Now That's What I Call Driving Rock [UK] + Now That's What I Call Country Vol. 10 [US]

There have been at least two other "drive" themed albums released by the UK division of Now That's What I Call Music: 2014's Now That's What I Call Drive spent 100 weeks on the Official Compilation Chart before dropping off and 2016's Now That's What I Call Drivetime currently sits at number 27 on the latest Official Compilation Chart after 36 weeks.

Now That's What I Call Driving Rock will be joining the race on June 2nd and like the previous models, it will be a triple disc collection featuring fifty-nine songs you're probably familiar with. Let's break it down disc by disc:

	Now That's What I Call Driving		Pop Charts
		disc one
	year		UK	US
	1980	Another One Bites the Dust - Queen	7	1
	1982	Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash	17	45
	2003	Mr. Brightside - The Killers	10	10
	2006	How to Save a Life - The Fray	4	3
	2006	America - Razorlight	1
	1995	Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something	1	5
	1976	More Than a Feeling - Boston	22	5
	1976	(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult	16	12
	1984	Run to You - Bryan Adams	11	6
	1985	Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds	7	1
	1986	Walk This Way - RUN-DMC feat. Aerosmith	8	4
	1977	Black Betty - Ram Jam	7	18
	2001	Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm	3	23
	1989	Poison - Alice Cooper	2	7
	1968	Born to Be Wild - Steppenwolf	30	2
	1970	All Right Now - Free	2	4
	1993	Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz	4
	1982	White Wedding - Billy Idol	6	36
	1980	Turn It on Again - Genesis	8	58
	1986	The Final Countdown - Europe	1	8

Funny that a song called "America" hit Number One in the UK but couldn't find a spot on even one of Billboard's dozens of charts. I take my driving music very seriously (too seriously, perhaps) and while listening to this playlist, I skipped six of these tracks including "Walk This Way" - would much rather have had the song in its original Toys In The Attic version in the context of the rest of the songs included here. I've always had mad love for the loud and hyper cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal"; it's a great driving song. Also gotta single out "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "White Wedding" as top gear driving tracks though, on my souped-up version of this playlist, I included the turbo-charged, full-length 8:25 version of the latter track instead.

	Now That's What I Call Driving		Pop Charts
		disc two
	year		UK	US
	1974	Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd	44	8
	1987	Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac	4	14
	1982	Africa - Toto	3	1
	1973	Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel	8	6
	2012	Drive By - Train	6	10
	1986	You're the Voice - John Farnham	6	82
	1989	We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel	7	1
	2001	Have a Nice Day - Stereophonics	5
	1996	A Design for Life - Manic Street Preachers	2
	1991	More Than Words - Extreme	2	1
	1984	I Want to Know What Love Is - Foreigner	1	1
	1987	Here I Go Again '87 - Whitesnake	9	1
	1986	(I Just) Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew	4	1
	1987	Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship	1	1
	1989	If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher	6	3
	1987	Alone - Heart	3	1
	1987	Heaven Is a Place on Earth - Belinda Carlisle	1	1
	1984	Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon	16	1
	1979	Since You Been Gone - Rainbow	6	57

From where I sit in the driver's seat of The Blueberry, the second disc is a mess from the start with the Skynyrd to Fleetwood Mac segue. The next four tracks are pretty good but I skipped Joel's history lesson as I just wasn't feeling it that day. Love, love, love the Stereophonics "Have A Nice Day" though. Skipped the soft rockin' block of Extreme and Foreigner. Also, skipped the Starship, Heart, Belinda Carlisle and REO Speedwagon tracks as just not the driving rock I wanted to hear. Though the Cher tune fit the bill and the Rainbow track nearly redeemed disc two for me. Of course, your mileage may vary.

	Now That's What I Call Driving		Pop Charts
		disc three
	year		UK	US
	2000	Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus	2
	2000	All the Small Things - blink-182	2	6
	2005	Dakota - Stereophonics	1
	2001	How You Remind Me - Nickelback	4	1
	2001	Buck Rogers - Feeder	5
	1969	Pinball Wizard - The Who	4	19
	1976	The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy	8	12
	1991	Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn	22	13
	1986	The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby & The Range	15	1
	1988	Cuddly Toy - Roachford	4	25
	1981	You Make My Dreams - Hall & Oates		5
	1995	Over My Shoulder - Mike & The Mechanics	12
	1979	Don't Bring Me Down - Electric Light Orchestra	3	4
	1986	Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins	45	2
	1981	Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield	43	1
	1985	The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News	9	1
	1989	Black Velvet - Alannah Myles	2	1
	1977	You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) - Meat Loaf	33	39
	1982	Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks		11
	1964	No Particular Place to Go - Chuck Berry	3	10

The block beginning with blink-182 and ending with the much-maligned Nickelback made for some good driving tuneage as did the six-pack from "Pinball Wizard" down through "You Make My Dreams". The rest of the third disc went fairly well and I actually didn't skip any tracks at all through the whole disc. If I had to pick a weak link, it would be the Meat Loaf track which is not one of my favorites. Nice inspired tribute to Chuck Berry with the closing track, too. Probably my favorite of the three discs.

