Day 53 brings us to Now! #53, released on 18th November 2002.
Let’s see what was played at all the Christmas parties that year.
Track 1: DJ Sammy, Yanou and Do – Heaven
Trance cover of the Bryan Adams classic that was everywhere at the time. Give me the original any day.
Track 2: Las Ketchup – Aserejé
Daft novelty song with accompanying dance. It was fun to dance to in the Cav after a few VK Apples, but the less said about that the better.
Track 3: Enrique Iglesias – Love To See You Cry
Enrique Iglesias’ song themes are just getting creepier and creepier *shudder*
The Spanish guitar is nice, but I can’t get past the creep factor.
Track 4: Sugababes – Round Round
Great solid pop song, really like this one.
Track 5: Atomic Kitten – The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)
Pointless cover of the Blondie classic with a sort of extra bad song tacked onto the end of it. Should have left well alone.
Track 6: Blue – One Love
Irritating chorus, pretty bland otherwise.
Track 7: Darius – Colourblind
Another irritating, saccharine song. Not my thing at all.
Track 8: Busted – What I Go To School For
Busted are a good example of what I call ‘pop-pop-punk’ – very obviously fake ‘alternative’ aesthetic, present themselves as playing their own instruments, but they’re far too manufactured to be in any way actually alternative. This track is a bit of a guilty pleasure though.
Track 9: Liberty X – Got To Have Your Love
The instrumentals on the intro are okay, but then the generic vocals kick in and make everything very dull.
Track 10: Romeo and Christina Milian – It’s All Gravy
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Uninspired rap track with boring sung vocal interjections. Nothing exciting about this.
Track 11: Samantha Mumba – I’m Right Here
It’s better than a lot of the Samantha Mumba tracks featured recently, but it’s still pretty bland.
Track 12: Abs Breen – What You Got
Instrumentals a bit more interesting than most of these tracks, but the vocals are very generic.
Track 13: Britney Spears – I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll
Really awkward pointless cover of the Joan Jett classic. There’s just no edge to this at all.
Track 14: S Club Juniors – Automatic High
More irritating kiddie warbling. Let’s move on.
Track 15: Kylie Minogue – Come Into My World
Nice tune, but it’s a bit repetitive.
Track 16: Jakatta and Seal – My Vision
Fairly dull dance chillout track, though the vocals are good.
Track 17: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Music Gets The Best Of Me
Highly annoying chorus – not keen on this one.
Track 18: Kelly Llorenna – Heart Of Gold
More irritating vocals and a highly generic dance hook.
Track 19: Milk Inc – Walk On Water
Yet more annoying, generic vocals. The tune’s pretty awful too.
Track 20: Jan Wayne – Because The Night
Starts off as a fairly pointless cover of the Patti Smith classic, then it turns into an uninspired dance track. The tune’s good, ’cause it’s a good song originally, but I get very irritated by covers like this.
Track 21: Lasgo – Pray
Utterly grating vocals, generic tune.
Track 22: Scooter – Posse
The shouty vocals are a bit daft, but the tune is good.
Track 23: Coldplay – In My Place
It’s Coldplay-by-numbers – dull and depressing.
Track 24: Oasis – Little By Little
Good atmosphere, but it’s too slow for me, and the chorus annoys me.
Track 25: U2 – Electrical Storm
Nice instrumentals, but I find the rest of the track too repetitive.
Track 26: Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott – Hero
I’ve always found the tune to this Spiderman tie-in track really annoying. Not a fan.
Track 27: Richard Ashcroft – Check The Meaning
The tune’s okay, but it’s pretty forgettable.
Track 28: Eva Cassidy – Imagine
Slow acoustic cover of the John Lennon classic. As ever with Eva Cassidy, the vocals are gorgeous, but the style is too slow for me.
Track 29: Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles
Really like this tune! Great track.
Track 30: Badly Drawn Boy – You Were Right
Good, interesting tune – quite like this one.
Track 31: Ronan Keating – I Love It When We Do
Irritating chorus, boring tune. Not keen.
Track 32: Appleton – Fantasy
Follow-up band comprising half the members of All Saints. It’s got a slightly rockier edge than the All Saints stuff, but the tune’s not much to write home about.
Track 33: Ms Dynamite – Dy-Na-Mi-Tee
The tune’s a bit repetitive, but the chorus is quite fun.
Track 34: Beenie Man and Janet Jackson – Feel It Boy
Messy track, boring tune. Nothing interesting here.
Track 35: Daniel Bedingfield – James Dean (I Wanna Know)
Another dull, repetitive tune, though the hook on the chorus is okay.
Track 36: Eminem – Without Me
Classic and hilarious. Love this one, especially the fact that MTV still to this day mute out the ‘they wanna shut me down on MTV‘ line.
Track 37: Puddle Of Mudd – She Hates Me
Found the theme stupid at the time, still do now. The tune’s okay though.
Track 38: Bowling For Soup – Girl All The Bad Guys Want
Great track! Loved it then, love it now. Classic piece of pop-punk.
Track 39: Supergrass – Grace
Nice feelgood tune, quite like this one.
Track 40: Status Quo – Jam Side Down
Amazed that enough people were still buying new Status Quo singles in 2002 that this actually charted!
This track’s quite refreshing for a 2002 playlist – it’s the same kind of classic rock that Quo have always done.
Track 41: Raven Maize – Fascinated
Repetitive, boring dance track.
Track 42: Who Da Funk and Jessica Eve – Shiny Disco Balls
Dull dance track with daft, irritating vocals.
Track 43: Paul Oakenfold – Starry Eyed Surprise
Another uninspired dance track with ‘bonus’ generic rap over the top. A poor end to a poor Now! compilation.
