With the 2021 Hottest 100 set to take place on January 22nd, 2022, we here at Tone Deaf have decided to take a stroll down memory lane, recapping the countdowns of yesteryear in the lead-up to the latest edition of musical democracy. Today, we’re taking a look back at the Hottest 100 of 1994.
Kicking off in January of 1995, the triple j Hottest of 1994 was the second annual countdown held by the station which limited votes to songs released in the last year.
Following on from its inaugural year in 1993, fans were eager to see which new and exciting acts were set to top the countdown the second time around. This time, they were delighted to learn that after hitting the #3 spot with ‘Linger’ the previous year, The Cranberries managed to take out top honours, hitting #1 with ‘Zombie’.
Sadly, ‘Zombie’ would actually kick off something of an unfortunate tradition, becoming the last song to feature female vocals until 2010, when Angus & Julia Stone topped the countdown.
Check out The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’:
Following closely behind though, The Offspring managed to become the first band to chart twice in the top five, hitting #3 and #4 with ‘Self Esteem’ and ‘Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)’, respectively.
While artists such as Powderfinger, Gorillaz, Kings Of Leon, MGMT, and Gang Of Youths would later achieve this feat as well, The Offspring’s result remains the highest-placing pair of consecutive entries to date.
The 1994 Hottest 100 countdown also marked the first time that a deliberate effort was made by a band’s fans to rig the countdown, with Pale’s ‘Lemon Sparked’ hitting #62 thanks to a voting campaign spearheaded by the band’s fans.
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In 2014, a spokesperson for the band explained that “like most things, the truth is in the hands of whoever is telling the story and perhaps somewhere in between.”
“The song ‘Lemon Sparked’ did have a lot of airplay that year plus an appearance by the band on Live at the Wireless,” they explained. “The song was subsequently assigned a voting pin number by triple j along with a couple of hundred other songs from triple j’s playlist for 1994.”
“People could vote for the song by ringing in and dialling the pin number and there was no limit to how many times you could vote. Friends of the band were voting multiple times and so it kind of grew from there. But no-one really expected it to make it into the top 100, let alone number 62.”
Check out Pale’s ‘Lemon Sparked’:
At the end of the day, triple j’s Hottest 100 for 1994 featured songs by 85 different artists from a total of 13 countries, including 49 from the USA, 26 from Australia and 13 from England.
Interestingly, two countries achieved records of sorts, with the USA appearing 49 times and Senegal once, these remain the highest achievements to date for these countries.
Soundgarden ended up being the best-performing act of the countdown, appearing four times, while Counting Crows had three of their tracks make the final countdown.
A number of acts, including Beck, Blur, The Cure, Green Day, Hole, The Offspring, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, and You Am I all appeared twice in the countdown.
Meanwhile, a handful of artists also appeared with different bands, including Hope Sandoval (with Mazzy Star and The Jesus And Mary Chain), Michael Stipe (with Kristin Hersh and R.E.M.), Tex Perkins (with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Cruel Sea), and the Pet Shop Boys (who appeared as Absolutely Fabulous, and remixed Blur’s ‘Girls & Boys’).
Also, if you’re keen on some of the more obscure facts, the shortest track to appear in the countdown was Frente!’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ at 2:01, while the longest was The Cure’s ‘Burn’ at 6:39.
Check out the full list of songs in the triple j Hottest 100 for 1994 below. If you’re keen to learn more, head over to the Hottest 100 Database, and check out the Hottest 100 songs that didn’t make the Hottest 100.
