1994

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do you hate Sugar?

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:47 (twenty years ago) link

alba likes Sugarcubes and Sugababes

DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:50 (twenty years ago) link

That's like the inverse of 'Do you hate fun?', stevem

Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:50 (twenty years ago) link

'Copper Blue' always sticks out like a sore thumb when you look at NME's Albums Of The Year year by year for the 90s. I've still not heard it.

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:57 (twenty years ago) link

I moved to London in the summer of 1994 - almost ten years ago to the day, so it all still seems very vivid. I remember being obsessed with Grace and Dummy and, erm, the Divine Comedy's Promenade. Also lots of Pavement and Aphex Twin and old seventies back catalogue stuff on CD: Buckley Snr, Drake, Eno, Cale, Martyn, Steely Dan etc. I was terribly daunted by the big city, skint and depressed.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:03 (twenty years ago) link

do you mean Grace as in 'Not Over Yet'?

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:04 (twenty years ago) link

I hope so. God, that was a lovely track. This sort of stuff was all over those Now comps I mentioned, so they're responsible for my 90s dance education.

R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:06 (twenty years ago) link

xpost

Sadly, no.

Jeff Buckley played in my local pub - the Red Lion - in Stevenage Old Town in the spring of 94, as a very weird date on his mini-tour to promote the Sin-e ep. Well, he played a lunchtime gig in the pub, had a kip under his big fur coat, and then played third on the bill to some local punk groups at the Bowes Lyon Youth Club in the evening. He was gorgeous.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:12 (twenty years ago) link

The Face's 80s lists are gonna be a big help soon...

Yeah, thought it was gonna be Buckley, but more Grace love makes us gladder.

R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:15 (twenty years ago) link

Blur, Beasties, Soundgarden, Green Day, Senser, 'Bug Powder Dust', 'She Don't Use Jelly'... um, Credit To The Nation, 'Unplugged In New York', 'Regulate', being at the very least intrigued by jungle at a time when rave to me was something that came in outsized plastic tape packs and I pretended to like while sitting on top of the school bus home.

Select magazine is pretty pivotal in all of this, from my vantage point

DJ Mencap0))), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

I had a crush that summer on a girl who wore green boots and Lemonheads and Sonic Youth t-shirts.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago) link

Or no, never mind, that was 1993.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link

So 1993.

R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:33 (twenty years ago) link

cheap trick, ramones, kiss, PWEI, the muffs, ac/dc (always listen to them though)

cw28 (cw28), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:44 (twenty years ago) link

i hated 'Regulate' and all stuff like it at the time. i loved 'Midnight Marauders' tho.

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:10 (twenty years ago) link

Summer of '94 hits I liked:

"Closer," Nine Inch Nails
"The Big Empty," Stone Temple Pilots
"Come Out and Play," The Offspring

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:13 (twenty years ago) link

Best song of 94:

http://wizardishungry.com/mp3z/Teenage%20Bondage.mp3

gainfully employed (ex machina), Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:14 (twenty years ago) link

Select magazine is pretty pivotal in all of this, from my vantage point

OTMFM

dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:16 (twenty years ago) link

1. Gold Soundz - Pavement
2. Viewmaster - Eric's Trip
3. Over your shoulder - Dinosaur Jr
4. All Sideways - Scarce
5. From a Motel6 - Yo La Tengo
6. Untitled - Six Finger Satellite
7. Car Song - Madder Rose
8. Lowest Part is Free - Archers of Loaf
9. Tragic Carpet Ride - Polvo
10. Dump - Small 23
11. Untitled - Green Magnet School
12. I Send My Love To You - Palace Brothers
13. Surf Wax America - Weezer
14. Sick of Heaven - Sleepyhead
15. Skills of the Star Pilot - Butterglory
16. Sorry Again - Velocity Girl
17. Love Theme From Santo Gold - Lotion
18. Awaiting Eternity - Rose Chronicles

I made this into CD, I started a trhead about it. Anyway, this is what I liked in 1994.

jel -- (jel), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:42 (twenty years ago) link

Pretty much all those bands were on the Reading '94 poster I saw last night

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:45 (twenty years ago) link

I must dig out my Sleepyhead CD's.

