If you weren't alive in 1994 and listening to popular music I feel very sorry for you. If you were busy listening to Zepplin and The Dead and lamenting the fact that they didn't make music like they used to, I also feel very sorry for you. This was a glorious year to be alive and recording songs off the radio onto a tape that you'd stolen from your sister's collection. It's really never been better than it was in 1994, except maybe 1995 through 1998 or so. Since then, all downhill.
Here is a definitive list of the most important songs of 1994 as determined by my much younger self. In reverse order to build tension.
#6 Wild Night by John Cougar Mellencamp
Is this song catchy? Absolutely. Is it a cool rock icon recording a classic with a bit of a funkier sound than we were used to? Sure. But let's be honest, the thing that made this song so amazing in 1994 was the video. We were all young and sexist back then, and we spent hours wondering if really cool girls like the girl from this video really existed. Like, were there girls out there who could look that good in a baseball hat and also be laughing at jokes and driving cabs around and shaking hands with real people? Was that an actual thing that happened in the real world? We hoped so. This is pre-IMDB, so you couldn't just hop on the internet and Google this girl and figure out that you recognized her from one episode of Saved by the Bell when she played A.C. Slater's girlfriend. No. You just had to imagine that there was a real flesh and blood person out there who drove a cab and put on her jeans just like that every morning. We were, without knowing it, all planning to move out to NYC as soon as we had enough money.
#5 Linger by the Cranberries
Was it okay to like bands with female lead singers? Yeah, it's 2014, and I'm dancing around the house to Euro-pop, but this was 1994. The times were different. They were harder, more confusing. But hey, look at the Cranberries capturing what we were all feeling that year. Why didn't someone, anyone, love us? The girl sat next to us in math class and sometimes called us by the wrong name? Why couldn't she love us? And what about that guy who is so good looking but is two years older and into our mature, read: whorish friends? Why does he have to be like that? Life was wildly unfair back then. I get that the song is about a lost love, but really, isn't it about that person who keeps stringing us along by occasionally getting our name right or accidentally grazing our hand when we get change from them at a local eatery? Why would they accidentally touch my finger if they weren't trying to keep me madly in love with them? Who knows? The Cranberries, that's who understood what it was like in 1994.
#4 I'll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men
Some people were making love in 1994. I was about as far from making love as the North Pole is from the South Pole or as beating a game of Dark Wizard was from hanging out with girls, which is to say, a bit. And yet, here I have this beautiful song to tell me what it was all about. Why does she throw her clothes on the floor while he says he's going to take his clothes off as well? Because love making is a gentle and beautiful thing in 1994. The sexual revolution is not in full force any longer. We still made love in 1994 and then people held onto each other, they snuggled. Even though their arm fell asleep after the first hour, and they were really uncomfortable and wanted to roll away and get a good night's sleep. No. They just concentrated on being a good cuddler. Damn. They were good times. He says, "I made plans to be with you." Do you think he texted her these plans? No. He called her up on the telephone and invited her over to his apartment when his roomates were going to be out of town for a night of intense love making because that is what a gentleman did in 1994. There was no question of sneaking off or walks of shame. Because there is only holding tight and happiness.
#3 Because the Night by 10,000 Maniacs
This is way back in 1994 when all MTV did was play music videos. And somehow, they got 10,000 maniacs to do this song unplugged, and it was the most beautiful and moving thing you'd ever heard. And you wanted to be too cool for it, but even MTV was like, look at this you young SOB, look at this aesthetic masterpiece. Are you not moved?
This is way back before you even knew words like aesthetics and beauty, but somewhere, in that still developing sense of self and of beauty you knew that this moving. Plus, I randomly put on this song the other day and everyone in the family was immediately dancing/moved, because: art.
#2 I'd Do Anything For Love, but I won't do that
It's totally unclear, as we all know, what the hell that is. But yeah, this song happened. You could feel the passion in his voice when he was wailing about the gods of sex and drums and rock and roll. The rise and fall in this song is so moving. Even though we'd all seen Reality Bites, people my age were still too young or naive, and we were just moved by this song. We had souls back then. We didn't understand irony. We did understand what it was like to stand in the mirror and feel hideous compared to that beautiful creature that was singing from atop a chandelier. We had hearts, beautiful, young, uncorrupted hearts. Yes, beautiful chandelier floating woman, we can take you out of this Godforsaken town. "We'll all turn to dust, and we'll all burn down." We didn't know about existentialism yet, but this song did. It road a motorcylce right through the center of our hearts. It was an external expression of what we all knew to be true: we were hideous, interior or exterior and elsewhere was beauty. Thank you for teaching us, Meatloaf.
#1 Stay by Lisa Loeb
Maybe controversial until you look at the facts. The internet cat meme was nowhere near being birthed and what does this amazing video start with, a cat? Why? Because cats are an endless source of entertainment and curiosity and were worshiped, rightfully so, as gods in Egypt. Who knew that in 1994 more than anyone? Lisa Loeb. And before there was Sarah Pailin, and Tina Fey mocking Sarah Pailin, and Zooey Deschanel being quirky there was Lisa Loeb, wearing glasses and hip little dress, making them look sexy or intellectual or just downright cool in 1994.
And, oh yeah, besides that. In 1994 I was years and years still away from dating someone, and yet, somehow, some way, I understood that Lisa Loeb had already captured the complexities of what it meant to want someone and not really have them, or to not realize how it really takes letting something go to really understand what it meant to you. All she needed to do was get to that lengthy bridge to rip the heart from my chest. And by that, as usual, obviously I mean cry. Come back, Lisa Loeb! Okay, good, you're just hanging in the doorway for a minute. I was worried for a second there.
