Top 50 Albums of 1994:  

1. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
2. Nas - Illmatic
3. Soundgarden - Superunknown
4. Jeff Buckley – Grace
5. Shudder To Think - Pony Express Record
6. Mary J. Blige - My Life
7. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange
8. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
9. Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
10. Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star
11. Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
12. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral 
13. Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom
14. Common - Resurrection
15. Green Day – Dookie
16. Prince - Come
17. UGK - Super Tight 
18. Tori Amos - Under The Pink  
19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
20. Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
21. Hole - Live Through This
22. Pulp - His'N'Hers
23. TLC - CrazySexyCool 
24. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Creepin On Ah Come Up EP
25. Frank Black - Teenager Of The Year
26. Warren G - Regulate...G Funk Era 
27. Scarface - The Diary 
28. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
29. Superchunk - Foolish
30. Method Man - Tical
31. Beck - Mellow Gold
32. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
33. Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces Iscariot
34. The Meat Puppets - Too High To Die
35. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
36. William Hooker / Lee Ranaldo - Envisioning
37. Neil Young - Sleeps With Angels
38. Da Brat - Funkdafied
39. Toadies - Rubberneck
40. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
41. Weezer - Weezer
42. R.E.M. - Monster
43. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
44. Sebadoh - Bakesale 
45. Brainiac - Bonsai Superstar 
46. Rolling Stones - Voodoo Lounge
47. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
48. Sloan - Twice Removed
49. Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth
50. They Might Be Giants - John Henry 

Last month I was gushing about 1995 but I think 1994 might really be my favorite year for music, at least in my lifetime.Of course, I was only 12 at the time, and I wasn't even aware of a lot of this music -- I owned less than 20 of these albums when they were new, mostly the big name rock records. But shit, the whole year is really just an apex for a lot of different kinds of music. In my top 5, you've the two crown jewels of NY hip-hop, and then the three most beautifully sung alt-rock records of the decade.



















Top 100 Singles of 1994:

1. Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Gin And Juice"
2. Notorious B.I.G. - "Juicy"
3. Warren G and Nate Dogg - "Regulate"
4. Wu Tang Clan - "C.R.E.A.M."
5. Craig Mack - "Flava In Ya Ear"
6. Green Day - "Basket Case"
7. Mariah Carey - "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
8. Ace of Base - "The Sign"
9. Nine Inch Nails - "March Of The Pigs"
10. Gang Starr - "DWYCK"
11. Tori Amos - "Cornflake Girl"
12. Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel The Pain"
13. Sonic Youth - "Bull In The Heather"
14. Stone Temple Pilots - "Big Empty"
15. TLC - "Creep"
16. Aaliyah - "At Your Best (You Are Love)" 
17. Shudder To Think - "X-French Tee Shirt"
18. Soundgarden - "Fell On Black Days"
19. Queen Latifah - "U.N.I.T.Y."
20. Beastie Boys - "Sure Shot"
21. Sagat - "Why Is It? (Funk Dat)"
22. Domino - "Getto Jam"
23. R.E.M. - "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?"
24. The Cowboy Junkies - "Sweet Jane"
25. Pearl Jam - "Yellow Ledbetter" 
26. Seal - "Prayer For The Dying"
27. The Dambuilders - "Shrine"
28. Pavement - "Cut Yr Hair"
29. Toad The Wet Sprocket - "Fall Down"
30. Jeru The Damaja - "Come Clean"
31. Brandy - "I Wanna Be Down" 
32. Rollins Band - "Liar"
33. Counting Crows - "Round Here"
34. Heavy D & The Boyz -"Black Coffee"
35. Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
36. Stone Temple Pilots - "Vasoline"
37. The Meat Puppets - "Backwater"
38. Green Day - "She"
39. The Rolling Stones - "Love Is Strong"
40. Nas - "Ain't Hard To Tell"
41. Hole - "Miss World"
42. The Pretenders - "Night In My Veins"
43. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - "Thuggish Ruggish Bone"
44. Ahmad - "Back In The Day"
45. Soul Coughing - "Screenwriter's Blues"
46. E-40 f/ The Click - "Captain Save A Hoe"
47. NOFX - "Leave It Alone" 
48. R. Kelly - "It Seems Like You're Ready" 
49. Hammer - "Pumps And A Bump"
50. Stone Temple Pilots - "Interstate Love Song" 
51. Counting Crows - "Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)"
52. Tori Amos - "God"
53. Pearl Jam - "Spin The Black Circle" 
54. Frank Black - "Headache"
55. Nine Inch Nails - "Closer" 
56. They Might Be Giants - "Snail Shell"
57. Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You"
58. Nas - "One Love"
59. Da Brat - "Funkdafied" 
60. The Violent Femmes - "Breakin' Up"
61. Guns N Roses - "Estranged"
62. Soundgarden - "My Wave"
63. Janet Jackson - "Any Time, Any Place" 
64. Keith Murray - "The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World"
65. Smashing Pumpkins - "Frail And Bedazzled"
66. Sheryl Crow - "Leaving Las Vegas"
67. Gin Blossoms - "Allison Road
68. Green Day - "Welcome To Paradise"
69. 69 Boyz - "Tootsee Roll"
70. Dawn Penn - "You Don't Love Me (No No No)"
71. Liz Phair - "Supernova"
72. Morrissey - "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get"
73. Domino - "Sweet Potato Pie"
74. The Breeders - "Saints"
75. Beastie Boys - "Root Down"
76. Common - "I Used To Love H.E.R."
71. Pearl Jam - "Animal"
72. Scarface - "I Seen A Man Die"
73. Soul Asylum - "Can't Even Tell"
74. Alice In Chains - "Got Me Wrong"
75. Hootie & The Blowfish - "Let Her Cry"  
76. White Zombie - "Black Sunshine"
77. Possum Dixon - "Watch That Girl Destroy Me"
78. Megadeth - "A Tout le Monde" 
79. Sheryl Crow - "All I Wanna Do" 
80. Veruca Salt - "Seether"
81. Mary J. Blige - "Be Happy"
82. Outkast - "Player's Ball"
83. Garth Brooks - "The Red Strokes" 
84. Real 2 Real - "I Like To Move It"
85. Dave Matthews Band - "What Would You Say?"
86. Lady of Rage f/ Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Afro Puffs"
87. Gang Starr - "Mass Appeal"
88. Des'ree - "You Gotta Be"
89. Nine Inch Nails - "Hurt"
90. John Mellencamp f/ Meshell Ndegeocello - "Wild Night"
91. Tom Petty - "You Don't Know How It Feels" 
92. Lucas - "Lucas With The Lid Off"
93. Soundgarden - "Spoonman" 
94. Crash Test Dummies - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
95. The Spin Doctors - "Cleopatra's Cat"96. Deadeye Dick - "New Age Girl"
97. Cake - "Rock'n'Roll Lifestyle" 
98. Flaming Lips - "She Don't Use Jelly"
99. The Offspring - "Come Out And Play"
100. Beck - "Loser"

I had almost 50 extra songs that I had to cut to get this list down to 100, fuck what an incredible year. Looking over these songs, I realize that '94 must have been the peak of me watching videos on The Box. Remember The Box? Anyway, one of my favorite things about '94 is that it was kind of the little island of the post-Nirvana years when 'indie' bands were getting played on the radio -- Sonic Youth, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Liz Phair and the Meat Puppets all had charting singles -- before shit like Live and Bush took over and things started getting lame. That era had a big impact on me. Also, obviously, just an incredible time for west coast rap.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 12:53 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.