1994. What a time to be alive.
This year was truly a nostalgic blast from the past. Even if I was not even in grade school yet, so much of this list was truly a joy to reminisce over. Definitely one of the strongest of the entire decade when it came to the music of the 90s.
Look I was planning a longer preamble than this, but I have a lot of content in the works over the coming weeks so I've delayed this list long enough as is. Let's just hop right into it! Let's let the music truly shine. We are counting down!
THE TOP TEN BEST HIT SONGS OF 1994
So to start off this best list, I….
…eh fuck it. *bops head*
10. “What Is Love” – Haddaway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I
I’ll be honest and say that I don’t really care all that much about Eurodance as a trend. Mostly due to the fact that I can’t dance. Not even the slightest bit. I mean I like to dance but I just come off as supremely awkward every time.
But with this? This
dance is so simple that anyone can do it.
And sure that probably wasn’t the original intent of this song, but it
got huge thanks to SNL so it will forever be attached to me with the Roxbury
guys acting over the top and bopping their heads so hard that they’ll fall off
at any second.
Removing all pop culture attachments from this song, I still
love it. The way that this entire
performance is sold absolutely does it for me.
When Haddaway belts to not hurt him no more and that woman in the
background lets out that overlonged “whoa”….it just gets me everytime.
What else can I say, but it’s a nostalgic bop. And to think I placed this song on the actual
list over Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Sure those songs are probably technically
better, but they just don’t bring me joy like this one does. Next.
9. “Loser” – Beck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE
Yeah what a surprise.
I love this song. Look guys,
another person placing Beck on a best list.
I’m just as predictable as the Grammys.
And as predictable as I am, here’s something that I don’t think gets
talked about enough when it comes to Beck’s most recognizable song. These lyrics really don’t make a lick of
sense.
Beck said he was just freestyling in his kitchen writing
this and I can tell. I mean who else
would write lines like:
-With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables
-Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose
-A slab of turkey-neck and its hanging from a pigeon wing
Yes I’ll take things you find in the kitchen for $500.
Who cares about the lyrics when Beck just fully embraces the
absolute corniness of this entire song.
Add in a bunch of thrown together samples with the most out of nowhere
being a scene from 1992 indie film “Kill the Moonlight”. Which ends up making more sense when you find
out the director of that film directed the music video for this since Beck and
him were good friends.
But the main reason this song is on this list and is so
iconic is that chorus. Which Beck came
up with after hearing back the original demo for this song thinking, “Man, I’m
the worst rapper in the world, I’m a loser.”
And then he started singing “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill
me.” Thus one of the most earwormy
choruses of all time was born. That chorus
single handedly earned its place on my best list and I still end up belting it
every time I hear it.
I said this when I covered the year end list of 1996 years
ago during my internet forum days, but good lord Coolio is very underrated.
8. “Fantastic Voyage” – Coolio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibcDHmTCt-I
I mean the guy kept providing hit after hit after hit during
his peak years of the mid 90’s. He even
gave us some bops during my early childhood years like the Mon-Stars rap from
Space Jam, the Kenan & Kel theme song, and appearing on Sabrina, the
Teenage Witch as himself and….okay I guess I can see why he fell off. Kind of hard to get back your credibility
when selling yourself out to content for younger children and teenagers….isn’t
that right Hammer?
But honestly, I don’t care.
Coolio never coasted the way Hammer did.
Coolio never made an absolute fool of himself the way Hammer has. Coolio just kept being cool like his name
states. The guy who gave us one of the
most iconic rap songs of all-time in “Gangsta’s Paradise” should have had way
more success. And “Fantastic Voyage” is
further proof of that when it is one of the smoothest songs about escapism I’ve
ever heard. Especially at a time where I
could sure use some of that. I’m going
on my third month in a row of overtime at work and not having much free time to
myself. And you know what one of those
songs that plays in my head when I daydream of some time off? This.
So yeah, “Fantastic Voyage” is a fucking bop especially now
for me. It’s got an awesome sample, an
awesome beat, and just awesome line after awesome line. Smooth as hell and….
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540150549052514698/
….”Vantastic Voyage”, eh? Coolio, please stop now before I take back that line of not making a fool out of yourself.
You know what trend I’m glad we don’t have to deal with
anymore? Double singles. What an obnoxious trend from this time period
I’m glad is not a thing anymore. So for
a double single to make a best list of mine, you surely have to have an
all-time classic to really make a landing on this best list and…
…it’s Mariah.
7. “Without You/Never Forget You” – Mariah Carey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hat1Hc9SNwE
(I'm only sharing one of these videos, not two. Fuck double singles man.)
Really wish this was just “Without You” because that is one
of my all-time favorite Mariah singles.
