://gratrix.net/now/images/covers_jpg_306/NOW_UK_GC_03.jpg

http://gratrix.net/now/images/covers_jpg_306/NOW_UK_GC_04.jpg

http://gratrix.net/now/images/covers_jpg_306/NOW_UK_GC_05.jpg

KdjaCL · 17-09-2005 7:30pm

Holy **** i didnt think i had them ones , thought my 1st was 12 onwards

kdjac

del_boy85 · 17-09-2005 10:19pm

Used to love the NOW! albums back in the early/mid 80's when I was a kid!!! Wasn't it volume 3 that was the first to have the pig on it??

billy the squid · 17-09-2005 11:57pm

at present i have now 9, 10, 11, 12 on tape
now 13 on vinyl
now 20 on tape
now 21,- 59 on CD

i have found of late that the later ones have gone to the dogs a bit.

i was goven a loan of the Now thats what I call music (the first one) to convert into mp3 from vinyl, so I have that in mp3 format

just to add, one can think of things that happened in their lives when they hear a certain Now album number.

Century Radio went off the air a few months after Now 21 came out. funny I remember this because shakespeares sister had a song on Now 21 called "Stay" which featured on their album "Hormonally Yours." the song £Hello (turn your radio on) featured from the same album in the same year when Century radio closed down.

Now 23 had groups like "Charles and Eddie" on it and came out in late 1992, my first "real" relationship. I was 16.

Now 25 I got from a family member who baught it in Duty Free on their way back from the UK and they didnt like it. it had Four Non Blonds on it "Whats going on"

Now 24 had Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" as well as the Blue bells "Young at heart" on it. It came out in the summer of 1993.

other ones i remember

Now 30 was used when i did a stint on a pirate radio station here in Limerick, Radio Enterprise, there were three hail Marys keeping the station on the air and you had a high risk of being electrecuted by just walking into the "studio"

Now 35 was used on Wired FM when i did a three week stint on that station in early 1997.

Firetrap · 18-09-2005 11:24pm

billy the squid wrote:

i have found of late that the later ones have gone to the dogs a bit.

just to add, one can think of things that happened in their lives when they hear a certain Now album number.

My gut reaction is to agree with your comment that the later ones have gone to the dogs. But if you think about it, the compilations are only as good as the music that's in the charts and to my ears, they have gone to the dogs. Or (and this the more likely scenario), I'm getting old and starting to sound like my dad when I complain that all that R 'n B and dance stuff is rubbish :mad:

There were a lot less compilations out back then. I used to alternate between buying the Now series and Hit 6 (or whatever). The oldest tape I have is the Greatest Hits of 1986. I can't remember the exact track listings but it has some slightly odd songs on it like Eloise by the Damned and Camouflage by Stan Ridgeway, the Phantom of the Opera by Steve Harley & Sarah Brightman sitting alongside the obligatory Lady in Red by Chris De Bleurrrggghh

billy the squid · 19-09-2005 12:17am

allie_e17 wrote:

My gut reaction is to agree with your comment that the later ones have gone to the dogs. But if you think about it, the compilations are only as good as the music that's in the charts and to my ears, they have gone to the dogs. Or (and this the more likely scenario), I'm getting old and starting to sound like my dad when I complain that all that R 'n B and dance stuff is rubbish :mad:

There were a lot less compilations out back then. I used to alternate between buying the Now series and Hit 6 (or whatever). The oldest tape I have is the Greatest Hits of 1986. I can't remember the exact track listings but it has some slightly odd songs on it like Eloise by the Damned and Camouflage by Stan Ridgeway, the Phantom of the Opera by Steve Harley & Sarah Brightman sitting alongside the obligatory Lady in Red by Chris De Bleurrrggghh

Hits six is the one with The Firm - Star Trekkin' Accross the Universe on it. If i am not mistaken the Hits of 1986 is the one with the Holiday Rap on it.

II would agree that most of the music of today is complete crap, but there are some good long standing musicians that are being left out of the Now Albums, it is probably to do with the fact that they are not signed up with the record companies who make the Now Albums, Virgin, EMI and Universal. It used to be Polygram but it is Universal now.

rabbitinlights · 19-09-2005 9:49am

Ive a copy of now thats what I call music (1) on vinyl, I thought it would be worth a bit but they are only €10 on Ebay....... Awell.......

BLITZ_Molloy · 19-09-2005 2:16pm

The reason the charts have gone to **** is everybody stopped buying singles in the mid 90's. The charts now are all just compiled from radio playlists, and they just go for whatever they've been paid to play, or middle of the road stuff that doesn't upset their advertisers.

The charts have started taking download music into account in the last few months so things will probably move back to the way they were in the 80's and 90's.

grumpytrousers · 19-09-2005 2:38pm

BLITZ_Molloy wrote:

The reason the charts have gone to **** is everybody stopped buying singles in the mid 90's. The charts now are all just compiled from radio playlists, and they just go for whatever they've been paid to play, or middle of the road stuff that doesn't upset their advertisers.

