Pickled Priest Mixtape: Our Favorite Songs of 1994
1994 blah blah blah. Hard to pick songs blah blah blah. So many more that deserved to be listed blah blah blah. I was much younger then blah blah blah. Hate to go all Alex Lifeson on you, but let's get on with it already.
PICKLED PRIEST'S FAVORITE SONGS OF 1994
SIDE A
26 "Earth to Grandma" | Ass Ponys
There are better songs on Ass Ponys' breakthrough record, Electric Rock Music, but none of them put a smile on my face quite like "Earth to Grandma" so that's that. The choice has been made. I love it because everyone should have a grammy with an arts & crafts table in her house for when the grandkids come over. A place where she can encourage creativity and also use later to make your next Christmas or birthday gift by hand. Sadly, I did not have such a grandma, but I did once own "a crazy yarn and beercan hat" made from a discarded Schlitz can (see replica below). Better yet, nobody in the 70s thought it the least bit odd that an eight-year-old was wearing a crocheted Schlitz hat. What a great decade! The beauty of being a grandmother is that your intentions are beyond reproach. If it's a well-meaning gift from grandma, you loved it no matter what, or you said you did to preserve her feelings. But not Ass Ponys—they called her out in hilarious fashion, "Earth to Grandma / What the hell is that?"
25 "Here Come the Rome Plows" | Drive Like Jehu
The "Rome plow" was a menacing piece of Mad Max-esque machinery used during the Vietnam war to deforest areas where the enemy might be hiding. Drive Like Jehu's "Here Come the Rome Plows" accordingly approximates what such a violent and relentless device might sound like in action. And I'm barely exaggerating here. From the now revered garage-punk cult classic, Yank Crime, this song was your point of entry—and fair warning to all those who dare enter—the album is loaded with fierce rippers, several extended to punishing lengths for maximum brutality, each driven by the larynx-shredding vocals of (the late) Rick Froberg and the power-tool riffs of guitarist "Swami" John Reis. You can either get out of their way or let them roll right over you. I recommend the latter, believe it or not.
24 "Let's Go (Nothing for Me)" | New Order
A song in the works on-and-off for about a decade until the final version was released on 1994's The Best of New Order compilation, "Let's Go" ranks right there alongside other now classic tracks from New Order's prime era. A kinetic groover for anyone who has ever claimed a relationship meant nothing to them with tears rolling down their cheeks.
23 "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" | Morrissey
I am now a central part
Of your mind's landscape
Whether you care or do not
Yeah, I've made up your mind
What a brilliant set of lyrics. Like telling a joke on an elevator, they work on so many levels. The bottom line is that Moz doesn't take no for an answer because Moz knows what's best for you. And, of course, that's him. Whether you're his ex-lover or just an estranged Smiths fanatic from America who couldn't get into his solo work, he's not ready to let you go just yet. In fact, you don't have a choice in the matter—he's already made up your mind. You're going to love the miserable bastard eventually, so why fight it? Very few artists have the hubris to pull off such a presumptuous declaration and Morrissey, for better and likely worse, is certainly one of them. I'm not sure if this song pre-dated the "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" warning on your car's side-view mirror, but the consequences for ignoring it here are just as perilous, I assure you.
22 "Cornflake Girl" | Tori Amos
I was still a Frosted Flakes guy back in 1994, but I still got the analogy of "Cornflake Girl" straight away. Tori saw herself as a "raisin girl" living among the bland cornflakes, offering a needed break from the monotony, and sometimes tragedy, of daily existence. She was an out of the box thinker and a one-woman support system for many of her female fans, often carrying a pretty heavy responsibility in the process (more tears than beers backstage at her shows, to say the least). Without a doubt, she's changed lives with her music. She went there and bravely so. Rape, incest, genital mutilation (the inspiration for "Cornflake Girl"), and no issue was taboo. Somehow, she turned those harrowing moments into memorable songs you'd want to hear again and again. "Cornflake Girl" was just such a song, from its riveting first twenty seconds to its double-clutch refrain ("This is not really happening") to its chilling counterpoint ("You bet your life it is") this is a song that seizes your attention with a white-knuckle grip and doesn't let go for five riveting minutes.