Top five for sure and the single itself would probably be number two or
three on this list if it was just that song.
Nothing against “Never Forget You”.
It’s still a good song on its own merits that is absolutely lifted by
being Mariah Carey as the performer.
“Without You” is a 10/10 though. One of the best power pop ballads of the
decade that is absolutely owned by Mariah’s presence as a performer who just
fucking hits this song out of the park.
I always find it funny that “Hero” is often recognized as her most
popular power ballad. And I can
definitely see why. But “Without You”
just blows “Hero” out of the water. Even
if it is another cover song from this year, but Mariah vastly improves on the
original just on a technical and emotional standpoint.
Look, it’s Mariah Carey.
Do I really need to go any further in depth? She’s awesome. She’s the true greatest of all-time. I love her, you love her. My kids will learn to love her.
A lot of the big name rap songs from this time period were
predominantly male, so let’s just say that it was nice to see some female
representation around this time period.
Because my god is this song empowering.
6. “Whatta Man” – Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEmH1EgJbEs
See y’all? This is
how you interpolate a song right. By
blowing the original right out of the fucking water. I didn’t even know that this was based off
“What a Man” by Linda Lyndell. I mean I
guess the original is fine enough, but nope.
I can’t listen to even a couple of seconds without thinking of
Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue.
What makes this one so much better than that 1968 version is
that the older song talks about how great this guy is. I mean sure, whatever you say lady….but what
about what you’re looking for? What is
that you appreciate about him?
Salt-N-Pepa take that concept and run the ball with it. They offer the much needed female
perspective. About what they like in
their men, whether they are good family men or just absolute freaks in
bed. I love this focus because
especially around this time period you would hear so many rappers talking about
this from a guy’s perspective. Obviously
this is still the case today, so any time I hear a woman’s perspective, it’s
far more refreshing.
And it is not just the verses, this chorus slaps. I’m fine with En Vogue as a group, but their
chorus to this song is the best thing they’ve ever done. I love it.
It makes the song that more memorable.
Just a fun song all around. Sorry to all the Susans out there that don't see this song as anything less than great.
The year is 1993. Rap
is entering its first peak era of dominance.
And one rapper started to become a household name and still is nearing
thirty years later. Ladies and
gentlemen. The man, the myth, the
legend. Snoop D-O-double G. And in 1994 he had his most iconic song in a
career chalk full of them.
5. “Gin & Juice” – Snoop Doggy Dogg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWCZse1iwE0
I don’t think this man needs an introduction to all of you
casuals out there. You all should know
by now that Snoop Dogg is the fucking man.
This guy just oozes in charisma and cool. He can make you spend your hard earned money
on whatever he promotes just because he is just that smooth. He can even be the best part on one of the
worst pop songs of the past decade. That’s
just who Snoop is.
And with this song in particular, he just rides this west
coast G-funk beat as smooth as butter.
And it is not just the all-time iconic beat he is riding here. These lyrics are so iconic that I swear I’ve
heard half of these lines in like dozens upon dozens of other rap songs since
then…hell I’m pretty sure I heard some of these lines in pop songs too. That’s how huge of a game changer this song
was to the genre.
I don’t blame any of them for referencing it either. Because I vibe with what this song is
selling. I’m down to party with Snoop
til six in the morning. Just as long as
it doesn’t get shot up by Ricky Harris…unless it is his house….god I love this
music video too. It’s peak 90s.
“Gin & Juice” is the more iconic song and this song may
be more “of the moment” when it comes to doing these rankings at this point in
time. But good lord did I need to hear
this again after such a long time since my last listen.
4. “Keep Ya Head Up” – 2Pac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW--IGAfeas
Tupac really was taken from us too soon. This guy had so many great songs and he was
just getting started before he was taken from us the way he was. Sure he had a bunch of posthumous albums and
singles after his murder, but just like it is with all posthumous albums, who
are we to know if this was the direction that the artist wanted his music to
go. Tupac was making great hits before
he passed as well and this is definitely up there with the best in his
discography.
Look this song is fantastic even before removing my current
mood as of late. But I know this song
isn’t directed specifically at me. Tupac
has stated that this song is about the abuse black women face in society. And good lord does that hit the point more
home today with even more news about the racial injustice our society is still
facing nearly thirty years after this song came out. I’ve touched upon this topic at length
multiple times in the past year that I don’t want to sound like a broken
record, but our society is still broken that this shit keeps happening and I
still don’t see any real strides to improve everything going on in the
world. So I’ll say this. Keep pushing forward to make real
change. Don’t be complacent. For things to fundamentally change, we need
to keep letting our voices be heard that we aren’t satisfied with the way
things are. Black lives truly do matter.
