Fluxblog Weekly #106: 1994 Survey Mix
1994 Survey Mix
This is the fifth in the 1990s survey mix series, which will come out monthly in chronological order through this year. You can find the previous mixes here.
I think 1994 may be the best year for popular music ever, or at least the best year for music in my lifetime. The sheer density of all-time classic records that came out in 1994 is staggering, and even aside from all of those breakthroughs and blockbusters, there’s also the early phases of scenes and sub-genres like emo, IDM, and post-rock that would be more important later on in the decade. Even the shitty and schlocky music of 1994 is above average! It’s crazy, and the overall quality is all the more impressive when you consider the quantity of notable music from the year. I try to keep these surveys to 8 “discs,” but this one sprawls out to 10, and I still left some songs out for space. It is by far the longest survey I’ve ever compiled, and clocks in at a little under 22 hours. God help you if you try to listen to this all in one sitting.
As I said in the first ’90s survey post, I think of the music of the ’90s as being a trilogy in which each act ends in tragedy – the suicide of Kurt Cobain, the murders of Tupac and Biggie, and the chaos of Woodstock ’99. So with this in mind, 1994 is the end of the first act and the beginning of the second.
Thanks to Rob Sheffield, Eric Harvey, Sean T. Collins, Jen Appel, and especially Paul Cox for their valuable assistance in putting this set together.
DOWNLOAD DISC 1
The Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy” / Nas “The World Is Yours” / Wu-Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M.” / Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)” / Outkast “Git Up, Git Out” / Gravediggaz “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide” / Portishead “Sour Times” / Nine Inch Nails “March of the Pigs” / Hole “Violet” / Sonic Youth “Bull in the Heather” / Beastie Boys “Sabotage” / Beck “Loser” / Pavement “Cut Your Hair” / R.E.M. “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” / Pearl Jam “Not for You” / Dave Matthews Band “Ants Marching” / Tori Amos “Cornflake Girl” / Oasis “Live Forever” / Green Day “Basket Case” / Veruca Salt “Seether” / Sebadoh “Rebound” / Velocity Girl “Tripping Wires” / Liz Phair “Nashville” / Helium “XXX” / TLC “Creep” / R. Kelly “Bump N Grind” / Mary J. Blige “I’m Goin’ Down” / Da Brat “Funkdafied” / Stone Temple Pilots “Big Empty” / Weezer “Undone – The Sweater Song” / Nirvana “All Apologies (Unplugged)”
DOWNLOAD DISC 2
Blur “Girls & Boys” / Elastica “Connection” / Pulp “Do You Remember the First Time?” / Radiohead “My Iron Lung” / Toadies “Possum Kingdom” / Alice In Chains “No Excuses” / Soundgarden “The Day I Tried To Live” / Sunny Day Real Estate “The Blankets Were the Stairs” / Grant Lee Buffalo “Mockingbirds” / The Tragically Hip “Grace, Too” / Toad the Wet Sprocket “Fall Down” / The Jesus and Mary Chain featuring Hope Sandoval “Sometimes Always” / Lisa Loeb “Stay (I Missed You)” / The Cranberries “Ode to My Family” / Counting Crows “Round Here” / Madonna “Take A Bow” / Seal “Prayer for the Dying” / Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You” / Janet Jackson “Any Time, Any Place” / Tricky “Ponderosa” / Method Man “All I Need” / Fugees “Nappy Heads (Remix)” / Snoop Dogg “Gin and Juice” / A Tribe Called Quest “Oh My God” / Ween “Freedom of ’76” / Frank Black “Headache” / Stereolab “Ping Pong” / Air Miami “Airplane Rider” / Guided by Voices “I Am A Scientist”
DOWNLOAD DISC 3
Digable Planets “Dial 7 (Axioms of Creamy Spies)” / Jeru the Damaja “Come Clean” / Massive Attack “Karmacoma” / 20 Fingers “Short Dick Man” / Crystal Waters “100% Pure Love” / Salt N Pepa “Whatta Man” / Warren G “Regulate” / Bone Thugs N Harmony “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” / Jodeci “Cry for You” / Enigma “Return to Innocence” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Red Right Hand” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Frail and Bedazzled” / Soul Asylum “Can’t Even Tell” / Sloan “Penpals” / Sugar “Your Favorite Thing” / Meat Puppets “Backwater” / The Black Crowes “Cursed Diamond” / Travis Tritt “Foolish Pride” / Tim McGraw “Don’t Take the Girl” / Morrissey “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” / James “Say Something” / Luna “California (All the Way)” / Rollins Band “Liar” / Rage Against the Machine “Freedom” / Shellac “My Black Ass” / Girls Against Boys “Kill the Sexplayer” / Tool “Prison Sex” / Jeff Buckley “Last Goodbye”
