By the time 1994 rolled around, the music scene had splintered into myriad genres. What was exciting about that time is a band or artist could sustain a great deal of success in those different categories of music without ever quite crossing over to what you might call a mainstream audience.
Let’s take a look at five albums released in September 1994. The artists who released them separate from one another wildly in terms of styles and even eventual longevity. But the albums they released have certainly stood the test of 30 years’ worth of time.
Monster by R.E.M.
After Automatic for the People, R.E.M. suddenly found themselves the poster children for soothing ballads. Befitting their career-long tendencies to switching up their approach, they turned on a dime for Monster, perhaps the most raucous album of their career. As Michael Stipe purposely dove into ever-vaguer lyrical rabbit holes, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and Bill Berry churned away on their instruments with fury and defiance. They rock moodily and triumphantly on tracks like “I Call Your Name,” and even when they do pull back on songs like “You,” the appealingly rough edges are still all over the place.
Pulp Fiction Soundtrack by Various Artists
Normally, we don’t include compilations or soundtracks in these retrospectives on the albums of a specific time in history. But how could we deny the soundtrack Quentin Tarantino compiled for his groundbreaking film Pulp Fiction. For a decade or so after it, it seemed like every wannabe hip flick copied its strategy of finding the coolness and danger lurking on oldies channels everywhere. The Pulp Fiction soundtrack also managed to find commonalities in seemingly disparate tracks like, say, Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” and The Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall.” And the film-dialogue bits between the songs remain eternally quotable as well.
Stranger than Fiction by Bad Religion
Calling Bad Religion punk artists always felt a little bit reductive. While their in-your-face attitude certainly fits the genre, their acrobatic lyrics and dynamic instrumental approach rendered their music much more expansive than the typical three-chord assault. On Stranger than Fiction, the LA veterans who had been doing great stuff under the radar for years finally received a little bit of a look from radio and MTV, and they rose to the occasion. The colorful punch of the title track recalls vintage Elvis Costello, while “21st Century (Digital Boy)” is a bit of dead-on prophecy from songwriter Brett Gurewitz. A powerhouse album that keeps coming at you for 15 tracks without letup.
Mighty Joe Moon by Grant Lee Buffalo
Because it was 1994 and grunge ruled the musical roost, any band that didn’t fit distinctly into other genres often were lumped in with the flannel crowd. That fate befell Grant Lee Buffalo, even though the thoughtful songs of their frontman Grant Lee Phillips were never that easy to categorize. That means you get a lot of solid rockers on Mighty Joe Moon, but then you also get songs like “Mockingbirds,” one of the best Beatle-ballad homages you’ll ever hear. “It’s the Life,” “Happiness,” and “Rock of Ages” also display this somewhat short-lived band’s ability to deliver more musical and lyrical colors than the typical Nirvana-beholden groups of the day.
Under the Table and Dreaming by Dave Matthews Band
Can it possibly be 30 years since this iconic band first showed out? Maybe it’s so hard to believe because their unique instrumental attack has aged so well. Having LeRoi Moore’s assortment of horns and Boyd Tinsley’s violin at their disposal allowed this quintet to go where other bands simply couldn’t, making possible thrilling displays of virtuosity like “Dancing Nancies.” Under the Table and Dreaming also highlights Matthews’ songwriting, especially his knack for bringing complex musical structures around to winning choruses on songs like “Ants Marching” and “The Best of What’s Around.”
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