I feel bad for placing this next song only at number three
because this was the best song from one of my favorite 90s bands.
3. “Found Out About You” – Gin Blossoms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qB6XdAkkAo
So I think I touched upon this during my end of the year
music lists about how Billboard’s charting system will forever be broken. Especially since the present years chart from
basically early November to the end of October.
I’ll give Billboard this though.
At least they manage to find that middle ground of what songs felt like
the biggest of the year better in the present than they did in the past. Because despite rap and alternative rock
being the genres that defined this time frame, you surely could not tell that
based off looking at these year-end lists.
Sure you got some of the biggest songs right, but when I think of 1994,
I surely don’t think of Jon Secada having one of the twenty biggest hits of the
year. Or Lisa Loeb. Or John Mellencamp. Or The Three Out of Touch Old Men posing as
music’s equivalent of The Three Musketeers…I’m getting sidetracked.
So you must really be THAT good to have an alternative rock
smash crossover enough to make Billboard’s qualifications of a year-end hit at
this point in time before they recalibrated their statistics. And Gin Blossoms was one of those rare
alt-rock acts to be great enough to rack up multiple year end hits during their
peak era of classics. With this being
once again, my favorite song of theirs.
More so than “Follow You Down”, another classic. More so than “Hey Jealousy”. More so than “Til I Hear It From You”. Probably due to being in messy relationships
myself, more on that coming very soon.
This one hits harder home for me.
This song is just so haunting and hypnotic. Those interweaving guitars just really hit
this melody home that it is almost R.E.M. like.
This is just garage rock at its best.
You know a song must be pretty damn great to leap over
freaking Gin Blossoms, one of my favorite 90s groups. Well in today’s edition of songs that I
discovered doing these year-end retrospectives, let’s take a look at song that
honestly captures my own personal attachment towards nostalgia so perfectly.
2. “Back in the Day” – Ahmad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsd4pWwIoSQ
You know being an adult is fun and all. With all these additional responsibilities,
bills to pay, mentoring the youth of today, money management, focusing on
savings, taxes, work work work….Jesus who am I kidding?
For those who don’t actually know me, I fully embrace
anything nostalgic of my childhood. I
still have so many mementos from my past that I can save to share with my
children to tell them about the awesome things I loved growing up. I want my children to know about all these
wonderful memories from my childhood while I slowly reminisce about how awesome
it was to be a kid. To the point that you might call me a nostalgia critic….no
not that one. I’m not a whiny out of
touch 40 year old man; thank god.
And I have not come across a song that so perfectly captures
this feeling than this one. I know
nothing about Ahmad and I don’t know if I ever want to discover more about him
or by him because this song is just a perfect 10/10. And listening to Ahmad talk about all the
different fads and memories from his own personal nostalgia just reminds me so
much of me reminiscing on mine. And
while he insists that he even says in the song doesn’t want to make another sad
song about missing his past, the fact that the production is so mellow and
downbeat really works in this songs favor.
Also these two lines: “You really don’t realize what you got
til its gone” and “I’ll just sit and reminisce about back in the day”. Both really fucking hit the point home about
why I always tell people to embrace their past.
Yes it is embarrassing. Yes
you’ll have your own personal regrets.
Yes you can be ashamed of some of the things you’ve done. But all this helped mold you into who you
are. No shame in that.
Honestly, I’m just going to get personal for a minute before
introducing my number one song. Those of
you who know me knows that I’m a happily married man. But before I met the one, I had such a rocky
dating life full of messy relationships.
One relationship in particular was pretty one-sided on my part where I
kept trying and trying to make things work while the girl I was dating
basically stopped trying to give two shits about our relationship. She was more or less cheating on me and
keeping me on the hook because she knew how much I wanted to make this
relationship continue to work. A very
misguided regret of mine was still trying because I was so much in love with
her. And let me just say that there was
one song that absolutely nailed all these sentiments for me and a song I still
adore even if it reminds me of bad memories.
Despite that, this song I still hold true to be one of my favorite songs
of not just the 90s, but of all time.
1. “Linger” – The Cranberries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Kspj3OO0s
This is one of those rare instances that I really just don’t
want to put any sort of commentary for my number one. It’s not a copout by any stretch of the
imagination. That’s why I put my
emotional attachment to this song in the preamble instead of placing it down
here.
The Cranberries really should have been much bigger. Out of all three of their most recognizable
hits, this is easily their best. The
instrumentation, perfect. The lyrics,
heartbreaking. Dolores singing,
phenomenal. I really don’t want to linger
on with this explanation. It is a
devastating song performed at an untouchable level of alt-pop greatness that
has so rarely been reached since. One of
the best songs of the decade and one of my favorite songs of all-time.
RIP Dolores.