Here is a definitive list of the most important songs of 1994 as determined by my much younger self. In reverse order to build tension.
#6 Wild Night by John Cougar Mellencamp
Is this song catchy? Absolutely. Is it a cool rock icon recording a classic with a bit of a funkier sound than we were used to? Sure. But let's be honest, the thing that made this song so amazing in 1994 was the video. We were all young and sexist back then, and we spent hours wondering if really cool girls like the girl from this video really existed. Like, were there girls out there who could look that good in a baseball hat and also be laughing at jokes and driving cabs around and shaking hands with real people? Was that an actual thing that happened in the real world? We hoped so. This is pre-IMDB, so you couldn't just hop on the internet and Google this girl and figure out that you recognized her from one episode of Saved by the Bell when she played A.C. Slater's girlfriend. No. You just had to imagine that there was a real flesh and blood person out there who drove a cab and put on her jeans just like that every morning. We were, without knowing it, all planning to move out to NYC as soon as we had enough money.
#5 Linger by the Cranberries
Was it okay to like bands with female lead singers? Yeah, it's 2014, and I'm dancing around the house to Euro-pop, but this was 1994. The times were different. They were harder, more confusing. But hey, look at the Cranberries capturing what we were all feeling that year. Why didn't someone, anyone, love us? The girl sat next to us in math class and sometimes called us by the wrong name? Why couldn't she love us? And what about that guy who is so good looking but is two years older and into our mature, read: whorish friends? Why does he have to be like that? Life was wildly unfair back then. I get that the song is about a lost love, but really, isn't it about that person who keeps stringing us along by occasionally getting our name right or accidentally grazing our hand when we get change from them at a local eatery? Why would they accidentally touch my finger if they weren't trying to keep me madly in love with them? Who knows? The Cranberries, that's who understood what it was like in 1994.
#4 I'll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men
Some people were making love in 1994. I was about as far from making love as the North Pole is from the South Pole or as beating a game of Dark Wizard was from hanging out with girls, which is to say, a bit. And yet, here I have this beautiful song to tell me what it was all about. Why does she throw her clothes on the floor while he says he's going to take his clothes off as well? Because love making is a gentle and beautiful thing in 1994. The sexual revolution is not in full force any longer. We still made love in 1994 and then people held onto each other, they snuggled. Even though their arm fell asleep after the first hour, and they were really uncomfortable and wanted to roll away and get a good night's sleep. No. They just concentrated on being a good cuddler. Damn. They were good times. He says, "I made plans to be with you." Do you think he texted her these plans? No. He called her up on the telephone and invited her over to his apartment when his roomates were going to be out of town for a night of intense love making because that is what a gentleman did in 1994. There was no question of sneaking off or walks of shame. Because there is only holding tight and happiness.
#3 Because the Night by 10,000 Maniacs
This is way back in 1994 when all MTV did was play music videos. And somehow, they got 10,000 maniacs to do this song unplugged, and it was the most beautiful and moving thing you'd ever heard. And you wanted to be too cool for it, but even MTV was like, look at this you young SOB, look at this aesthetic masterpiece. Are you not moved?
This is way back before you even knew words like aesthetics and beauty, but somewhere, in that still developing sense of self and of beauty you knew that this moving. Plus, I randomly put on this song the other day and everyone in the family was immediately dancing/moved, because: art.
#2 I'd Do Anything For Love, but I won't do that
It's totally unclear, as we all know, what the hell that is. But yeah, this song happened. You could feel the passion in his voice when he was wailing about the gods of sex and drums and rock and roll. The rise and fall in this song is so moving. Even though we'd all seen Reality Bites, people my age were still too young or naive, and we were just moved by this song. We had souls back then. We didn't understand irony. We did understand what it was like to stand in the mirror and feel hideous compared to that beautiful creature that was singing from atop a chandelier. We had hearts, beautiful, young, uncorrupted hearts. Yes, beautiful chandelier floating woman, we can take you out of this Godforsaken town. "We'll all turn to dust, and we'll all burn down." We didn't know about existentialism yet, but this song did. It road a motorcylce right through the center of our hearts. It was an external expression of what we all knew to be true: we were hideous, interior or exterior and elsewhere was beauty. Thank you for teaching us, Meatloaf.
#1 Stay by Lisa Loeb
Maybe controversial until you look at the facts. The internet cat meme was nowhere near being birthed and what does this amazing video start with, a cat? Why? Because cats are an endless source of entertainment and curiosity and were worshiped, rightfully so, as gods in Egypt. Who knew that in 1994 more than anyone? Lisa Loeb. And before there was Sarah Pailin, and Tina Fey mocking Sarah Pailin, and Zooey Deschanel being quirky there was Lisa Loeb, wearing glasses and hip little dress, making them look sexy or intellectual or just downright cool in 1994.
And, oh yeah, besides that. In 1994 I was years and years still away from dating someone, and yet, somehow, some way, I understood that Lisa Loeb had already captured the complexities of what it meant to want someone and not really have them, or to not realize how it really takes letting something go to really understand what it meant to you. All she needed to do was get to that lengthy bridge to rip the heart from my chest. And by that, as usual, obviously I mean cry. Come back, Lisa Loeb! Okay, good, you're just hanging in the doorway for a minute. I was worried for a second there.
can i add some votes for..
ReplyDeletemariah carey... "hero"
all 4 one..."I swear"
collective soul..."shine"
anything by bruce springsteen...