In August 1987, teen music magazine joined forces with compilation powerhouse Now That's What I Call Music and the result was an album nobody seems to definitively know the name of. The front cover suggest it should be "Smash Hits Now That's What I Call Music." The spine reads "Now - Smash Hits of the 80's." Trust font of knowledge Wikipedia has it called "Now That's What I Call Music, Smash Hits", a name I found in other sources too. For the sake of my sanity,, we'll refer to it as "Now Smash Hits" for the rest of this review. Whatever its true name, Now Smash Hits proudly claims to contain "32 Swingorilliant Hits of the 80's." Swingorilliant... what a great word. I'll have to start inserting it into everyday conversation.
Truth be told, Now Smash Hits does, of course, only include songs that charted up to and including 1987. The blurb is reaching a bit by referencing the entire decade. The sequencing is unusual in that it goes in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent songs first and working it's way backwards throughout the 1980's. For the most part, compiler Ashley Abram is on top form here, though with 15 out of the 32 tracks being chart toppers I suppose he couldn't go too far wrong. The catalog number is "NOSH 1", which implies there were plans for this to be a regular collaboration but Smash Hits and Now would never team up this way again. Smash Hits would, however, branch out with their own series of annual compilations - rivalling Telstar's The Greatest Hits Of... series - from 1988.
Right then, let's kick off with side 1 and the rather odd choice of Curiosity Killed the Cat's Down to Earth as the lead track. Don't get me wrong, it's a terrific song and it was (at the time) a recent hit but it's strange to not have a number one start us off. Perhaps there were licensing conflicts with the Hits series, but I would have liked Whitney Houston or Starship as the opener. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now had both been on The Hits Album 6, which had only been released the month before. Now Smash Hits contains plenty of other songs from the Hits series - including the next two from Hits 6 - so I don't know what the reason was.
Curiosity Killed the Cat is followed up by the amazing If You Let Me Stay from Terence Trent D'Arby. What a song this is. I was surprised to see it only made #7. Funny, I thought it went a bit higher. Next up is Mel & Kim with Respectable, a simply storming #1 dance track that was Stock Aitken Waterman at their peak. We then change moods with the ever so adult Labour of Love by Hue and Cry. They should have been bigger... only ever had three top 40 hits in the UK. Labour of Love was all over the radio the summer of 1987 before a pointless remix in 1993... which I guess means they technically charted four times but who's counting?
Despite their best efforts, Five Star never had a number one in the UK. Rain or Shine was as close as they got, reaching #2 in September 1986 and it's one of their best. And here's our first true 80's classic, West End Girls from the Pet Shop Boys. A massive chart topper all over the world, including the UK and US, it's a pounding, moody masterpiece.
The Housemartins' first hit, Happy Hour, made #3 in June 1986. It's a bit of an underrated gem and a worthy inclusion here. We round off side 1 with the gloriously haunting ballad Holding Back the Years from Simply Red. It had originally been released in 1985 but only made #51. On being reissued in '86, it reached #2 in the UK and topped the charts in the US.
Side 2 is a absolute corker, with a bunch of all time greats starting off with a-ha's incredible Take on Me. While it had made #3 in Norway on release in 1984, it wasn't until it was rerecorded a year later that it became a worldwide hit. It topped the charts in more than a dozen countries and reached #2 in the UK. It's just one of those songs that epitomizes the 80's. The music video, with amazing (for the time) rotoscoping is also rightly considered a classic.
Though not a favorite of mine, there's no denying that You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive is a bit of classic in its own right. It had reached #1 in March 1985 in the UK and August in the US. Stock Aitken Waterman on full production duties here, it was their first number one.
We stay with 1985 and the Eurythmics chart topping There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart), complete with Stevie Wonder on harmonica. While not quite as essential as Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These), it' still a great track.
Up next is the massive Everybody Wants to Rule the World from Tears for Fears. Honestly, does it get much better than this? The song even sounds big and you'll find it on every other 80's compilation known to man. Funnily enough, it didn't actually get to number one in the UK, stalling at #2 and being held off by USA for Africa.