The untitled GMS and 6FS songs were from the "Declaration of Techno-colonial Independence" split-single.

Did the White Birch by Codiene come out in 1994?

jel -- (jel), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:45 (twenty years ago) link

I actually thought it was a terrible year for music while it was happening! I was wrong, of course, but still.

I remember it being an identity-crisis kind of year, musically--not for me personally but because the post-Nirvana alt-rock glut had cleaved a space between indie and mainstream-alt, and I f'in' HATED a lot of what got popular that year (Collective Soul, for one; NIN for another). Hip-hop lost me because I distrusted the "keepin' it real" aspect of it; it seemed more austere and less fun than it had been the previous few years. And dance music seemed less juicy, less fun, moving toward arena-techno and stadium house instead of the goofier, more fun stuff I'd been into. Then I went to First Avenue on the last Sunday of the year for their "best of 2004" night and was blown away by how much of the music was really good. I still prefer '91, '93, and '95, but yeah, great year.

Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:36 (twenty years ago) link

Matos is right of course. 1994 opened a lot of doors, but others closed behind it - shoegazing and grunge were replaced with trip hop and britpop. In a way it was the last time we'd see the back of the 80s-styles. Agreed about dance music too - stuff like the KLF couldn't have happened after 1994 because people were taking it seriously by then.

dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 2 September 2004 23:33 (twenty years ago) link

!! Who is 'people'?

Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 23:34 (twenty years ago) link

"best. fucking. year. ever."

couldn't have put it any better.

J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 3 September 2004 02:18 (twenty years ago) link

if people were taking it (dance music) seriously after '94 then it was partly because of the deluge of 'rave cheese' that had infiltrated the charts, 'Sesame's Treet' 'Roobarb & Custard' 'We Are Raving' etc. - not that I blame the KLF for that as I'm not sure they inspired those records anymore than 'Charly' or whatever. And people look back fondly at them now but at the time it was pretty irritating.

Also 1994 was the first time I heard Scooter...

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:28 (twenty years ago) link

Of course 'Charly' inspired those records!

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:33 (twenty years ago) link

yeh - that's what i meant re: dance

pre-1994: Italo House, Kiddie Rave, Stadium Techno, Ragga Jungle
post-1994: Big Beat, D'n'B, Trance, Trip Hop

actually I think it was when it started getting serious that I went off dance music completely for a few years.

dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:36 (twenty years ago) link

well it wasn't the first or only tune to sample old kids TV but i guess it was the biggest hit (xpost)

May '93 to May '94 was my year off from dance music. I spent most of it listening to Pearl Jam, STP< Soundgarden and Senser. It didn't take much to get me into Jungle from Autumn '94 onwards but it wasn't until the following Summer that I started to like House and heard stuff like 'Acperience' and 'Higher State Of Consciousness' and even 'Strings Of Life' for the first time (shockah)

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:40 (twenty years ago) link

I still don't really understand, dog latin. Why is big beat more 'serious' than ragga jungle or italo house? And if you want really humourless 'serious' stuff then hello - Detroit techno?

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:42 (twenty years ago) link

i hit the uk in june after 12 months overland from australia thru s.e asia india etc. i went to nottinghill carnival for the first time and i saw and indulged with people DANCING to JUNGLE. i heard gilles p drop "inner city life". i bought d'n'b selection 2. best year evah.

gaz (gaz), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:47 (twenty years ago) link

and fuck me MATOS is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

gaz (gaz), Friday, 3 September 2004 08:53 (twenty years ago) link

By 94 the one-music-all-night-long monoculture was firmly established in clubland, which seemed to me like a massive disappointment – the balearic “if it sounds good we’ll play it” /"it’s all just dance music” ethos was truly dead (though I may be over-romanticising that anyway). Perhaps that’s what dog latin means – the (relative) disappearance of playfulness.

