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Now, thats what I call music...


fuzzydunlop

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My mum recently asked me to make her playlist of 'hits' to play at a Summer Fete she was organising.  I didn't know where to start but decided to search on Spotify for inspiration.  I found this playlist which is every single Now album from the 80s to present day:

I got totally hooked on going through. I'm in my late 40s and bought every Now album up to around 1990 when I started getting into Madchester and then into indie/britpop etc.

What I found was quite emotional(and I'm at that age) was going through it chronologically..so many songs that reminded me of different parts of my life..from 1980s cheesy stuff, dodgy early 90s dance tracks from school discos, dodgy mid-90s dance tunes from first holidays with mates and Uni clubs, then the whole Britpop going to gigs, songs that reminded me of ex's/old mates then up through the early 2000s and the resurgence of guitar bands...then chart stuff that my stepdaughter(now 24) used to play....I think I managed about to about 2010ish and hadn't a clue about half the stuff featured, but thats just me.    

Anyway, something like 4500 songs on the playlist so maybe one for sticking on shuffle and keeping everyone happy at the next family gathering! 

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Respect, from a Hits fan. 👏

Spoiler

I got Now 10 and Hits 7 LPs for my Christmas in 1987.   M/A/R/R/S the highlight from Now 10, Jesus and Mary Chain, SIsters of Mercy, Desireless and Eric B and Rakim (still know all the words) from Hits 7.

 

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That's just tragic :whistle, a brother in law has spent a lotta time & money collecting them in a number of formats - cassette, vinyl, CD - and now it's all available on one playlist I remember him being especially pleased when it hit 100. :rolleyes:

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FWIW that would be my party from hell as I always reckoned Now  largely consisted of the blandest of whatever was trendy at the time.

17 hours ago, fuzzydunlop said:

 

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I remember mates having from 6 onwards but the first I had was 10. 
 

As well as the aforementioned MARRS classic, it had Billy Idol’s Mony Mony and Crazy Nights by Kiss, which I loved as a ten year old. And Fatboys/beach boys Wipeout.

My kids have a couple of recent ones and they seem less diverse. That might just be me having heard it all before but I think that there’s less outright rock or dance than there used to be and just ersatz rock or dance flavoured pop, with an obligatory few bars of shit rap.

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1 hour ago, btb said:

That's just tragic :whistle, a brother in law has spent a lotta time & money collecting them in a number of formats - cassette, vinyl, CD - and now it's all available on one playlist I remember him being especially pleased when it hit 100. :rolleyes:

*********************

FWIW that would be my party from hell as I always reckoned Now  largely consisted of the blandest of whatever was trendy at the time.

aye I mean its no my idea of a party either but I guess the point was it was the Chart music of the time which is by nature generally bland to appeal to the masses.

In fairness though, especially in the 80s/90s the Now and Hits albums did cover a lot of bases.   I remember my folks having a New Years party in the late 80s(maybe 1987) and I had a Hits album that had the Mary Chain and Sisters of Mercy on one side.  My neighbours big sister kept playing it and I hadn't heard music like that before.

Similarly I have very find memories of my 15th Birthday in June 1990...Italia 90 and one of the Now albums had a side with Primal Scream, Mondays, Inspirals, Depeche Mode, House of Love and er Jesus Jones....plus other sides had loads of Rave stuff... I played that one to death.  

Talking of Indie comps a few years later I moved onto the Independent Compilations which were basically Now filled with Indie stuff...those were bloody ace.

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2 hours ago, btb said:

That's just tragic :whistle, a brother in law has spent a lotta time & money collecting them in a number of formats - cassette, vinyl, CD - and now it's all available on one playlist I remember him being especially pleased when it hit 100. :rolleyes:

*********************

FWIW that would be my party from hell as I always reckoned Now  largely consisted of the blandest of whatever was trendy at the time.

A pal of mine is doing exactly the same thing...I wonder?

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1 hour ago, fuzzydunlop said:

aye I mean its no my idea of a party either but I guess the point was it was the Chart music of the time which is by nature generally bland to appeal to the masses.

In fairness though, especially in the 80s/90s the Now and Hits albums did cover a lot of bases.   I remember my folks having a New Years party in the late 80s(maybe 1987) and I had a Hits album that had the Mary Chain and Sisters of Mercy on one side.  My neighbours big sister kept playing it and I hadn't heard music like that before.

Similarly I have very find memories of my 15th Birthday in June 1990...Italia 90 and one of the Now albums had a side with Primal Scream, Mondays, Inspirals, Depeche Mode, House of Love and er Jesus Jones....plus other sides had loads of Rave stuff... I played that one to death.  

Talking of Indie comps a few years later I moved onto the Independent Compilations which were basically Now filled with Indie stuff...those were bloody ace.

I remember getting the "best of the Indie top 20" some time in the early nineties and it was amazing. Wasn't just the indie guitar bands, but included more dancy/ club stuff like the Shaman, at the time it was great as it opened my eyes to soo many different bands I hadnt even hear of at the time

Edit to add, it was 1991 seemingly, track list https://www.discogs.com/release/974961-Various-The-Best-Of-Indie-Top-20

Edited by honestly united
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15 minutes ago, btb said:

Unlikely this guy is from Tarbolton in Ayrshire.

My boy is in East Lothian - I just think it's weird that he's done this, especially as it doesn't reflect his musical taste, which is pretty much jazz rock fusion - some folk would say that liking jazz rock fusion is weird, mind. 