DOWNLOAD DISC 4
Sheryl Crow “All I Wanna Do” / Des’ree “You Gotta Be” / Brand New Heavies “Dream On Dreamer” / Aaliyah “Back and Forth” / SWV “Anything” / The Roots “Distortion to Static” / 2Pac “Papa’z Song” / Common “I Used to Love H.E.R.” / Bonnie Raitt “Love Sneakin’ Up On You” / They Might Be Giants “Snail Shell” / Phish “Down with Disease” / G. Love and Special Sauce “Cold Beverage” / Lucas “Lucas with the Lid Off” / Maggie Estep “Hey Baby” / Ani DiFranco “Letter to a John” / Trisha Yearwood “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)” / Rusted Root “Send Me On My Way” / Blues Traveler “Run-Around” / The Mavericks “What A Crying Shame” / Ass Ponys “Little Bastard” / Alan Jackson “Summertime Blues” / The Juliana Hatfield Three “Spin the Bottle” / Superchunk “Like A Fool” / Live “Lightning Crashes” / Pink Floyd “High Hopes” / Slint “Glenn” / Group Home “Supa Star” / Gang Starr “Mass Appeal” / The Beatnuts “Props Over Here” / Artifacts featuring Busta Rhymes “C’mon Wit Da Git Down (Remix)” / DJ Shadow “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)” / Tortoise “Ry Cooder”
DOWNLOAD DISC 5
Mariah Carey “All I Want for Christmas Is You” / Ace of Base “The Sign” / Selina “Amor Prohibido” / Toni Braxton “Breathe Again” / Faith Hill “Wild One” / Hootie and the Blowfish “Hold My Hand” / Freedy Johnston “”This Perfect World” / Garth Brooks “Callin’ Baton Rouge” / Tom Petty “You Don’t Know How It Feels” / Edwyn Collins “A Girl Like You” / MC 900 Ft. Jesus “If I Only Had A Brain” / Pizzicato Five “Twiggy Vs. James Bond” / Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Bellbottoms” / Luscious Jackson “Citysong” / Scarface “I Seen A Man Die” / Redman “Rockafella” / Black Moon “I Got Cha Opin’ (Remix)” / 69 Boyz “Tootsee Roll” / Goldie “Inner City Life” / Everything But the Girl “Missing” / Saint Etienne “Like A Motorway” / Manic Street Preachers “Faster” / Helmet “Milquetoast” / The Loud Family “Marcia and Etrusca” / Underground Lovers “Dream It Down” / Built to Spill “Car” / Mary Chapin Carpenter “Shut Up and Kiss Me” / Tony Bennet “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” / John Michael Montgomery “I Swear” / Aphex Twin “#3”
DOWNLOAD DISC 6
The Breeders “Saints (Head to Toe version)” / Archers of Loaf “Lowest Part Is Free” / Letters to Cleo “Here and Now” / Bush “Everything Zen” / The Jesus Lizard “Fly on the Wall” / L7 “Andres” / Bad Religion “Stranger Than Fiction” / Rancid “Salvation” / Lush “Hypocrite” / Jawbox “Savory” / Gin Blossoms “Allison Road” / Lisa Germano “Geek the Girl” / Codeine “Ides” / Polvo “Tragic Carpet Ride” / Brainiac “Sexual Frustration” / Drive Like Jehu “New Math” / East River Pipe “Ah, Dictaphone” / The Afghan Whigs “What Jail Is Like” / Dinosaur Jr “Feel the Pain” / Magnapop “Slowly, Slowly” / Madder Rose “Car Song” / Kathy McCarty “Rocket Ship” / Dump “Secret Blood” / Elliott Smith “Roman Candle” / The Magnetic Fields “Born On A Train” / Gastr del Sol “The C In Cake” / The Sea and Cake “Jacking the Ball” / Eric’s Trip “Girlfriend” / That Dog “Old Timer” / The Grifters “Felt-Tipped Over” / Urge Overkill “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” / Soul Coughing “Down to This” / Cake “Rock N Roll Lifestyle” / Silkworm “Couldn’t You Wait?” / Laika “Let Me Sleep” / Neil Young & Crazy Horse “Sleeps with Angels” / Victoria Williams “Crazy Mary”
DOWNLOAD DISC 7
