Review Summary: Crazy, but it feels alright
For those of us of a certain age, the late 90s and early 00s mesh together in a weird, nostalgic mess. That's not surprising, since 2000 was essentially an extension of the late 90s. All the talk about the millennium bringing about sweeping changes: flying cars, shoes that tie themselves, humans dressed in red bodysuits dancing on mars - the reality of the situation was that things didn’t change that fast. Outside of Y2K no longer being an issue and the dot-com bubble running out of steam, 2000 was a lot like 1998 or 1999, and times, for the most part, were good. Things were especially good for Universal Music Group. Sales of compact discs peaked in 2000 (around 900M-1B CDs were sold that year, according to the RIAA), and high selling, media dominating teen-pop artists like Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, and Britney Spears were still firmly in control of the music landscape. Even the smaller plays were panning out, with the first three volumes of the recently launched
NOW series in the United States all being certified at least platinum.
On July 18th, 2000, seven months after the previous edition,
Now That’s What I Call Music, Volume 4 (NOW 4) was released - and in a true sign of the times - it peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. This marked the first time a compilation album of previously released songs had accomplished this feat in the United States. Even more bizarrely, it knocked Eminem’s
Marshall Mathers LP off the top of the chart, and stayed there for 3 consecutive weeks. You could point to the calendar of releases and see how there was an opportunity for this weird chart anomaly; prior to
NOW 4 topping the charts, Eminem, Britney Spears and N*Sync had all released high profile releases that had their time at the top. With no major releases on the way during a summer where everyone was buying CDs, the stage was set for a fluky release like this to make its way to the top of the charts.
But let’s not mince words, timing aside -
NOW 4 might be the best compiled album of the entire series. It opens with two turn of the millennium bangers: Backstreet Boys “Larger Than Life” and the album version of Britney Spears “You Drive Me Crazy.” It settles into a slow-jams and baby-making groove in the middle from Sonique’s “It Feels So Good” to Montell Jordan’s “Get It On Tonite,” and ends on a string of more upbeat pop-rock gems like “Then the Morning Comes” by Smash Mouth, Macy Gray’s uplifting “I Try” and Blink-182’s timeless “All the Small Things.” Of course, like any early NOW, there’s going to be a strange track or two. Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” is without a doubt the oddest inclusion here, and even with its decent placement, sandwiched between a stellar (if a little tongue-in cheek) Mandy Moore cut “Candy” and the euro-dance “It Feels So Good,” it definitely throws things off. “Blue” remains relevant to this day, but it stands out as the biggest reminder of the time-frame we’re working with here.
But that’s the thing, in late 1999 and early 2000 when artists as diverse as Eiffel 65 (euro-pop), Alliyah (R&B/pop), Mandy Moore (teen-pop), Marc Anthony (latin), Train (alternative rock/trash) and Savage Garden (balladry) were all somehow finding mainstream success, NOW 4 ultimately works because it augments the bigger hits with less known songs by mainstream artists to create a remarkably cohesive sound. There are only two number one pop hits on this compilation (Aaliyah’s “Try Again” and Savage Garden’s “I Knew I Loved You”), so it’s clear that the compilers looked past the pop charts and over to adult contemporary and international charts for guidance. This same process wouldn’t be followed for many future volumes of the
NOW series, which were much less focused on the cohesiveness of the tracks running together. Since
NOW 4 proved that these compilations made up of hits from the six months prior would sell, the mantra went from “make a mix CD you would want to listen to” to “load it with hits and let the money roll in.”