Country music remains a highly popular and super-competitive singles-driven radio format though you wouldn't know it by looking at this week's Hot Country Songs chart where Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road" sits at Number One for the 15th consecutive week. Is it country? Saving Country Music's Trigger definitely doesn't think so. Does it matter? Sounds like an Uncle Kracker joint to me. Since 2008, the US division of Now That's What I Call Music has pumped out nearly twenty country music compilations and on June 9th, two more join the herd as Now That's What I Call Country Volume 10 is released in two configurations: single disc and Special 2CD Deluxe Edition.

Featuring eighteen hits and a nineteenth Now's What's Next track, the single disc kicks off with one of Mom's most favorite songs: Keith Urban's "Blue Ain't Your Color". This one's for you, Mom, though we both know yellow is YOUR color.

All total, I like four out of the nineteen songs which is odd because I'm like the average country music listener demographic, according to this 2016 data:

• ✅between 18 and 54 years old (just barely under the wire)
• ✅household income above $75K (I think)
• ✅married (for more than 30 years)
• ✅have blue eyes (both of them)
• ✅born in Texas (made up these last two requisites)

Press releases for the album claim "over 15 #1 Songs" though it isn't specified which charts they used or if they counted a song more than once if it topped more than one chart. It should be noted that before "Body Like A Back Road", there had been only two other Number Ones on the Hot Country Songs chart this year and both of them (the Urban and Little Big Town tracks) can be found on Now That's What I Call Country Volume 10.

	Now That's What I Call Country Volume 10			Billboard
	date			Hot Country Songs	Country Airplay	Hot 100
	Aug 8, 2016		Keith Urban - "Blue Ain't Your Color"	1	1	24
	Sep 19, 2016		Jon Pardi - "Dirt On My Boots"	2	1	37
	May 31, 2016		Josh Turner - "Hometown Girl"	5	2	56
	Dec 5, 2016		Jason Aldean - "Any Ol' Barstool"	5	1	52
	Nov 28, 2016		Luke Bryan - "Fast"	5	1	58
	Nov 14, 2016		Dierks Bentley - "Black"	4	4	57
	Jan 2, 2017		Kenny Chesney - "Bar At The End Of The World"	17	10	92
	Jul 11, 2016		Dustin Lynch - "Seein' Red"	5	1	55
	Jul 11, 2016		Lauren Alaina - "Road Less Traveled"	8	1	67
	Jun 20, 2016		Old Dominion - "Song For Another Time"	4	1	59
	Aug 29, 2016		Eric Church - "Kill A Word"	9	6	71
	Oct 20, 2016		Little Big Town - "Better Man"	1	1	34
	Jun 6, 2016		Chris Young feat. Vince Gill -"Sober Saturday Night"	4	1	47
	Oct 6, 2016		Brad Paisley - "Today"	7	3	67
	Apr 25, 2016		Michael Ray - "Think A Little Less"	3	2	54
	Jun 27, 2016		Maren Morris - "80s Mercedes"	11	12	74
	Oct 10, 2016		Kelsea Ballerini - "Yeah Boy"	9	3	65
	Jul 18, 2016		Miranda Lambert - "Vice"	2	11	47
			Canaan Smith - "Like You That Way"

SPOILER ALERT: The cover art (above) features nearly the exact color scheme HERC has been working towards implementing here on The Hideaway though the weathered wood background will not be joining the blue and copper. Stay tuned!

In addition to different artwork and somehow being $2 cheaper than the single disc on Amazon right now, Now That's What I Call Country Volume 10 - Special 2CD Deluxe Edition features a second disc with fourteen tracks from the past ten years, ranging from Carrie Underwood's 2005 hit "Jesus Take The Wheel" up to Eric Church's 2015 smash "Like A Wrecking Ball". I like exactly three of those fourteen and I never miss a chance to share Miranda Lambert's touching "The House That Built Me" as it strikes a chord deep inside each and every time I hear it:

	Now That's What I Call Country Volume 10 (disc two)			Billboard
	date			Hot Country Songs	Country Airplay	Hot 100
	Mar 14, 2011		Luke Bryan - "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)"	4		22
	Apr 4, 2011		Jason Aldean - "Dirt Road Anthem"	1		7
	Nov 24, 2014		Sam Hunt - "Take Your Time"	1	1	20
	Oct 3, 2005		Carrie Underwood - "Jesus Take The Wheel"	1		20
	Mar 9, 2015		Eric Church - "Like A Wrecking Ball"	6	11	51
	Aug 11, 2009		Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"	1		2
	Mar 8, 2010		Miranda Lambert - "The House That Built Me"	1		28
	Mar 5, 2012		Hunter Hayes - "Wanted"	1		16
	Aug 28, 2006		Brad Paisley - "She's Everything"	1		35
	Nov 8, 2010		Kenny Chesney - "Somewhere With You"	1		31
	Jan 24, 2006		Josh Turner - "Your Man"	1		38
	Apr 18, 2011		Jake Owen - "Barefoot Blue Jean Night"	1		21
	Jan 7, 2013		Darius Rucker - "Wagon Wheel"	1	1	15
	Jun 16, 2015		Cam - "Burning House"	2	2	29

(I know, I know. Why in tarnation weren't these two releases included in last week's Now That's What I Call Classic Soul post? That I don't know.)