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Year in review: 1994

07/09/12 || BamaHammer

Year in review

It was the best of times. I turned 13 that summer. Like any 13-year old kid, I was as impressionable as wet Play-Doh then. Decidedly nerdy and uninterested in making friends or playing sports seriously or whatever else American teenagers did, I simply allowed myself to become completely absorbed in things that I liked, namely comic books, video games, movies, and of course, music. This was the year that metal got a hold on me and decided it was never letting go.

1994

This was the year, man. Look…

Billy C Forrest Gump. NAFTA. Mortal Kombat II and pixelated blood. Kurt Cobain and real blood. Friends. Final Fantasy III. The train wreck of Spider Man’s clone. Dumb & Dumber. ER. The “murder” of Professor X. Paula Jones. Serbia vs. Bosnia. The explosion of Magic: the Gathering. No World Series. Donkey Kong Country. Rwanda. OJ. The PlayStation. Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Brazil and the World Cup. Haiti. Speed. The New York Rangers. Pulp Fiction. Wrestlemania X. Bill Clinton. The Internet.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It goes on and on and on. There was no better time in history to be a metal kid. Especially in America, things were as good as they’ve ever been, and everything ‘Merican pop culture was excreting at the time reflected that feeling of invincibility. While popular music was firmly clutched in the throes of grunge and thrash was grasping at straws, bands like Pantera were still finding ways to give everyone a swift kick in the pants.

In Europe, black metal had been stealing headlines and scaring the bejeezus out of everyone for a few years with the lifestyle, and by ’94, the music was beginning to round finely into form. Even the sound of metal was changing, particularly guitar amplifiers. The Marshall JCM 800’s were being cannibalized by newer models like the vastly underrated JCM 900 Mark III and the absolutely dreadful Marshall 4100, and even the high-gain Mesa models were becoming legitimately commonplace in the scene by way of Metallica. It was a very exciting time when the entire industry was rapidly evolving from top to bottom.

This is essentially my take on the greatest year in history from my perspective back then. Before you get your panties in a wad, just understand that this was well before the advent of Internet music sharing, and bands like Emperor and Grave were sadly unknown to me for several years after 1994. So, as you hop into this time machine, just know that I’ll be giving you the rundown of the albums that shaped the soundscape of 1994 according to an annoying, teenage me from almost 20 years ago. Yikes. If I was making the list with all the knowledge that I have now, you can bet your favorite pair of Reebok Pumps that it would look a lot different.

So turn in your key at the front desk of the Black Hand Inn, call shotgun in that white Ford Bronco with some good friends and a bottle of pills, and be a part of of the soulless limo wreck that was 1994, a train of consequences during a time when life was like a box of chocolates and there was serenity in murder. You’ll find out just how low you can go on this downward spiral towards the twilight. For if the light takes us into the infinity of thoughts or to the promised land, there will be no quarter at that last exit of the fourth dimension. Get nostalgic and enjoy this trip back in time to the greatest year in human history before it’s buried by time and dust. So get busy living, or get busy dying. Definitely. Maybe. If you can’t handle it, then bitches – leave.

Soundgarden: Superunknown

I still say that there are two kinds of people in the world: people who love “Superunknown” and people with absolutely no musical taste whatsoever. This remains one of the best albums ever written and recorded, regardless of style or genre, and it still holds up well after all these years. Soundgarden managed to make oddities like 5/4 or or 7/4 time signatures seem as natural as a simple, groovy dance beat. “Superunknown” is a whopping fifteen classic tracks that defined the absolute best of heavy, sludgy grunge, and this album served as one of the most memorable gateway drugs to darker and heavier albums that were out there at the time. Without it, I have no idea exactly what I’d be listening to now.

Slayer: Divine Intervention

Here’s how stupid I was at 13: I thought Metallica was better than Slayer. The first time I saw the cover of “Divine intervention”, I had to have it. I’ve always been attracted to evil-looking monochrome album covers, and this one was amazing at the time. When I finally did scrounge up enough cash to buy this one (and I remember it was a huge hassle because of the PMRC), I remember being blown away and a little intimidated by the speed and aggression. I had always heard of Slayer, but I had never actually heard Slayer as a kid. Obviously, now I understand that they had much better albums out there even then, but this one just goes to show you what a good album cover could do for you as far as selling your record. I listened to this album constantly, and I still give it spins here and there. I even had to purchase it again a few years ago because I had simply worn it out. If that doesn’t speak volumes about the impact this album had on me, I don’t know what does.

Obituary: World Demise

I honestly can’t remember any exposure to death metal before getting a copy of “World Demise” one night at the mall in 1994. I vividly remember staring at that classic logo on the cover as it sat there on the rack in the Sound Shop and deciding then and there that I had to have it. Then John Tardy scared the poo right out of me the first time I heard him through my headphones, and I absolutely loved it. Songs like “Don’t care” and “Final thoughts” constantly rolled through my mind at school, and I would (try to) draw that Obituary logo on everything. The guitar tone was unlike anything I had ever heard before as well, and it even inspired me to emulate it on my own crappy guitar rig (a cheap Squier strat, a slightly less cheap solid state Marshall combo, and a truly crappy DOD distortion pedal) in my bedroom. Good times.

Cannibal Corpse: The bleeding

Around Christmas that year and pretty soon after the discovery of death metal through Obituary, I began to crave other albums from that genre, mainly due to the amazingly high-gain guitar tones and general obnoxiousness of the music overall. Needless to say, I found the fix of obnoxiousness that I needed in the mighty Cannibal Corpse. However, at 13, an album with song titles like “Fucked with a knife” and “Stripped, raped, and strangled” was definitely one that needed to be hidden from parents and probably kept a secret from most friends. Nonetheless, I loved it and I still do. To me, this is the best album Cannibal ever made.

