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, i...

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 Wil...

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...

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 boo...

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. Thi...

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 Mons...

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'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 wh...

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 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...

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....