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 course there were plenty of interesting facts and anecdotes.

And now in 2025, this iconic Christmas collection is 40 years old. So what better time to revisit and celebrate this classic album, that has not only stood the test of time, it has gone on to shape our seasonal listening and an ever increasing selection of compilation perennial presents!

And joining me, is the guest from that first Christmas episode, it’s the ghost of Christmas past, present and quite probably future - pop music’s very own Ian Wade!

Like a carefully mulled fine wine, NOW’s commitment to Christmas has matured and developed wonderfully into a new set of albums - CDs, coloured vinyl and SLEEVENOTES! The team have sprinkled festive cheer over this iconic branch of the world famous compilation series and reset it back in the canon of Christmas, exactly where it should be.

So, not a retread of the first 1985 album. Consider this your special bonus disc.

This new episode for 2025 is more a new pair of winter boots, an updated wintry landscape to explore, some new party guests to invite in and share an eggnog with. A festive bonus cracker, an extra chocolate in the Quality Street box, an undiscovered Christmas episode of Top of the pops on the iPlayer!

Grab yourself a festive refreshment then and join us we discuss a smorgasbord of Christmas musical delights. How the albums have evolved over the years, what is Christmas adjacent, Cher, sleeper track legacy, George Thorogood (!), The HITS Christmas album that never was, the emotional pull of certain songs and the hope of what a Jesus & Mary Chain Christmas album could sound like (yes, really!)

Merry Christmas Everyone.

And Thank You.

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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. Would we have it any other way?

Welcome to the eighties. And as viewed through the lens of the ultimate compilation collections of NOW - the yearbook, extra volume and vault, it’s a fascinating opportunity to revisit that iconic year 1980. A year of punk, pop, disco, funk, new wave and electronica. Could there possibly be a more transitional and eclectic year? 

Special guests and pop aficionados Mark Wood and Andrew Harrison turn the clock back to explore an amazing twelve months of pop culture. The new decade was exploding into a world of new possibilities, new technology, new trends. And whether it was through TV, film, magazines or of course music, this is a year you really need to return to. 

Let’s take a chance and fly away, somewhere….

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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 December 31st 1999 was the turgid TV schedules as we watched the Royal Family trying to join hands with Tony Blair, or worse - the cost of drinks and cloakroom queues in the nightclubs.

So, as we entered the third millennium - with Cliff Richard still intact and fresh from his (nearly 4th) Festive chart topping prayer - how was the pop world faring? 

Despite the seeming lack of guitars (SO NINETIES), the charts were bursting with new, fresh and mostly young shiny talent!

And Bryan Adams.

And Tom Jones.

And John Lennon.

BUT, apart from these ‘legacy artistes’, pop was back, Back, BACK. NOW 45 was here!

Scandinavian superstar producers were serving up Britney, Backstreet, Aqua and, er, Lene for our delectation.  

Steps, S Club and Atomic Kitten were waving the Brit flag in their crop tops and combats (even H). Solo Spice was blossoming quicker than the viewing figures for Castaway (not hard) with Mel C and Geri leading the way. 

RnB and Garage was freshening up the charts. 

And of course EVERYONE was queuing in the airport terminals for another summer of dance and there is plenty of that on these two shiny discs. 

Bu t there is SO much more to this dazzling 45th volume of variously compiled pop. And taking us through it is GENUINE CONTRIBUTOR to the album - electronic producer and musician John Matthews aka Ricardo Autobahn aka the Cuban Boys! Yes, the Hamster Dance song as featured here!

Join us as we climb aboard our futuristic Y2K hoverboards and not only revisit NOW45, discover the full story of how The Cuban Boys topped John Peel’s Festive Top 50 and almost toppled the might Cliff and Westlife in the final Official Chart of the millennium. All from their bedroom. 

You couldn’t make it up!

All of this and Daphne and Celeste! 

Ooh (and quite literally) Stick You!

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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 guitar driven sounds of Britpop that were sitting at the heart of most CD wish lists as Christmas approached. 

