Ye Olde Hit Parade: Sabotage

Editor's note: Ye Olde Hit Parade takes a look back at my favorite songs year by year (starting in 1978, when I really started paying attention to music).

1994: Beastie Boys - Sabotage

You want crazy news stories, 1994 is here for you. We should have known it was going to be a strange year when just six days in, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by a goon allegedly hired by her biggest rival's ex-husband. Probably the biggest story of the year was football legend O.J. Simpson allegedly murdering two people (including his ex-wife), leading police on a ridiculous slow-speed chase and then starring in the subsequent high-profile trial. Kurt Cobain killed himself, which while not surprising, was still a bummer. The U.S. hosted the World Cup, Woodstock '94 took place 25 years after the original event, and Major League Baseball players went on strike in early August, wiping out the rest of the season and playoffs.

For me, things were looking up. Two things were directly responsible for that: Moving in with some friends in Beverly and going back to reporting, which meant I didn't have to wake up before the crack of dawn anymore. I didn't mind doing layout and copyediting, but reporting was more fun. I got the courts job at the Beverly Times and it was a blast. My social life improved immediately and things were much more enjoyable in general.

It was another great year for music and I went to a ton of shows: Redd Kross, the Afghan Whigs, Pearl Jam, Cracker, Rollins Band, Thurston Moore, Soundgarden, Buffalo Tom, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Tragically Hip, the Rev. Horton Heat, the Velvet Crush (in Austin while visiting my brother), Sugar, Bad Religion, Hole. I almost went to the free Green Day show on the Esplanade in Boston that quickly turned into a mud-throwing riot; something came up and I wasn't able to make it.

Indie rock was still a big deal, but now we were seeing the major labels desperately looking for the next Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Plenty of copycat acts popped up hoping to capitalize on grunge fever, which meant there was a lot of crappy music getting airplay. Meanwhile, classic rock acts still did well: The Eagles reunited and started charging $100 for tickets for their Hell Freezes Over tour, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page re-teamed to make new music and tour, Aerosmith continued to sell lots of albums with crappy ballads on them.

Pop and hip-hop were big on the charts. Hell, Ace of Base had three of the top 10 singles of the year. Snoop, Coolio, R. Kelly, Warren G and Da Brat all had big hits as well. And somehow the unholy trio of Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting landed the #8 single of the year with "All For Love" from the soundtrack of The Three Musketeers, which starred Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Chris O'Donnell, another unholy trio. But as I established earlier, it was a strange year.


I was mainly listening to WFNX for the so-called alternative rock. I pretty much steered clear of any of the metal or classic rock stuff I used to listen to, with the exception of that Page and Plant album and a few others (Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Elvis Costello). Much like the year before, I was into as much new music as I could get my hands on: Sloan, Frank Black, Drive Like Jehu, Pavement, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, New Bomb Turks, Helmet, Liz Phair, Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Weezer, Soundgarden, King's X, Green Day, Meat Puppets, Mark Lanegan, Alice In Chains, Rollins Band, Superchunk, Sonic Youth, Jeff Buckley, Portishead, Luscious Jackson, Dinosaur Jr., Bad Religion, Sugar. It was a great time to be a music fan, even though Cobain's death cast a bit of pall on things in the springtime. I made some good mixtapes that were perfect for driving around that summer.


My favorite song in a year of great songs was the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," which was aided by a great '70s-themed video that dominated MTV. The Beasties were really mixing things up on their Ill Communication album, moving away from the heavy sampling of their early records and incorporating their own instrumental contributions (as they did on '92's Check Your Head). "Sabotage" is a total banger, featuring a slamming riff, fuzz bass, turntable scratching and Ad-Rock's pissed-off vocals. Released in January, the song was an invigorating and fun ride that set the stage for the rest of the year.

Honorable mentions: Beastie Boys - "Root Down"; Sloan - "Coax Me"; Sloan - "I Hate My Generation"; Frank Black - "Headache"; Drive Like Jehu - "Here Come the Rome Plows"; Helmet - "Wilma's Rainbow"; Helmet - "Milquetoast"; Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"; Pavement - "Gold Soundz"; Rollins Band - "Liar"; R.E.M. - "Bang and Blame"; Pearl Jam - "Corduroy"; Pearl Jam - "Spin the Black Circle"; New Bomb Turks - "Id Slips In"; Liz Phair - "Supernova"; Luscious Jackson - "Citysong"; Orangutang - "Shiny Like Gold"; Beck - "Loser"; Beck - "Beer Can"; Weezer - "Buddy Holly"; King's X - "Dogman"; Soundgarden - "The Day I Tried to Live"; Soundgarden - "My Wave"; Green Day - "Longview"; Meat Puppets - "Backwater"; Alice In Chains - "No Excuses"; Mark Lanegan - "The River Rise"; Superchunk - "The First Part"; Superchunk - "Driveway to Driveway"; Jeff Buckley - "Mojo Pin"; Jeff Buckley - "Eternal Life"; Sugar - "Gift"; Sugar - "Your Favorite Thing"; Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Bellbottoms"; Warren G - "Regulate"; Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You"; Blur - "Girls & Boys"; Nirvana - "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"