1994

1994 was a good year for music. This was the hardest year so far to put stuff in order. Solid variety plus realizing that I was putting albums I listen to now and kind of cringe at higher solely because of how much they meant to me at the time made this tough. This was definitely a year of me saying "no mike, you just want to put that on the list because everyone else has it on there," like with Nas' Illmatic. It's widely regarded as one of the best rap albums ever, but at the end of the day, I only really like 6 of the 10 songs on it, and there were 14 other albums that were better that year. This is getting harder, but much better. First, runners up because I refuse to admit that I'm really just doing a top 15 rather than a to 10: 

Nirvana- Unplugged In New York: The main reason this isn't in the top 10 (since we all know it's incredible) is that I'm only doing it for studio albums and even though the best songs on this were covers/not on other releases, it's still a live album. But it's definitely too good to not give credit to. 

Offspring- Smash: Over the years, Dexter Holland's voice, much like the band itself, has gotten a bit stale and annoying, so most people forget how awesome of an album this is. There really isn't a bad song on it, and it has more variety than we all remember. The fact that they dominated everything that year wasn't a fluke.

Marilyn Manson- Portrait Of An American Family: This is the 3rd album I heard by Marilyn Manson, so going from really dark and heavy stuff back to something a bit more comical like this was weird. But this album is much better than I ever thought it would be back when the only thing I knew of Marilyn Manson was seeing early hot topic goth kids wearing his shirts. This is goofy and circusy at times, but there are definite Manson classics all over it. 

Gang Starr- Hard To Earn: The other "best rap album ever" of 1994, and I think it's much better than Nas. Every song is great, there's crazy variety and Guru's incredibly cool voice makes every song very easy to listen to. I barely listen to what he's saying- this album is all about head nodding for me. Definitely one of my favorite rap albums ever. 

House Of Pain- Same As It Ever Was: The title track was the song my 7th grade basketball team ran out to, followed by Rage Against The Machine and Beastie Boys. I'll always think of that when listening to this- that, or how many times this album still gets put on when I'm going anywhere with Rich and Josh, my current rommates. Everlast sounds so badass on this whole album, and every beat is incredibly catchy. A very underrated album.

10. Shellac- At Action Park

The same friend who told me about Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Polvo and Sunny Day Real Estate also got me hooked on this gem. Thank you, Colin. I have yet to really hear a band who sounds like Shellac. Formed by mega huge engineers Steve Albini and Bob Weston, they made sounds unlike anyone else. They made vintage guitars and recording equipment sound like homemade guitars and amps, and the very John Bonham-esque drums sound unlike most other recorded drums too. But the heart of this was the riffs. The songs can be painfully repetitive at times, but when the riffs kick in, they made me instantly go back to when I was a kid, making horrible distortion sounds with my mouth. I still play "Boche's Dick" on guitar all the time, and wish my guitar sounded as cool. I'm quite good at air guitar and air drums for this album too. This is a perfect combination of post-rock weirdness and metal, and it immediately struck a vintage, post rock chord with me.

Best songs: "My Black Ass," "A Minute," "Boche's Dick," "II Porno Star"

9. Stone Temple Pilots- Purple

In a year of ridiculous variety, this was one of the only hangers-on from the grunge era. And that's because STP changed a lot with this album. Not only did Scott Weiland suddenly have a higher, less grunge voice, but they wrote warmer, prettier songs. And it worked. The uniqueness of "Vasoline" and "Pretty Penny," the faster, more melodic grunge/alternative rock of "Unglued," and "Army Ants," added to the beauty and immediate stuck-in-your-head-foreverness of "Interstate Love Song" and "Big Empty" made this Stone Temple Pilots' (in my opinion) best album by far. It's the best Scott Weiland has sounded, and it seems to be their most hooky, most focused album. That makes it a classic in my book.

Best Songs: "Vasoline," "Lounge Fly," "Interstate Love Song," "Pretty Penny," "Big Empty," "Unglued"

