101 Best Songs of 1994 - #1 - Notorious BIG - Juicy (1 Viewer)

[Pip's Invitation]

Fair point.  Maybe in my heart, I wanted to lose the bet.  I dunno.

And that’s perfectly fine! It just may not have been the optimal thing to wager on if you actually wanted to win, is all I’m saying. 

I know no one who knows every word of Here and Now, but also I know no one that has more than one Letters to Cleo album.

 

[scorchy]

I know no one that has more than one Letters to Cleo album.

I once thought the same thing.  Then I was at the XPN Fest in Camden in 2008 with two fellow FBGs and we were bored out of our minds watching Yeasayer (freaking jetback wearing hipsters).  Somehow, the topic of Letters to Cleo came up and they both started dropping all sorts of knowledge about the deep cuts from Wholesale Meats and Fish.  Now, @plinkois out-of-pocket right now and may have been too stoned at the time to verify the story anyway, and @Tremendous Upsidehas gone to the great music festival in the sky (RIP my fellow Hold Steady fanatic), so you'll just have to take my word for it.

 

[rockaction]

Letters To Cleo is probably an underrated band, all around, I just haven't delved into them enough to know. I do know there were some good female-led bands coming out of Massachusetts that iteration of independent rock. Helicopter Helicopter just missed the rush and penned some really very good songs in the aughts. 

That's neither here nor there, and maybe a bit rambling, but Boston has that tradition. 

 

[rockaction]

Belly and the Juliana Hatfield Three are the other two big ones from that area, if I'm not mistaken. Well, Belly is apparently Rhode Island, but that's a suburb of Boston anyway. Boston loved their female lead singers. It's a tradition that continued into the aughts, at least. But these days rock is dead so what does Boston do?  

 

[rockaction]

While we're on the subject of New England, female-fronted bands, I have a confession: I still can't tell Kim and Kelley Deal apart. At all. Who plays the bass, who plays guitar? I don't know and I don't really care. 

So righteous, regardless. 

 

[scorchy]

But these days rock is dead so what does Boston do?  

I was tryna make a Boston joke but I couldn't get More Than A Feeling or Amanda to fit your setup.

 

[scorchy]

While we're on the subject of New England, female-fronted bands, I have a confession: I still can't tell Kim and Kelley Deal apart. At all. Who plays the bass, who plays guitar? I don't know and I don't really care. 

So righteous, regardless. 

I had a pet rabbit named Beaker who loved Kim's bassline in Cannonball.  She would start bouncing off the walls whenever it came on.

 

[rockaction]

I was tryna make a Boston joke but I couldn't get More Than A Feeling or Amanda to fit your setup.

Lol. I don't know how to re-frame that without losing the absurdity of the response. Maybe something about Steven Tyler would suffice...

 

[plinko]

LTCleo had some good stuff that wasn't on Aurora Gory Alice.. most of it being covers.  Aurora Gory Alice is an all time great, start to finish, in my book.  

 

[scorchy]

Lol. I don't know how to re-frame that without losing the absurdity of the response. Maybe something about Steven Tyler would suffice...

Dream on, man.

 

[rockaction]

Dream on, man.

I would rather have Amanda, thanks. 

 

[rockaction]

LTCleo had some good stuff that wasn't on Aurora Gory Alice.. most of it being covers.  Aurora Gory Alice is an all time great, start to finish, in my book.  

Nice. I'll at least have to give it the old 2022 kind of listen. Is there a TikTok version of it in under a minute? 

 

[plinko]

Fast Way

for tup!

 

[scorchy]

I would rather have Amanda, thanks. 

Yuck.  That's a symptom of third-stage something something.

 

[rockaction]

Listened to Aurora Glory Alice for two minutes. (I meant that 2022 thing.) On to Go!, whose songs I recognize a little more. "Sparklegirl" is an indie power rock romper. Love it. These grab me more quickly. 

 

[plinko]

Listened to Aurora Glory Alice for two minutes. (I meant that 2022 thing.) On to Go!, whose songs I recognize a little more. "Sparklegirl" is an indie power rock romper. Love it. These grab me more quickly. 

No accounting for taste!

 

[rockaction]

No accounting for taste!

LOL. I really am grabbed by Go! I think I owned this album at one point. I'm really familiar with it. It's really good, IMO. 

 

[rockaction]

Yes, I for sure owned this or heard it repeatedly. I even knew the transition from "I Got Time" to "Because Of You." This is perfectly sunny Weezer-esque, driving power-pop. Wow. Thanks, thread, for this! 

 

[scorchy]

I had a pet rabbit named Beaker who loved Kim's bassline in Cannonball.  She would start bouncing off the walls whenever it came on.

Beaker

Walking a rabbit on a leash more than made up for jean shorts and bad hair when it came to meeting girls.

 

[rockaction]

Bunny!

Nice pic, man. 

 

[rockaction]

Fast Way

for tup!

Really like this track, too. Seems they really had something going on back then. This is thick power pop backing a sweet and heavenly voice. With good tracking and vox effects, too. Unless she's that good. That got a little raspy there. 

