Welcome to the middle of ‘the nineties’! Sort of! Spring 1994, to be exact. And indeed, the popworld is revelling in the ‘seed of the new breed’.

Again, sort of…

You know the drill by now, the glorious NOW, That’s What I Call Music 27 steers you though the wonderfully choppy waters of the UK charts. Sometimes the shore is graced with the wonders of perfect pop from the likes of Swedish Global grabbers Ace of Base. Life can indeed be demanding, without - who knows - understanding.

Further along the journey we find Eternal being fabulous and poppy, still as a classic foursome, and - wait - can it be Peter Cunnah and D:ream celebrating all things positive and possible, whilst popping in for a cuppa in Derry?

You’ll need to listen in for THAT one.

Leaving the shoreline/boat analogy behind (running out of examples, sorry), you’ll find Meat Loaf with THREE choruses, Primal Scream stuck between two rocks (you’re welcome) and Gin Blossoms having just the one. (Can you remember anymore of their songs?)

And of course, as it’s the 90s, NOW27 moves into dance Maximum Overdrive (wrong volume, that was 26!) with the likes of Culture Beat, Capella, Reel ‘2’ Real and everyone’s favourite Charleston aping techno Dutch duo Smashing Pumpkins DOOP!

And there’s much, much more across these 38 Top (mostly) chart hits!

Join award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster John Aizlewood as we head back, Back, BACK to 1994 for stories aplenty of pop adventures from his days with the doorstop music authority magazine that was Q (RIP), including how he attempted to stop Ace of Base leave a room, ordered everything on the menu with Jim Steinman and tried to find Tony Mortimer’s imaginary record collection.

Also, discover which record started it all for John (clue, it’s not on NOW27) and which group has captured his heart more than any other (clue, it’s not Doop).

And find out which acts on the album could (possibly) provide the perfect Pointless answers and which track almost (well, not really) brought our blossoming podcast friendship to a violent end! Yes, it’s that dramatic (again, really not).

In the words of the Urban Cookie Collective, let’s Sail Away folks! (Another boat analogy - REALLY?)

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