1. “Linger” – The Cranberries
2. “Back in the Day” – Ahmad
3. “Found Out About You” – Gin Blossoms
4. “Keep Ya Head Up” – 2Pac
5. “Gin & Juice” – Snoop Doggy Dogg
6. “Whatta Man” – Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue
7. “Without You/Never Forget You” – Mariah Carey
8. “Fantastic Voyage” – Coolio
9. “Loser” – Beck
10. “What is Love” – Haddaway
11. “Streets of Philadelphia” – Bruce Springsteen
12. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” – Tom Petty & the
Heartbreakers
13. “Shoop” – Salt-N-Pepa
14. “Shine” – Collective Soul
15. “U.N.I.T.Y.” – Queen Latifah
16. “I Swear” – All-4-One
17. “I Wanna Be Down” – Brandy
18. “What’s My Name” – Snoop Doggy Dogg
19. “Back & Forth” – Aaliyah
20. “Whoomp! There It Is!” – Tag Team
21. “Any Time, Any Place” – Janet Jackson
22. “Regulate” – Warren G & Nate Dogg
23. “This D.J.” – Warren G
24. “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” – Prince
25. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” – Elton John
26. “Hero” – Mariah Carey
27. “Bump n’ Grind” – R. Kelly
28. “Here Comes the Hotstepper” – Ini Kamoze
29. “I’ll Make Love to You” – Boyz II Men
30. “Anytime You Need a Friend” – Mariah Carey
31. “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” – Meat
Loaf
32. “Come to My Window” – Melissa Etheridge
33. “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night” – The Four Seasons
34. “Gangsta Lean” – DRS
35. “Breathe Again” – Toni Braxton
36. “Don’t Take the Girl” – Tim McGraw
37. “At Your Best (You Are Love) – Aaliyah
38. “Understanding” – Xscape
39. “Bop Gun (One Nation)” – Ice Cube (featuring George
Clinton)
40. “I’m the Only One” – Melissa Etheridge
41. “Love Sneaking Up on You” – Bonnie Raitt
42. “Again” – Janet Jackson
43. “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” – Meat Loaf
44. “Always” – Erasure
45. “Because the Night” – 10,000 Maniacs
46. “Funkdified” – Da Brat
47. “Anything” – SWV
48. “Endless Love” – Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey
49. “Got Me Waiting” – Heavy D & the Boyz
50. “The Power of Love” – Celine Dion
51. “Flava In Ya Ear” – Craig Mack
52. “Secret” – Madonna
53. “You Mean the World to Me” – Toni Braxton
54. “Mr. Vain” – Culture Beat
55. “Tootsee Roll” – 69 Boyz
56. “Groove Thang” - Zhane
57. “I’m Ready” – Tevin Campbell
58. “Wild Night” – John Mellencamp (featuring Meshell
Ndegeocello)
59. “Getto Jam” – Domino
60. “Because of Love” – Janet Jackson
61. “Cry For You” – Jodeci
62. “Your Body’s Callin’” – R. Kelly
63. “Stay” – Eternal
64. “I’ll Remember” – Madonna
65. “Always In My Heart” – Tevin Campbell
66. “Just Kickin’ It” – Xscape
67. “Stroke You Up” – Changing Faces
68. “Another Night” – Real McCoy
69. “Crazy” – Aerosmith
70. “Beautiful in My Eyes” – Joshua Kadison
71. “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)” – Us3
72. “So Much in Love” – All-4-One
73. “And Our Feelings” – Babyface
74. “Dreams” – Gabrielle
75. “The Sign” – Ace of Base
76. “Prayer for the Dying” – Seal
77. “I Miss You” – Aaron Hall
78. “Never Keeping Secrets” – Babyface
79. “I Can See Clearly Now” – Jimmy Cliff
80. “Stay (I Missed You)” – Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
81. “100% Pure Love” – Crystal Waters
82. “Can We Talk” – Tevin Campbell
83. “When Can I See You” – Babyface
84. “Everyday” – Phil Collins
85. “I’ll Take You There” – General Public
86. “Amazing” – Aerosmith
87. “Please Forgive Me” – Bryan Adams
88. “All That She Wants” – Ace of Base
89. “Said I Loved You…But I Lied” – Michael Bolton
90. “Return to Innocence” – Enigma
91. “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” – Crash Test Dummies
92. “If You Go” – Jon Secada
93. “All I Wanna Do” – Sheryl Crow
94. “Always” – Bon Jovi
95. “Baby I Love Your Way” – Big Mountain
96. “Never Lie” – Immature
97. “Don’t Turn Around” – Ace of Base
98. “All For Love” – Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, & Sting
99. “Indian Outlaw” – Tim McGraw
100. “Now and Forever” – Richard Marx
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