We're now in 1984 with Wham! and Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, a number one on both sides of the Atlantic (and just about every other country). Several Wham! tracks could have just as easily made the cut but this is arguably their most well known. The synthpop is rather sparse on Now Smash Hits but Bronski Beat holds down the fort with the terrific Smalltown Boy. Jimmy Somerville can still nail the vocal more than 30 years later.
Next is a slightly curious inclusion, Depeche Mode's Master and Servant. It's a fine song but only made #9. They had several much bigger (and well known) hits, e.g. People Are People, Just Can't Get Enough, Everything Counts, so I'm not sure why Master and Servant got the nod. Side 2 closes with George Michael's second track, the timeless Careless Whisper. It's stunning, all the more so given that Michael was only 17-years-old when he wrote it.
Spandau Ballet open side 3 with the glorious True from 1983. It's always been a favorite of mine. Hadley's vocals are like silk. And that keyboard riff... if it's good enough for PM Dawn, it's good enough for me. It's swiftly followed by UB40 and Red Red Wine. Look, I'm not a huge fan; some days I can tolerate it, others I'd sooner listen to Radio 2 reruns from 1975. Regardless, it's their signature song and was a big chart topper so can't really disagree with it being here.
Much better is Hold Me Now from the Thompson Twins. Their Into the Gap album churned out a bunch of top tunes and Hold Me Now is, for me, their best along with Doctor! Doctor! It's followed by The Cure and The Love Cats, a #7 hit from autumn '83. It's a bit too jazz for my liking but their better stuff would come after 1987 anyway.
Now it's time for another classic and it's Come on Eileen from Dexy's Midnight Runners. What a song this is, a bizarre mix of Celtic folk, a big beat, and elements of new wave combining and somehow it all works. Kevin Rowland's vocals never sounded better and he's clearly loving it in the music video, hamming it up and decked out in overalls.
The classics keep coming with ABC and the magnificent The Look of Love. It's a great sounding record - and I mean that, it literally sounds fantastic on vinyl - and deserved better than only reaching #4 in the charts.
Our third classic in a row takes us into 1982 and Culture Club's Do You Really Want to Hurt Me. Their first hit, it topped the charts in the UK and made #2 in the US. I do prefer Karma Chameleon but either song would have been fine.
Last up on side 3 is Save a Prayer from Duran Duran. Great song but a bit of an odd choice. It did make #2 but what about their two chart toppers, Is There Something I Should Know and The Reflex? Or Hungry Like the Wolf, arguably their most well known 80's song? Maybe it's just me nitpicking but I think there were better alternatives.
I'll put this out there now, side 4 is my least favorite on Now Smash Hits. Mostly because it veers into the post-punk stuff I was never fully comfortable with. Or maybe it's the inclusion of a dodgy Michael Jackson song. In any event, things start off well enough with Queen & David Bowie's Under Pressure. This takes us into 1981, the rest of the album containing tracks from the first two years of the decade. From a musical standpoint, I maybe would have preferred Radio Ga Ga or the more recent (for the time) A Kind of Magic, but Under Pressure was Queen's only number one of the 80's so no issues with it being here. It was also a sneaky way to get David Bowie on the album.
Up next is Michael Jackson... yes, the King of Pop, arguably the biggest artist of the 80's and we get...oh, it's One Day in Your Life. From 1975. Yes, it did get to number one but come on, given a choice Ashley Abram would have taken literally any song on Epic over this dross that Motown put out. But of course, Epic wouldn't license Michael Jackson for any of the Now albums so Abram had to make do with what he had... a song released five years before the 80's and only reissued on the back of the success of Off the Wall. In other words, a cash grab by Motown.
Things are redeemed somewhat by Haircut 100 and #4 hit Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl). While I would have preferred Love Plus One (which also charted one place higher at #3), it's a toss up really. The Specials follow with Ghost Town, a number one from summer 1981. It's a quirky, reggae inspired gem and was their biggest hit by far.
