In late 1983 at the Virgin offices in London, Stephen Navin and Jon Webster crunched the numbers on packaging together loads of hits from the young label’s burgeoning roster (plus that of partners EMI) and concluded: “ker-ching!” Everything from Phil Collins’ You Can’t Hurry Love to Karma Chameleon by Culture Club and Kajagoogoo’s Big Apple made it onto the 30-track debut compilation, which on its cover boasted “11 number ones!” Rush-released in time for Christmas, it sold over a million copies in the first four weeks alone, and the NOW odyssey began.
NOW 8 (1986)
By the late 1980s everyone wanted to be on NOW, with huge stars battling it out to get the coveted opening track position. In 1986 another big label, PolyGram (later Universal), threw their weight behind the series and helped take NOW to another level with this multi-platinum monster capturing
the quintessence of Thatcher-era shimmery excess. Duran Duran! Pet Shop Boys! Grace Jones! The Human League! Paul Hardcastle?
NOW 29 (1994)
Rippling-torsoed boy bands, lumberjack shirt lovin’ American alt-rockers and slouchy-cool Britpoppers were battling for the affections of Britain’s hormonal youth. The savvy curators at NOW weighed up their options in this febrile atmosphere, and led on a song around which the zeitgeist could surely coalesce – Pato Banton’s Baby Come Back featuring Ali and Robin from UB40. The rest of NOW 29 is no less bonkers. It’s surely the only place in history where Take That, Crash Test Dummies, REM, Oasis, East 17 and Chaka Demus & Pliers all meet.
NOW 44 (1999)
The late ’90s are back in vogue in 2023, aren’t they? Crop tops and low-rise jeans are everywhere, Robbie Williams is the subject of a big Netflix documentary. I was a teenager in the late ’90s and let me tell you: it was crap. As NOW 44 – which I suppose I should mention is the series’ biggest seller ever with a whopping 2.3 million copies shifted – starkly reminds me, via Lou Bega’s STD anthem Mambo No 5(A Little Bit Of…), brain-rot electro-guff like Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee), and two solo tracks (two!) from the eminently rubbish Geri Halliwell. Now that’s what I call shit!
NOW 70 (2008)
Still going strong well into the new millennium, which was more than could be said for Robbie Williams, NOW was breaking records even as late as 2008 – the same year Spotify was launched, incidentally – when it racked up its fastest selling release yet (383,002 units in week one). Indie landfill (The Kooks, The Ting Tings) met TV talent show alumni (Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis) to give NOW one of its last great
commercial hurrahs.
NOW That’s What I Call 40 Years (2023)
The latest release in the catalogue, out just in time for Christmas as ever, is a 100-track compilation of compilations, surveying all 40 years of NOW from 1983 to the present day. A journey starting with Karma Chameleon concludes five discs later by way of Bananarama, Snap!, Britney Spears and Ed Sheeran with what else but our glorious leader Kylie’s Padam Padam. Aunt Pat’s already away down the shops.
nowmusic.com
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