Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. The MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
2. Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man
3. The Stooges - No Fun
4. The Doors - L.A. Woman
5. The New York Dolls - Jet Boy
6. Patti Smith - Gloria
7. The Damned - Neat Neat Neat
8. X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours!
9. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
10. Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer
11. Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
12. The Saints - This Perfect Day
13. Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
14. The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
15. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
16. Blondie - One Way Or Another
17. Magazine - Shot By Both Sides
18. Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
19. XTC - This Is Pop?
20. Television - Marquee Moon
21. David Bowie - Heroes

Disc 2:

1. The Clash - I Fought The Law
2. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
3. The Jam - Going Underground
4. The Vapors - Turning Japanese
5. Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
6. The Pretenders - Brass In Pocket
7. The Selecter - On My Radio
8. The Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
9. Madness - One Step Beyond
10. Bad Manners - Special Brew
11. The Specials - Ghost Town
12. The Cure - The Lovecats
13. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Live)
14. Kraftwerk - Tour De France
15. Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals
16. New Order - Blue Monday
17. Echo & The Bunnymen - The Back Of Love
18. Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter
19. The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
20. Prince - Sign \x{2018}O\x{2019} The Times
21. Joy Division - Atmosphere

Disc 3:

1. Morrissey - Suedehead
2. The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
3. Happy Mondays - Step On
4. Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels
5. Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
6. Orbital - Chime
7. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
8. Primal Scream - Movin' On Up
9. Suede - Animal Nitrate
10. Oasis - Live Forever
11. R.E.M. - What\x{2019}s The Frequency, Kenneth?
12. Ash - Girl From Mars
13. Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz
14. Radiohead - Just
15. Pulp - Common People
16. The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
17. Blur - Song 2
18. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
19. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32300 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-10
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .44 pounds

Album Description

NME Classics spans three musical decades - 70s / 80s and 90s and brings together the most inspirational and most influential artists of their time, from the really defining moment of NME with punk singles from bands such as The Clash, Happy Mondays, Oasis and REM to name but a few. It also brilliantly encompasses the numerous musical genres of those times from the heady sounds of Punk in the 70s and New Wave in the early 80s, to Two Tone, Indie, Brit Pop and Rave.

Focussing on the classic rock biased tracks, NME Classics is the perfect nostalgia trip for lads and Dads (from the first time around) and Festival goers. It includes a special booklet which includes photographs from the magazine from those decades, together with sleeve notes from editors of the time.

Customer Reviews

Cynicism's Greatest Hits
Maybe I'm just getting old (hey - we all are) but I find this latest NME CD just a little on the cynical side. The NME, by its own mandate, is required to have the (cultural) attention span of an Alhzheimer's sufferer, so why on Earth does it think its readership would be interested in anything that was made over 30 years ago? Unless it's driven by Rock N' Roll's best buddy - good old-fashioned target marketing and cynicism, eh? All the "old music" you'll ever need in one neat little three disc package without having to `Ask Yer Dad`. I bet the current NME Editor (Timmy or Jez or Jake) even writes some drivelsome and ultimately patronising sleeve notes about how influential the Clash were on Hard-FI and how seeing his first Stone Roses gig changed his life too. Bleh!

Remember, boys and girls, this is a publication that championed the Enemy! Klaxons? Kooks!? The Bravery!!!?! Bands so ball-achingly average that should mind-wipe technology ever become available during my lifetime I'll be first in line to have their knowingly retro pastiche efforts removed from my brain. And it will probably hurt like hell but, man, it will be worth it.

So, the album: FIVE stars for the content - after all, there is some very, very good stuff here. Okay, everyone should own a Magazine album anyway. Everyone should know who the hell Richard Hell is. Everyone should respect the awesome soul power of the MC5. I could go on but won't, for fear of gnashing right through my jawbone. TWO stars, however, for the sheer unoriginality of it all. The spoon-fed mentality behind it. This album, with it's overly simplistic and revisionist view of how our current musical landscape was formed, is an insult to any one who considers themselves to be an epicure of fine music.

As a final aside, a good starting place for anyone with a genuine interest in music they haven't heard before yet is so influential that your feet might just fall off would be the Children Of Nuggets boxset. Go find it and I guarantee you will find some New Music and Fast. And it won't be officially sanctioned by a bloated multi-national publishing giant or a 12 year-old sub-editor who still reckons Bloc Party are "The Sex".

A collection that shows how narrow the musical focus of the NME has become...
Firstly, don't get me wrong, there is very good stuff on here, but, this compilation is notable for what it lacks.

Bar one Doors track, there is no psychedelia, a genre that was hugely influential to many of NME's favourite bands over the years, c86 is notable for it's absence, as is shoegaze...precious little in the way of new romantic, and, while not my things, no rap, no acid house & dance music is represented by one Orbital track.

This compilation smacks of one person's record collection, rather than a cross section of the music that the NME covered - and championed - over the decades.

Another criticism is that it hardly digs beneath the surface - something that the NME used to excell at - if this is your thing, the chances are that you'll have many of these tracks in your collection anyway.

In summary, an alternative collection for people who shop in Woolworths.

If you want the most sucessful tracks of your favourite bands in one natty package, and no more, this may well be for you, but, for those of you that may want some reference points, and to discover new music that you didn't know you loved, then, I'll agree with the reviewer above that 'Son Of Nuggets' would be a far better starting place.

better than the 90's anthems
While the 90's anthems left me short changed this latest compilation does what it exactly says on the tin as it has nearly all the tracks i recognise and love from MC5's kicking out the jam,s to Blondies "One way and another all the way to the 90's best tracks.

even better its a bargain!