Pantera: Far beyond driven

I remember having a t-shirt with the “Far beyond driven” cover on the front of it. I wore it all the time. Yeah. I was that kid. I had actually heard Pantera at a friend’s house a little before 1994, but FBD was the first album of theirs that I actually acquired myself. Like everyone else, I enjoyed Dimebag’s leads and overall skill, and while not as catchy as CFH or VDOP, this album does have a certain charm about it that keeps me coming back to it even today.

Testament: Low

There were ads for this album all over the pages of Metal Maniacs and even Hit Parader for an entire year in 1994. And for those of you who are too young to know, Metal Maniacs and Hit Parader were magazines (bound paper, almost like a book, kids!) that were in print back in the day, and before the rise of the Internet, we had to read those mags every month just to find out what was even out there. Writers said good things about Testament, so I took it upon myself to give “Low” a listen. While it’s far from my favorite Testament record today, “Low” was and still is very good. It also may have been a little ahead of its time with the downtuned influences and numerous death metal-inspired low growls of Chuck Billy.

Mayhem: De mysteriis dom sathanas

Things from Europe were still weird and mysterious at this point, but this album has to be included just because of the notoriety that Mayhem acquired through their charming brand of heathenry. “De mysteriis…” is a fantastic album for sure, but the band itself really transcended black metal, and they became living (and dead) legends. While this album wasn’t as cold and ugly and offensive as many other black metal releases of the era (1994’s Darkthrone, anyone?), there’s no denying that Mayhem were the true kings of the genre, at least for a little while, following this legendary album. I’ll also never forget where I was when I first read about the Varg/Euronymous/Dead saga in a random issue of Guitar World for the first time.

Megadeth: Youthanasia

Before the Internet blows up because this is on the list, just know that I understand that this one’s not great. It’s a C+ at best. However, I had to include it just because I listened to it so much in ’94. Like I’ve said, we didn’t have the luxury of music sharing, so albums like this seemed like a good idea. Marty Friedman still impresses me on this album with his precision more than anything, and there are some pretty tasty hits like “Reckoning day” and “Train of consequences” on here. I also remember asking my mom if she would buy it for me one night, and when she looked at the cover, she was horrified because babies were hanging from a clothesline. She caved and reluctantly bought it for me, and I went straight home and made sure “The bleeding” was in a good hiding place.

Hopefully this nostalgic memoir hasn’t been too much of a silly, awkward narrative of my life. But then again, that’s what any 13-year old kid is. Silly and awkward. Personally, I’m happy to have lived 1994 when I did. I wouldn’t be the metalhead I am today without it.

And just for gits and shiggles (and to prove to you that this was the best year in metal and music history), here is the full list of albums from 1994 that includes the albums that I discovered years later to be pretty decent:

2Pac: Thug life, vol. 1
Alice in Chains: Jar of flies (EP)
Altar: Youth against Christ
Amorphis: Tales from the thousand lakes
Ancient: Svartalvheim
At the Gates: Terminal spirit disease
Beastie Boys: Ill Communication
Beck: Mellow gold
Bolt Thrower: …For victory
Bruce Dickinson: Balls to Picasso
Brutal Truth: Need to control
Cannibal Corpse: The bleeding
Cryptopsy: Blasphemy made flesh
Coolio: It takes a thief
Corrosion of Conformity: Deliverance
Danzig: 4p
Darkthrone: Transylvanian Hunger
Dave Matthews Band: Under the table and dreaming
Dinosaur Jr.: Without a sound
Dream Theater: Awake
Edge of Sanity: Purgatory afterglow
Emperor: In the nightside eclipse
Enslaved: Frost, Vikingligr Veldi
Gorgoroth: Pentagram
Grave: Soulless
Green Day: Dookie
Gwar: This toilet Earth
Helmet: Betty
Hypocrisy: The fourth dimension
In Flames: Lunar strain
Insane Clown Posse: Ringmaster
Korn: Korn
Kyuss: Welcome to Sky Valley
Leukemia: Grey-flannel souled
Luciferion: Demonication (The manifest)
Machine Head: Burn my eyes
Marduk: Opus Nocturne
Mayhem: De mysteriis dom sathanas
Megadeth: Youthanasia
Mercyful Fate: Time
Mötley Crüe: Mötley Crüe
Napalm Death: Fear, emptiness, despair
Nine Inch Nails: The downward spiral
Nirvana: Unplugged, live in New York
Oasis: Definitely maybe
Obituary: World demise
Pavement: Crooked rain, crooked rain
Pearl Jam: Vitalogy
Pink Floyd: The division bell
Prong: The cleansing
Public Enemy: Muse-sick-n-hour-mess-age
Queensrÿche: Promised land
R.E.M.: Monster
Rollins Band: Weight
Rotting Christ: Non serviam
Running Wild: Black Hand Inn
Satyricon: Dark medieval times
Satyricon: The shadowthrone
Slayer: Divine intervention
Smashing Pumpkins: Pisces iscariot
Sodom: Get what you deserve
Soundgarden: Superunknown
Stone Temple Pilots: Purple
Stratovarius: Dreamspace
Tankard: Two-faced
Tesla: Bust a nut
The Offspring: Smash
Warren G: Regulate… G funk era
Wolfsbane: Wolfsbane
Yanni: Live at the Acropolis
ZZ Top: Antenna

I could listen to only the music from 1994 for the rest of eternity and be fine with that.

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