Best albums of 1994

This should come as a surprise to no one. Looking at the rest of this list, a lot of Great albums came out in 1994 but nothing else compares to the album that made NIN a household name.

Favorite song: "the becoming"


See also the "Still" version, originally released in the deluxe version of And All That Could Have Been

NIN is to thank/blame for this one being so high on my list, and in fact for my buying it in the first place. In 1994, I saw both bands play together & found that Marilyn Manson was right up my alley...heavy, weird, theatrical, and impossible to ignore. I know every word on this album, including all the samples & the hidden answering machine message that closes it. It fostered an obsession with the group as I snatched up every interview I could & bought bootleg live albums in hopes of hearing more from them while waiting for their next proper album. Then the next album (Antichrist Superstar, as you may know) lost all the things that made me love them (a sense of fun beneath the darkness, an original sound, songs obviously written collaboratively instead of under Brian Warner's explicit directions, and aside from a few songs Daisy Berkowitz's guitar work) & it took a long time before I came back again.

Favorite song: "Snakeeyes and Sissies"

Why isn't this album among the "1001 albums you need to hear before you die"? It should be.

Favorite song: "Kitchenware & Candybars"

The last Great Pearl Jam album. I love the experimentation throughout, and whatever drugs they were on were clearly working in their favor. After this everything started to sound like they were spinning their wheels to me & I'd be hard pressed to name a song written after Vitalogy. Oh yeah, "Worldwide Suicide" is one...beyond that???

Favorite song: "Satan's Bed"

NOTE: Lyrics available on youtube page for this song, not included in the video

I've always loved this album for the ways the B-Boys branch out their sound. There's a pair of hardcore/punk songs ("Heart Attack Man" and "Tough Guy"), some instrumentals, a little reggae, all of which seem to fit in nicely with their own unique brand of hip-hop. I also love this album for the lyrics, which are among their best.

Favorite song: "Get It Together"

Favorite song: "I Burn" (though "Happyface" and "Velvet" tie for 2nd)


My thoughts on this album have already been expressed in the following lists: I was a preteen metalhead
Facts about my love for music

One of the best punk albums of the '90s, and BR has still failed to create an album since that matches it.

Favorite song: "Hooray for Me"

Perhaps like many people, I got into Rollins Band via their most popular single "Liar", which came from this album. Pretty sure I first saw the video for it on Beavis & Butt-head too, a show that occasionally helped me find bands I wound up liking/loving regardless of their opinions on the songs. Anyway, I was pleased to find out that every song on here was just as good as that one & I keep coming back to the album even now. The only Rollins album that's better is End of Silence.

Favorite song: "Shine"

TMBG expand their line-up beyond their original duo & turn out one of their best albums. Picking a favorite here wasn't easy.

Favorite song: "The End of the Tour"

Trent Reznor hooks up with Oliver Stone & creates the audio version of Natural Born Killers. Dialogue from the film weaves in & out of each song, and despite the wide variety of song styles (among the artists included are Leonard Cohen, NIN, Jane's Addiction, Patsy Cline, Dr. Dre, Bob Dylan, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) it all works together well. Usually whenever I listen to this soundtrack in its entirety I feel like I've just watched the movie again by the end of it, rather than just a collection of songs.

Favorite song: "Sex Is Violent"

In 1994, this album came out along with Green Day's Dookie, and songs from both were unavoidable. I quickly got over Dookie & eventually decided it wasn't really that great, but Smash I've continued to enjoy ever since.

Favorite song: "Smash"

I miss Weezer writing great songs.

Favorite song: "In the Garage"

Possibly my favorite Rev. Horton Heat album.

Favorite song: "One Time for Me"

Rather than talk about this album I'll just say that the older I get the deeper appreciation I have for R.E.M.'s music.

Favorite song: "Crush with Eyeliner"

Helmet takes their hardcore/metal/punk sound & throws some jazz into the mix, which results in one of the best albums ever recorded.

Favorite song: "Vaccination"

The only thing holding this one back from a perfect score for me is the Black Sabbath cover that closes the album out. For whatever reason it's always felt out of place to me, and I've never cared much for it.

Favorite song: "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills"

I'm convinced that it's impossible for Portishead to create a bad album. Now let's hope they never prove me wrong.

Favorite song: "Roads"

I loved Korn when they first came out, but over time their albums got progressively worse until I finally quit giving them a chance. Anyway, this album is still damn near perfect, the only "flaw" being that the final track "Daddy" goes on WAY longer than necessary & eventually wears out its welcome.

Favorite song: "Clown"

The first Liz Phair album I ever bought, and it launched one of the biggest crushes I've ever had on a musician. I like every song on this album, but I don't listen to it as often as I used to anymore.

Favorite song: "Support System"

Fun fact: I bought tickets to 2 different concerts that Sponge played while touring behind this album. The first one was a day-long radio station festival where the weather was so awful we left right before their set. The second time around I didn't have anyone else to go with me & wasn't confident enough yet to drive to a show in downtown Dallas by myself, so I stayed home & missed it. Both shows I wanted to go to for other bands, though I would have watched Sponge play too had either one worked out. As a result I didn't buy this album until after I saw them in concert for their 2nd album in 1996.

Favorite song: "Miles"

A lot of Tori's fans will tell you that Little Earthquakes is a Great album. While I do like most of the songs on it, I feel like the two albums that followed it (this one and Boys for Pele) were better all around & thus more worthy of being deemed Great albums.

Favorite song: "Space Dog"

A little live EP with only 5 songs on it, two of which came from Tripping Daisy's debut album Bill. The others are a cover of Bad Religion's "We're Only Gonna Die" and two original songs that to my knowledge can't be found on any of their other (official) releases.

Favorite song: "It's Safe, It's Social"
(Couldn't find any music for this EP.)

Nailbomb's short-lived career started here, with a blistering album of industrial thrash metal. Still brutal even now.

Favorite song: "For Fuck's Sake"

Much like the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, this one has dialogue from the film. Unlike the aforementioned soundtrack, the dialogue only appears between songs but never during any of them. Doesn't matter though, as every song on here's a good one (the only one I'm not so crazy about is Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town", but I wouldn't say I dislike it).

Favorite song: "Flowers on the Wall" by The Statler Brothers

Maybe Courtney ripped these songs off from Kurt, maybe not. I'm just glad it got recorded because there's not a bad song on here.

Favorite song: "She Walks On Me"

Favorite song I could find: "Take It Down"

I saw these guys live & fell in love with their sound instantly. Too bad they never got popular (and being on Zoo Records alongside Tool, Green Jello & others should have helped), though that may possibly be to blame on the cheesiness of the video for the single off this album, "Infested!".

Favorite song: "Apparition"

Favorite song I could find: "Missle Toe"