21 "Gee Angel" | Sugar
At this point, it's time to bring on the guitars. And no guitarist does it for me quite like Bob Mould. "Gee Angel" runs on a frantic razor-sharp seesaw riff that never lets up for the whole song and that's always been the f.u.e.l. the Pickle Priest jalopy runs on. Oh, and there's something here about angel's wings not being returnable or something, which is ludicrous. Even with a receipt?
20 "Susan Across the Ocean" | The Silos
I've spent most of my adult life following the Silos. They came along just when I needed something raw and real in the late-80s and I'm going to see them again in a few weeks on their 40th Anniversary Tour. Granted, singer-songwriter Walter Salas-Humara is the only original member these days, but that's OK, it's his voice and his songs I've always come to hear (although a full reunion, complete with Bob Rupe and Mary Rowell, would be epic). His songs are unlike anyone else's—patient, unadorned, heartfelt, and arcane. "Susan Across the Ocean" has all these qualities, but this time the storyline is a bit more clear. A lost relationship, only made more painful through distance. You can feel his defeat in every line, "I'm not angry anymore, but it hurts me so bad / When I think of all the sweet times we could have had." It's almost like you're there in the room with him as he talks to the wall; so honest, so personal, the wound still fresh. You want to buy him a beer.* But then, right near the end, a sudden twist. We find out our protagonist is now 60 years-old, with a wife and three kids, and suddenly you realize he's never quite left Susan** behind, even all these years later. As that realization hangs in the air, the song ends. You could call it unfair to his current family, but who among us hasn't wondered about the life they could've had if things had worked out differently?
*I did once buy him a beer before a Silos show and he asked me what I wanted to hear that night. I rattled off three songs casually for him to pick from and he thanked me. When the show began, he came out and did all three songs acoustic and then went on with the rest of the show. A class act!
**Susan is a recurring name in Silos songs. On their debut, About Her Steps from 1985, we first meet this Susan dishing out a meatless burrito from a food truck and, while it isn't verified, this appears to be that same Susan many years down the road, or so one could presume.
19 "Big Poppa" | The Notorious B.I.G.
This song is so far in the opposite direction from my baseline personality, confidence level, and self-esteem that it gives me a little artificial boost of machismo when I sing along with it. Everybody wants to be a big daddy now and then, right? The big-time player with the fat wad of cash, Moët in the ice bucket, and a tricked-out Benz valeted outside—living large, in other words, in this case literally so.
18 "Everyday We Fall in Love" | Monte Warden
Everybody has a concert memory where some then unknown opening act or band positively blew them, and often the headliner, away. When I saw Monte Warden open for Jimmie Dale Gilmore back in 1994, I had never heard of the guy before. My bad, for that night I witnessed the Austin native charm the socks off an unsuspecting audience with his throwback sound—a combination of country and 50's rock and roll. With a charming Buddy Holly-ish presence and some killer songs, the crowd was going bananas by the end of his short set. I've never seen so many people fork over cash for an opening act's CD as I did that night. "Everyday We Fall in Love" is a sweet little wedding song and if you didn't/don't play it at your reception (as I did two years later) that's a shame because it's a golden opportunity to get the crowd, young and old, to share a magical moment on the dance floor together. A song everyone can fall in love with.
17 "Beeswing" | Richard Thompson
She was a lost child
She was running wild
She said, 'As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way'
"Beeswing" is a ravishing, classically-styled British folk song about a girl who will never put down roots as long as she can help it. Thompson eats songs like this for breakfast, his rambling troubadour pedigree established early on with Fairport Convention back in 1967. Here he laments the loss of his restless maiden to her insatiable adventurous streak. This is the kind of song that would kill at your average Renaissance Fair, I'm sure. Of course, in the end, life comes for us all, but until that time she's a wildflower yearning to be free, if I may paraphrase Tom Petty. I imagine, as the song says, she wouldn't want it any other way.
