With all this talk of certain albums allegedly changing music forever in 1994, I thought it would be worth taking a look at what a 15 year old Affs had on the old deathdeck 25 years ago. And oh boy was I impressed. In fact, I’m not sure how I managed to find time to get through the huge amount of classic records released in this year as well as knuckling down ahead of GCSEs, taking my bike out for a spin AND hitting my first ever live shows. The vitality of youth, eh?
Amongst the stone cold classics, arguably never to bettered by the rest of the band’s output since (see Dookie, Smash, and Sixteen Stone) there are also some cult smashers (Helmet’s Betty, Cannibal Corpse’s The Bleeding, Kyuss’ Welcome To Sky Valley) some chilled out classics (MTV Unplugged, Jar Of Flies, Dummy) and some that are still in my all-time favourites list to this day (Troublegum, The Holy Bible, How To Make Friends And Influence People).
It’s also interesting to see the debut efforts from Korn and Machine Head as well as Cradle Of Filth and Marilyn Manson who kick-started a whole new era of theatrics in rock and metal, as well as decent long-players from L7 and Sonic Youth, keeping the grunge flame alive after Kurt Cobain’s death. And let’s not forget Superunknown and Far Beyond Driven; following Badmotorfinger and Vulgar Display Of Power is no mean feat but Soundgarden and Pantera absolutely nailed it with both records. You might also ask whether some of the bands in this list were struggling to live up to previous records with their 1994 releases, but give Divine Intervention and Youthanasia a re-listen and you’ll find a few tracks on each that hold their own 25 years on.
Anyway here’s the full list of albums released in 1994 that were on my bedroom’s stereo system. A veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of the great and the good:
Mark Lanegan – Whiskey For The Holy Ghost
Alice In Chains – Jar Of Flies
Prong – Cleansing
Green Day – Dookie
Therapy? – Troublegum
Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse
Cradle of Filth – The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh
Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
Nailbomb – Pont Blank
Soundgarden – Superunknown
Pantera – Far Beyond Driven
The Offspring – Smash
Cannibal Corpse – The Bleeding
Hole – Live Through This
Terrorvision – How To Make Friends And Influence People
Live – Throwing Copper
Sonic Youth – Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
Weezer – Weezer
Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Bruce Dickinson – Balls To Picasso
Helmet – Betty
Kyuss – Welcome To Sky Valley
L7 – Hungry For Stink
Amorphis – Tales From The Thousand Lakes
At The Gates – Terminal Spirit Disease
Marilyn Manson – Portrait Of An American Family
Machine Head – Burn My Eyes
Portishead – Dummy
Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible
Body Count – Born Dead
Sugar – File Under: Easy Listening
Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction
Various Artists – The Crow Soundtrack
Slayer – Divine Intervention
Testament – Low
The Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot
Korn – Korn
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged
Megadeth – Youthanasia
Cryptopsy – Blasphemy Made Flesh
Dimmu Borgir – For All Tid
Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
Bush – Sixteen Stone
Napalm Death – Fear, Emptiness, Despair
