"Now That's What I Call Music" Volume 1

[eric]

Actually, it's not really called Volume 1. Released October 27th, 1998.

I was in Circuit City earlier saturday afternoon and stumbled across this age old compilation CD. I suppose that's about the only thing "Now!" is good for, 8 years later we can look back on a grouping of popular songs that made the cut for this first in the series. There was a sticker that was on it "As Seen on TV!" I don't think the creators of this plethora of singles realized how massive these jubili compilations would be spending multiple weeks at #1 and ranking many volumes in just 8 years.

1. Together Again - Janet
2. As Long As You Love Me - Backstreet Boys
3. The Way - Fastball
4. Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger
5. Say You'll Be There - Spice Girls
6. All My Life - K-Ci & JoJo
7. Never Ever (Single Edit) - All Saints
8. If You Could Only See - Tonic
9. Mmmm Bop - Hanson
10. Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
11. Shorty (You Keep Playing With My Mind) - Imajin
12. Anytime - Brian McKnight
13. Barbie Girl - Aqua
14. Karma Police - Radiohead
15. I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
16. Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz
17. Sex & Candy - Marcy Playground

I wonder what now-famous artists we'll be seeing on "Now!" compilations in 10 years?

[britneyrules]

Never Ever was the most underrated pop song ever IMO. That was just a great pop song. I remember seeing this.

But I think in the long-run they ultimately already knew it would be successful. They're on what, Now 65 in the UK?

[Deleted]

This version never hit #1, in fact it barely made the top 10. Unlike the current editions of the series which contains relatively recent hits on the entire disc. This disc contained many songs released in 1997, already over 1 year old.

Probably the reason it didn't sell as well as the others "Now" really wasn't living up to its title.

[SPaCeMaN SPiFF]

i can't explain it... but i have always been averse to this compilation. LOL.

i will however laud their success... they have really found a market for them. ;)

[derek]

I got this around the time it came out, back when I was in 3rd grade, and I liked it.

I have a television recording from 1999 with a commercial for this CD on it.

"And all the hits are together - Right here, right NOW!!!"

[Pipa]

Nowadays, Radiohead would never make it on a CD like this.

[Chelsea Press 2]

This was a pretty good edition of it. Back when I heard that this series was going to be introduced into the U.S., I didn't think it would take off.

I actually picked up this first one for $4.99 at Circuit City a short time back. They were having a mini-sale and this was one of the "gems" in that section.

[JCMF3]

britneyrules said:

Never Ever was the most underrated pop song ever IMO. That was just a great pop song. I remember seeing this.

Underrated? The song spent 33 weeks on the pop chart and peaked at #5.

[Chato]

Everclear , Fastball , Marcy Playground , Radiohead , those were the days!

[mst3k]

I wonder which random country song they would've chosen to include on this volume, had they been using that format from the beginning.

[Chato]

^^ Maybe How Do I Deal , that was pretty popular back then.

[jimmy74747]

Way better than the past ten or so Now albums

[Mega248]

The first several Now compilations were actually pretty good, but they slowly got worse with time. Unfortunately, since I owned all of the previous compilations, I always felt compelled to purchase the next one. I didn't come to my senses until around Now 15.

[Longshot]

Which one is the best selling out of the pack.

[The Music Man]

EEK! Horrible list. "If You Could Only See" is awesome, and the Everclear and Fastball records are good, but other than that...yuck. I used to be obsessed with these CD's, lol.

[tico]

I like 12 of the 17 songs on there.

[3970]

What the heck ever happened to Fastball and Marcy Playground? They were brilliant! I thought they were gonna just be real huge and then poof. They went indie or something, not sure. Tonic's song gets played a lot on our Mix radio station
Everclear is another awesome band.

Oh also, it's not on there but Third Eye Blind? I heard they have a new album coming out soon is this true?

[Walking Contradiction]

Wow, I didn't even realize they've been doing these for so long.

And how the heck did "Karma Police" get on there? Good song, but it was only moderately successful at Alternative, and I don't think it went anywhere on any other formats. Not to mention that Radiohead's style doesn't really fit in with this pop-oriented release.

[johnm1120]

A much better list of songs than what he see currently.

[Modern Myth]

I didn't stop buying them til 18 I think.
I have the two xmas ones too.

[3970]

the ones they have out now, ok, they'll put like a few songs on there that literally nobody who would buy the album, has ever heard. Am I right? Songs that didn't chart well, or never got airplay, or it was a country song or something, not pop. My kids cry like, Mom I never heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard of that song!!!!!!!