NOW 12 - Summer '88: Tom Doyle

Oh, that’s bad! No, that’s good! If you know your 80s dancefloor bangers, you’ll recognise that S-Express vocal insert and will already be donning your sparkly bellbottoms, possibly even getting right-on one (matey) because it’s Summer 1988! What was making the headlines? (shuffles papers, looks directly into camera in a serious way): Poll tax announced! Gay rights activists invade the six o'clock news and mildly fluster Sue Lawley! Glasgow Garden festival takes place! Every school in Scotland goes on a trip (not like that!) England finish bottom of their Euro88 group having lost all three games! (Sports presenter wink to camera) But, BUT, amidst all of this and many other exciting things, POP was still very important indeed and - hurrah - NOW That’s What I Call Music 12 was here to make a splash! (Yes, the one with the pool on the cover, ahem). And a young, impressionable starry-eyed journalist from Dundee was starting his glittering career at Smash Hits, in London Town! With the BIG names! Yes, even Tiffany and Glenn Medeiros! Yes, head back to a very eventful summer for acclaimed music journalist, author and Smash Hits alumnus Tom Doyle! Join us as we dive into the swimming pool of pop (enough already!) and meet amongst others Climie Fisher having a picnic, Carol Decker playing poker, Bananarama being a trio (just) and Jermaine Stewart not being in Shalamar. And on top of this, get ready for some fantastic 1988 anecdotes from Tom’s giddy time at Ver Hits (and possibly Patches before that!). Wet Wet Wet on an open-top bus in Glasgow with lots of rock n roll mouthwash! Aswad’s recreational horticultural escapades! Sitting next to Hollywood royalty (well, Richard Gere) at the Nelson Mandela concert! Rubbing shoulders with U2 AND David Bowie in a factory! (Possibly, no actually!) Tom’s first singles reviews - and what was his single of the fortnight?? (it’s not on NOW12) And also stay around for lots of fabulous pop reminiscing about the truly wonderful Danny Wilson, the truly bonkers Bill Drummond and the truly hairy (!) Glenn Medeiros. All of this - delivered in Tom’s inimitable fashion - and so much more that we could just about fit it into Natalie’s Pink Cadillac (oo-er!) Summer 1988 - what a lark eh pop kids? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to NOW 12 - Summer '88: Tom Doyle online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

NOW 12 - Summer '88: Tom Doyle is an episode from Back to NOW! by Iain McDermott.

This episode is 1:23:20 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2026.

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