Is That What I Call Music‪?‬ Davids

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.

When we discussed "Amnesia" (Now 39), we touched upon the idea that Chumbawamba have a unique story. Here, we look more closely at said musical tale, from anarcho-punk origins to the later folk years. Mostly, though, we focus on Chumbawamba's unlikely pop career, including the smash hit "Tubthumping", "Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé)", "Timebomb", "She's Got All the Friends" and the sublime "(Someone's Always Telling You How to) Behave". Are we stretching the premise of this format by arguing that any of those songs were likely to appear on a Now That's What I Call Music! album? Sure. But then Chumbawamba are one of the least likely bands you're ever likely to discover in the first place, so why not?

We spoke about Prince's randy extravaganza "Gett Off" before (as featured on Now 20), and here we look at the tiny purple genius in a bit more detail. Sadly, Prince only featured on one other Now That's What I Call Music album, with "Thunder" on Now 22, but here we fantasise about which other tracks we wish had appeared. And just generally gush about how much we love Prince. Prince is good.

As we're still working ourselves up to a second season, we're filling in with a few podcasts about artists we've already discussed. In particular, we're looking at artists we might not see again very soon due to not appearing on many Now That's What I Call Music! albums. To start with, we're giving an extra listen to Heaven 17, as featured on Now 1 (Temptation), Now 4 (Sunset Now) and Now 23 (Temptation - Brothers in Rhythm Remix). Plus, we pick a Heaven 17 song we wish had featured on a Now compilation, because it's our podcast and you can't stop us.

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).