Day 51 brings us to Now! #51, which was released on 25th March 2002.
Let’s see what was in the charts as I was finishing high school.
Track 1: Enrique Iglesias – Hero
Nice tune, but the vocals are far too saccharine for me.
Track 2: Blue – Fly By II
I can’t really remember how this differs from the original Fly By, but never mind. It’s a nice enough tune, with a good singalong chorus.
Track 3: Ali G and Shaggy – Me Julie
A novelty song by a comedy character shouldn’t have this good an atmosphere. Shaggy’s contribution helps as well.
Track 4: Daniel Bedingfield – Gotta Get Thru This
When I was in my final year of high school, pretty much every first year had this as their ringtone (this was the era when MIDI ringtones were a thing). They would all sit on the bus showing off their ringtones on their Nokias, which is probably why I mostly walked to school that year. (My MIDI ringtone on my Nokia 3310 was the Bergerac theme tune. I never claimed to be a normal teenager.)
Um, the track’s okay, actually, when it’s not being MIDI-beeped at you from several different phones at once.
Track 5: Aaliyah – More Than A Woman
Great instrumentals, great atmosphere. Not so keen on the vocals, but it’s an okay track in general.
Track 6: Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman – Somethin’ Stupid
Fairly pointless cover of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra classic. Considered a Christmas song nowadays, as it was the Christmas number one for 2001.
Track 7: R Kelly – The World’s Greatest
Dull, cheesy, repetitive. Not my thing.
Track 8: S Club 7 – Have You Ever
Saccharine ballad, irritating tune. Next, please.
Track 9: Britney Spears – Overprotected
Annoying theme, but I quite like the tune.
Track 10: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Murder On The Dancefloor
I always quite liked this track, although it became a bit overplayed when Sophie Ellis-Bextor did Strictly many years later.
Track 11: Kylie Minogue – In Your Eyes
Great atmosphere, great pop tune. Really like this one.
Track 12: DB Boulevard – Point Of View
Quite a nice tune, until the annoying vocals kick in.
Track 13: Lasgo – Something
Great atmosphere, but the vocals are really generic.
Track 14: PPK – Resurection
Yes, they did spell ‘resurrection’ with a missing ‘r’, and yes, it is killing me to have to type it out like that.
It’s a dance track with a nice hook – quite like the tune.
Track 15: DJ Aligator Project – The Whistle Song
Yes, they did spell ‘alligator’ with a missing ‘l’. Musicians must have had it in for proofreaders in 2002.
Irritating, repetitive track with a lot of whistle blowing, as you might expect.
Track 16: Flip & Fill and Kelly Llorenna – True Love Never Dies
Lovely tune on the vocals – really quite like this one.
Track 17: Hear’Say – Everybody
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Nauseatingly cheesy theme, irritating tune. Just awful.
Track 18: Allstars – The Land Of Make Believe
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Very bad cover of the Bucks Fizz classic. Poor quality vocals, muddy backing track, generally pointless cover.
Track 19: Victoria Beckham – A Mind Of Its Own
Messy, jarring track. Not keen on this at all.
Track 20: Steps – Words Are Not Enough
Cheesy, boring track. Steps had really gone downhill at this point.
Track 21: Geri Halliwell – Calling
Nice atmosphere, classic sound. Quite like this one.
Track 22: Rik Waller – I Will Always Love You
Uninspired cover of the Dolly Parton track in Whitney Houston style. Unless you’ve got a better voice than Whitney – and who does? – you should leave this song well enough alone.
Track 23: Stereophonics – Handbags And Gladrags
It’s a little less depressing than most Stereophonics tracks, but that’s not saying much.
Track 24: Nickelback – How You Remind Me
When I get annoyed by this song, I just remember a show on afternoon TV at the time where kids were encouraged to phone in and sing along to their favourite songs. This song is a lot better when the lyric about having ‘been down into the bottom of every bottle‘ is being creepily sung by seven-year-olds.
Track 25: Alien Ant Farm – Movies
Good pop-punk head-nodder – quite like this one.
Track 26: Sum 41 – In Too Deep
Another pleasant pop-punk tune – it reminds me of all the house parties I went to at the time.
Track 27: Puretone – Addicted To Bass
I always really liked this one – great vocals, great bassline (as you might expect).
Track 28: Christina Milian – AM To PM
Great tune, good singalong chorus. A favourite from that time.
Track 29: Ja Rule and Ashanti – Always On Time
Quite like the chorus on this one – I was really annoyed when it was covered by Raye and Mr Easi as Decline a few months ago.
Track 30: City High and Eve – Caramel
Irritating vocals, dull tune, not keen.
Track 31: Beverley Knight – Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Boring track, nothing interesting here at all.
Track 32: Samantha Mumba – Lately
Another bland tune, very forgettable.
Track 33: Backstreet Boys – Drowning
Dull, saccharine ballad – not keen.
Track 34: Mary J Blige – Dance For Me
It’s nice to have an upbeat track after some very dull ones, but the tune’s pretty uninspired.
Track 35: Afroman – Crazy Rap
The guitar’s nice, but the endless incoherent shouting at the start is really irritating. Once it gets into the track, it’s pretty dull and tuneless. Also, I’m listening to the explicit version, and I can’t imagine any of these lyrics would have been allowed on the radio or on a Now! compilation – maybe they just played an instrumental version or something.
Track 36: Princess Superstar and High & Mighty – Bad Babysitter
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Loved this one at the time! It was often played at Uluru, which was the pub that my mates and I frequented during my final year of high school.
Track 37: Platinum 45 and More Fire Crew – Oi!
Tuneless and repetitive. Not a fan of this at all.
Track 38: Goldtrix and Andrea Brown – It’s Love (Trippin’)
More repetitive beats, and the tune’s very forgettable.
Track 39: X-Press 2 and David Byrne – Lazy
I like the piano instrumentals, but I’ve always found the vocals really annoying.
Track 40: Jakatta – So Lonely
Fairly pointless cover/remix of the ’80s hit Ever So Lonely, using the original vocals.
Track 41: The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar
Tuneless and messy. Not for me.
Track 42: Lange and Skye – Drifting Away
Beat-driven track that is so dull I can’t concentrate on it.
Track 43: Dreamcatcher – I Don’t Wanna Lose My Way
The tune’s nice, but it’s pretty generic and forgettable trance.
