Hello again everyone, Brandon Stransky here with another new blog about the top Alternative Rock albums in a particular year and the year that will be discussed is 1994. The past few ones of these I had done, I had a pretty good idea of what they were going to be but for this year, it’s a completely different story.

For the other ones, I had actually struggled to find the last couple of albums to round out the list. But when 1994 hit, that’s when all of the work done the previous years by the alternative rock pioneers had paid off as we would see a large influx of talent and material from new faces as well as old as it finally appeared that the alternative scene had taken over the mainstream. This was when you would actually see grunge fashion on runway shows it was that big.

Unfortunately 1994 would also be the year that the movement lost who was arguably it’s spearhead in Kurt Cobain, who tragically passed away in early April. Regardless of how it went down, the fact remains that the genre and the movement would not have been anywhere near as successful if it wasn’t for him. It’s strange to think where music would be today without his influence.

With that being said, I’ve decided that with having such a large amount of good albums to choose from, for one time only I’ve decided to make it a top 7 so let’s get to it.

7. Bush-Sixteen Stone
Even though released extremely late in the year, Bush’s debut album just barely makes the cut at number 7. The majority of their most popular songs were from this particular album and was easily it’s most successful and memorable. It’s sound was paritcularly interesting as this was released at a time when most British bands were rejecting the grunge sound of American music and instead embraced a return to classical British guitar music in the form of Britpop and Bush went the other way and had a more American, grunge sound to them.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 4
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 6x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Everything Zen-Modern Rock Tracks: 2, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 5
Little Things-Modern Rock Tracks: 4, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 6
Comedown-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 2, Hot 100: 30
Glycerine-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 4, Hot 100: 28, Top 40: 28
Machinehead-Modern Rock Tracks: 4, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 4, Hot 100: 43
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS: None

6. R.E.M.-Monster
This album would mark the first time in 4 years that R.E.M. would tour in support of one of their releases, having taken a break from it despite how their previous two works were the most successful of their career. The sound of Monster would also take a bit of a drastic turn from those previous two albums, returning to a more straight forward, fun rock sound with more emphasis on keeping things electric as opposed to acoustic and experimental.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 1
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 4x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
What’s the Frequency Kenneth?-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 2, Hot 100: 21, Hot 100 Airplay: 14, Top 40: 10, Hot Dance: 24
Bang and Blame-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 3, Hot 100: 19, Top 40: 13
Strange Currencies-Modern Rock Tracks: 8, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 14, Hot 100: 47, Top 40: 30
Crush With Eyeliner-Modern Rock Tracks: 20, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 33
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS: None

5. Soundgarden-Superunknown
Even though Soundgarden had been around much longer than their other Seattle counterparts, they unfortunately didn’t see the same success they did until the release of Superunknown in 1994 which is what catapulted them into the mainstream consciousness. They came close in 1991 with Badmotorfinger but was unfortunately overshadowed by the releases of albums such as Nevermind from Nirvana and Ten from Pearl Jam. Even though they had particularly been releasing harder, more metal music, it was with this one that they took their big evolutionary step forward by having slower, more deliberate and tactical melodies and ballads such as their breakthrough single Black Hole Sun
CHART PERFORMANCE: 1
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 5x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Spoonman-Modern Rock Tracks: 9, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 3
The Day I Tried to Live-Modern Rock Tracks: 25, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 13
Black Hole Sun-Modern Rock Tracks: 2, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 1
My Wave-Modern Rock Tracks: 18, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 11
Fell on Black Days-Modern Rock Tracks: 13, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 4
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
1995 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album: Nominated
1995 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance-Black Hole Sun: Won

4. Stone Temple Pilots-Purple
Coming in next is Stone Temple Pilots with their sophmore effort in the form of Purple which carried on a lot of the same elements of their previous, extremely successful album but also started to branch out a bit, drawing upon influence of other genres such as blues and pyschedlic rock and showed that they are much more than a one album wonder and this was a solid first step in showing that they are much more diverse than what they had been previously pigeon-holed as.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 1
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 6x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Big Empty-Modern Rock Tracks: 7, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 3
Interstate Love Song-Modern Rock Tracks: 2, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 1, Top 40: 22
Vasoline-Modern Rock Tracks: 2, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 1
Unglued-Modern Rock Tracks: 16, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 8
Pretty Penny-Mainstream Rock Tracks: 12
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS: None

