Now That’s What I Call Music! was the pioneer of the playlist before playlists were even a thing. Before Spotify took over and the music industry collapsed, rolled over and took a spanking from the streaming service. NOW..! gave you a 40-song-strong compilation of anthems, acting as a time capsule for the year and the soundtrack to your night out, your birthday party, your night in, your Saturday evening, your hangover, your everything.
Arriving to a brand new house to begin my final year of University, the six of us were greeted with a CD player, left by the previous tenants. Being Gen Z kids, none of us possessed a CD. We had vinyls – because we’re that cool – and we had Spotify and Apple Music. But being the brilliant past tenants our unknown friends were, they predicted that, and left us one single CD – and it was the only CD we ever needed. A perfect playlist of indie bangers from the noughties, there would never be a fight over who was controlling the AUX chord ever again. We’d just plug in the player and whack the CD in and let the night ebb and flow, like the Tyne river we’d usually end up falling into a few hours later.
It did so much more than soundtrack a pre-drinks however. The following day, when we were in a pit of hungover despair and – because it was a Thursday – there was no football on until 8pm, we were regularly forced to whack the infamous CD on to pass the time. There was no need to worry about the painful popping beats that would force last night’s hazy memories to reappear however, as among the 43-strong track listing were some solid sad bangers, meaning you could curl up and feel sorry for yourself as ‘Chasing Cars’ pried the tears from your eyes.
Reliving our younger years with these huge indie pop anthems, the songs we grew up with, the songs nobody could deny were just plain brilliant, NOW 65 encapsulated my youth. Despite only containing songs from the year of 2006 – when I was 8 – it seemed to contain all the songs from my childhood. Maybe that was the year I finally began to acknowledge music as the force it is, because most of the songs on that compilation are the ones I remember hearing for the first time so vividly. I remember my mum playing Lily Allen and Amy Whinehouse in the car – they’re on NOW 65. The Killers were played to me since birth, and my favourite song by The Killers? It’s on NOW 65. I remember running around the kitchen singing the chorus to ‘Chelsea Dagger’. Busted and McFly were two of the first bands that were mine. Not my parents, mine. McFly’s ‘Stargirl’ and Matt Willis’ ‘Hey Kid’? It’s on there. Girls Aloud, Robbie, Scissor Sisters – all of them were playing in the house as a youngster. 2006 was some year for pure bops and NOW 65 reminds you of that.
Each track complimented each other, from the huge arena anthems like ‘When You Were Young’ (AKA. the best song ever ) to the romantic ballads of ‘Last Request’ by Paolo Nutini. Night and day. Sad and happy. Love and loss. Youth and adolescence. NOW…65 was perfectly balanced, like a seesaw with a twin sat on either side.
NOW 65 is the only NOW…! that sticks in my memory. It’s seemingly followed me throughout my life, from the year of its release when I finally begun to take notice of music, to my final year of University, my final year of childhood as such – before the real shit started.
