Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Now that's what I call ... old

At the weekend, as I stood waiting at the checkout queue in Sainsbury's, I picked up a copy of Now 95. Flipping the CD over, I noticed there were 45 tunes spread across the two discs ... and I didn't know any of them. Not one, by title at least. I might recognise some if I heard them, maybe, but by title the only track I had any familiarity with at all was the remix of Is This Love by Bob Marley & The Wailers featuring LVNDSCAPE & Bolier. And I only know that because, like you, I know the original. If I heard the remix, would I be able to say with any certainty that it was the version featuring LVNDSCAPE & Bolier? No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous.

As for the acts featured on 95, yes, I know a lot of them by name, sure. Visually, I could pick maybe a dozen out in a police line-up. But that's as far as my familiarity goes.

The Now series dates back to 1983. My big sister had Now 2 on cassette, for a while. The early entries in the series were advertised with a sunglasses-wearing cartoon pig, and the slogan "Now that's what I call piggin' good." To understand the pig connection, read this.

The funny thing is, if I take a look back at the track listing for Now 1, I find I can have a reasonably good go at singing the choruses of at least 24 of the 30 tracks. It's a similar story with Now 2.

The inescapable conclusion is that when I was a kid, I was down with the kids. Ish. Now I am in the latter half of my forties I'm just old, however much I tell myself otherwise. Piggin' good, eh?

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6 comments:

  1. Rol3 January 2017 at 21:23

    Louise has bought herself a copy of this to listen to at the gym. She played it in the house and I didn't recognise any of the songs. There were perhaps three in total that didn't make me want to toss the CD across the room in a rage. There are a goodly number of tracks on there so sound indistinguishable from one another.

    I like being old.

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  2. Mark Kilner6 January 2017 at 13:19

    Blame autotuning not age: pop records of a given era have always sounded similar production-wise, but now a lot of the singers sound identical too - note-perfect but devoid of any real feeling.

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    1. Martin6 January 2017 at 13:44

      You're right on autotune and its side-effects, Mark. What I really blame though is the demise of Top Of The Pops - when there was a primetime, mainstream music programme to watch, people absorbed chart music, even if only by osmosis? What is there now, for those that don't actively seek out music? Radio 1, Heart FM... thanks, but no thanks!

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  3. Cheeseman26 January 2017 at 12:24

    Snap!Best of a bad choice is Radio X which I listen to in the kitchen no less! At least free from the above mentioned tunes and the odd ditty from Messrs Morrissey and Weller often pop up.

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    1. Martin26 January 2017 at 14:05

      I always go for BBC 6 Music if I have a DAB radio to hand.

      Think the album needs to be renamed, "Now That's What I Call Bobbin-Shite." Might not sell quite so many copies though.

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