3. Pearl Jam-Vitalogy
After their first two albums were largely more hard rock/grunge oriented, their third album had a bit more flavor to it as it still had their usual hallmarks but they experimented a bit more with this one had some more somber melodies to it as well as some very good ballads. At one time this album was the second fastest selling album in history, behind only the band’s prevous release Vs., as this one managed to sell 877,000, although unfortunately in later years it would lose this status.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 1
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 5x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Spin the Black Circle-Modern Rock Tracks: 11, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 16, Hot 100: 18
Tremor Christ-Modern Rock Tracks: 16, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 16, Hot 100: 18
Corduroy-Modern Rock Tracks: 13, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 32
Better Man-Modern Rock Tracks: 2, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 1, Top 40: 13
Not For You-Modern Rock Tracks: 38, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 12
Immortality-Modern Rock Tracks: 31, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 10
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
1996 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance-Spin the Black Circle: Won
1996 Grammy for Album of the Year-Nominated
1996 Grammy for Best Rock Album-Nominated

2. Live-Throwing Copper
While this may have not been Live’s debut album, it was certainly the breakthrough that they needed to ride the train of success and etch their name into the mainstream consciousness. Their sound was unique in that they would take the standard alternative rock formula and apply a bit of eastern influence to it combined with Ed Kowalczyk’s vocals to create a sound that was new, fresh, and something that people could latch onto as evidenced by the overwhelming positive reception that it received. With higher overall sales and higher charting singles, this barely edges out Vitalogy for the number two spot.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 1
RIAA CERTIFICATION: 8x Platinum
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Selling the Drama-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 4, Hot 100: 43, Hot 100 Airplay: 42, Top 40: 34
I Alone-Modern Rock Tracks: 6, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 6, Hot 100: 38
Lightning Crashes-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 2, Hot 100 Airplay: 12, Top 40: 6
All Over You-Modern Rock Tracks: 4, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 2, Hot 100 Airplay: 33
White, Discussion-Modern Rock Tracks: 15, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 12, Hot 100 Airplay: 71
AWARDS/NOMINATIONS: None

1. Green Day-Dookie
This album was easily the most successful alternative rock album of 1994 and is what put Green Day on the map. Having gained a pretty large underground cult following with the release of their first two albums, they were finally able to be wooed by a major record label and put out this masterpiece that brought punk rock back into the mainstream with a more modern take on it, albeit at the expense of their underground roots. This album stands as a hallmark for American punk rock music and there is no doubt that it will stand the test of time along with some of the others that have been mentioned in previous blogs.
CHART PERFORMANCE: 2
RIAA CERTIFICATION: Diamond
SINGLES PERFORMANCE:
Longview-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 13, Hot 100 Airplay: 36
Welcome to Paradise-Modern Rock Tracks: 7
Basket Case-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 9, Hot 100 Airplay: 26, Top 40: 16
When I Come Around-Modern Rock Tracks: 1, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 2, Hot 100 Airplay: 6, Top 40: 2
She: Modern Rock Tracks: 5, Mainstream Rock Tracks: 18, Hot 100 Airplay: 41
AWARDS/NOMINATIONS:
1995 Grammy for Best Alternative Album: Won
1995 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance-Longview: Nominated
1995 Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group-Basket Case: Nominated

Honorable Mentions: Offspring-Smash, Alice in Chains-Jar of Flies, The Cranberries-No Need to Argue, Nine Inch Nails-The Downward Spiral, Oasis-Definitely Maybe, Toad the Wet Sprocket-Dulcinea, Weezer-Self Titled(Blue Album), Nirvana-Unplugged

Posted on By Brandon Stransky Entertainment Posted in Entertainment