The Top 70 Modern Rock Tracks of 1993-94 (Part 1)

Never start pulling on a thread unless you're willing to allow the whole thing to unravel...

So, I am not going to do the entire 1990s. I have a theory that your generation is anyone who you could have plausibly gone to high school with, so my goal will be to do 1992-93, a quick hit on 1991-92 (because I just can’t ignore the first year of grunge in the mainstream), then do 1996-97, 1997-98, and 1998-99. I’m not doing 1999-2000 because I looked at the charts for that year and decided to leave well enough alone (he said naively.)

One of the fun things in this journey has been to learn some stuff about songs that I did not know before now, plus things I could not have known at the time. I hope you’re enjoying these, and as always, as you read my list and want to let me know, hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, or…

As usual, Hood Internet sets the mood (there might be some legit spoilers in that still frame.)

(One more meta-note: I had been writing these 70-1, which meant I was a touch out of gas when I got towards the end. I am flipping the script here, so if the back half of the selections are a little lighter, it’s mostly because I have less to say.)

70). "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" by Morrissey (from Vauxhall and I, released  3/14/1994) (peaked at #1 on 4/2/1994)
So, to go back to the day job, there was a whole discussion this year among my APUSH colleagues in my professional learning community about College Board prompts for AP Histories that use the framing “rank the relative importance.” One of the arguments was that “by picking three things, you have said that they are the most important reasons, even if you don’t have to order them primary, secondary, tertiary.”
So yes, this is all a framing to tell you that I didn’t feel like I could leave a song that spent seven weeks at the top of the chart off this list.

69). "Sexual Healing" by Soul Asylum (from No Alternative, released  10/26/1993) (peaked at #10 on 12/4/1993)
It’s a nice cover.

68). "I'll Take You There" by General Public (from Threesome (soundtrack), released  4/1/1994) (peaked at #6 on 5/7/1994)
It’s an…OK cover? I feel like they’re trying to recapture what people liked about them on “Tenderness” ten years later, and the magic just isn’t quite there.

67). "Big Time Sensuality" by Björk (from Debut, released 7/5/1993) (peaked at #5 on 2/5/1994)
Björk gonna Björk, I suppose.

66). "Prayer for the Dying" by Seal (from Seal, released 5/23/1994) (peaked at #3 on 8/6/1994)

65). "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies (from God Shuffled His Feet, released 10/26/1993) (peaked at #1 on 3/12/1994)
Mmmm, CanCon.

64). "Euro-Trash Girl" by Cracker (from Kerosene Hat, released 8/24/1993) (peaked at #25 on 10/1/1994)
(OK, there might be some filler choices in this year to get to 70 songs.)

63). "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow (from Tuesday Night Music Club, released 8/3/1993) (peaked at #4 on 9/3/1994)
This is L.A…

62). "Rocks" by Primal Scream (from Give Out But Don't Give Up, released 3/28/1994) (peaked at #16 on 4/30/1994)
Yep…(maybe I should have just picked 60)…

61). "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" by Us3 (from Hand on the Torch, released 11/16/1993) (peaked at #29 on 11/13/1993)
I really want an oral history of how this song ended up being played on enough Modern Rock/College Rock stations to chart for multiple weeks on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart. It’s a great song; I just feel like it wandered over from a different chart.

60). "Bull In The Heather" by Sonic Youth (from Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, released 5/10/1994) (peaked at #13 on 6/18/1994)
Because of the divergence of timelines, Sonic Youth’s justifiably revered status as an alt-rock pioneer weighs heavy here, even if they have much better songs elsewhere in the catalog.

59). "Come Out and Play" by The Offspring (from Smash, released 4/8/1994) (peaked at #1 on 7/30/1994)
As I said above…

58). "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana (from In Utero, released 9/13/1993) (peaked at #1 on 10/16/1993)
So, on some level, almost any song from Nirvana’s follow-up single was going to get heavy airplay, no matter which song they chose. But to read the production history of In Utero is to be sympathetic to the massively outsized expectations facing this album.

57). "Least Complicated" by Indigo Girls (from Swamp Ophelia, released 5/10/1994) (peaked at #28 on 9/10/1994)
A high school kid hearing this verse:
“Some long ago when we were taught
That for whatever kind of puzzle you got
You just stick the right formula in
A solution for every fool...”
Might feel a very strong connection to the ideas of this song, Just saying.

56). "Fell on Black Days" by Soundgarden (from Superunknown, released 3/8/1994) (peaked at #13 on 9/17/1994)
Even if Soundgarden is a little heavy for you, the five singles on Superunknown represent an excellent set of songs of this era.

