1. Imajin, "Shorty (You Keep Playing With My Mind)" (from Now 1)
Ever since the Now That's What I Call Music! concept migrated from the UK to the U.S., the compilations have been loaded up with an equal measure of R&B, pop and rock hits by some of the industry's biggest names, and songs by up-and-comers who either never quite made it, or only had a few years in the sun. The boy band Imajin came and went quickly in 1999, but first, it left behind this slangy single, which slides Boyz II Men vocal harmonies over a fairly crackling house track. Now That's What I Call Music! filler-cuts run the gamut from total dreck to hooky one-hit wonders to forgotten gems. "Shorty" is one of the few gems—or near-gems, anyway—to show up on this list.
2. Ideal, "Get Gone" (from Now 3)
And here's some of the dreck. Ideal was another short-lived hip-hop boy band, and "Get Gone" is a by-the-book fast-talking slow-jam. It'd be perfect for sexing someone up, if only Ideal would stop blabbering for a minute and let listeners get their groove working.
3. Blessid Union Of Souls, "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)" (from Now 3)
And here's a one-hit wonder—or it would be, if Ohio frat-rock journeymen Blessid Union Of Souls hadn't previously squeezed out another hit, the insufferable ballad "I Believe." The band's twangy Barenaked Ladies/Third Eye Blind rip-off "Hey Leonardo" is slightly more acceptable, if only because it's bound to spark some conversation years from now, along the lines of, "Hey, wasn't that song about Leonardo DiCaprio?" and "Who did that song again?"
4. Oleander, "Why I'm Here" (from Now 3)
One of the most useful things about the Now compilations from a pop-scholar perspective is how they catch go-nowhere bands between trends. The dour West Coast pop-punk outfit Oleander arrived too late for grunge and too early for emo, so on songs like the dark ballad "Why I'm Here," the band gamely struggles to justify its existence to major-label masters who can hear something marketable, but can't figure out who'd want to buy it.
5. soulDecision, "Faded" (from Now 5)
The bright-eyed Canadian lads in soulDecision also fall between the genre cracks: not quite a boy band, not quite Hanson, and not quite credible. Nevertheless, soulDecision took its stupid name and slogged joylessly and hooklessly through studio-rigged fare like "Faded," then eventually followed the title's lead.
6. Nine Days, "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" (from Now 5)
Remember how in the days before Nirvana hit, "rock" meant hair-metal bands doing power ballads? Well, before The White Stripes and The Strokes briefly kicked alternative rock back to life, "rock" meant shoving smoothly funky rhythms beneath singsong vocals, then buffing them to a high sheen. "Absolutely" is another one of those songs that everyone will remember a decade from now, though almost no one will remember who recorded it.
7. City High, "What Would You Do" (from Now 7)
Socially conscious pop is all well and good, but it's rarely been handled more awkwardly than in "What Would You Do," a slick, bouncy song by Wyclef Jean protégée City High. With lines like "Me and my sister ran away so our daddy couldn't rape us," what can you say? It's got a good beat, and you can feel depressed to it.
8. American Hi-Fi, "Flavor Of The Weak" (from Now 7)
Ah, snotty, borderline misogynist pop-punk… will you ever go out of style? American Hi-Fi was briefly touted among the leaders of rock's next wave when it belted out "Flavor Of The Weak" in 2001, but it was just another shaggy young band with a few power chords at the ready and an eagerness to be packaged. Like a lot of other acts on this list, American Hi-Fi has hopped from label to label in its brief existence, with each new home certain that it can whip these dudes into shape for another hit.
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