Life continued apace during as winter turned to spring thirty years ago. I became an uncle in early March and would get to meet my nephew by the end of the month, as Amy and Jerry had decided it was best to move back to Kentucky from Spokane. I was tempted by the prospect of teaching at Transy when a math position opened up there; my unsuccessful mid-March interview for the job and its aftermath got summarized here a few years ago. The weekend after this chart date, I stood for and won election as Newsletter Editor of our state math organization at its annual meeting. I would hold the position for six years.
As for the music of the time, about half the songs on this MRT chart found a home in my collection. Some were written up last time, others now. As usual, I've sprinkled in plenty of other tunes, a mix of new discoveries and old friends from the radio.
26. Smashing Pumpkins, "Today"
8. Smashing Pumpkins, "Disarm"
The only act with two songs this time around. "Today" is in its 23rd week on MRT, "Disarm" in its 16th. The latter is likely one of my top 10 songs for 1994.
25. Pavement, "Cut Your Hair"
Never have investigated these guys, even if they were always highly regarded. I will say that "Cut Your Hair" is excellent, as much of a commercial breakthrough as they ever had. Will definitely be checking out Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain very soon.
24. Sinéad O'Connor, "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart"
From the soundtrack of In the Name of the Father. Co-written by Bono, it garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.
22. Sarah McLachlan, "Possession"
I bought Fumbling Toward Ecstasy not long after it came out and quickly made "Possession" Side 1/Song 1 on a mixtape I played regularly in the car throughout the mid-90s. Might be time to dig that one out again and do a review.
17. Meat Puppets, "Backwater"
At some point in my time at Illinois I learned about this Arizona-based trio, and maybe I even checked out a CD of theirs from the library. Don't remember much about that prior experience except that I don't think they sounded anything like what we hear on "Backwater." An utterly catchy tune and a well-deserved success--it even made it to #47 on the Hot 100 during the summer.
13. Fury in the Slaughterhouse, "Every Generation Got Its Own Disease"
Second band in a row fronted by a pair of brothers. The Puppets were led by the Kirkwoods, Curt and Cris; now we have a German quintet featuring the talents of Kai and Thorsten Wingenfelder. I'm amused to see their Wikipedia page includes speculation that the band's name was inspired by the U.S. 1950s television Western Fury, reruns of which I recall watching after school for a couple of years in the mid-70s.
10. Nirvana, "All Apologies"
I believe I learned of Kurt Cobain's suicide that Friday night I was at the conference where I was elected newsletter editor (that was the day his body was discovered). As sad as the news was, it could hardly be considered a shock.
9. Sheryl Crow, "Leaving Las Vegas"
I'd been all about "Leaving Las Vegas" for several months prior to this, having been introduced to Tuesday Night Music Club in the summer of '93 at the Friday night gaming gatherings held at college friend Thomas's place. I wound up getting my own copy and enjoyed the vast majority of it.
7. Elvis Costello, "13 Steps Lead Down"
Brutal Youth reunited Costello with all of his mates in the Attractions, at least for several of its tracks. This was his final appearance on the MRT chart.
3. Enigma, "Return to Innocence"
More music out of Deutschland, this one the second Top 5 Pop hit for Enigma. A completely enchanting piece seemingly designed with folks who love to look back (who, moi?) in mind.
2. Tori Amos, "God"
One night not long after we got our current pooch Sadie, I spun Under the Pink while Martha and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle in the basement. Sadie became visibly agitated while "God" played, but I'm certain it wasn't because she hated the thought of God sometimes not coming through--those short, sharp screechy guitar noises really set her off. (She also was not a fan of "The Waitress.").
As for me, I don't think Under the Pink holds a candle to Little Earthquakes, but overall it was much better than her next couple of albums.
1. Morrissey, "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get"
Seem to have a bit of a stalker theme this month. McLachlan above deftly disarmed her real-life stalkers by turning their language on them in "Possession," and here Moz plays the role himself. Appealing sounds for an unappealing topic.
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