8. Blink-182- Cheshire Cat

This album moved spots on this list about 10 times. In the end, I had to be honest- no matter how much this album means to me in the history of my music love, the seven albums that beat it sound better in 2012. Giving this album an honest look, the songs are recorded horribly, every song has the same beat, the vocals and lyrics are a bit tough to take at times, and most of my love for it is based more on reminiscing rather than actually listening. This album has enormous significance to me. Before the days of mp3.com, working at a radio station, myspace, facebook, music blogs, "listeners also bought" on itunes, I was still the guy who always looked for and thankfully discovered new bands I loved long before anyone else. I used to buy 3 dollar "cut out" CDs (promos the store wasn't supposed to sell) from a horrible CD store in North Conway the 2 times a year my Mom and I would go on a shopping trip there. I would buy 5-10 CDs every time (whatever I had money for) based solely on the cover and the back. If it looked cool and like it might be good, it got my money. This was by far my greatest discovery. It led me to playing this album all the time in my friend's car, playing air drums to it in the hallways in highschool, and of course, for the "cool" factor, being 1 of 2 people in my whole high school who knew who Blink-182 was, being the only one who had a shirt, them being my first concert, and even meeting them at a CD signing at Bull Moose that attracted probably only 200 people. This was years before the world knew them, years before Travis Barker, and years before they got WAY better at writing songs- and by then, they were already my favorite band. Discovering them in such a random way definitely helped, but this album is still fantastic. 

Best Songs: "Carousel," "M+M's," "Touchdown Boy," "Strings," "Does My Breath Smell?" "TV," "Wasting Time,""Ben Wah Balls"

7. Green Day- Dookie

To anyone who remembers that far back, this album was ENORMOUS when it came out, and I was right there along with everyone else, watching the video for "Longview" every time it came on MTV. By the time "Basket Case" was on MTV every 40 seconds, I was starting to get sick of them. But then my brother got me the tape for my birthday and I realized that Green Day was capable of writing more than 2 good songs. Every song on this album, in fact, is fantastic, right down to the ridiculously stupid "All By Myself."Over the years, songs like "Coming Clean" and especially "She" have become my favorites, but go ahead and listen to this album if it's been a long time- you'll be very surprised at just how many songs you remember and how many are of high quality. So many drum fills, so much violent Billy Joe arm riffing, even my deaf friend liked them.  

Best Songs: "Long View," "Welcome To Paradise," "Pulling Teeth," "Basket Case," "She," "Coming Clean"

6. Sunny Day Real Estate- Diary

From the opening drum fills and explosions of riffage placed perfectly between distant chords and Jeremy Enigk's angelic voice singing confusing lyrics on "Seven," I pretty much instantly knew this band would become something special to me. It took me awhile to get into the rest of the album (some songs drag a bit for my tastes and I didn't always love his voice (he hadn't quite perfected it yet)), but this album absolutely deserves all the credit (or curses) it gets for helping to jumpstart the world of emo. I had really never heard a band do the whole sing/scream-a-huge-high-note-while-start-and-stop-riffing thing before, and these guys did it perfectly in "In Circles" and the absolutely perfect (and still one of the most beautiful songs I know) "48." Their lyrics were poetic and confusing, their songs long and epic, and every note meaningful and at times absolutely gorgeous and yes, EMO (tional) as hell. I also particularly love "Phuerton Skeurto"- the weird waltzy interlude of sorts, which I saw them open with at The Middle East in like 2004 (yes, I'm bragging). When the song should have ended, they instead had it explode into a full on rock song. It was soooo awesome. Thanks again Colin, you helped make some high-school-drama filled rides home even more meaningful.

Best Songs: "Seven," "In Circles," "Song About An Angel," "Phuerto Skeurto," "Grendel" 

5. Korn- Self Titled

If anything perfectly illustrates my taste in music, it's that Korn is sandwiched between Sunny Day Real Estate and Built To Spill on this list. No wonder the radio station hipster snobs didn't know what to do when the freshman in the Limp Bizkit shirt asked if they had heard of Pop Unknown or Cross My Heart. Me discovering the world of emo and indie rock all happened towards the tail end of me loving nu metal- the years that I discovered things are a bit off compared to the years they came out, but I loved both types of music at pretty much at the same time. I finally checked Korn out (after seeing the shirts a bunch and hearing so much about them) by listening to "Twist" off their second album at a listening station in Strawberries (wow, how dated was that sentence?) and I kind of instantly loved them for how disgustingly horrible yet somehow catchy and likeable they were. I didn't check out this- their self titled album, until a year or so later, and was a bit turned off at first, as it is a much more serious album. I'm the rare Korn fan who puts this 4th on my list of best Korn albums, but it has classics all over it- riffs you remember instantly, Korn freakouts that somehow never cease to get me pumped up, and that weird, murky creepiness that embodied their sound. It's hard to define how super detuned guitars, muddy, distorted and flat-out messy riffs mixed with awfully recorded slap bass, screechy high notes, hip hop/311-funk rap beats all with a singer who switched sometimes awkwardly between sounding like James Hetfield and a little girl, screaming about getting beat up in high school and freaking out at the end of the album to the point of legitimately crying for a few minutes= good music, but it somehow worked. To the high school loser in me mixed with the part that would eventually find and love even grosser, even heavier music, this just stuck a chord. I can't really explain it. It's real, it's heavy, it's catchy, and it's just... gross. And it rules. I think over time, rather than citing the classics, I feel like "Lies" perfectly embodies the hideousness of this album- it's a perfect song for Korn detractors to shake their heads at in confusion, and the perfect one for me to listen to while smiling back, unable to explain why it's good: "Listen to how horrible that riff is!" I'll say, and we'll both be confused.

