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.

So the first series of Is That What I Call Music? is done, but is that going to stop us chatting about pop music? Of course not! And with Eurovision on the horizon, we decide to see what Europe's premier singing competition has contributed to the Now That's What I Call Music series. Pickings are thin, but we spend time with the likes of Love City Groove, Gina G, Imaani, Precious and Loreen. Plus, we weigh up the UK's prospects at Eurovision 2019 with Michael Rice's "Bigger Than Us" (spoiler: we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell).

For want of new ideas, we return once more to the Now That's What I Call Music! Trivia Box, asking one another questions  as a loose pretext for talking about pop music. This time, we take in both the tragedy of losing Amy Winehouse's immense talent and an entirely different kind of tragedy in Hale & Pace's Comic Relief charity single "The Stonk". Awkward tonal shift ahoy!

We're playing the NOW! trivia game again... This time, we end up chatting about the Simpsons, ska punk, the Stefani siblings and No Doubt. We also give some thought to Bryan Adams' mysterious absence from AllMusic.com (which was preferable to thinking about his music).

A brief look at Now That's What I Call Arabia! vol. 10, wherein we find ourselves way out of our depth. We know nothing about Middle Eastern music. We do not speak a word of Arabic between us. So what the hell will we make of a compilation of Arabic-language pop music? The only other thing to say is that if anyone can explain "The Grapes" to us, please email davidsband@gmail.com and let us know what that's all about.

The third episode of  "Is That What I Call Music?", a podcast about the Now That's What I Call Music! albums.  In this one, we jump ahead to Now That's What I Call Music! 20 from 1991. So join us to Get Started with Simply Red, Gett Off with Prince, and Get Ready For This with 2 Unlimited. Also featuring a cover of Erasure's "Love to Hate You".

In our second mini episode of Is That What I Call Music?, we chat about Michael Mulligan's The Story of Now That's What I Call Music in 100 Artists. Released in 2018 to accompany the 100th Now! compilation, it profiles 100 artists that have appeared on the albums over the years. But what secrets does the book reveal? And what do Davids have against Nik Kershaw? Give it a listen and find out!

The first proper episode of "Is That What I Call Music?", a podcast about the Now That's What I Call Music! albums. And to celebrate this beginning, we go back to where it all started: 1983's Now That's What I Call Music, the first compilation in the now long-running series. This episode covers record/cassette one, featuring artists including Phil Collins, Bonnie Tyler, Heaven 17 and Culture Club.  Also featuring an instrumental cover of Men Without Hat’s “The Safety Dance”. 

A podcast about Now That's What I Call Music 44. The first part of a pilot episode. Featuring Britney Spears, Bran Van 3000, and many more.

The first demi-episode of the Is That What I Call Music? Podcast, which we'll release between the main podcasts. In these episodes, we will ask each other questions from the Now That's What I Call Music! Trivia Box, then have a chat about the songs/artists on the cards. Here, for instance, we discuss a '90s boy band cover version of a Pet Shop Boys song and a mega-hit from 2010 perhaps best known for having a video in which the artist sprays whipped cream from a specially modified bikini. Yup.

A podcast about Now That's What I Call Music 44. The second part of a pilot episode. Featuring Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and many more.