As always, the team at NOW were on hand to make sense of the latest and greatest hits from 1995 and successfully curate another selection of Top Chart Hits for us. Volume 32, graced with a wonderful wintry sunsheeeine (sorry) setting, welcomed listeners into two CDs (or cassettes or even vinyl!) containing forty of them. Legacy acts such as Queen, Meat Loaf, U2, Tina Turner and Cher provided the familiarity. A sparkling range of great (and, lets be honest, a few not so great) dance bangers including N-Trance, Berri and The Original. But for most purchasing or unwrapping NOW32 in 1995, it was the allure of the likes of Pulp, Radiohead, Cast, Paul Weller AND, of course, the chart battle of blur and Oasis that makes this particular volume of our favourite compilation so iconic. 

A moment in time?

A moment when Britpop demonstrated that it has outgrown NME and was now on the Nine O’ clock news.

Joining me for this episode is music and travel journalist Emma Harrison.

Together, come back with us THIRTY years to revisit a time when Pulp were the biggest pre-selling artist on Island records, when Jimmy Nail was a genuine pin up for 12 year old girls(!), when Bono and The Edge were writing Bond themes and something called Sacred Spirit was breaking out of aromatherapy rooms into the (very low end of the) charts!

Rediscover some genuine 90s classics from the likes of McAlmont & Butler and Everything but the Girl. Revel at how wonderful the HELP compilation album still is. Amaze yourself at a time when Christmas TOTP was presented by Bjork and Jack Dee (and they got away with it, spectacularly) and as always, argue with the presenters and their ‘missing’ track selections from 1995. 

And celebrate (yes, CELEBRATE) the total lack of Robson and Jerome!

Sometimes, NOW really do get it completely right.

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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 the (more discerning) viewers on ITV, if he would indeed make it 1980. With the iconic help of Roxy Music, David Bowie, The Boomtown Rats and many more, he just about crossed over into that new decade. But really listens, the future was already with us.

And yes, 1979 did seem rather grim - a winter of discontent, political upheaval, TV strikes and terrorism. But isn’t this exactly the kind of period when popular culture and significantly POP, POP, POP MUZIK comes to save us all? The kids were indeed, alright!

So, in the company of some very special guests - singer/songwriter and pop legend Nick Heyward and Record Collector’s very own Daryl Easlea - as we revisit the cultural tsunami that is the NOW Yearbook 1979. Rediscover a glittering embarrassment of 7” smashes from the likes of Sparks, Chic, Blondie, Squeeze, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Roxy Music. The list, just like the glorious pages of Daryl’s 1979 diary goes on and on.

As well as sharing his fabulous boxset, 1993–1998: The Epic & Creation Years, Nick tells us about how important 1979 was in shaping his own musical journey. From the early days of (what would become) Haircut 100, to rediscovering kitchen sink somewhere up a junction, to defining a look and sound as the seventies morphed into the eighties. 

We explore the sounds of 1979 - from XTC to The Knack, from Rainbow to Sad Cafe (yes, really!), how punk was evolving into New wave, which was evolving into New Pop which… (yes, we get the idea: Ed)

And also how video wasn’t exactly killing the radio star, but through visuals a new age was really dawning for pop. 

So, lets take a One Way Ticket, One Step Beyond some Parisienne Walkways (we’re not keeping these in! Ed)

1979.

Wow, indeed.

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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. Perhaps, as he was famous for doing, he cried. I hope Mr Rowland at least sent him a thank you note.

So, welcome back to 1982!

Were you there in those now gone days of pop perfection?

Did you dance in the ra-ra skirt to Duran Duran at the school disco?

Did you shed a tear as The Jam called it a day on the new Channel Four pop weekly The Tube, even though Paul knew well(er) what the next chapter held for his newly formed council. 

Or perhaps the Smash Hits of over forty years ago exist for you in playlists and radio schedules discovered since. Either way, the NOW Yearbook (and Extra volume) welcomes you with a neon smile to bring together over 140 hits, memories, misses and otherwise that sum up a stellar twelve months of pop. 