Best songs: "Blind," "Ball Tongue," "Need To," "Clown," "Faget," "Shoots And Ladders," "Fake," "Lies" 

4. Built To Spill- There's Nothing Wrong With Love

There's certainly nothing wrong with this album OH! Although my favorite Built To Spill album (and the first I heard- thanks Colin) is Perfect From Now On, this one is nearly as good. The songs are short, simple rock songs with just enough weird harmonies and messy solos to be a true Built To Spill album. From the first "oh, this is Built To Spill" vocals, this album flows perfectly from simple and catchy pop rock ("Big Dipper") to odd and complicated ballads ("Cleo") to the maybe-not-intended-to-be-so-sad "Twin Falls" to the perfect indie rock gem "Distopian Dream Girl." It ends with a ridiculous (and fake) preview of new songs to come. Everything is great, and the very low key production fits its mood perfectly. The songs also fit Doug Martsch's voice the best of most of their albums. "Car" is a perfect example of how much a singer's voice makes a song. If Built to Spill had kept writing songs this instantly memorable, they probably really would have exploded, but I guess even the best bands run out- you can only write so many perfect songs. 

Best Songs: "In The Morning," "Reasons," "Big Dipper," "Car," "Cleo," "Twin Falls," "Distopian Dream Girl"

3. Ween- Chocolate And Cheese

It feels odd to put such an unbelievably stupid album so high in my rankings, but not only have I listened to this album more than most on this list, I can probably recite nearly every note too. Somehow over time, these songs, no matter how odd or stupid, have grown to mean something to me. This was a standard go-to in long drives in the backseat of my parent's car, playing the tape until it pretty much wore out. This is a perfect example of cohesiveness through differentiation. In small words- every song sounds completely different and that makes it work perfectly as not only a complete album, but as an album I always want to listen to all the way through (except usually skipping "Joppa Road" or the god awful "Candi.") What has stuck with me the most over the years though, are the ballads, or at least the songs with a lot more melody than stupidity. Although "Baby Bitch" was an instant favorite (that still brings up memories of a girl I liked when this came out), "Beunas Tardes Amigo," "Don't Shit Where You Eat," and especially the summery "What Deaner Was Talking About" have grown to be instant singalongs every time I listen to them, and at least "Deaner" has become a go-to song to messily play on guitars whenever my friend Pog and I get together. I never would I have thought a band I decided to check out because a friend in 6th grade told me they recorded a song based on a guy throwing up (still don't know what song that is)- and that I randomly got from BMG without hearing a single note- would end up being such a classic that still sounds great 17 years later. I truly lucked out with this one. Fun fact- my 10th grade English teacher made me a mix tape of the best songs off their albums before this one, and I ran into him at a show when I finally saw Ween 3 years ago/15 or so years after he made me that tape. What an awesome teacher.

Best songs: "Freedom Of '76," "I Can't Put My Finger On It," "Baby Bitch," "Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?" "Buenas Tardes Amigo," "What Deaner Was Talking About," "Don't Shit Where You Eat"

2. Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral

I think that if I'm honest, this album may have been my biggest influence on songwriting. My favorite thing to do when creating music is writing layers, whether it be 1 guitar line over another, or 15 layers of guitar, keyboard, strings, vocals, etc. I'm fairly good at it, but it's also a curse, because I don't know when to stop. Despite this album being filled with most of Nine Inch Nails' best work, the standout to me is, and always has been "Eraser." It starts with what sounds like brain-dead people trying to make music out of blowing through straws, and over 3 and a half minutes, it builds to a huge crescendo of creepy as hell guitars and weird sounds over a towering beat. A new layer is added every measure, and I can honestly say that most of my early recordings of experiments in emo were directly influenced by that. Ever since hearing that song, I wanted to recreate the idea. 