55). "Undone - The Sweater Song" by Weezer (from Weezer, released 5/10/1994) (peaked at #6 on 8/27/1994)
In 1994, Weezer definitely had the feel of “the band that would do weird, quirky things” if you just listened to their singles. The party conversation at the beginning of this one, the Happy Days feel to the “Buddy Holly” video. That’s fair. But this song, from the very same album, feels so ahead of its time, in a weird way; you can’t ignore it.

54). "Girls and Boys" by Blur (from Parklife, released 4/25/1994) (peaked at #4 on 7/14/1994)
You know Oasis (rightfully) gets a lot of crap for their outsized ambitions, but when Damon Albarn says, before the release of the band’s first album tells journalists: "When our third album comes out, our place as the quintessential English band of the '90s will be assured. That is a simple statement of fact. I intend to write it in 1994." well, there’s a lot there…I guess my question is, he’s certainly not out of the running for the title, but I don’t think they end up winning the crown, right?

53). "Selling the Drama" by Live (from Throwing Copper, released 4/26/1994) (peaked at #1 on 5/21/1994)
It bears repeating, Throwing Copper had four really strong singles, which, as a high school kid in the 1990s, meant it was worth buying the full CD.

52). "Longview" by Green Day (from Dookie, released 2/1/1994) (peaked at #1 on 6/11/1994)
Fun fact: When you could record your own .wav files to make the start-up sound for Windows 95, I made my first one, the long instrumental intro to “Longview.” That was eventually replaced by the opening riff of “Start Me Up” because I am deeply unclever.

51). "Spoonman" by Soundgarden (from Superunknown, released 3/8/1994) (peaked at #9 on 4/9/1994)
Soundgarden can be…fun? Yes!

50). "Far Behind" by Candlebox (from Candlebox, released 7/20/1993) (peaked at #7 on 9/10/1994)
Power ballads will always find an audience, even if it’s a little later than expected.

49). "Stop Whispering" by Radiohead (from Pablo Honey, released 2/22/1993) (peaked at #23 on 10/23/1993)
”Wait, you already have stood up for The Bends as your favorite Radiohead album, and now you’re picking another song from Pablo Honey that no one remembers!!!” My Radiohead takes are nothing if not consistently maddening.

48). "Lemon" by U2 (from Zooropa, released 7/5/1993) (peaked at #3 on 10/23/1993)
There is an argument that Zooropa is not Achtung Baby II, but rather Achtung Baby 1.5, in that they had enough good ideas for half of a sequel, but not a complete one. “Lemon” is a reasonable bit of evidence for that argument. But “Zooropa” and “The First Time” are strong arguments for a sequel just as powerful as the original.

47). "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden (from Superunknown, released 3/8/1994) (peaked at #2 on 7/2/1994)
Soundgarden being…creepy? Yes!

46). "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots (from Core, released 9/29/1992) (peaked at #12 on 1/22/1994)
Hey, speaking of creep…TLC, STP, Radiohead, all songs with the simple title “Creep” all released in roughly the same 24-month span.

45). "No Excuses" by Alice In Chains (from Jar of Flies, released 1/25/1994) (peaked at #3 on 3/19/1994)
“It’s on an EP! It’s like a glorified single! We don’t even know what else we’re going to get on it!”
“It’s a seven-song EP and it will also include ‘I Stay Away’ and ‘Don’t Follow.’ As good song ratios on a disc go, this was actually a solid buy.”

44). "Go" by Pearl Jam (from Vs., released 10/19/1993) (peaked at #8 on 10/16/1993)
I am glad to see that even 15-year-old me understood that the choice of “Go” as the first single of the new album from Pearl Jam was a clear sign they wanted something to be understood as different, which apparently was heavily noted by critics at the time.

43). "Vasoline" by Stone Temple Pilots (from Purple, released 6/7/1994) (peaked at #2 on 8/6/1994)
Wait “Flies in the vasoline” is just a mishearing of the title lyric of the Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane?” All right…

42). "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails (from The Downward Spiral, released 3/8/1994) (peaked at #11 on 6/4/1994)
Somewhere, Jane Coaston is going to see this, shake her head, and mentally hit me with an Oprah GIF.

41). "Without a Trace" by Soul Asylum (from Grave Dancers Union, released 10/6/1992) (peaked at #27 on 10/2/1993)
The bridge too far of “singles” from Grave Dancers’ Union, if we’re being honest.

