Wednesday, January 3, 2001

McQ's Favorite Albums Of 1994

Starting February 2024, thru 2025, McQ's Best Of will be reassessing it's 1994 album rankings, repositioning already ranked titles, and adding dozens of new titles to the mix.

04.01.2025 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. 

Highest Recommends
1. Dummy - Portishead
2. Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld
3. Definitely, Maybe - Oasis
4. Dookie - Green Day
5. The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails

Strong Recommends
6. Grace - Jeff Buckley
8. Ready To Die - The Notorious B.I.G.
9. Illmatic - Nas
11. Parklife - Blur
12. Live Through This - Hole
13. Superunknown - Soundgarden
14. MTV Unplugged In New York - Nirvana
15. Let Love In - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
16. Second Coming - The Stone Roses
17. Casa Babylon - Mana Negra
18. From The Cradle - Eric Clapton
19. Ill communication - Beastie Boys

Solid Recommends

20. Whiskey For The Holy Ghost - Mark Lanegan
21. Vitalogy - Pearl Jam
22. L'Etat Et Moi - Blumfeld
23. Weezer
24. Orange - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
25. Bee Thousand - Guided By Voices
26. American Recordings - John Cash
27. Monster - REM

Mild Recommends

28. D. I. Go Pop - Disco Inferno
29. Whip-Smart - Liz Phair
31. Mellow Gold - Beck

1994 Albums Of Critical Note I've Yet To Assess In Full

24 Hour Revenge Therapy - Jawbreaker
50th Birthday Concert - Evan Parker
76:14 - Global Communication
Amber - Autechre
Amplified Heart - Everything But The Girl
And She Closed Her Eyes - Stina Nordenstam
Another Thought  - Arthur Russell
At Action Park - Shellac
Bakesale - Sebadoh
Blade Runner - Vangelis
Burn My Eyes - Machinehead
Carry The Day - Henry Threadgill
Cracked Rear View - Hootie & The Blowfish
CrazySexyCool - TLC
Da Lama Ao Caos - Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi
Days In The Wake - Palace Brothers
Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate
Do Right Man - Dan Penn
Dog Man Star - Suede
Far Beyond Driven - Pantera
For Your Own Special Heart - Jawbox
Geek The Girl - Lisa Germano
Give Out But Don't Give Up - Primal Scream
Gorgeous George - Edwyn Collins
Haunted Dancehall - The Sabres Of Paradise
Hex - Bark Psychosis
Hips And Makers - Kirsten Hersch
His 'n' Hers - Pulp
Home - Spearhead
Horsebreaker Star - Grant McLennan
How To Make Friends And Influence People - Terrorvision
I Could Live In Hope - Low
Icky Mettle - Archers Of Loaf
In My Life - Iris DeMent
In The Nightside Eclipse - Emperor
Jar Of Flies - Alice In Chains
Korn
Lifeforms - The Future Sound Of London
Mars Audiac Quintet - Stereolab
Mighty Joe Moon - Grant Lee Buffalo
Minimal Nation - Robert Hood
Moodswing - Joshua Redman
Music For The Jilted Generation - The Prodigy
Musik - Plastikman
My Life - Mary J. Blige
No Quarter: Unledded - Jimmy Page And Robert Plant
Parallel Universe - 4 Hero
Pony Express Record - Shudder To Think
Protection - Massive Attack
Punk In Drublic - NoFX
Purple - Stone Temple Pilots
Re - Cafe Tacvba
Regulate... G-Funk Era - Warren G
Resurrection - Common Sense
Roman Candle - Elliott Smith
Ruby Vroom - Soul Coughing
Second Coming - The Stone Roses
Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin
Silver Apples Of The Moon - Laika
Sixteen Stone - Bush
Sleeps With Angels - Neil Young
Smash - The Offspring
Snivilisation - Orbital
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik - Outkast
Stress: The Extinction Agenda - Organised Confusion
Talking Timbuktu - Ali Farka Toure With Ry Cooder
Teenager Of The Year - Frank Black
The Charm Of The Highway Strip - Magnetic Fields
The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
The Impossible Bird - Nick Lowe
The Orphan's Lament - Huun-Huur-Tu
The Sun Rises In The East - Jeru The Damaja
There's Nothing Wrong With Love - Built To Spill
Throwing Copper - Live
Tical - Method Man
Timothy's Monster - Motorpsycho
Tortoise
Troublegum - Therapy?
Twice Removed - Sloan
Under The Pink - Tori Amos
Vauxhall And I - Morrissey
Verde, Anil, Amerolo.... - Marisa Monte
Voodoo Lounge - The Rolling Stones
Welcome To Sky Valley - Kyuss
Welcome To Our Cruel World - Ben Harper
Whipsmart - Liz Phair
Whiskey For The Holy Ghost - Mark Lanegan
Worst Case Scenario - dEUS
Yank Crime - Drive Like Jehu

Last Updated 04.01.25

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. 
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