 

[krista4]

Beaker

Walking a rabbit on a leash more than made up for jean shorts and bad hair when it came to meeting girls.

Couldn't love this more.  All of it.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Belly and the Juliana Hatfield Three are the other two big ones from that area, if I'm not mistaken. Well, Belly is apparently Rhode Island, but that's a suburb of Boston anyway. Boston loved their female lead singers. It's a tradition that continued into the aughts, at least. But these days rock is dead so what does Boston do?  

i like that Gepetto song

 

[Pip's Invitation]

But these days rock is dead so what does Boston do?  

Cheer on a football team coached by a guy in a hoodie.

 

[El Floppo]

My favorite Beastie track.

That opening guitar riff, the hard 1-2's on the snare followed by the screaming "IIIIIIII can't stand it!" gets my heart pumping every single time. 

For me, this was the song that moved them from "the guys that did Fight For Your Right to Party"  to a really great musical group with multiple hits. I didn't really even appreciate their good earlier stuff (Paul Revere, So What'cha Want, etc.) until after this song hit.

Paul's Boutique is a masterpiece, top to bottom. that's the album that pushed them into great musical group, IMO.

but I loved their return to their punk roots with Ill Communication too... and loved the first one, which was a HS party mainstay for the surfer/skater/music kids. agree with Mass Raider that the video helps the song transcend- still a great song, regardless.

 

[El Floppo]

Beaker

Walking a rabbit on a leash more than made up for jean shorts and bad hair when it came to meeting girls.

if that's bad hair, I don't think I could handle good hair.

 

[scorchy]

#11 - Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

How does one transition from rabbit pics, cheap Boston jokes, and Letters to Cleo videos to the classic cover by a poor soul who drowned in the Mississippi when he was just 30 years old?  I can't pretend I had heard any Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley in 1994 (though I did know the latter was dating Elisabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins), so I came to both Hallelujah and Grace late in the game.  Just a stunning performance from a classic record.  When Rolling Stone put together their first 500 Greatest Songs list in 2004, the Jeff Buckley version was ranked #259.  In the revamp, only Cohen's original made the cut (#74).

Hallelujah

 

[El Floppo]

It's tricky and sometimes subject to my own arbitrary rules.  The single release date is primary, but it has to be a real single.  Hurt, for example, was put out as a promo single in mid-1995 specifically for Grammy consideration, but it was never an actual single sold in stores (at least in the U.S.), so I kept it as '94.  If there was no single, I go with the album release date.  Either way, the internet sometimes has all sorts of contradictory info.

maxinquaye was 95.

 

[El Floppo]

#11 - Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

How does one transition from rabbit pics, cheap Boston jokes, and Letters to Cleo videos to the classic cover by a poor soul who drowned in the Mississippi when he was just 30 years old?  I can't pretend I had heard any Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley in 1994 (though I did know the latter was dating Elisabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins), so I came to both Hallelujah and Grace late in the game.  Just a stunning performance from a classic record.  When Rolling Stone put together their first 500 Greatest Songs list in 2004, the Jeff Buckley version was ranked #259.  In the revamp, only Cohen's original made the cut (#74).

Hallelujah

ok... it's iconic and tbh I prefer it to Cohen's.

but there are a few others on that amazing album I prefer- notably, Lover You Should've Come Over... which is one of my all-timers.

 

[El Floppo]

and dammit... beaker

at first I thought it was going to be the muppets version, and then I thought it might be the band. the actual version was so, so much better than either of those.

 

[El Floppo]

and  youtube pushed me into that one Buckley and Elizbeth Frasier collaboration, only a couple months ago. had no idea it ever existed or that they even knew each other, let alone dated.

my ballerina friend emily grew up and was friend's with buckley's guitarist, who was obviously devastated with his death but also with the death of the band just as they were making it.

 

[scorchy]

ok... it's iconic and tbh I prefer it to Cohen's.

but there are a few others on that amazing album I prefer- notably, Lover You Should've Come Over... which is one of my all-timers.

Wow - hadn't heard that in eons.  Such an amazing talent.

 

[rockaction]

i like that Gepetto song

I'm having vague memories of what you're putting down. Sounds like a Pinocchio video? One of the bands used that in one of their videos, maybe. 

 

[krista4]

ok... it's iconic and tbh I prefer it to Cohen's.

but there are a few others on that amazing album I prefer- notably, Lover You Should've Come Over... which is one of my all-timers.

Last Goodbye for me (though I feel like we've discussed this many times over, and your selection is my second choice).

 

[El Floppo]

Wow - hadn't heard that in eons.  Such an amazing talent.

Grace is just... amazing. I remember buying that album because of my friend- not when it first came out- and just adoring it top to bottom. I feel like he died within a month of my buying it. drowning in a river...so very sad and tragic. I can wrap my head around overdoses and kind of shrug my shoulders at those- however sad their passing might be... but drowning? in a river?

