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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