Is That What I Call Music?

It's our final episode of series two! Unsurprisingly, we cover it discussing the second half of 2016's Now That's What I Call Music! 93, which features Justin Bieber (again), Coldplay (again) and some other artists who weren't featured on the first half. Listen now to find out how Craig David's career re-launch went and whether we can work out why anyone likes the 1975. Also, it features "Heroes" by David Bowie, which seems unfair on the other songs.

We hope you enjoyed these podcasts. Let us know, if so, and maybe we'll even do another series one day!

Did you think we were audibly out of our nostalgia comfort zone listening to Now 64? Well this time we jump another decade for Now That's What I Call Music! 93 from 2016. This episode covers the first half, including the likes of Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Selena Gomez and an introduction to the "sad party song" subgenre that seemed to be a thing then. But will we just complain about how the kids these days don't know what real music is any more, like the two doddery old men we clearly are? Or is there something even for us in there? And will we work out whether Jason Derulo is a comedy act or not? Give it a listen and find out.

In this episode we listen to the second half of 2006's Now That's What I Call Music! 64. What did the year have to offer beyond landfill indie? This episode will answer that question. Unfortunately, it answers in part with "two of the worst mash-ups ever recorded and the Black Eyed Peas". But it's not all bad! We also have Lilly Allen, the Pussycat Dolls, Busta Rhymes and Will Young to enjoy. Okay, maybe "enjoy" is a strong word in some of those cases, but once you've heard "Horny as a Dandy", everything else sounds better by comparison.

Jumping ahead to 2006, in this episode we listen to the first half of Now That's What I Call Music! 64. How had the pop landscape changed since we left off in 1996? Which landfill indie band was the most landfill of all (it was Pigeon Detectives, but sadly they don't feature here)? And did Matt Willis really think he was going to have a solo career after Busted? Find out all this and more as we chat about the ups and downs of pop music in the mid-noughties, including Gnarls Barkley, Sandi Thom and The Zutons.

This episode focuses on the second half of Now That's What I Call Music 34, released in 1996 (and, as two guys in their late 30s, we remain squarely in our peak nostalgia zone). This one features a lot of Britpop, including Blur, Oasis, Suede and Cast, so we of course chat about that for a fair bit. But there's a couple of memorable one-hit wonders in there, too, and the whole thing is bookended by a combination of George Michael and Boyzone, so it's classic Now stuff.

Jumping forward a decade from Now 7, in this episode we listen to the first half of Now That's What I Call Music 34, released in 1996 (and, as two guys in their late 30s, we are thus squarely in our peak nostalgia zone). There are definitely some momentous tracks on here, from Spice Girls' "Wannabe" to "California Love" by 2 Pac, via Underworld's magnum opus "Born Slippy" on the way. And then there's the Mission Impossible theme tune as reimagined by the two guys from U2 who didn't pick funny names for themselves. But it wouldn't be a Now album without a bit of that.

For series two, we're taking one Now album from each decade and seeing how things change over the years. To start with, we're listening to Now That's What I Call Music 7 from 1986. This episode focuses on the second LP, featuring the likes of Wham!, Billy Ocean, the Roxanne War and the guy who (partly) invented the word "hip-hop". That and a whole bunch of cover versions. This is a Now album, after all.

For series two, we're taking one Now album from each decade and seeing how things change over the years. To start with, we're listening to Now That's What I Call Music 7 from 1986. This episode focuses on the first LP, featuring the likes of Pet Shop Boys, Chris de Burgh and... Max Headroom? Can it possibly get more 1980s?

For the last of our "profile" podcasts for a while, we look at Sheffield's hyper-local supergroup (?), The All Seeing I. We already spoke about their version of "The Beat Goes On" (Now 39), but here we look at the follow-up singles "Walk Like a Panther" (featuring Tony Christie) and "1st Man in Space" (featuring Phil Oakey), plus the album Pickled Eggs and Sherbet (and maybe a little bit of I Monster as a bonus). How did an experimental electronica band from a former industrial town break into the pop charts? Nobody knows, but we can all be glad they did.

When we discussed "Amnesia" (Now 39), we touched upon the idea that Chumbawamba have a unique story. Here, we look more closely at said musical tale, from anarcho-punk origins to the later folk years. Mostly, though, we focus on Chumbawamba's unlikely pop career, including the smash hit "Tubthumping", "Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé)", "Timebomb", "She's Got All the Friends" and the sublime "(Someone's Always Telling You How to) Behave". Are we stretching the premise of this format by arguing that any of those songs were likely to appear on a Now That's What I Call Music! album? Sure. But then Chumbawamba are one of the least likely bands you're ever likely to discover in the first place, so why not?