This masterpiece should influence every musician- I can't think of a better example of mood dominating an album. The production tricks, the weird sounds, the overall terrifying eerie-ness of the whole thing is instantly recognizable as Trent Reznor's work, and it makes this album what it is. That it was recorded in the house Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family and created mostly by one person in lots of solitude and on lots of drugs shouldn't be surprising. Sure, it will be remembered for "Closer" or "Hurt," but I think it deserves its level of classic greatness for its other songs- the symphonic simplicity of "A Warm Place," everything about "Eraser," the dynamics of "Reptile," the production brilliance of "The Downward Spiral" (acoustic guitars over creepiness building to a huge explosion of rock, completely muted and in the distance, with the piano line from "Closer" playing over it), to the utter brilliance of what I just recently started to appreciate: "The Becoming." There is so much going on in this song that every part of it's building awesomeness rules, but I particularly like the "ahhh ahhh" vocals over acoustic guitar breaks, and what may have realistically been the first double bass breakdown I ever heard. 

This album is one of the darkest, most nihilistic things I've ever heard, and it's about a man spiraling out of control and eventually killing himself. And it's AWESOME.

Best Songs: "Piggy," "March Of The Pigs," "The Becoming," "Big Man With A Gun," "Eraser," "Reptile," "Hurt"

1. Weezer- Self Titled (The Blue Album)

Any year where an album as legendary as The Downward Spiral is number 2- the number 1 had better be pretty damn special. This was a no-brainer- this was in my top 5 of all time before I even started college, and it's only grown in scope since then. 

I remember the day I got this- it was part of a 4 pack of CDs I got from BMG. One was Tori Amos- Under the Pink, and another was Live- Throwing Copper. I can't remember the other. Live was the sure thing, the others were gambles. I really liked "Undone (The Sweater Song)" when it first came out, and, along with the rest of the world (even though I didn't like it as much), loved "Buddy Holly." But could an album I knew very little about with a cover as awful as this be good? Pop rock songs with lots of distortion by dudes in sweater vests? Back in 1994, this was unheard of, and I really had no idea how this would turn out to be. The fact that my first favorite song on this ("No One Else") is the 2nd track and the first non-single I had heard says a lot. I instantly loved this album. A few of my friends did too, and I can remember singing parts of it with Matt Bianconi, a friend who I did lots of singalongs with (and helped introduce me to Modest Mouse). Literally, every song was instantly memorable, perfectly produced, fuzzy and driving, and sung with perfect harmonies. The lyrics were odd, they clearly had fun while recording, and they were weird nerds. And their name was WEEZER. I liked literally everything about it. "Say It Ain't So" instantly made its way on to every mixtape I made.

Throughout high school and changing tastes, this remained a classic, right up there with my other favorite albums. When my college roommate Jake loved it, it made me happy. When my instant-best-friend-because-of-his-music-tastes friend Nate loved it with a cult-like passion, it grew. When Shaun, the guy across the hall, loved it, the legend grew larger. We all respected the hell out of weezer and played it all the time. Apparently this was one of their favorite albums through high school too. 

What has followed in the last 13 years or so (holy crap) has been a slow Biblification of this album. This became the go-to at parties to make Jake freak out and destroy everything with violent air-guitaring. It became a song to make Voss freak out and slide across tables. It was THE album to put on when all of us were together and we wanted to rock out, singalong, or just instantly all be linked together in something magical. In recent years, weddings aren't allowed to happen if the DJ doesn't play some Weezer. Nearly every get-together has at least some weezer played. And for Thanxmas (our annual christmas party/celebration of awesome) one year, Hilton, Underhill, Pog and I even learned the entire album (save for "Only In Dreams" cuz it's long and we wanted to ROCK) and played it in its entirety IN THE GARAGE at Joe's house. It probably wasn't the best setting (as it was like 20 outside), and it wasn't exactly a perfect or necessarily memorable performance, but just doing that remains one of my favorite things I've ever done, and I loved every second of it. We may have sucked, but we played the hell out of that album. 

Even though my attachment to this album is mostly with that group of friends, most of the group of friends I currently live with generally place it in the top 5 or so of greatest albums ever. It's kind of a universal thing with this generation, and that rules. In fact, if you somehow don't like this album, I probably don't like you very much.

What makes me nearly tear up is knowing that with my little dysfunctional college family of friends- no matter how far apart we may move or how little we may see each other, this album will forever be OUR album. It will forever have a ton of memories attached to it, and it will only continue to mean more over the years. And on top of that, it's this old, and I'm not tired of a single song on it- and only in recent years have I truly understood the brilliance of "Surf Wax America," meaning I'm still finding things to appreciate about it! This is probably my third favorite album ever. Well done Weezer. 

=w=

Best songs: "My Name Is Jonas," "No One Else," "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," "Surf Wax America," "Say It Ain't So," "Only In Dreams"