Wasn’t 94 also the start of the rise of handbag/glam house, the superstar dj and the return of dresscode elitism?

Philter, Friday, 3 September 2004 09:00 (twenty years ago) link

I still don't really understand, dog latin. Why is big beat more 'serious' than ragga jungle or italo house? And if you want really humourless 'serious' stuff then hello - Detroit techno?

I don't really remember Detroit Techno making that big of a commercial impact - it stayed underground. I guess Big Beat was a bit silly but it was featured in Q and Select and other supposedly "proper" music mags whereas Black Box wasn't. I'm just saying that suddenly dance was recognised as "proper" music as opposed to throwaway rubbish that was beneath song-based pop and rock.

dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:03 (twenty years ago) link

i think that still went on - i went to Metalheadz in '96 and Goldie played Atmosfear's 'Dancin' In Outer Space' and other things you wouldn't expect - it was probably even more jazzier when they were at the Blue Note. Norman Cook and the Chemical Brothers retained Balearic Spirit at BBB and the Social, as another example - taking fun seriously seemed the modus operandi.

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:05 (twenty years ago) link

philter described it best i think.

dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:05 (twenty years ago) link

although "thats how it is", "east" were fighting against this tendency Philter - in London at least. You had the notion of freestyle djs emerging in the chemical bros, the big chill, the rumpus rooms etc etc.

gaz (gaz), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:06 (twenty years ago) link

also i couldn't have imagined dance music really being discussed in something like The Guide or whatever pre-1994. Select had that dance section at the beginning of their magazine - that was such a neat idea. Bring back Select I say.

dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:07 (twenty years ago) link

doglatin you are sounding a lot like Swells when he was banging on playlouder last year about how the seriousness ruined dance music. he even mentioned Black Box as well!

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:07 (twenty years ago) link

Death of playfulness, end of the party, certainly.

I think two meanings of 'serious' are getting mixed up a bit here though. I would dispute that idea that dance music was not taken seriously by the music press until 1994.

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:09 (twenty years ago) link

Something about this sounds Geirish.

R.I.M.A. (Barima), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:10 (twenty years ago) link

But I should preface that by pointing out that I never think before I post.

R.I.M.A. (Barima), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:10 (twenty years ago) link

Seriously - I bought a fair few techno and breakbeat records in the late 80s and early 90s on the back of NME write ups.

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:10 (twenty years ago) link

how old were you in 94 dog latin?

gaz (gaz), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:12 (twenty years ago) link

(NB. I'm pretty sure none of those write ups were by Steven Wells)

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:12 (twenty years ago) link

here's that thread: pointing and laughing at dance music part 4912

the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:16 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, I was overgeneralising wildly and you're right to say that lots of messing with genre barriers was still going on (and it being big beat's m.o.) - though maybe it was a london ting: at the time I was (and still am) in Sheffield and it all just seemed so much more regimented than 2-3 years before. No place for amateurs (which ties in with stevem's "taking fun seriously" point).

Philter, Friday, 3 September 2004 09:18 (twenty years ago) link

re: I'm just saying that suddenly dance was recognised as "proper" music as opposed to throwaway rubbish that was beneath song-based pop and rock.

This was manifested with Melody Maker putting Underworld on the front cover and introducing an expanded dance section in early 1994. They had a big issue on electronic/ dance music.

Indeeed this proved so successful that a year later in Spring 1995, Muzik magazine was launched by IPC Media.

[In 1993, Melody Maker's dance music coverage was limited - and they were relatively slow on the uptaking of Brit Progressive House Scene which can be traced back to early Summer 1992 and Mixmag]

DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:19 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, well MM had been hopeless for dance music, but that was just MM's problem

Alba (Alba), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:22 (twenty years ago) link

sim r to thread!

gaz (gaz), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:25 (twenty years ago) link


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