Tag Archives: 1994 Album in Context

Album in Context – Oasis “Definitely Maybe” (1994)

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By Michaela Maxey

Oasis “Definitely Maybe” album cover

The year of 1994 was economically disastrous for the UK under Margaret Thatcher’s government. There was widespread strikes amongst the public sectors and unemployment had reached 3.2 million people. So how did two brothers from Burnage, a somewhat unremarkable area of Manchester, rise through all the struggles they saw around them? It wasn’t easy for Noel and Liam Gallagher, but they did manage to come together. Liam had originally been part of an earlier band called Rain with drummer Tony McCarroll and guitarist Paul Arthurs. Once Noel joined, the band name was changed to Oasis. In ‘94 the band released their debut album Definitely Maybe which became one of the most sold debut albums of the time, reaching as far as North America where it became just as popular.

In Definitely Maybe, Noel Gallagher brings forth honest and blatant statements, never shielding away from potential backlash. This is especially seen in songs like “Up in the Sky” and “Cigarettes and Alcohol” that constantly reference drugs. These songs are drastically different in their sounds, that is “Up in the Sky” offers a quick beat and drawn out lyrics while “Cigarettes and Alcohol” slows it down into something that sounds more like an ode to drugs. Although I don’t recommend doing anything suggested in these songs, I’m loving how badass they are and the ‘cool’ feeling I get listening to them. Tracks like “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” and “Supersonic” offer a certain loudness to the album through their use of electric guitar and drums that mimic the loudness of society; if the noise of workers striking was ever captured, it would be in these songs. There is no quiet song until “Married with Children,” the final song on the album, plays. After crashing our way through the tracks, we get a certain quietness that feels like credits in a movie beginning to role and the audience sitting in awe of what they just witnessed.

Truly, this album is a masterpiece. It somehow combines the smugness of the Sex Pistols and the melodic tunes of Paul McCartney, constantly weaving between the two extremes and reflecting the instability that both the band and society were facing.

Album in Context – Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” (1994)

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by Chelsea Ives

Amidst the insurgence of the pop-rock-grunge-alternative music scene, Jeff Buckley was the steadfast stone against the current that was the onslaught of popular punk-rock music. While Greenday released their first major studio album, Dookie, and ushered a new era of pop-culture music, Buckley instead chose to be the resistance. Combating the music scene which threatened to be homogenized into the new and growing sound of grunge-punk, Buckley flooded the music scene with his original folk-rock songs and re-vamped versions of classics like Led Zepplin’s, “Night Flight”.

The most important aspect Buckley brought to the table was his incredible voice. Somehow both ephemeral and tangible at once; Buckley’s voice truly is angelic, and I understand where the title of the album comes from. The album opens with his original song, “Mojo Pin,” which features Buckley’s voice breaking through silence in a haunting and sublime interference, as the song fades in so slowly it is almost imperceptible at first, before building with Buckley’s vocals.

Buckley had a huge impact on the music scene in New York in 1994. Where other musicians had tried to kick off their career by doing covers of songs that were (already) over-done, trying to play them in the exact same way; Buckley shone through the masses like a lighthouse. His renditions of the same songs were always vastly different and always stimulating. Take for example his cover of Leonard Cohen’s song, “Hallelujah”. Arguably a favourite to be covered by artists, all of them always sounding the same. Except of course, for Buckley’s version. Indeed, Buckley’s version of the song has come to be the most popular version of the song. Included as the sixth track on the Grace album, Buckley’s rendition of “Hallelujah,” could not be more different than Cohen’s. Where Cohen’s version is comprised of a heavy, jazzy-blues sound, Buckley turns “Hallelujah,” into a light, airy melody which truly gives the impression that he knows the secret chord.

Jeff Buckley’s album, Grace, is one that has stood the test of time, only becoming more popular since it’s release in 1994. Grace will continue to inspire for years to come.

Jeff Buckley’s only full length studio album, Grace. (August 23, 1994).

1994 Album in Context: Hole’s Live Through This

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By Mina Wiebe

In typical Courtney Love fashion, Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This flipped the alt-rock genre on its head, gave it the finger, and contributed to a total shift in the alternative music scene. I’ve always thought of the 90’s as a decade of metamorphosis for alternative music, and the album played a crucial role in the transformation. In the late 80’s there was certainly a spike in alternative music, but it wasn’t until the 90’s that these bands really took off. Alternative music was suddenly this paradoxical butterfly, bursting from its underground cocoon to become the very thing its essence was built to juxtapose: it became mainstream.

In her Pitchfork review of Live Through This Sasha Geffen made a good point when she explained that “[w]hile there were plenty of rock songs written by men about hounding and abusing women, there were few about being hounded and abused. The rock canon, like all the others, fiercely guarded its male subjectivity, and Love wanted to break through its ranks”. That’s why I have the utmost respect for Hole—while many other male alt-bands began to be accepted for what they already were, Hole had to go through an entire metamorphosis of sound to have their alternative music accepted into the mainstream world. And when they did finally push their way in to this male-dominated music scene, somehow their work was still attributed to the work of a man.

And although 90’s alt-music is usually associated with names like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Hole definitely made its mark. Live Through This didn’t reach Billboard’s top 40, but it still met critical acclaim, going multi-platinum and earning top-100 chart spots in seven countries. Hole had successfully gained a mainstream audience, sporting the ironic “alternative” label while gaining international recognition. Live Through This is a staple of the decade, and will forever be known as one of the albums that helped change the meaning of alternative.