And they say her flower is faded now
Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay
For the chains you refuse
16 "Strawberry Road" | Sam Phillips
One of the finest singer/songwriters of the last forty years, there is no debating it. Few have carved out such an immediately identifiable, yet wholly original style as Sam Phillips. The trick is that she's still writing, for all intents and purposes, catchy pop songs. There are elements of chamber-pop, folk, and rock in her music, but she's always operated above the trappings of the usual modern radio fare. She mixes youthful energy with mature refinement into her recordings, which may account for the title of her 1994 album, Martinis and Bikinis. A toe in both worlds. "Strawberry Road" is the perfect candidate to demonstrate this unique approach. From an album that has consistently been called Beatlesque—a high compliment—in this case that means the melodies are easily accessible to the ears, but there's more going on under the surface than meets the eye production-wise. Here we find both in perfect balance in a love song that will stand the test of time.
15 "Grace, Too" | The Tragically Hip
The pride of Canada, a mere passing fancy in the US, the Tragically Hip were a special rock band that stood out from the norm because of their unflinching dedication to writing songs about what they know, where they come from, and those they live among. That they were a great band with a galvanizing lead singer didn't hurt. When singer/songwriter Gord Downie passed away in 2017 is was a gut-punch to all of Canada and flags were flown at half-mast in his memory. How many bands get such respect? In my personal experience, few bands commanded the stage quite like the Hip in their prime. Riveting every time. "Grace, Too" is yet another rightfully beloved tune by the band, beginning with a great line, "He said 'I'm fabulously rich, come on let's go," which was later amended live to "He said I'm tragically hip..." much to the crowd's delight. They weren't above a little pandering when needed. But that's where the pandering ended, for the song, and this is up for debate, had some vile undertones of an exploited girl and her pimp/handler. I do like a song where nothing is quite as it seems on the surface and I also like a band that amounts to more than the sum of its parts.
14 "Going Back to Georgia" | Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith was a national treasure (her death in 2021 at 68 affected me significantly and I'm still figuring out why—perhaps it's because the world was just a much purer and kinder place with her in it). If you missed her the first time, go back and find her—it's not too late. I count her concerts I attended among my favorites of all-time mainly because she was so naturally captivating yet so self-effacing at the same time, never over-singing, never overdramatic, letting the songs speak for themselves. Her loyal fans included countless well-known musicians as well. (One of the best songs of the year, still to come on this tape, name-checked her in its title no less.) One of her notable fans was Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz, who had a smash album the year before with August and Everything After, still the band's finest album. When he guested on Nanci's "Going Back to Georgia," on her Flyer album, the world hadn't tired of him yet (many would shortly thereafter), but his feature here is right up there with his finest vocal performances, just the right amount of vocal distinction without pushing the song too far. He nestles alongside Nanci here with something between respect and reverence, and it's obvious he didn't want to fuck up his one chance to sing with a legend.
SIDE B
13 "Your Ghost" | Kristin Hersh
A song that lingers in your psyche long after it ends, "Your Ghost" is, as the title indicates, haunting. That description is overused, but appropriate here. Add some killer backing vocals by Michael Stipe, and the song delivers a shiver down the spine every single time.
12 "Baby's Got New Plans" | Alejandro Escovedo
Her mistake was his mistake
That's just where it stands
And everything that comes of it
Lingers on their hands
Few artists have been as meaningful to me during my life as Alejandro Escovedo, and most of that impact came after he turned 40 years old. After a lifetime as a band member (The Nuns, Rank and File, The True Believers, quite a track record!) he finally decided to go off on his own. That started a run of uniformly great records that carries us to present day. His live shows have been revelatory for me as well, combining heartbreak, tears, joy, and celebration in equal measures. He's been responsible for some of the best nights of my musical life and I thank him for it. Thirteen Years, his 1994 album, ranks as one of the most beautiful and powerful records of his career, accented with horns and strings and some of his finest songwriting. "Baby's Got New Plans" is the song that always nailed me to the wall live and the recorded version captures that same impact. I read it as the story of an unexpected pregnancy and how one unexpected event can change a life, or lives, forever.
11 "Strange Currencies" | R.E.M.
Where does Monster fall in your R.E.M. album rankings? For me, it's low. Certainly the least impressive album of the band's career up until 1994 and the album with the unenviable task of following a masterpiece, 1992's Automatic for the People, a record as important to me as any in recorded music history. So, it had a lot to live up to in other words. And speaking of words, that's how Stipe has described "Strange Currencies"—a bended-knee case for the prosecution aimed at penetrating the defences of his one true love. If you're going to make a convincing argument, it doesn't hurt to have a dramatic voice like Michael Stipe. I don't know about you, but I would've buckled upon hearing his vocal on this track alone, one of his greatest ever in my opinion.