I never really got into The Jam. They were massive in the early 80's, scoring four UK number ones including Going Underground found here. It's post-punk power pop. Not really my thing but no problem with it being here given how important The Jam were. The two-tone vibes continue with Madness and Baggy Trousers. It's hard to overstate how big Madness were in 1980-82, their songs being a quirky mix of ska and pop that the public bought in droves. And I quite like Baggy Trousers... it's different but quintessentially Madness in all senses of the word.
We're nearing the end now and here's Adam Ant with more post-punk. I never got into Adam Ant, or Adam and the Ants, but fair enough I know he was hugely popular and Ant Music did make #2. Finally, Blondie save the day with the best track on side 4 and the incredible Atomic. Released in February 1980, it's a combination of the then still popular disco and a glimpse of the new wave that was to come. It's a towering track and a great way to finish off Now Smash Hits.
The Hip
a-ha - Take on Me
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Spandau Ballet - True
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
ABC - The Look of Love
The Tragic
None... while the Michael Jackson track isn't great, it was a number one hit and he was an essential inclusion. Every song on here is at least decent with no standout duds.
The Missing
Obviously, with the entire decade to choose from (up to summer 1987, anyway), Ashley Abram was always going to have to exclude some big hitters. Regardless, there are some I would have personally tried to get in there if licensing allowed:
Madonna - Into the Groove / Papa Don't Preach / True Blue / La Isla Bonita
Madonna was one of the biggest artists of the 80's and her non-inclusion is unfortunate. It's well known that she balked at appearing on the Now albums back in the day. Yet, she did feature on numerous albums in the Hits series so her claimed dislike of compilations would seem to be false. A real miss here, especially as they could have snagged one of her number ones that wasn't on any of the Hits Albums.
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean / Beat It
Basically, anything on the Epic label and not the lukewarm Motown track we get here.
Whitney Houston - Saving All My Love For You / I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Again, one of the biggest acts of the 1980's should have been here.
Human League - Don't You Want Me
A couple of tracks aside, there's a slight lack of synthpop on Now Smash Hits which could have been rectified by including the best selling single of 1981.
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Another massive new wave hit from 1981 and one of the best known songs of the 80's. It topped the charts in the UK and spent a then record 43 weeks in the US charts.
Ultravox - Vienna
Yet another all time classic from 1981 (sensing a theme here?) that was infamously kept off the top spot by Joe Dolce's dreadful Shaddup You Face. As an aside, everybody raves about Queen's Live Aid set. Yes, they had the most entertaining performance but I challenge anyone to disagree that Midge Ure's stunning rendition of Vienna was easily the best vocal.
Review Breakdown
Music - 9/10 Superb for the most part. I would have had a different Michael Jackson track and we're missing a few key players (Madonna, Whitney Houston) but most genres are well catered for. One exception is rock, and there are really no straight up rock songs on here. Cutting Crew, Europe, etc. would have been welcome. An even bigger coup would have been snagging Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Pt 2), a track that would later be found on EMI's own "The 80's" album released in 1989. It was the first number one of the 80's and Pink Floyd were rarely found on compilations.
Cover Art - 6.5/10 Designed by Quick on the Draw, who were by this point Now album stalwarts, it hasn't dated very well. The cheesy jean jacket screams 80's but is still fairly eye catching. The back cover is great... yes, it's just the rear of the jean jacket but the white font really pops and makes the tracks easy to read.
Sequencing - 8/10 Having the songs go in reverse chronological order is a nice touch, putting the recent hits early which may have grabbed teenagers' attention from the get go. Each side starts off with a huge number one, with the exception of the most important of all: the lead track on side 1. Down to Earth is a good song but hardly a headline hit. Mel & Kim would have been more appropriate, since at least that was a chart topper albeit one from earlier in 1987.
Overall Score - 8.5/10