The charts have started taking download music into account in the last few months so things will probably move back to the way they were in the 80's and 90's.

re downloads being taken into account: I have no recollection of Crazy Frogs topping the charts in the 80's or 90's. Unless you count the ones that sang with Paul McCartney.

The charts haven't gotten any worse, IMHO, we've just gotten older. 20 years ago, my mum thought the goddawful rubbish we were listening to was crap and not a patch on Hermans Hermits/Mamas and Pappas, Beatles etc.

Same with us today - you hear Kelly Clarkson on the radio and you go "it's all very well and good love, but it's no 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', now is it"...

I'd agree with you blitz, that the charts SEEM to have gone to ****, but to be honest, they're only meant to REALLY appeal to folk too young to know better...

bopper · 19-09-2005 6:46pm

I can't remember which number was the first one i bought, but I know The Spice Girls' "Say you'll be there" was the first track on it.

BLITZ_Molloy · 21-09-2005 7:44pm

grumpytrousers wrote:

re downloads being taken into account: I have no recollection of Crazy Frogs topping the charts in the 80's or 90's. Unless you count the ones that sang with Paul McCartney.

The charts haven't gotten any worse, IMHO, we've just gotten older. 20 years ago, my mum thought the goddawful rubbish we were listening to was crap and not a patch on Hermans Hermits/Mamas and Pappas, Beatles etc.

Same with us today - you hear Kelly Clarkson on the radio and you go "it's all very well and good love, but it's no 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', now is it"...

I'd agree with you blitz, that the charts SEEM to have gone to ****, but to be honest, they're only meant to REALLY appeal to folk too young to know better...

I thought that first Kelly Clarkson single was fantastic. About as good a pop rock gets. The problem at the moment is the kids aren't determining the chart, because they aren't buying singles. It's the guys who set the radio playlists who determine the charts. Which is what makes it so dull and conservative.

I'd much rather my kids listened to something I thought was **** than something I was indifferent to.

Capt'n Midnight · 21-09-2005 7:58pm

grumpytrousers wrote:

The charts haven't gotten any worse, IMHO, we've just gotten older. 20 years ago, my mum thought the goddawful rubbish we were listening to was crap and not a patch on Hermans Hermits/Mamas and Pappas, Beatles etc.

no it's not just age, there was a really bad patch a good while back where there was a compilation album with 30 songs on it, 27 of which I would have changed channel if they were on the radio. Of the other three only Joe Le Taxi was okish. Since then there has been a lot of good music. There has also been a lot of formulic rubbish, and the cover versions now are getting worse and more common. I'd nearly insist on a law that when a band release a cover they have to release the original on the B side - and let's see which gets requested more

Civilian_Target · 21-09-2005 8:25pm

You're all ancient - the only Now! I have is 36 which I got in 1st year. Featuring "classics" such as

Spice Girls-Mama
Damage - Love Guaranteed
Peter André - Natural

but also including goodness like

Jamaquoi - Virtual Insanity
Prodidgy - Breathe
No Doubt - Don't Speak
Placebo - Nancy Boy
Divine Comedy - Everybody Knows

It also has Sash - Encore Une Fois on it

The latest now is Now 61, its here http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009PYV92/qid=1127334223/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-0291426-5081477

There is, maybe, 2 tracks that will be remembered in that entire album. One of those is crazy frog, which will only be remembered for the wrong reasons...

grumpytrousers · 22-09-2005 9:15am

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

no it's not just age, there was a really bad patch a good while back where there was a compilation album with 30 songs on it, 27 of which I would have changed channel if they were on the radio. Of the other three only Joe Le Taxi was okish. Since then there has been a lot of good music. There has also been a lot of formulic rubbish, and the cover versions now are getting worse and more common. I'd nearly insist on a law that when a band release a cover they have to release the original on the B side - and let's see which gets requested more

Heh - funny you say that. I remember one night after x pints trying to tell all who would listen that if I ruled the world, it would be THE LAW that all new bands had to release cover versions as b-sides just so that if they made a bad job of 'em, the originals would get played more and hence the masses would get educated one way or t'other!

Of course you're right - the nature of the pop charts is that they are cyclical; I suppose what I was trying to say is that the charts tend to be populated by decent music when you're the age that the charts are aimed at. In other words, 'Is chart music any good' is one of those subjective/objective questions - currently I think it's a load o'toss, but those what it's aimed at (and they're not 31, btw!) think it's grand.

And to paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davis 'Yeah, but they would, wouldn't they!'...

billy the squid · 24-09-2005 10:40pm

bopper wrote:

I can't remember which number was the first one i bought, but I know The Spice Girls' "Say you'll be there" was the first track on it.

mcguiver · 25-09-2005 10:03pm

In the States they only started doing
"Now thats what I call music" albums around 1997..... some friends started looking at my cds and had a great laugh when they found Now 5!! untill I played destinys child on it!

NOW That's What I Call Music!

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