40). "Today" by The Smashing Pumpkins (from Siamese Dream, released  7/27/1993) (peaked at #4 on 12/11/1993)
Did I know how tyrannical Billy Corgan was being to the band while recording this album while also suffering through a significant period of mental anguish? I do now.

39). "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots (from Purple, released  6/7/1994) (peaked at #2 on 10/1/1994)
The song borrows chords directly from Jim Croce's 1973 song "I Got a Name."
[blinky eyes GIF] Well, I can’t unhear that now.

38). "I Alone" by Live (from Throwing Copper, released  4/26/1994) (peaked at #6 on 9/17/1994)
I know it was challenging for some people because people don’t like their faith conversations and their pop music to mix, but I like the idea that Ed Kowalczyk was arguing that this song is about coming to terms with your own understanding of the complexities of faith. There’s something interesting about that.

37). "Self Esteem" by The Offspring (from Smash, released  4/8/1994) (peaked at #4 on 10/8/1994)
Upon a critical relisten over a quarter-century later, this song suffers from being too clever by half. The protagonist clearly has issues, but you wonder how honest they are being as a narrator, you get those cheeky nods to things like “the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care….right???” And you’re almost ready to feel bad for the guy, and then he relates this little bit. He’s way more in control and the bad relationship is horribly co-dependent. So yeah…

36). "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. (from Automatic for the People, released  10/6/1992) (peaked at #21 on 10/16/1993)
Buck writes that "the reason the lyrics are so atypically straightforward is because it was aimed at teenagers," and "I've never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the idea that high school is a portal to hell seems pretty realistic to me." Well, this explains a lot.

35). "Loser" by Beck (from Mellow Gold, released  3/1/1994) (peaked at #1 on 2/5/1994)
So Beck is just saying words that sound good together on each individual line, but not necessarily making a coherent whole? Ahh, still slaps.

34). "God" by Tori Amos (from Under the Pink, released  1/31/1994) (peaked at #1 on 3/19/1994)
In a similar vein to “I Alone” being about difficult conversations about faith, I like the distortion effects in this song give a complicated feel to Amos’ larger questions about God.

33). "Einstein on the Beach (For An Eggman)" by Counting Crows (from DGC Rarities Volume 1, released  7/5/1994) (peaked at #1 on 8/20/1994)
In a theme that will recur later, the challenges of 1994 that you have a song that is #1 in radio airplay and virtually impossible for the consumer to own. [shakes head}

32). "All Apologies" by Nirvana (from In Utero, released  9/13/1993) (peaked at #1 on 1/22/1994)
“All in all is all we all are” is a very heavy philosophical bomb to lay in on an outro chorus, but there it is.

31). "Your Favorite Thing" by Sugar (from File Under: Easy Listening, released  9/6/1994) (peaked at #14 on 9/17/1994)
So Bob Mould leaves the legendary punk band Hüsker Dü, goes solo, then decides he wants to do a different thing, so he forms Sugar, writes a whole bunch of songs, is worried they won’t fit into the sonic landscape, Nevermind comes out, Mould realizes this will fit right into the new world, releases Copper Blue, gets massive praise for singles like “Helpless” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” works on the second album, and gets really great single out of it. None of which I knew in 1994.

30). "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows (from August and Everything After, released 9/14/1993) (peaked at #2 on 2/5/1994)
[whispers] I know it’s an important song, but my greater love for virtually every other song on August and Everything After (more on this later) has lowered this on the list. I guess I just wish I were someone just a little more funky.

29). "Big Empty" by Stone Temple Pilots (from Purple, released 6/7/1994) (peaked at #7 on 6/11/1994)
As much as it was on Purple, this song’s presence on The Crow soundtrack, and the even more haunting acoustic version from MTV Unplugged that linger on in the mind.

28). "Until I Fall Away" by Gin Blossoms (from New Miserable Experience, released 8/4/1992) (peaked at #13 on 6/11/1994)
Yes, I really really like Gin Blossoms.
“I don't know all the answers I think that I'll find
Or have it within the time but it's all that I'll have in mind”
That’s a really amazing understanding of knowledge as a process.

27). "Into Your Arms" by The Lemonheads (from Come on Feel the Lemonheads, released 10/12/1993) (peaked at #1 on 11/6/1993)
You could not escape this song, which could explain its then-record run at the top of the Modern Rock Chart in Fall of 1993.

26). "Cornflake Girl" by Tori Amos (from Under the Pink, released  1/31/1994) (peaked at #12 on 6/4/1994)
So that’s what a cornflake girl is. I probably should have looked that up sooner. That would have been a good solution.

We’ll be back tomorrow morning with 25-1, but as always, here’s the playlist if you want to get an early start.