Music: Best Albums of the Year Series: 1994

[Langdon Alger]

Cripes! I’m getting senile. I meant Smash. I chose both Smash and Dookie by Offspring.

Ok, let me help here.

Green Day - Dookie
Offspring - Smash
Jeff Buckley - Grace

 

[Azathoth]

Voted
Soundgarden-Superunknown
Mayhem-De Mysteriis de Sathanus
Emperor-In the Nightside Eclipse
Darkthrone-Transylvanian Hunger

Other:
Cradle of Filth-Principles of Evil Made Flesh
Burzum-Hvis lyset tar oss
At the Gates-Terminal Spirit Disease
In Flames-Lunar Strain
Amorphis-Tales from Ten Thousand Lakes
Enslaved-Vikingligr Veldi

Such a good year for Black Metal.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Grace by Jeff Buckley

 

[tacogeoff]

nas illmatic. one of hip hops most iconic and influential albums.

h.m. weezer blue album it was pretty good

 

[Oxbow Lakes]

Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley (Kyuss)
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volulme II
Digable Planets - Blowout Comb

Portishead - Dummy
Nas - Illmatic
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
Larry Heard - Sceneries Not Song Vol. 1

Probably the year of the nineties for me. First six would all make it to my top-10 of the decade.

 

[frisco]

Other than Monster:
American Recordings-Johnny Cash (I don't usually whine but this should be a choice above)
If I Were A Carpenter-Various
Turbulent Indigo-Joni Mitchell
Hell Freezes Over-The Eagles

My Best-Carey

 

[Ceremony]

Dookie, Vitalogy, His 'n' Hers by Pulp

 

[Cas]

1994 was the year for black metal:

Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times and The Shadowthrone

Outside of Norway:

Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes
Mercyful Fate - Time
Pentagram - Be Forewarned
Running Wild - Black Hand Inn
Samael - Ceremony of Opposites
Solitude Aeternus - Through the Darkest Hour
Symphony X - Symphony X
Vader - Sothis

I have to pick In the Nightside Eclipse.

 

[belair]

What a massive year from classic album releases. Jeff Buckley - Grace is always an exceptional album to look back on, but Superunknown still gets some major play on my Spotify. 'Fresh Tendrils' and 'Just Like Suicide' hit so hard 25 years later.

 

[kihei]

Portishead--Dummy
Cranberries--No Need to Argue
Oasis--Definitely Maybe
Djavan--Esquinas
Nirvana--Unplugged in New York
Daniela Mercury--Musica da Rua
Marisa Monte--Rose and Charcoal
Gilberto Gil--Unplugged
Pat Metheny--Zero Tolerance for Silence
Neil Young--Sleeps with Angels

 

[kihei]

Thanks for this, Saturated Fats. It's been a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories.

 

[Smelling Salt]

Best year of music in the decade for me. These are my top three for sure, then the rest.

Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Live - Throwing Copper

Pride & Glory - Pride & Glory
Dream Theater - Awake
Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Weezer - The Blue Album
Green Day - Dookie
Megadeth - Youthansia
Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rearview
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
Our Lady Peace - Naveed

 

[Langdon Alger]

These are my top three for sure, then the rest.

Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Live - Throwing Copper

Pride & Glory - Pride & Glory
Dream Theater - Awake
Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Weezer - The Blue Album
Green Day - Dookie
Megadeth - Youthansia
Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rearview
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
Our Lady Peace - Naveed

Nice to see some love for Hootie.

 

[Smelling Salt]

Nice to see some love for Hootie.

That album and the singles were everywhere. Hard to ignore - much to the chagrin of many I'm sure lol.

 

[Roo Returns]

@ItsFineImFine thanks for mentioning Lush. I feel like they peaked with Ladykillers but their early stuff is all great.

Wow, at the time it didn't occur to me how many generational albums came out that year. It was just go to Tower Records or Sam Goody or wherever and stuff was just always out.

It's a lot like how every NHL team in the 80s had a 35 goal scorer so it didn't stand out but now it's like "whoa".

Grace has a certain mystique to it now because Jeff Buckley unfortunately wasn't with us for very long and his music is beautiful and also eerie because there are so many hints and foreshadowing that he wasn't going to be around long. At the time though he was an up and comer who couldn't quite be categorized.

