Now 100 review: technology may have changed, but pop hasn't

Pop is an art form imbued with nowness. Its imperatives are commercial and competitive, trying to make something that is so striking, trendy, emotive and forceful that it demands your immediate attention, right here, right now. And yet, inevitably, as Now becomes Then, all those moments in time accrue different resonances.

Now That’s What I Call Music! has reached its 100th edition. Since the first Now compilation of British hits appeared in 1983, the series has featured more than 2,000 artists, and clocked up combined sales in excess of 120 million. What has sustained the Now brand is an absence of curatorial personality.

It simply gathers together hits of the day – gimmicky wonders and superstars alike, boy bands and heavy rockers – and puts them in one easily accessible place. Every edition is a snapshot of its era, magnificently indifferent to taste or critical judgment.

The centenary of something so apparently ephemeral forces you to notice how pop has changed over the decades. For one thing, it has got younger. It is odd to think how middle-aged pop was in the Eighties. The first Now featured Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Roberta Flack, Bonnie Tyler and Mike Oldfield, established stars in their 30s and 40s. Of the current hitmakers featured on Now 100, only DJ and songwriter team David Guetta and Sia were even born when the first Now was released, 35 years ago.

And where have all the bands gone? There were 15 groups on the 1983 record, including Duran Duran, UB40, Genesis and the Cure. There are (at a stretch) just four bands among the 100th edition’s hitmakers, and that’s only if you count Little Mix.

The predominant mode of modern pop is collaborative, resulting in long lines of credits with search-engine friendly spellings (Banx & Ranx & Ella Eyre feat Yxng Bane or M O, Lotto Boyzz & Mr Eazi). Rock has all but disappeared, replaced by hip hop and digital R’n’B. And there are a lot more female artists (11 in 2018, compared with just four in 1983).

With all its autotuned vocals and electronic effects, studio technology has reshaped the sonic palette so comprehensively that if you could beam these tracks back to 1983 they would sound like science fiction. And yet what hasn’t really changed is the essence of pop itself. These are still melodic, catchy, simple songs predominantly about love and lust, delivered by distinctive voices mixed high above repetitive dance rhythms in colourful arrangements packed with earworm hooks. If you listen to them more than once, you’re likely to find yourself humming along, like it or not.

Now 100 also includes a bonus CD of Now’s greatest hits, packed with tracks by the Spice Girls, Wet Wet Wet and James Blunt; they’re so cheesily addictive that even if you once disdained them you may find yourself declaring enthusiastically that “they don’t make them like that any more”. The very existence of Now 100 is proof that they do.