The Prodigy “Voodoo People” / Prong “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” / Pop Will Eat Itself “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” / My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult “Blue Buddha (Bomb Gang Girls Remix)” / Mouse on Mars “Uah” / Real McCoy “Another Night” / La Bouche “Sweet Dreams” / M People “Movin’ On Up” / Rozalla “I Love Music” / MK featuring Alana “Love Changes” / Orbital “Kein Trink Wasser” / Zhané “Groove Thang” / Brandy “I Wanna Be Down” / Xscape “Understanding” / Doop “Doop” / Juliet Roberts “I Want You” / CeCe Peniston “Hit By Love” / Jamiroquai “Space Cowboy” / Dink “Green Mind” / Marilyn Manson “Get Your Gunn” / Korn “Blind” / Angelfish “Suffocate Me” / Moonshake “Ghosts of Good Intention” / Disco Inferno “A Crash At Every Speed” / μ-Ziq “Twangle Frent” / Plastikman “Plastique (Video Mix)” / Autechre “Glitch” / Yanna “Santorini”
DOWNLOAD DISC 8
Ini Kamoze “Here Comes the Hotstepper” / The Coup “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” / E-40 “Captain Save A Hoe” / Sam Sneed featuring Dr. Dre “U Better Recognize” / UGK “Front, Back, and Side to Side” / Prince Rahiem “Cop One, Smoke One” / Brand Nubian “Word Is Bond” / Keith Murray “The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World (Green-Eyed Remix)” / Pete Rock & CL Smooth “The Main Ingredient” / Organized Konfusion “Black Sunday” / De La Soul featuring A Tribe Called Quest “She Fe MC’s” / Mic Geronimo “Shit’s Real” / Saafir “Hype Shit” / Channel Live featuring KRS-One “Mad Izm” / Fu-Schnickens “Breakdown” / Coolio “Fantastic Voyage” / Queen Latifah “U.N.I.T.Y.” / 5th Ward Boyz “Once Again It’s On” / Lady of Rage “Afro Puffs” / Casual “We Got It Like That” / Lords of the Underground “Tic Toc” / MC Eiht “Goin’ Out Like Geez” / Future Sounds of London “Lifeforms” / Gescom “Sciew Spoc” / Underworld “Cowgirl” / Danielle Brisebois “What If God Fell From the Sky” / Heather Nova “Sugar” / Willie Nelson “December Day”
DOWNLOAD DISC 9
Todd Snider “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” / Sponge “Plowed” / Primal Scream “Rocks” / Sleeper “Delicious” / Echobelly “Insomniac” / Supergrass “Caught by the Fuzz” / The Auteurs “New French Girlfriend” / Silver Jews “Tide to the Oceans” / Gary Young “Plantman” / Bratmobile “The Real Janelle” / 7 Year Bitch “M.I.A.” / Indigo Girls “Least Complicated” / Cranes “Shining Road” / Love Spit Love “Am I Wrong” / Kristin Hersh “Your Ghost” / Team Dresch “Hand Grenade” / Bedhead “Powder” / Lambchop “Soaky in the Pooper” / Low “Lullaby” / Take That “Love Ain’t Here Anymore” / Wet Wet Wet “Love Is All Around” / Kylie Minogue “Confide In Me” / Keith Sweat “How Do You Like It” / The Alkaholiks “Mary Jane” / Ill Al Skratch “Where My Homiez?” / Prince “LetItGo” / Sinead O’Connor “Fire On Babylon” / Celine Dion “Think Twice” / Big Mountain “Baby, I Love Your Way” / John Mellencamp featuring Me’Shell NdegeOcello “Wild Night” / Widespread Panic “Can’t Get High” / Ida “Accidents”
DOWNLOAD DISC 10
Our Lady Peace “Starseed” / The Stone Roses “Love Spreads” / Suede “Stay Together” / Ash “Petrol” / Therapy? “Die Laughing” / NOFX “Leave It Alone” / The Offspring “Come Out and Play” / Rednex “Cotton Eye Joe” / Bruce Springsteen “The Streets of Philadelphia” / Insane Clown Posse “Chicken Huntin’” / The Divine Comedy “The Booklovers” / The Charlatans “Can’t Get Out of Bed” / The Fall “Hey! Student” / Pram “Life in the Clouds” / Palace Songs “Agnes, Queen of Sorrow” / Johnny Cash “Delia’s Gone” / Vince Gill “Tryin’ to Get Over You” / Iris DeMent “No Time to Cry” / Jawbreaker “Boxcar” / Thee Headcoatees “It’s Bad” / Latin Playboys “Chinese Surprize” / American Music Club “How Many Six Packs Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb” / Domino “Ghetto Jam” / Thug Life “Cradle to the Grave” / Ahmad Lewis “Back in the Day” / Brooks & Dunn “She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind” / Ben Harper “The Three of Us” / Neal McCoy “Wink” / Shenandoah “If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too)” / Joe Diffie “Third Rock from the Sun” / Beaumont Hannant & Lida Husik “Now I’m Older, Silver Girl” / Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey “Endless Love” / All-4-One “I Swear” / Elton John “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”