We’ve made it to number 6 on our trip through the “NOW That’s What I Call Music!” library. I like to call this one “the Redeemer.”
“NOW That’s What I Call Music! 6” was released on April 3, 2001. The sixth album in the series still pulls some songs from the 90s into a healthy batch of 00s hits. This mix, surprisingly, is what makes this album a huge recovery from the horrible disappointment of “NOW 5.” For age perspective, I was still nine when this one hit shelves.
Starting from the top, the album opens with “Stronger,” a song from “NOW” favorite Britney Spears. With this track, Britney definitely shows how much stronger she’s become as pop-queen. This track features a beat that hits a little harder than her previous songs, while maintaining her classic pop signature. It seems like she’s finding her real stride with “Stronger,” making it a rather enjoyable opening track.
The second track in the list I found worth listening to was “Bye Bye Bye” from *NSYNC. This particular song makes we want to retract my “*NYSNC’s poor quality” comment from the last “NOW” article. This song is significantly more pleasant than “It’s Gonna Be Me” and even outshines Backstreet Boys’ “Shape of My Heart” on this album. I do remember finding myself singing along with this song even when I was younger, so I’m glad that it held up.
A third noteworthy song is actually from a JustUs Geeks favorite band, Creed. “With Arms Wide Open” features the oh-so-familiar, mumbling lyrical talent of Scott Stapp. Creed is such a good band, especially for singing along. You can essentially sing any Creed lyrics to any Creed song and it works. Try it! It’s fun!
The album features a lot of rocking songs. “Around the World (La La La La La)” by ATC is an excellent Euro-pop song, that features really catchy female vocals alongside the addictive beat. “Crazy for This Girl” by Evan and Jaron is a classic song, I remember liking it as a kid from various movies, and it still holds up today. There are really too many to mention!
As for negatives, the songs falling into that category are few. “Yellow” by Coldplay is a particular standout as far as negatives. The repetitive, thudding guitar throughout the song is aggravating, like someone holding a line dance in the apartment above you. The basic lyrics and droning, boring voice doing the singing is really the icing on the bad cake for this song (Editor’s note: Chris Martin, if you’re reading this, I promise I disagree. Please work things out with JLaw. Amen).
Fuel brings a second bad song to the mix with “Hemorrhage (In My Hands).” This song is barely understandable, features an overtly typical “rock” music backing, and just oozes of frat house blues. If this song had a sponsor it’d be Natty Light, beer pong, and blonde frosted tips. Complete with undecipherable lyrics, this is one of the few songs that can be completely skipped on this album.
Rounding out the bad pack, and really finishing it off, is “Beautiful Day” by U2. The song could almost be called good with its slow, building start. Eventually, though, it turns into a hard-hitting track that is overtly loud. The music is overpowering and the vocals sound almost like you’re being yelled at. It is hard to picture a beautiful, peaceful day with someone yelling in my face about it against a blaring siren of background music.
Overall, “NOW That’s What I Call Music! 6” definitely delivers. Its mix of songs is very upbeat, it doesn’t feel like it caters to one genre in particular, and features a really solid stream of songs almost all the way through. I would happily add this album to my library, but I don’t have to worry about it. I actually found an old physical CD copy for my review and I’m happy I did. This album has earned a spot in my car’s five CD changer.
Oh, also, this marks the Backstreet Boys’ sixth appearance on a NOW album. This is the most to date and I wonder how long their streak is going to go. Stick around and find out with me!
For those who want to add a sweet mix of songs to their library, here’s the full track listing for “NOW That’s What I Call Music! 6”:
1. “Stronger” by Britney Spears
2. “Gotta Tell You” by Samantha Mumba
3. “Bye Bye Bye” by *NSYNC
4. “Around the World (La La La La La)” by ATC
5. “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” by Jennifer Lopez
6. “Independent Women Part I” by Destiny’s Child
7. “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy
8. “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)” by 3LW
9. “Crazy” by K-Ci & JoJo
10. “I Wish” by R. Kelly
11. “Shape of My Heart” by Backstreet Boys
12. “Crazy for This Girl” by Evan and Jaron
13. “Yellow” by Coldplay
14. “Again” by Lenny Kravitz
15. “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” by Fuel
16. “With Arms Wide Open” by Creed
17. “Drive” by Incubus
18. “Beautiful Day” by U2
19. “AM Radio” by Everclear
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Drive is still on regular rotation on my playlist.
And I break into It wasn’t Me all the time