And as 1981’s steely electronic winter defrosted, a new pop was emerging. Duran, Spandau, Culture, Club, Wham!, Haircut 100 and a dazzling cast of many more were turning the colour back up on their (three channel) TV sets. 

Whilst the technology that gloriously gave us the new romantic sounds of 1981 was still driving the decade forward, suddenly we were taking ourselves, well, a bit less seriously. Pop was fun again as seen in the ever evolving, cheerleading extravaganza that was Top of The Pops. The charts were indeed alive to the possibilities of much more. Trevor Horn’s hit production machine was digitising our delights with the sounds of ABC, Dollar and even the Appalachian hip-hop of Malcolm McLaren’s Buffalo Gals. Seventies survivors such as Hot Chocolate, Roxy Music, ABBA, Marvin Gaye and others were upping their game and embracing - gasp - synthesisers! And you know what, it was sounding and looking (thanks to glossy videos) AMAZING.

And across the pond in the US of A? Well, we were importing them our own brand of fabulous pop and they were sending us ROCK in the form of Steve Miller, Survivor and J Geils - but even that was, well, shiny and new. What was indeed going on?

To quote Smash Hits (snip!) editor David Hepworth, there were, he said, “no patterns” to pop in 1982.

Join chief editor of electrictyclub.co.uk Chi Ming Lai and author of 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer Ian Wade as we dive back into a fascinating twelve months of pop as chronicled in the NOW Yearbook 1982. Amongst many other things, discover which star(s) were upsetting the Musician’s Union, find out more about the language of Smash Hits and how we need it more than ever, why old was the new New, learn about the NEXT BIG genre that you need in your life (Elegant Futurism!), why Germany was giving us EVERYTHING, and discover what Haysi Fantaysee were really up to on TOTP (if you dare!).

The 1982 Yearbook - Hi Fidelity indeed! 

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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 look and sound different. 

The political landscape was shifting towards something ‘new’ and felt more relatable, and pop shared this sense of renewed optimism that, actually, anything was possible. 

Which, of course (you know the script by now) was perfectly represented in the eclectic tracklist of the latest, legendary compilation NOW, That’s What I call Music as it reached yet another milestone with volume 30. The cover was new, the graphics were new, and the variously compiled selections represented what the nation was tuning into across TV (possibly with Chris Evans), radio (possibly with Chris Evans) or carrying home from the local music shop (possibly with, eh, no, actually).

Springtime was giving us blooming boybands, blossoming Britpop, some classic returning popstars, and a VERY large slice of dancefloor tuneage. In fact, a WHOLE CD of it! Blimey, we were all mad for it, indeed!

And, joining me for this poptastic 1995 episode is radio presenter, actor and massive pop tart (his words) Grant Stott.

Discover how Grant, alongside Zoe Ball, really did make a big splash in 1995, hosting the BBC network Saturday morning show Fully Booked, alongside plenty of the artists on NOW30 - yes, even Jimmy Nail!

Along the way, also discover which pre-NOW compilations inspired Grant’s listening (there are some crackers!), how he ended up drunk with the Spice Girls (and the Krankies, but not at the same time, sadly) and laugh as two middle-aged men try and remember Eurovision facts and generally recollect a rather hazy year indeed!

Expect starring roles from (amongst others) Janet Jackson, Massive Attack, Pato Banton (on several occasions) Cannon and Ball (!) and a plethora of NOW1 throwback stars.

And find out which tracks on NOW30 would make it on to (shameless plug!) Grant’s Vinyl Collective show every Friday at 6pm on BBC Radio Scotland. (You’re welcome!)

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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 6Music and BBC Four (TOTP RERUNS!!).

But no, all of these memorable highlights take a positively backseat position against the stellar backdrop that was, quite literally, the 2002 Pop World! 

Boybands!

Girl groups!

Kylie!

Coldplay!

Abz!

