Though not a landmark year in terms of the introduction of new sounds, genres or trends, 1996 did give us a lot of good songs. Here are 30 of them.
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Nineteen ninety-four was not one of rock and pop music’s pivotal years. I didn’t realize how lackluster it was until compiling this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist. I always begin such lists with a look at the pop charts of the year being spotlighted. What a sad state of affairs they were in 1994! I found around 15 good songs that peaked in the top 40 that year, and included all of them in this list (except for Ƭ̵̬̊’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which is not on Spotify). A few great songs came close to making the Top 40, such as Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” (peaked at #41) and The Breeders’ “Cannonball (peaked at #44). More great (mostly “alternative”) tracks would have made the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40 if not for Billboard‘s archaic rule that in order for a song to be eligible for the Hot 100, it needs to be commercially released as a single. Record companies stopped releasing many singles in the late 80s so as to force consumers into buying more profitable full-length albums. What that means is the Hot 100, which was supposed to represent the 100 most popular songs in the US, did not represent the 100 most popular songs in the US. And what mad the top 40 in 1994 was a lot of wussy drek. And Kurt Cobain died in 1994. Not a good year for music. Here are its gems:
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Inspired by the season and the December 15 birthdays of The Drifters’ Johnny Moore, Dave Clark, Jesse Belvin, and George Kranz.
Inspired by the October 3 birthdays of Fleetwood Mac‘s Lindsey Buckingham, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, A$AP Rocky, Chubby Checker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fountains of Wayne’s Chris Collingwood, Eddie Cochran, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, P.P. Arnold, Jimmy Ray, and India.Arie.
Inspired by the 21st night of September and the September 21 birthdays of Oasis‘ Liam Gallagher, Leonard Cohen, Wale, Glasvegas’ James Allan and Swing Out Sister’s Corinne Drewery.
Inspired by the September 19 birthdays of Chic’s Nile Rodgers, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Tegan and Sara, Mama Cass Elliot, The Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley, Teddybears’ Patrik Arve, Skepta, Rex Smith, The Springfields’ Mike Hurst, Brook Benton, Lol Crème, Austin Roberts, Eamon, Marshall Jefferson, Adam West and Frances Farmer.
Inspired by the September 1 birthdays of Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, Archie Bell, Conway Twitty, Lily Tomlin, Noisettes’ Shingai, Gloria Estefan, and Steven Grossman.
Inspired by the August 23 birthdays of The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, The Drifters’ Rudy Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Happy Mondays/Black Grape’s Shaun Ryder, Rick Springfield, Edwyn Collins, Gene Kelly and Tex Williams.
“https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3C4Rb9b71SzKhrdDVJHHs3”
Inspired by the August 18 birthdays of Mika, The xx’s Romy Madley Croft, Aphex Twin, Wu-Tang Clan’s Masta Killa, Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne, The Orioles’ Sonny Til, House of Pain’s Everlast, The Toys’ Barbara Harris, The Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg, Maxine Brown, The Primitives’ Tracy Tracy, and Martin Mull.