And that's a wrap on our reassessment of the albums of 1994. Few titles we didn't get to, but most of the year's most notable albums are here in our rankings. What an incredibly deep year. Almost feels like the top 15-20 solids here are really worthy of strong recommends, there's just so much good stuff above them it's hard to figure where to draw the line.
Highest Recommends
1. Dummy - Portishead2. Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld
3. Definitely, Maybe - Oasis
4. Dookie - Green Day
5. The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
7. Chocolate And Cheese - Ween
8. Ready To Die - The Notorious B.I.G.
9. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
10. Parklife - Blur
11. CrazySexyCool - TLC
12. Illmatic - Nas
13. Live Through This - Hole
16. Re - Cafe Tacvba
17. Let Love In - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
18. Second Coming - The Stone Roses
19. Casa Babylon - Mana Negra
20. Amplified Heart - Everything But The Girl
21. From The Cradle - Eric Clapton
22. Ill communication - Beastie Boys
23. Troublegum - Therapy?
24. Throwing Copper - Live
25. 76:14 - Global Communication
26. How To Make Friends And Influence People - Terrorvision
28. Ruby Vroom - Soul Coughing
29. Sixteen Stone - Bush
30. Mighty Joe Moon - Grant Lee Buffalo
31. Blade Runner - Vangelis
32. Haunted Dancehall - The Sabres Of Paradise
33. Worst Case Scenario - dEUS
34. Gorgeous George - Edwyn Collins
35. Smash - The Offspring
36. Give Out But Don't Give Up - Primal Scream
37. Welcome To Sky Valley - Kyuss
38. Whiskey For The Holy Ghost - Mark Lanegan
39. Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate
40. Mars Audiac Quintet - Stereolab
41. Amber - Autechre
42. Vauxhall And I - Morrissey
43. Verde, Anil, Amerolo.... - Marisa Monte
44. Vitalogy - Pearl Jam
45. Hips And Makers - Kirsten Hersch
46. Split - Lush
47. His 'n' Hers - Pulp
48. Da Lama Ao Caos - Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi
49. Prose Combat - MC Solaar
50. L'Etat Et Moi - Blumfeld
51. Weezer
52. Orange - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
53. Bee Thousand - Guided By Voices
54. Snivilisation - Orbital
55. Tical - Method Man
56. Punk In Drublic - NoFX
57. Home - Spearhead
58. Lifeforms - The Future Sound Of London
59. Regulate... G-Funk Era - Warren G
60. Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin
61. Under The Pink - Tori Amos
62. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik - Outkast
63. Monster - REM
64. Teenager Of The Year - Frank Black
65. Purple - Stone Temple Pilots
66. Musik - Plastikman
67. And She Closed Her Eyes - Stina Nordenstam
68. Far Beyond Driven - Pantera
69. Twice Removed - Sloan
70. American Recordings - John Cash
71. Korn
72. Do Right Man - Dan Penn
73. The Orphan's Lament - Huun-Huur-Tu
74. Stress: The Extinction Agenda - Organised Confusion
75. Horsebreaker Star - Grant McLennan
76. Cracked Rear View - Hootie & The Blowfish
77. I Could Live In Hope - Low
78. Wildflowers - Tom Petty
79. There's Nothing Wrong With Love - Built To Spill
80. Dog Man Star - Suede
81. The Sun Rises In The East - Jeru The Damaja
84. Geek The Girl - Lisa Germano
85. Silver Apples Of The Moon - Laika
86. Talking Timbuktu - Ali Farka Toure With Ry Cooder
87. Whip-Smart - Liz Phair
88. For Your Own Special Heart - Jawbox
89. My Life - Mary J. Blige
90. Minimal Nation - Robert Hood
91. Resurrection - Common
92. The Impossible Bird - Nick Lowe
93. The Charm Of The Highway Strip - Magnetic Fields
94. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
95. Hex - Bark Psychosis
96. Burn My Eyes - Machinehead
97. In The Nightside Eclipse - Emperor
98. My Life - Iris DeMent
99. 24 Hour Revenge Therapy - Jawbreaker
100. Pony Express Record - Shudder To Think
101. File Under: Easy Listening - Sugar
102. Bakesale - Sebadoh
103. Voodoo Lounge - The Rolling Stones
104. Protection - Massive Attack
105. Yank Crime - Drive Like Jehu
106. Roman Candle - Elliott Smith
107. D. I. Go Pop - Disco Inferno
108. At Action Park - Shellac
109. Mellow Gold - Beck
110. Carry The Day - Henry Threadgill
111. Days In The Wake - Palace Brothers
112. Welcome To Our Cruel World - Ben Harper
113. Cardinal
114. Tortoise
50th Birthday Concert - Evan Parker
Another Thought - Arthur Russell
Icky Mettle - Archers Of Loaf
Moodswing - Joshua Redman
No Quarter: Unledded - Jimmy Page And Robert Plant
Parallel Universe - 4 Hero
Parallel Universe - 4 Hero
Sleeps With Angels - Neil Young
Last Updated 08.02.25
PAST RANKINGS UPDATES
8.17.24 - Our first 2024/25 adjustment has us adding Pavement's singles-heavy Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Beastie Boys so cooly retro Ill Communication to the rankings, as well as a big reassessment jump for Oasis's Definitely, Maybe, which plays better to us now than it did the year it was released.
8.27.24 - Our second update to our 1994 rankings sees a revision in the very top ranks. Portishead's singular Dummy, widely regarded, including here, as the best trip-hop album of all-time, retains 1994's top spot, but right on its heels, vaulting into our 1994 number two position, is an album less consistently heralded in mainstream circles but every bit as fantastic, Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman, which still plays like one of the coolest electronic albums ever made.
9.06.24 - Our third update to our 1994 rankings see a simple confirmation that Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York was ranked exactly where it belongs, a fantastic chronicle of the band as a live presence loaded with brilliant cover choices from The Vaselines, The Meat Puppets and David Bowie that come close (if not succeeding) in overshadowing the band's originals.
3.12.25 - Our fourth update to our 1994 rankings sees a ton of additions and slight reshufflings. Oasis's Definitely, Maybe moves up one spot to #3 on the year, and Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral vaults into the year's top five as well. The vastly underrated Chocolate And Cheese by Ween rises all the way to seven, surpassing, in McQ's Best Of's opinion two iconic titles, Ready To Die and Illmatic, with it's wide-ranging, playful musicality. These are just the most notable of over a dozen additions.
04.01.25 Update - One new addition to our rankings, the Manu Chau-led Mana Negra's hyper-energetic Casa Babylon, in feel in many ways a Spanish-language equivalent to The Beastie Boy's Ill communication of the same year, only if anything, even better.
05.30.25 - Huge addition of 23 new titles to our year-end rankings as we push through forming the 1994 retrospective mix collection. TLC's CrazySexyCool leads the way.
07.06.25 - Another gigantic addition to our rankings, this time 27 albums, lead by strong recommends like the Cafe Tacvba's so enjoyable Re and Everything But The Girls gorgeous collection of trip-hop accented ballads Amplified Heart.
07.13.25 - Nick Lowe's stately country foray The Impossible Bird, Bark Psychosis moody post-rock effort Hex, and Sebadoh's Bakesale are the latest editions to our 1994 rankings.
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