On That Note: ’94 at 25

[cyclones500]

Welcome back to "On That Note," a hub for CF music fanatics, presented by @MeanDean, @CycloneRulzzz and cyclones500.

This week, we conclude our 2019 LP series, with focus on favorite albums released a quarter-century ago, 1994. Post your selections along with 3 to 5 samples from each disc.

Feel free to include details regarding your choices.

I'll begin my list in a follow-up post. Let’s get to it

• Last week’s OTN: If You Want Me, Just Whistle

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Green Day Dookie

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

OffSpring Smash







Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral

 

[cyclones500]

If I compiled a list of “favorite album years,” 1994 may be in my top 5. I won’t claim it’s the best year for albums in the rock ’n’ roll era, it simply happens to be loaded with high points for me. I can think of contributing factors for that (I won’t go into detail here. Maybe another day.)

I didn't do a ranking, but this and the next one are probably 1 & 1A.

Blur
“Parklife”
April 25, 1994

First 4 songs to open the album

“Avoiding all work / ‘cause there’s none available”







“Good morning, TV / you’re looking so healthy”




(feat. Phil Daniels)

 

[MeanDean]

 

[MeanDean]

 

[cyclones500]

Guided By Voices
“Bee Thousand”
June 21, 1994

Guided By Voices didn’t “invent” ‘90s lo-fi (groups like Pavement got there first, not to mention the seeds of it were sown many years before it was formally defined).

But GVS was the fiirst band in the sub-genre that snagged me, and this LP was my awakening.


Gotta start with the opening track, to set the tone.




“They wait like cats and fly out / For the light in my eyes to die out”




“Why is it every time I think about you / Something you have said or implied makes me doubt you?”




“And we’re finally here / and s**** yeah, it’s cool”

 

[cyclones500]

Green Day Dookie

For me, appeal of Green Day aded a little after a few years, but "Dookie" still sounds good.

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[cyclones500]

The Jesus and Mary Chain
“Stoned & Dethroned”
Aug. 23, 1994





#22 on UK singles chart --- probably the most familar track on the album. Feat. Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star)







“We were searching for a fire / and we settled for a spark.”
“If we had the time we'd take it / If we had the mind we'd make it.”




I've been strange / I’ve been too strange / I've been to somewhere else and / I've been to “strange”

 

[jdoggivjc]

 

[jdoggivjc]

Green Day Dookie

First CD I ever purchased. But you forgot a track...

 

[arobb]

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies

 

[Cydar]

Oasis
Definitely Maybe

 

[Gunnerclone]

Good ******* music year here...kind of pre-post grunge with AIC putting out Jar of Flies and PJ heading I. The direction that they went. STP might have been the hottest band of the year, Beck broke out, the “punk” stuff hitting big, Metallica was probably at its lowest point. Music videos may have been at their peak on MTV. Kind of a breather time in music but also a great time. The Crow Sountrack and Jar of Flies were probably my favorite records of the year.

Some of my favs outside of what’s already up there.

 

[cyclones500]

I still remember when I first heard "The Sweater Song." Driving from Twin Cities on the way back to Michigan, listening to what I assume was a "modern rock" station in the area, somewhere near the Wisconsin/Illinois border. I bought The Blue Album soon after I returned.