Don’t be fooled listeners, 2002 consisted of twelve months that gave us pop memories like no other. Atomic Kitten rode the Tide! Britney loved Rock (‘n’ Roll)! Daniel Bedingfield loved James Dean (possibly)! And amongst the idols and stars and academy’s of TV talent shows increasingly speedy conveyor belts, the decade they continued to call the ‘noughties’ moved up a gear thanks to Sugababes, Liberty X, Ms Dynamite and countless others. Where could it all end, we collectively asked (quite possibly via MSN messenger, or on a dial-up webchat forum)?

And who better to navigate the BEST SELLING compilation of 2002, NOW 53, than senior producer for Listen the award winning premium podcast company David Manero! 

Taking time away from the Kitchen Disco with Sophie Ellis Bextor, Traitors Uncloaked, and the Pop Top Ten pod with Scott Mills and Rylan Clark, David shares his memories, hits and misses from the 43 Top Chart Hits across his two CDs (and a broken case). 

And, along the way, rediscover some genuine lost in the vault moments, find out what NOW whiplash is and how to avoid it, consider how the Spanglish Rappers Delight conquered the world, and marvel at how Teutonic techno troublers Scooter really were such a Big Thing.

So, put down your Nokia 3310 or your Motorola Razr V3, switch off Big Brother 3, come out of the record department of Sainsbury’s and tune into the best of 2002!

I'm seein' stars, I can't believe my eyes…

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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 in the last summer of the eighties. 

As 1988 became 1989, the underground was rapidly moving overground. The house sound of Chicago and Detroit had landed on our sceptred isle and we were making it out own. Artists such as The Beatmasters, Coldcut and Mark Moore’s S-Express had stamped their authority on the charts and across the country as teens were pouring over Smash Hits for the lyrics of Inner City tracks and swapping mixtapes of the latest grooves.

And, NOW That’s What I Call Music were THERE!

Well, yes they were, but that’s not the whole story.

Get on the dancefloor legendary compilers K-tel and new variously compiled whippershappers from Telstar, who (for once) were ahead of the compilation curve. Albums series such as Deep Heat (in those large cassette boxes Discog fans!) were bringing the cool kids a real mix of dance, hip hop and sounds from both sides of the Atlantic. 

So what did our friends at EMI/Virgin do? What they always do - respond, and then some!

Join author, journalist, compiler and all round dance music fanatic Joe Muggs as we revisit the explosive dancefloor culture of summer 1989 though the lens of NOW Dance 89. Rediscover some iconic tracks from Inner City, Soul II Soul and Coldcut. Remember (because you may have forgotten) the VERY 89 sound of Hip House with the likes of The Cookie Crew, Merlin and (awesome super duper) Tyree. Find out how NOW navigated a groove between the mainstream and the emerging underground through some amazing 12” mixes and laid a blueprint for the impending sound of the 90s, and indeed an unavoidable cultural shift into the next century of pop and beyond.

And if that wasn’t enough, find out which dance icon Joe sought out an autograph from, how the legendary producer Youth may have missed a chance to be on The Fast Show, which track brings tears to mothers eyes at Big Fish Little Fish discos and why we need the uplifting and uniting experience of house music now more than ever.

People, hold on!

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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 night out!

And if that wasn’t enough the touring show includes guest appearances from an array of pop icons - Sinitta, Carol Decker, Toyah Wilcox and Sonia!

And for this special episode of Back to Now, Sonia exclusively joins us to chat about the show and how this pop nostalgia spectacular is exactly what we need right now. 

As well as providing details (no spoilers!) about the show, Sonia takes us back to the year it’s set - 1989 - and shares her own memories of becoming one of the decades most successful female chart stars. We go behind the scenes of PWL, how Sonia really convinced Pete Waterman to sign her up to the Hit Factory, who she to borrow clothes from for her debut video and what it meant to move from being a pop fan into the pages of Smash Hits in a very short period indeed!

We also can’t spend some time with Sonia and not talk Eurovision - so we do, and it’s a blast of Europop memories.

And, exclusively - find out which NOW album played constantly in Sonia’s (and her boyfriends) car! 

Grab your popcorn, take your seat and tune into big 1989 pop memories and much more with this special episode of Back to NOW!

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