Shout out to The Crow soundtrack.

Superunknown was the peak of Soundgarden both creatively and commercially, and the beginning of Oasis having a 4-5 year run of being superstars.

STP continued their progression and showed they were a very diverse band.

To me the two biggest albums of the year were absolutely Unplugged by Nirvana for obvious reasons, and Dookie by Green Day. The later started out on 120 Minutes in the winter and the band just kept working playing Lollapalooza and once they played Woodstock 94 (which was THE concert for anyone born from 1970-1985) AND Basket Case dropped, they were international superstars.

I remember they played NHL Arenas that fall and maybe 6 kids in my grade got to go before it sold out.

 

[Roo Returns]

That album and the singles were everywhere. Hard to ignore - much to the chagrin of many I'm sure lol.

I feel like Hootie like DMB was more of a 95-96 thing. I Only Wanna Be With You got them to that level.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Shout out to The Crow soundtrack.

Oh yes, that was pretty cool, should have include it somehow.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

 

[Roo Returns]

Sometimes we all forget how good this album is because of Vulgar.....and we all forget how good Trendkill is...because of this album.

IMHO Pantera were absolutely in that #4-7 spot of top metal bands between 1992-1997. #1 Metallica #2-3 were a flip flop between Megadeth and Slayer (whichever one was promoting a new album or touring) and #s 4-7 were some combo of Pantera, Anthrax, Type O Negative, Sepultura, Dream Theater, Fear Factory, Ozzy with bands like Suicidal, Prong, Fight, and Morbid Angel rounding out the top ten.

 

[Saturated Fats]

This is such a special year. There are three albums that are in my top-50 of all-time, and I'd say two that are firmly in my top-20. The Holy Bible is all misanthropic, aggressive, mid-90's British angst, chewing through your speakers and annexing your positivity; Illmatic is perhaps the greatest hip-hop record ever recorded, with passionate production, deeply-philosophical lyricism, and a deeply self-conscious enjoyment about it.

But my favourite album on the year is Trent Reznor's masterpiece, The Downward Spiral. It took me a long time to really 'get' this record - with its heavy, raw pessimism, aggressive and uncomfortable arrangement, and infernal nihilism. But when I did get it - holy MAN. This record is life-changing. It beams you up into its rough and sexual interior, and tosses you around from wall to wall, before gently cradling you back to earth with 'Hurt'. A special piece of music.

There are 12 albums that really register for me from this year. A top-5 year, without doubt.

1. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
2. Nas - Illmatic
3. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible

4. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
5. Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
6. Suede - Dog Man Star
7. Portishead - Dummy

8. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
9. The God Machine - One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying
10. Jeff Buckley - Grace
11. Lisa Germano - Geek the Girl
12. The Magnetic Fields - Holiday

 

[Roo Returns]

This is such a special year. There are three albums that are in my top-50 of all-time, and I'd say two that are firmly in my top-20. The Holy Bible is all misanthropic, aggressive, mid-90's British angst, chewing through your speakers and annexing your positivity; Illmatic is perhaps the greatest hip-hop record ever recorded, with passionate production, deeply-philosophical lyricism, and a deeply self-conscious enjoyment about it.

But my favourite album on the year is Trent Reznor's masterpiece, The Downward Spiral. It took me a long time to really 'get' this record - with its heavy, raw pessimism, aggressive and uncomfortable arrangement, and infernal nihilism. But when I did get it - holy MAN. This record is life-changing. It beams you up into its rough and sexual interior, and tosses you around from wall to wall, before gently cradling you back to earth with 'Hurt'. A special piece of music.

There are 12 albums that really register for me from this year. A top-5 year, without doubt.

1. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
2. Nas - Illmatic
3. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible

4. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
5. Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
6. Suede - Dog Man Star
7. Portishead - Dummy

8. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
9. The God Machine - One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying
10. Jeff Buckley - Grace
11. Lisa Germano - Geek the Girl
12. The Magnetic Fields - Holiday

Wow Magnetic Fields. I saw them open up for They Might Be Giants back in the day. Definitely the wrong crowd lol.