please empty your brain below
Formats
Vinyl: Now 1 - Now 35
Cassette: Now 1 - Now 63
CD: Now 8 - Now 80
Minidisc: Now 43 - Now 48
Download: Now 62 - Now 80

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 7:17 a.m. | #

The second half of the list has a lot more female vocalists on it. Yazz and Tasmin Archer are the only female-ensembles until the Spice Girls come along. I wonder why that is?

Mark | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Just when you thought a DG theme had been established, he switches to disposable pop trivia. How many (if any) of these do you have in your collection?

Waterhouse | 18.11.11 - 7:21 a.m. | #

Not forgetting the dance/pop split of the series...

NOW Dance 89 - Bobby Brown "My Prerogative (Extended Remix)"

NOW Dance 901 - Technotronic "Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) (Dance Action Mix)"

NOW Dance 902 - Adventures Of Stevie V. "Dirty Cash (Money Talks) (Dime & Dollar Mix)"

NOW Dance 903 - Technotronic – "Megamix"

NOW Dance 91 - First track PM Dawn - "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss"

NOW Dance 92 - Was (Not Was) "Shake Your Head"

NOD93 - Ace Of Base "All That She Wants"

...

Brian Butterworth | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 7:43 a.m. | #

And, of course, Now – The Christmas Album, first track (of course):

Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Brian Butterworth | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 7:44 a.m. | #

I have none of them but I did reconise 11 of the title tunes.

John | 18.11.11 - 7:55 a.m. | #

DG, you could buy a cassette in 2006? Wow! Thanks for the list, though for me it all went downhill after about NOW 8...

| 18.11.11 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Do you think 30 years from now, people will think "Moves Like Jagger" is the same level of musical genius "You Can't Hurry Love" and "Radio Ga Ga" are?

K | 18.11.11 - 8:19 a.m. | #

Does anyone really think Phil Collins' version of You Can't Hurry Love is musical genius in the first place?!

lockedintheattic | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 8:21 a.m. | #

I didn't realise that except for the first year there have been a NOW album released at least twice a year. I always thought that it was a best of the year type of thing and that it was only recently that they started releasing multiple times through the year.

Barry | 18.11.11 - 8:23 a.m. | #

The Clash are the only highlight. The rest is middle of the road fest. But I am not sure, why this post? Very George Perec -ish, an author that DG is bound to love.

Barbara J. | 18.11.11 - 8:33 a.m. | #

There was also a CD called "Now 89", which had 18 tracks on from that year, just because that was the year that CD really went mainstream and they were trying to cash in on the CD market - they were very rare, but I still have mine!

I can hum all but 3 of the songs on that list of 80 which isn't bad. Stopped buying them after Now 23 though...

Geofftech | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 8:41 a.m. | #

Whoops! I've just gone and checked my CD collection - it was Now '86, not 89! Sry...

http://is.gd/jcaYXM

Geofftech | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 8:44 a.m. | #

After reading this post, you can really see why the iTunes format took off.

Michael | 18.11.11 - 9:07 a.m. | #

I bet you've got them all, and filed in numerical order...

Kim | 18.11.11 - 11:01 a.m. | #

Does anyone care? If so, why?

Otter | 18.11.11 - 11:28 a.m. | #

I'm NOT getting old. Modern (post 1990) music IS awful noisy crap.

Antipodean | 18.11.11 - 11:46 a.m. | #

@antipodean, You're getting old. I'm older than you and still enjoy much post-1990's and modern contemporary music!

Geofftech | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 12:56 p.m. | #

Inevitably any post about music brings out the "opinion as fact" in everyone... :-)

Never invested in too many NOWs myself as I was (still am) a prolific single-buyer, so if I liked it I probably already had it. Pretty sure I have a couple of them in the NOW 40s/NOW 50s somewhere though.

An interesting list might be "unreleased tracks that made it onto NOW albums"... there were normally one or two that were due to be released (as opposed to already being guaranteed chart hits). Did any of them get pulled post-NOW, pre-single release? Certainly some of them must've been flops...

Carl | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 1:01 p.m. | #

From that list, there are (just) two tracks I have absolutely no recollection of at all (adjacent in the list, in fact, Rachel Stevens at 58, Blue at 59)

Dominic | 18.11.11 - 1:05 p.m. | #

Neither my choice of music nor my favourite DG post, but what an effort to put all 80 links in - could be one of the most research-intensive posts ever?

| 18.11.11 - 1:31 p.m. | #

Who/what are they!!! LOL - only joking.

B | 18.11.11 - 3:41 p.m. | #

Six opening tracks by Queen? Blimey.

Just four tracks listed which I don't recognise at all, and a more clunker-free list than I would have expected- although NOW 40 to NOW 43 is a decidedly bleak run. As a snapshot of the shifting shapes of chart pop over the last 28 years, it really works rather well.

mike | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 3:48 p.m. | #

Now Dance (1985) was a fcking fantastic album. Phil Colins & Philip Bailey 'Easy Lover' 12" started that off.

L | 18.11.11 - 6:39 p.m. | #

I've turned it into a spotify playlist using http://playlistify.org:

http://open.spotify.com/user/feelinglistless/playlist/6f8dd3TgOLB2LjPOfEePeY

(it's a bit inaccurate. I'll fix it when I have a moment)

Stuart Ian Burns | Homepage | 18.11.11 - 6:58 p.m. | #

Glad to see Queen leading the way. Though there is a sad lack of Def Leppard on the list!

CornishCockney | 18.11.11 - 6:59 p.m. | #

21.30 Planet Rock : The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go! (Now 19)

NLW | 18.11.11 - 9:31 p.m. | #

Remarkable amount of covers/re-releases in the first half eh?

SJM | 18.11.11 - 11:26 p.m. | #

I wonder if there is any truth in the much repeated story that Queen would onl let their songs appear on compilations if they were Side 1, Track 1. Anyone else heard that?

Mark | 19.11.11 - 10:33 a.m. | #

Tell me I am stupid - but what is the point of this posting DG?

daguerrotype - aka 'Midnight Cowboy' | 19.11.11 - 12:16 p.m. | #

Readers who have failed to enjoy this post can write to the usual address for a full refund.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 19.11.11 - 7:30 p.m. | #

Ahhh the NOW albums, I have every single one (digitally of course) and will keep collecting them as I quite like their weird view on the current charts.

The fact that some tracks make it on to the albums just as they are released is always interesting... e.g MC Hammer is only on one NOW album and the track ISN'T "Can't touch this"... whodathunk!

I do like me a good trivia list and yes, mike, Queen top of the chart for opening tracks! Wahooo!

Gordon | Homepage | 22.11.11 - 12:00 p.m. | #











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