According to Billboard, Bob Mercer, the British music industry veteran responsible for the “NOW That’s What I Call Music” phenomenon (aka, the way my mom kept up with “the hits” for over a decade now), has died at the age of 65. It should be noted that beyond launching the NOW series, Mercer also signed artists at EMI including Queen, Kate Bush, Marc Bolan and Olivia Newton-John in the ’70s, got pissed when the label dropped the Sex Pistols, and briefly managed Paul McCartney.
But we’re here to eulogize NOW. After the jump, prepare to rock out to our “NOW That’s What I Call Music” Megamix — a best of compilation of all 33 best of compilations.