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5 minutes ago, honestly united said:

I remember getting the "best of the Indie top 20" some time in the early nineties and it was amazing. Wasn't just the indie guitar bands, but included more dancy/ club stuff like the Shaman, at the time it was great as it opened my eyes to soo many different bands I hadnt even hear of at the time

Edit to add, it was 1991 seemingly, track list https://www.discogs.com/release/974961-Various-The-Best-Of-Indie-Top-20

exactly the same...I think they were going from the late 80s but featured more heavier indie stuff.  I got my first one around 1990 because it had The Charlatans on it and I think that was maybe Volume 10, so plenty had been released before that.

I bought most of them after that and from them i got into stuff like Spiritualized, Verve, Stereolab and I think the first time I heard Pulp was on one of these.... but also those relatively obscure but had great tunes indie bands like Adorable, The Wendys(from Edinburgh I think?), The Dylans etc

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56 minutes ago, paranoid android said:

My boy is in East Lothian - I just think it's weird that he's done this, especially as it doesn't reflect his musical taste, which is pretty much jazz rock fusion - some folk would say that liking jazz rock fusion is weird, mind. 

I don't think I've actually heard mine listen to music, kinda confirming my theory that Now is for people who as Lenny-C said don't really like music, do they?

Going to see mine about gardening equipment tomorrow as I've let the back garden become a bit of a jungle and I'll try to work the conversation round to whether he listens to the product.

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1 hour ago, fuzzydunlop said:

exactly the same...I think they were going from the late 80s but featured more heavier indie stuff.  I got my first one around 1990 because it had The Charlatans on it and I think that was maybe Volume 10, so plenty had been released before that.

I bought most of them after that and from them i got into stuff like Spiritualized, Verve, Stereolab and I think the first time I heard Pulp was on one of these.... but also those relatively obscure but had great tunes indie bands like Adorable, The Wendys(from Edinburgh I think?), The Dylans etc

Yeah I was pretty much the same, the indie top 20 and Radio Scotlands Beat Patrol were my go to for new music.

I always thought the Wendy's were from Manchester being on factory records, Goobeldygook was one of my favourite albums of that period, never realised they were from Edinburgh (i've just googled it as I didnt think you were right!)

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7 minutes ago, honestly united said:

Yeah I was pretty much the same, the indie top 20 and Radio Scotlands Beat Patrol were my go to for new music.

I always thought the Wendy's were from Manchester being on factory records, Goobeldygook was one of my favourite albums of that period, never realised they were from Edinburgh (i've just googled it as I didnt think you were right!)

aye its understandable as I think they were on Factory Records plus they had a bit of that sound.    On top of that they don't really get mentioned in any way in Scottish music history.   

In fact Scottish music/bands kinda disappear in the early 90s..you had all that Caledonian Soul sh*te(IMO)  in the late 80s and then theres not really a lot mentioned until probably the mid 90s...

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3 hours ago, honestly united said:

I remember getting the "best of the Indie top 20" some time in the early nineties and it was amazing. Wasn't just the indie guitar bands, but included more dancy/ club stuff like the Shaman, at the time it was great as it opened my eyes to soo many different bands I hadnt even hear of at the time

Edit to add, it was 1991 seemingly, track list https://www.discogs.com/release/974961-Various-The-Best-Of-Indie-Top-20

I had that exact one, kind of. As an expat at the time i had the Thomsun "Original" version. Looks like i was done out of a few tracks as karma for my complicity with the pirates. 

Still had Freak Scene though. Yas

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I can only echo what the OP said.

Now 2 was the first one that I had, along with the first Hits album.

I'm 47 now so I would have been about 8 or 9 at the time.

Anytime I hear any of the songs from these albums I'm transported back to childhood.

Its the same when I watch old episodes of TOTP on BBC4.

 

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This is a mad station - Retro Charts Radio; https://retrochartsradio.co.uk

An historic archive of all the UK Top 40 hits from the start of the music charts back in November 1952, right up to the last chart of 1999.

All mixed up, there are 15,275 hits and during the station hours of 8am - 11pm they will all be randomly playing, non-stop. This means every single hit will get a chance to be played before the whole process starts again, giving you an eight week no repeat guarantee

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On 06/06/2023 at 13:18, fuzzydunlop said:

exactly the same...I think they were going from the late 80s but featured more heavier indie stuff.  I got my first one around 1990 because it had The Charlatans on it and I think that was maybe Volume 10, so plenty had been released before that.

I bought most of them after that and from them i got into stuff like Spiritualized, Verve, Stereolab and I think the first time I heard Pulp was on one of these.... but also those relatively obscure but had great tunes indie bands like Adorable, The Wendys(from Edinburgh I think?), The Dylans etc

Adorable were a fabulously under -rated band . Whilst the chart buying public were hoovering up Mr Blobby and Bob the builder nonsense this corker went sadly unnoticed.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Stevie Kirk said:

Adorable were a fabulously under -rated band . Whilst the chart buying public were hoovering up Mr Blobby and Bob the builder nonsense this corker went sadly unnoticed.

 

 

Yeah I was a big fan, even liked their second album(plus the Polak stuff is great too).  Only saw them once..1994 at The Arena in Glasgow which i think was on Oswald Street..  

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 06/06/2023 at 13:16, paranoid android said:

My boy is in East Lothian - I just think it's weird that he's done this, especially as it doesn't reflect his musical taste, which is pretty much jazz rock fusion - some folk would say that liking jazz rock fusion is weird, mind. 

It’s quite a cool set to collect and quite achievable.  There is one of them that’s very rare and hard to get.  Perhaps Now 4 on vinyl but would need to Google it.   Good luck to them!

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