1994

Download the 1994 mix here.

Undoubtedly the most difficult year post-1970, 1994 had so many things coinciding at once that I could have easily made two 80 minute mixes that were every bit as relevant as any other year of the 90s. The last gasp of grunge, the year punk broke, the year Brit Pop exploded, and some fantastic singles, from Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” and “Hurt,” to the Meat Puppets’ “Backwater.”

As major as all of those things are, 1994 was really owned by hip hop. Not since 1988 had hip hop had so many classics, and you can look at most of the music on later mixes as direct descendents of this music: Illmatic, Tical, Resurrection, Regulate, Ready to Die, Word… Life, Ill Communication, Boxcar Sessions, The Main Ingredient, Hard to Earn, Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik, Genocide and Juice, Fear Itself, Fadanuf Fa Erybody, Blowout Comb. All in 1994. That’s music from northern and southern California, Altanta, Chicago, Houston, and New York, all at the top of its game, representing the best they have to offer. So you understand the difficulty I had in narrowing down this list. I made a few tough choices: I went with the one-hit wonder “Flava In Ya Ear,” which basically started Bad Boy off, and I moved Nas to 1993, where “Halftime” first hit, and hit big (in New York).

But rock’s showing isn’t exactly shabby. Green Day’s “Longview,” Stone Temple Pilots’ “Big Empty,” Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair”… Does music get any better than this? 1994. Wow.

Songs I didn’t include: Nirvana: “The Man Who Sold the World”; Urge Overkill: “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”; Soul Coughing: “Screenwriter’s Blues”; Outkast: “Player’s Ball”; Ace of Base: “I Saw the Sign”; Ahmad: “Back in the Day”; Coolio: “Fantastic Voyage”; Crystal Waters: “100% Pure Love”; Goldie: “Inner City Life”; Ini Kamoze: “Hot Steppa”; Primal Scream: “Get Your Rocks Off”; Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue: “Whatta Man”; Veruca Salt: “Seether”; Bad Religion: “21st Century Digital Boy” and “Infected.”

1. Corduroy - Pearl Jam - 4:37
2. I Used To Love H.E.R. - Common - 4:38
3. Big Poppa - The Notorious B.I.G. - 4:12
4. Bring The Pain - Method Man - 3:09
5. Big Empty - Stone Temple Pilots - 4:56
6. Long View - Green Day - 3:59
7. Backwater - Meat Puppets - 3:41
8. Doll Parts - Hole - 3:31
9. Sabotage - The Beastie Boys - 2:58
10. Flava In Ya Ear - Craig Mack - 3:36
11. Regulate - Warren G - 4:08
12. Cut Your Hair - Pavement - 3:06
13. Buddy Holly - Weezer - 2:39
14. Girls & Boys - Blur - 4:50
15. Live Forever - Oasis - 4:38
16. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden - 5:17
17. Sour Times - Portishead - 4:14
18. Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley - 4:35
19. Hurt - Nine Inch Nails - 6:14