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, cinema and the arts. ‘Britpop’ was still very much the ‘thing’of 1996 and this edition of NOW fully embraced the guitar pop of its many ambassadors such as blur, Oasis and Suede. 

But this is only part of the story.

Something else was happening in the pop world that would soon explosively ‘spice’ up and shape the rest of the decade. And as boy bands splintered, rising stars were seeking their Freedom (and much more of that to come!). 

As always, the fast pace of the UK music scene is captured here, and so we welcome huge crossover club anthems, hip hop and RnB royalty, euro(vision) pop and a clutch of familiar faces trying to evolve with the 90s – some more successfully than others.

Join radio and TV music producer, writer and curator Lee Thompson as we explore the summer of 1996 through the tracks across NOW, that’s what I call music 34. Along the way, discover which act ‘would never be heard of again’ after their first visit to Viking FM (clue – they were heard of again, quite considerably!), the legendary soul singer who would swap the dancefloor for the glamour of the North East trainline and which track Lee joined Neil Finn on as a duet. This and much, much more!

And also find out why Bon Jovi and Pato Banton probably won’t be returning our calls.

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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 see what has tickled our fancy and sparked our collective curiosities!

Consumers of fine compilations have been spoiled for their chosen tunes with a smorgasbord of selections including everything from glam to 60s girls, from boogie nights disco to Disney, Eurovision to two volumes of 12 inches of extended stimulation! 

Oh, and did we mention the wonder that has been the 83 and 84 Yearbooks? 

And as it is indeed the season to be jolly, we shall take a sleigh ride stop and carefully unwrap the newest NOW Christmas album and decide if it’s worth stuffing into your stocking! 

Expect starring appearances for Duran Duran, ABBA, Lieutenant Pigeon (!), Sister Sledge, Amanda Lear, Jona Lewie and many more! 

Discover the link between brown beer and Shazam (really?), how Channel 5 has saved music TV, why the Pig is still so important and who really were the ‘Gibson Brothers of Breakdance’ (you need to know!)?

Join Radio 2’s Sounds of the 80s producer and masterful mastermixer Johnny Kalifornia

Music Journalist and all-round social media pop mogul Ian Wade and the man that has brought the Duckie club night back to life and continues to sprinkle pop joy wherever he goes – Mark Wood as we collectively bring the curtain down on an amazing pop year and look forward to what is on the horizon for 2022!

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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 more to rediscover on NOW 64, as we dive back amongst those shiny cover surf boards to ride the crest of this noughties pop wave. Classic Pop writer, journalist and all-round (indie) pop kid John Earls guides us through the hits and otherwise across these two CDs. Where to begin? There’s the solid gold pop classics thanks to Nelly Furtardo, Lily Allen, Sugababes and Rihanna; those young cavalier guitar heroes (can we say indie?) The Kooks, Razorlight and The Zutons, and a plethora (the correct collective noun) of outrageous dance covers that certainly signalled that the eighties were back! What was going on? Ask James Morrison – whilst stuck at the end of CD2, he was quietly inventing the next decade!

As Top of The Pops turned off the lights for the final time, the singles charts were undergoing some strange times for sure. Could those CD singles (and B-sides!) really be on their way out too?

And don’t forget the all-conquering celebrity Big Brother winner Preston and the Ordinary Boys (and Lady Sovereign!) Could there BE a more 2006 sentence?

Also starring P!nk, Keane, (Sir) Tom Jones, the ‘efficient’ Will.I.Am, Izzy from Neighbours (thanks to Elvis Costello!) and (very briefly, thankfully) Matt Willis and Fall Out Boy. We even find time to chat Blossoms/Rick Astley! How on earth did we get there, I hear you (possibly) ask? Tune in to find out!

And finally, discover why Shapeshifters (but not Nile Rodgers) won’t be returning our Christmas cards.

Phew! 

Trust us, there is a lot more to summer 2006 and NOW 64 than you may think. Dive back in!

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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 reign at No.1! Phew!

The airwaves and TV reigned supreme in making and breaking the big hits of the year. Reality was biting all over the place; Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan were having breakfast with us daily whilst championing their own brands of hit makers such as Jungle champion Peter Andre (again!) and Katie Melua on the Beeb, whilst ITV was delivering a second slice of star making with Pop Idol. Michelle? Sam and Mark? And let’s not forget Fame Academy’s Alex and Alistair (you may already have)! The Svengali spotlight was shining brightly - if briefly - on plenty of 15 minute pop stars in 2004.

Britney was back with Toxic (and lots of left over wedding cake), Pharrell was producing just about everyone. Cover versions (and the instruction manual Cha Cha Slide!) were filling the dancefloor, Love Actually was delivering hits for Girls Aloud and Sugababes and both Keane and Snow Patrol opened their accounts with some mobile phone waving anthems that we’d hear again in different forms over the years!

Franz Ferdinand and Scissor Sisters too! Huge hits and even huger (is that even a word?) albums indicated that 2004 was a year of contrasts, contradictions, pace and change. Music was bristling but it was never boring! Oh, and don't forget your NOW ringtones people!

Join Radio 2 producer David Manero and I as we head back to the noughties to explore NOW57; the hits, the misses and everything else in between.

And find out why Kelly, Ozzy and DJ Casper probably won't be returning our (Nokia 3310) phone calls.

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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 Call Music activate their latest release and it’s a hot one! The Popworld was in overdrive and the key word everywhere was Positivity. The kaleidoscope that was the ‘fin de siecle’ UK charts was encompassing something for everyone - Boybands!, Girlgroups! Solo stars from Girl groups! Superstar DJs! Even Hollywood film directors providing us with lifestyle coaching!

NOW43 had it all! Whilst the future pop masterminds such as Max Martin and Gregg Alexander plotted world domination for the next decade, pop fans revelled in this millennial musical feast! We were definitely at the end of something and whatever was coming next, NOW! was going to take us all the way!

Join writer, DJ, music consultant and millennial pop generalist Daryl Easlea as we relive the hits, misses and memories of this unforgettable last summer of the 20th century. As we unashamedly wallow in the ‘optimistic daftness of pop’, find out which track always saves a middle-age spread dance floor, who were 'the choppy haired trip hop darlings of ’99’, which act on the LP we are now calling the ‘Fisher Price Beta Band’ and why Cilla Black and Petula Clark have more to do with the pop stars on this LP than you may think!

And discover why Mel B (G?) and Cartoons probably won’t be returning our calls.

As The Chemical Brothers (euphorically said) HERE WE GO!

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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 Hollies and Tom Jones! 

Meanwhile new and exciting dance acts were looking to the next decade with Inner City, Bomb the Bass and The Beatmasters flying the dancefloor flag. Oh, and did we mention ACIEED?

Rap was (weirdly) looking back to the 60s and several experienced acts of the 1980s were having a slight 'identity crisis'. What do you do, when you're not really the Next Big Thing anymore?

Join author, journalist and broadcaster Pete Paphides as we explore an LP packed with interesting tracks that tell an even more interesting story of pop as the eighties began to draw to a close. And having Pete onboard, we also discuss his exciting new record label Needle Mythology and his wonderful 2020 biography 'Broken Greek' - a story of chip shops and pop.

Find out how the Isley Brothers infiltrated (at least) three tracks, what makes a classic Big Eighties Ballad, the band that were auctioned off to Stock, Aitken and Waterman, which artists on NOW 13 have 'the kindest faces' and what links Trevor and Simon and Wee Papa Girl Rappers. 

And find out why Hue and Cry probably won't be returning our calls.

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