10 "I Am a Scientist" | Guided By Voices
I am a lost soul
I shoot myself with rock & roll
The hole I dig is bottomless
But nothing else can set me free
The best Guided By Voices album isn't up for debate with us. It's the almighty Bee Thousand. We are not alone in that opinion. Still, for die-hards, picking "I Am a Scientist" from an album packed with GBV classics may seem beyond obvious, but it's the lyrics that elevate it onto our mixtape. Particularly, the line captioned above. If there is one line in a song that better sums up our relationship with music—rock and roll to be specific—it's this one. Every time he sings it, and thank god it's in every set list, it never ceases to remind me that the time and effort I put into finding the next great song, the next amazing album, is well worth the pursuit.
09 "Nanci" | Toad the Wet Sprocket
The entirety of Toad's Dulcinea is a pillow clutcher, one whose Sunday morning melancholy can devastate or heal depending on where you are in your life cycle at the time of listening. It's one of the most underrated albums of the 1990s and I'll stand by that claim. Singer/songwriter Glen Phillips had a way of cutting to the heart of the matter with his lyrics and seemingly simple melodies, but we all know doing that is harder than it sounds. "Nanci" captures the end of a relationship during its most tragic moment—dividing up the record collection. Suffice it to say, as a public service announcement, sign a pre-relationship agreement detailing record collection ownership the moment you decide to live with anyone. Even better, don't combine record collections in the first place. Nobody should have to choose between Loretta Lynn and Nanci Griffith. It's not an either/or proposition. It's a both.
08 "My Blank Pages" | The Velvet Crush
I reserve a special place in my heart for power-pop and few albums from the 1990s stand with Velvet Crush's Teenage Symphonies to God in that department. The album title comes from Brian Wilson (describing Smile) and the song title pays homage to the Another Side of Bob Dylan gem "My Back Pages," but the song is a total 90s alternative-pop force while still retaining its melodic foundation. Ric Menck's bashing drums drive the guitars of Jeffrey Borchardt and Paul Chastain forward with some serious intention, making this power-pop song one that truly lives up to both sides of that genre description.
07 "Parklife" | Blur
Voiced not by any member of Blur, instead Quadrophenia star Phil Daniels, "Parklife" falls in the grand tradition of British storytelling set to music, somewhere this side of the Kinks, contemporaneous with Pulp, and presaging Arctic Monkeys. Few did it better than Blur did on the masterpiece that is Parklife, a record so packed with indelible moments, it ranks right up there with the best albums ever to come out of England, which is really saying something. There's a song for every mood on Parklife, so picking only one makes little sense. "Parklife" is just too amusing to pass up, however. A slice of British culture of which I'm sure Ray Davies would approve.
06 "Wake Up Time" | Tom Petty
There's petty much no losing with any song on Wildflowers. If it's a rocker you desire, there's "You Wreck Me," which would be a logical mixtape choice. I'm not sure it fits perfectly with the feel of the album, however. "You Don't Know How it Feels" will please those who like to cheer every time he mentions rolling a joint and there's no fault in that either. "Wildflowers" is one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. There's something moving about being really seen by another human being. Flawless. The rationale could continue for some time, but eventually you'll find yourself faced with the reality that is "Wake Up Time," the album's stirring finale. How does it hit you? On my end, there are times when it hits me hard and makes me feel like I missed my true calling in life and there are times when it inspires me to live my current life to the fullest. Either way, it's wake up time. Time to rise. Time to shine.
05 "Sabotage" | The Beastie Boys
With the first pick of the Beastie Boys 1994 Song Draft, the Pickled Priest selects "Sabotage," the smartest and most obvious pick since the Bulls drafted Michael Jordan ten years earlier. Maybe it would be cooler to pick a lesser-known track from Ill Communication, but that would be a lie and you know it, because nothing in the entire Beastie Boys catalog hits quite like “Sabotage.” 136 million views of the video can't be wrong. This is not a list, in theory, that chronicles what sounds good this week; rather a list of what's sounded good since 1994. And, for a song I've heard hundreds (thousands?) of times since, it still retains its capacity to wind me up like a chase scene in a 1970s cop show.
