NOW! That's What I Call Coke Party - Volume One

Jun 6, 2009 at 2:19 PM
19 comments

CarrieNation has long harbored an idea for an addition to the NOW! musical compilation series called NOW! That's What I Call Coke Party. It would feature all adult contemporary mega-hits from the 1970s and 1980s, and star titans like Steely Dan, Orleans, Boz Scaggs, Christopher Cross, Earth Wind and Fire in all their homogenized glory, banging out tunes in which it is impossible to discern any individual instrument (except during the ubiquitous sax solos).

This has become such an excellent running joke, that we've decided to take it to the next level and make the soundtrack to our wedding's cocktail hour NOW! That's What I Call Coke Party - Volume One. We figure this is a good time to do it, since people will be less likely to flee in fear before they get a chance to eat.

My secret shame is that I actually enjoy listening to these terrible songs, so if nothing else I (and my dad) will enjoy the bizarre musical interlude between our ceremony and reception.

We welcome any recommendations on what should make the final cut. There are just so many good coke party songs to choose from. Here's one that's a lock:

Michael Mcdonald and Christopher Cross - Ride Like The Wind LIVE!

This, also, would appear to be a ba, ba, ba song. So it's got that going for it.

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First of all, you need to Youtube the Yacht Rock videos if you haven't already.

Second, you need to have the Yacht Rock videos playing during your cocktail hour.

I need more information on what specific qualities to look for in a Coke Party song.

Thank you (I think) for your contribution to the Ba-Ba Box set. I have updated the list and given you appropriate credit.

Yes, I think we do need more definition for the Coke Party genre. Mostly i need to know if my recent Jackson Browne fixation fits.

Second, you need to have the Yacht Rock videos playing during your cocktail hour.

Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" is What I Call Coke Party. God, I love that song.

Based on what I've heard so far, I'm wondering if Al Stewart's "The Year of the Cat" would qualify?

I don't want to put too many artificial limitations on what makes a NOW! That's What I Call Coke Party track. Certainly after watching a couple of those triumphant Yacht Rock Videos, I would say NTWICCP songs share a great deal in common with Yacht Rock songs.

Above all else, they should be silky smooth.

It also helps if they feature a vocally talented -- and usually quite hairy -- lead singer. They should be produced to a fine, burnished sheen.

One quality I've noticed is that it is very difficult to pick out any actual instruments from the wall of smooth sound that characterizes a NTWICCP groove.

Every Steely Dan album could be a its own NTWICCP mix.

Yes on Jackson Browne. THAT's what I call coke party!

That song would also appear to qualify.

Ok one more in my string of responses. Please give CarrieNation credit for discovery of the ba-ba-ba nature of Ride Like the Wind.

I can hear all the instruments in "The Year of the Cat" and Al Stewart isn't excessively hairy. I think you just let my song pass to be nice. It's not really a Coke Party song, is it?

Well look, it's really tough to say with a live version. I can't tell what the production values of the song were, but it certainly has some of the hallmarks of a Coke Party song.

Ride Like the Wind is an awesome song.

I have to dissent on Jackson Browne, though. While I admit that without doubt he did many, many, many lines of coke in the 70s and 80s, I just don't see how, say, Lawyers in Love, fits into the mellow genre here.

Not to nitpick, but mellow and smooth are not always the same thing. I'm not terribly familiar with Mr. Browne's deep album cuts, but Somebody's Baby and Runnin on Empty would both qualify.

Really? You'd consider Running on Empty to sound similar to Hey Nineteen, Still the One, or Laura's Theme? Huh.

Admittedly, it's not like I can say, "this chord progression right here proves you wrong," but I don't hear a lot of commonality. I'd put Jackson Browne more under the singer-songwriter heading with James Taylor or Paul Simon.

here is my contribution
what can I say? I'm constitutionally lazy

I just think there's a lot of crossover here. It's not to say that Hey Nineteen and Runnin On Empty are the same or even terribly similar songs, but I think they'd both go over super well at a Coke Party.

Fair enough.

Long live CarrieNation. This is an awesome idea whose time has come.

I'd like to nominate Harry Nilsson's entire catalog as an early influence on the NOW! That's What I Call A Coke Party subgenre.

NOW! That's What I Call Coke Party - Volume One

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