Sam Brooks steps back in time to 2009, the year of Now! That’s What I Call Music 31. What did his younger self think of those songs – and do they still hold up today? The year was 2009 and it was full of, as your worst friend would say, ‘absolute chunes’. No album, no compilation, … Read more
Henry Oliver reminds himself of eight songs from the Now That’s What I Call Music collection that hit once and never again. The very term ‘one hit wonder’ is contentious. Excluding straight-up novelty songs, call any song a one hit wonder and you’ll have that artist’s superfans chasing you down the street with pitchforks. So, … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Bruce Ward, the man who made ‘Snoopy’s Christmas’ a perennial hit single in New Zealand charts. Want to win $1000 cash for yourself and have $1000 donated to the SPCA?? Universal Music NZ is feeling the Christmas Spirit and giving you the chance to win this awesome prize, just by streaming … Read more
The official history of New Zealand music is filled with songs by artists we all know and love. But what about the artists we’ve forgotten? Or the hits by our most loved artists that remain overshadowed by other, bigger hits? Henry Oliver traces an alternative history of New Zealand music via songs featured on the … Read more
In 1999, Elle Hunt’s dad convinced her that New Radical’s ‘You Get What You Give’ was actually by U2. Today, she revisits the life-changing moment she realised he was wrong. The loss of innocence is a hallmark of growing up. In my personal bildungsroman, mine was precipitated by my dad telling me that ‘You Get … Read more
1997 was a simpler time – British anarchists topped the charts and you could buy collections of the day’s hits on little plastic discs. It was also the year the very first local edition of Now That’s What I Call Music was released. Henry Oliver takes a listen to Now! Vol 1. It’s the end … Read more