04 "Red Right Hand" | Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
He's a ghost, he's a god
He's a man, he's a guru
Let Love In is one of Nick Cave's masterpieces and to sell it for parts misses the point of his albums, which are best taken in one sitting. I had trouble making a selection, but ended up with "Red Right Hand" not because it was the theme for Peaky Blinders, but because it's an absolutely devastating character sketch. You don't know whether to go to him or run like hell. A case can be made for both.
03 "Easy's Gettin' Harder Everyday" | Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent, all innocent and Midwestern, can crush you with a few well-chosen lyrics. It’s uncanny how many times she does so on her 1994 album, My Life. I stopped counting. She’s a late-blooming songwriter that just gets the heart and soul of normal life, where everyday happenings can amount to a general feeling of nothingness and despair. Little things pile up until you’re broken. Have you ever felt this way? If so, be prepared for that feeling to be distilled like you’ve never quite heard it before. Before long, you’ll be looking out your back screen door wondering what happened to your life and if it will ever get any better. I know what you're thinking—sounds like a bummer—but you'll find some solace in this song if you've ever suffered a hardship for any length of time. Does that sound like you?
02 "Welfare Music" | The Bottle Rockets
One of the 90’s best alt-country bands, Festus, Missouri’s Bottle Rockets rose above much of their competition because they had a way of capturing the stories of small-town characters in an appealing Southern rock style. They were shit-kickers with heart, guys who were equally able to blow it out one minute and then dial it back for a touching ballad the next. There was substance underlying both approaches. They also didn’t hesitate to call bullshit when it was needed, be it against the mindless use of the Confederate flag (“Wave That Flag”) or those who insensitively treat the poor as societal parasites. The latter is where “Welfare Music” comes into play. In a few words, songwriter Brian Henneman paints a vivid picture of a teenager raising a child on her own, the father still out “chasing women and drinking beer.” All she needs a temporary boost to get her life in order. The song gives her dignity even when others (Rush Limbaugh referenced, if not by name) are trying to take it away. No solution is offered other than empathy, which comes across as her story unfolds. They treat her like the human being she is, not as some kind of pariah. If the Bottle Rockets had one predominant skill it was in making the little moments seem profound and the forgotten people feel seen.
01 "Bellbottoms" | The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Nothing is worse than the “You had to be there” guy, but in this case doing so would go a long way to explain my love of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The band's live shows in the 1990s still rank among my favorite concerts ever because they were a celebration of just about everything I love about music. Punk, R&B, garage, noise, rockabilly, 1950s rock, camp, humor, energy, passion, recklessness, you name it, all wrapped up in one powerful, whiplash inducing live juggernaut. Few bands I’ve seen live packed more grit, power, and groove per square inch than this threesome of singer/carnival barker Jon Spencer, shard-spewing guitarist Judah Bauer, and drum-punishing Russell Simins. They were a force to be reckoned with from the first second onstage to the last, lurching toward their destination like an old jalopy with a stuttering engine and a bad timing belt. But that car fucking tore down the dragstrip when Spencer hit the gas, that much I know. So, what I’m trying to say is that the JSBX were primarily meant to be a live band. Their recorded work was pretty damn fantastic, but it didn’t quite match the intensity of their live show. “Bellbottoms,” from 1994’s breakthrough (of sorts) Orange, came pretty close, however. Revived in recent years after being used prominently in Baby Driver, it’s a caterwauling rickshaw of a rock and roll song, barely staying on the road, perilously heading straight for an innocent fruit cart on the roadside just ahead. You'll need to set up some hay bales when these guys really get cooking. There are so many starts, stops, false starts, false stops, Elvis-styled interjections of random “Blues Explosion!” hype, frenetic drumming, and barbed wire riffing, it’s amazing that it all fits into one song. A total gas from start to finish. The way rock and roll is meant to be. If you don’t like this, we’re gonna be at an impasse from now on. This is my Mason-Dixon line. My 38th parallel. My Les Nessman dotted wall barrier. This is what we're all about.
__________________
My ride's here. See ya soon.
Cheers,
The Priest