The 50 Best Pop Singles Of 1994 (Featuring New Interviews With Ace Of Base, TLC, Lisa Loeb, Real McCoy & Haddaway)

Robbie Daw | November 20, 2014 6:39 am

10. SHERYL CROW, “ALL I WANNA DO”

Sheryl Crow All I Wanna Do 1994

Sheryl Crow’s proverbial ship didn’t come in until she was in her early 30s. After a decade of backing vocalist gigs and false starts (she recorded an album that was ultimately scrapped in 1992), the plucky singer/songwriter finally struck gold with “All I Wanna Do.” The defiantly West Coast anthem was warmly received by the then-all-important radio programmers — it was just edgy enough to be credible while still being accessible — and went on to become one of the defining songs of the year.

The song’s appeal has a lot to do with the quirky lyrics, which tapped into the slacker movement and general restlessness of Generation X. There she was, having beer at noon on Tuesday when the worker bees went about their day around her. “All I Wanna Do” eventually climbed all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped establish Sheryl’s niche as the Queen Of Top 40 Pop/Rock. It also earned her three Grammy awards (including one for Record Of The Year) and has become an enduring karaoke classic. — MIKE WASS

9. HOLE, “DOLL PARTS”

“I want to be the girl with the most cake” is the takeaway line from this surprisingly vulnerable ballad, which stands as Hole’s most successful single. It’s hard to separate the song from the iconic image of Courtney Love playing guitar in her babydoll dress, leg hoisted up on a monitor like a rock God. Love, who’s never seemed terribly self aware, was just that on “Doll Parts,” acknowledging her pain and desire. Her grating attention-seeking played out here as a need to be understood.

Live Through This, the album from which it’s taken, was released just four days after Love’s husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead. “Someday you will ache like I ache, ” she sings over and over on “Doll Parts,” the album’s second single, building to a scream. Stints in mental hospitals, sporadic new music and endless legal brawling have dulled the collective memory of just how utterly perfect Love was as a front-woman for a rock band. She laid herself bare on this fine record. — STEPHEN SEARS

8. ENIGMA, “RETURN TO INNOCENCE”

If all of human existence across time were a movie, “Return to Innocence” is the song that should play over the end credits. Its legacy can be seen in several unusual ways — for example, the German act Enigma was a musical project where the composer/producer of the songs, Michael Cretu, was not the main performer. Today on the charts, there are countless songs credited to both a non-singing producer as well as the vocalist, like “We Found Love” by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris, “Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia or even the Cedric Gervais remix of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness.” (In this case, it was Andreas Harde, aka Angel, lending his dreamlike pipes to Cretu’s song.)

After its Billboard Hot 100 success (Enigma’s second US hit reached #4), “Return to Innocence” achieved further ubiquity by enticing 1990s late night TV-watchers to pick up the phone and order the New Age music collection Pure Moods. (Unicorns and forest-twirling maidens are standing by!) Maybe it’s because it’s built around a non-English, practically preverbal hook — the indigenous Taiwanese “Jubilant Drinking Song,” performed by Kuo Ying-nan and Kuo Hsiu-chu (who later successfully sued for credit) —“Return to Innocence” was then and remains now universally epic, instantly recognizable, largely incomprehensible and endlessly moving. Like us. Like life. — JONATHAN RIGGS

7. BJORK, “BIG TIME SENSUALITY”

Bjork Bigtime Sensuality 1994

Those who were around to witness the inception of Björk‘s solo career may be scratching their heads and wondering where, exactly, the last two decades have gone. Has it really been so long since the manic Icelandic pixie popped out of a volcano and impressed us with her Debut? (Technically this was her second solo album, if you count the obscure jazz LP she made at age 11.)

With critics wowed and pop audiences intrigued by the singer’s first LP, Björk kicked things into high gear with fourth single “Big Time Sensuality.” This dancefloor monster resembles the soulful American house sounds of Crystal Waters and Ultra Nate in its original album mix, but for the single, it was revamped into a storming trance jam by remix duo Fluke. “Big Time Sensuality” became Björk’s biggest single yet, garnering copious club play, radio time and worldwide recognition via MTV. At the peak of its success, the Stéphane Sednaoui-directed video would be spoofed by British comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and critiqued by no less than Beavis & Butt-head. Was it any wonder Madonna would go on to hire the song’s producer Nellee Hooper and commission a song from Björk herself for her 1994 Bedtime Stories album? — JOHN HAMILTON

6. MADONNA, “SECRET”

Madonna’s Bedtime Stories — which just turned 20 this year — will likely go down as the most under-appreciated album in her prolific career. That being said, the LP did produce two Hot 100 Top 10 hits, including the album’s incredible lead single, “Secret.”

Written with Dallas Austin (and Shep Pettibonemaybe?), “Secret” successfully shifted the Queen Of Pop out of the smutty S&M dungeons and dingy NYC night clubs of Erotica into a smoother, more seductive R&B arena. Armed with a light guitar melody and a contemplative chorus hum (which sounds like a precursor to her spiritual Ray Of Light anthem “Frozen”), the song saw Madge growing a bit more thoughtful with her lyricism — but still keeping it thoroughly Madge. There’s that one line: “Happiness lies in your own hand,” which is either a cheeky sexual reference (so Madonna) or a statement of self-empowerment (so Madonna). And the secret itself remains just as much a mystery now as it did then: “Mmmm…my baby’s got a secret,” she teases. The black-and-white clip, peppered with baptism imagery, suggested that the song’s subject may be a lover’s secret child, but who really knows? These days, Madonna is still pretty into secrets. #SecretProjectRevolution, anyone? — BRADLEY STERN