 

[El Floppo]

Last Goodbye for me (though I feel like we've discussed this many time over, and your selection is my second choice).

WRONG

 

[El Floppo]

and by "wrong", I mean... exactly so. last goodbye, so real, grace, lover, halleluja... so many great tunes on that.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I'm having vague memories of what you're putting down. Sounds like a Pinocchio video? One of the bands used that in one of their videos, maybe. 

https://youtu.be/SBi676v4Gs4

 

[zamboni]

"Hallelujah" is truly an amazing song. IMO Buckley's version is in the pantheon of covers that manages to top a great original song in its own right.

 

[scorchy]

#10 - Warren G and Nate Dogg - Regulate

Regulate isn't the best rap song from 1994 (I still have two above it), but if I could only ever listen to one rap song from that year for the rest of my life, Warren G and Nate Dogg's take of a day in the 213 would be it. The beat, the story, the Michael McDonald sample, and Nate's smooth vocals blend perfectly into one of the defining songs of G-Funk.

Warren G grew up in Long Beach as the stepbrother of Dr. Dre.  When he was 20, he formed a trio with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg. A couple of years later, Dre signed Snoop to Death Row and Nate soon followed.  Warren G chose Def Jam instead.

Regulate was released in April 1994 as the lead single from the Above the Rim soundtrack and soon became the biggest rap song of the year (according to the charts) and Def Jam's top single ever.   Warren G went on to sell a lot more records throughout the decade and Nate had a string of hits as well, including a #1 with 50 Cent in 2003.  Nate Dogg suffered multiple strokes in 2007 and 2008 and died at the age of 41 in 2011.  Warren G is still making music and also produces his own line of BBQ rubs and sauces.

Regulate

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Whenever Regulate comes on Spotify I press the “-“ in hopes to delete it from every playlist ever created. 
 

In case I wasn't clear- I HATE IT! 

 

[El Floppo]

I should stop being surprised that there are "top" songs I don't think I've ever heard this year... I guess grad school buried/bubbled me. 

not digging that tune though.

 

[scorchy]

Whenever Regulate comes on Spotify I press the “-“ in hopes to delete it from every playlist ever created. 
 

In case I wasn't clear- I HATE IT! 

If I have to hear "Yah Mo B There" one more time, I'm gonna "Yah Mo" burn this place to the ground.

 

[scorchy]

I should stop being surprised that there are "top" songs I don't think I've ever heard this year... I guess grad school buried/bubbled me. 

not digging that tune though.

Definitely could be a time and place thing because it was absolutely huge.  Still surprised you've never heard it though - Regulate is one of the favorite old-school songs among my son and his friends to this day.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

#10 - Warren G and Nate Dogg - Regulate

Regulate isn't the best rap song from 1994 (I still have two above it), but if I could only ever listen to one rap song from that year for the rest of my life, Warren G and Nate Dogg's take of a day in the 213 would be it. The beat, the story, the Michael McDonald sample, and Nate's smooth vocals blend perfectly into one of the defining songs of G-Funk.

Warren G grew up in Long Beach as the stepbrother of Dr. Dre.  When he was 20, he formed a trio with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg. A couple of years later, Dre signed Snoop to Death Row and Nate soon followed.  Warren G chose Def Jam instead.

Regulate was released in April 1994 as the lead single from the Above the Rim soundtrack and soon became the biggest rap song of the year (according to the charts) and Def Jam's top single ever.   Warren G went on to sell a lot more records throughout the decade and Nate had a string of hits as well, including a #1 with 50 Cent in 2003.  Nate Dogg suffered multiple strokes in 2007 and 2008 and died at the age of 41 in 2011.  Warren G is still making music and also produces his own line of BBQ rubs and sauces.

Regulate

regulators…mount up!

 

[bushdocda]

Nate Dogg legend. 

 

[rockaction]

I owned a Nate Dogg comp that I obtained. I enjoyed the heck out of it in the aughts, which was when I began to appreciate Nate Dogg’s contributions to certain rap songs. I’m not sure I was correct in that assessment, but there it was. 

 

[rockaction]

ft. Nate Dogg 

 

[kupcho1]

So I threw together 1994

I'm sure there's some overlap with mine (1994 - Somebody Else's Wave), but given this is one of my shortest playlist by far ("bested only by 1993's 24 songs), don't expect much.  I'd checked out of new music in the 90s (marriage, grad school, job, kids) and only jumped back in in the early 2000s. 

I'll check your list out (Spotify list forthcoming perhaps?) and see if I can't add to my list.

 

[scorchy]

I'm sure there's some overlap with mine (1994 - Somebody Else's Wave), but given this is one of my shortest playlist by far ("bested only by 1993's 24 songs), don't expect much.  I'd checked out of new music in the 90s (marriage, grad school, job, kids) and only jumped back in in the early 2000s. 

I'll check your list out (Spotify list forthcoming perhaps?) and see if I can't add to my list.

Cool.  Lots of overlap.  Spotify link forthcoming at the end.