triple j’s Hottest 100 of 1994
#1. ‘Zombie’ – The Cranberries
#2. ‘Closer’ – Nine Inch Nails
#3. ‘Self Esteem’ – The Offspring
#4. ‘Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)’ – The Offspring
#5. ‘Tomorrow’ – Silverchair
#6. ‘Seether’ – Veruca Salt
#7. ‘About A Girl’ – Nirvana
#8. ‘Coma’ – Max Sharam
#9. ‘If I Only Knew’ – Tom Jones
#10. ‘Dead Eyes Opened 94’ – Severed Heads
#11. ‘Do You Love Me?’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
#12. ‘Laid’ – James
#13. ‘Bug Powder Dust’ – Bomb The Bass
#14. ‘Better Get A Lawyer’ – The Cruel Sea
#15. ‘All I Wanna Do’ – Sheryl Crow
#16. ‘Sabotage’ – Beastie Boys
#17. ‘Interstate Love Song’ – Stone Temple Pilots
#18. ‘Longview’ – Green Day
#19. ‘Losin’ It’ – Underground Lovers
#20. ‘Time Bomb’ – Barker
#21. ‘Sweetness And Light’ – Itch-E & Scratch-E
#22. ‘Black Hole Sun’ – Soundgarden
#23. ‘Berlin Chair’ – You Am I
#24. ‘Basket Case’ – Green Day
#25. ‘Today’ – The Smashing Pumpkins
#26. ‘7 Seconds’ – Youssou N’Dour & Neneh Cherry
#27. ‘I Alone’ – Live
#28. ‘Doll Parts’ – Hole
#29. ‘Beercan’ – Beck
#30. ‘Confide In Me’ – Kylie Minogue
#31. ‘Fall’ – Single Gun Theory
#32. ‘Fade Into You’ – Mazzy Star
#33. ‘Supernova’ – Liz Phair
#34. ‘Miss World’ – Hole
#35. ‘Cornflake Girl’ – Tori Amos
#36. ‘Spin The Black Circle’ – Pearl Jam
#37. ‘Voodoo People’ – The Prodigy
#38. ‘Atomic Electric’ – Rebecca’s Empire
#39. ‘Mathar’ – The Dave Pike Set
#40. ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’ – Weezer
#41. ‘Your Ghost’ – Kristin Hersh
#42. ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ – Absolutely Fabulous
#43. ‘Monkey & The Turtle’ – Christine Anu
#44. ‘Swamp Thing’ – The Grid
#45. ‘Loser’ – Beck
#46. ‘My Wave’ – Soundgarden
#47. ‘Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)’ – Counting Crows
#48. ‘Mr. Jones’ – Counting Crows
#49. ‘Amen (Testament Remix)’ – Falling Joys
#50. ‘Daddy Long Legs’ – Tumbleweed
#51. ‘Spoonman’ – Soundgarden
#52. ‘Lap It Up’ – Penny Flanagan And The New Moon
#53. ‘Fell On Black Days’ – Soundgarden
#54. ‘Vasoline’ – Stone Temple Pilots
#55. ‘La Di Doh’ – Ed Kuepper
#56. ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – Frente!
#57. ‘Burn’ – The Cure
#58. ‘Everything’s Cool’ – Pop Will Eat Itself
#59. ‘Sometimes Always’ – The Jesus And Mary Chain
#60. ‘Cut Your Hair’ – Pavement
#61. ‘Hey Jealousy’ – Gin Blossoms
#62. ‘Lemon Sparked’ – Pale
#63. ‘Parklife’ – Blur
#64. ‘A Conspiracy’ – The Black Crowes
#65. ‘Bull In The Heather’ – Sonic Youth
#66. ‘Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe’ – Whale
#67. ‘Andres’ – L7
#68. ‘Feel The Pain’ – Dinosaur Jr.
#69. ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm’ – Crash Test Dummies
#70. ‘What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?’ – R.E.M.
#71. ‘Dropout’ – Urge Overkill
#72. ‘Lucas With The Lid Off’ – Lucas
#73. ‘Alone Like Me’ – The Sharp
#74. ‘Neighbourhood Freak’ – Swoop
#75. ‘You Got Me Floatin” – P.M. Dawn
#76. ‘American Life In The Summertime’ – Francis Dunnery
#77. ‘Jaimme’s Got A Gal’ – You Am I
#78. ‘Low’ – Cracker
#79. ‘I’m Gonna Release Your Soul’ – Dave Graney ‘N’ The Coral Snakes
#80. ‘No Excuses’ – Alice In Chains
#81. ‘In The Neighbourhood’ – Sisters Underground
#82. ‘Piece Of Crap’ – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
#83. ‘Am I Wrong?’ – Love Spit Love
#84. ‘Saints’ – The Breeders
#85. ‘Blues Music’ – G. Love & Special Sauce
#86. ‘Thirsty Dog’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
#87. ‘The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get’ – Morrissey
#88. ‘Purple Haze’ – The Cure
#89. ‘Regulate (feat. Nate Dogg)’ – Warren G
#90. ‘Dancing In The Moonlight (Live)’ – The Smashing Pumpkins
#91. ‘Round Here’ – Counting Crows
#92. ‘Shine’ – Collective Soul
#93. ‘Wildflowers’ – Things Of Stone And Wood
#94. ‘Gallows Pole’ – Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
#95. ‘Masses Like Asses’ – Def FX
#96. ‘Girls & Boys (PSB Radio Edit)’ – Blur
#97. ‘Here Comes The Hotstepper (Heartical Mix)’ – Ini Kamoze
#98. ‘A Certain Slant Of Light’ – The Tea Party
#99. ‘Agolo’ – Angélique Kidjo
#100. ‘Stay (I Missed You)’ – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
Quick Facts:
Artists: 85
Most Successful Artist: Soundgarden (4 tracks)
Number Of Countries: 13
Top Three Countries: USA (49 tracks), Australia (26 tracks), England (13 tracks)
Shortest Song: ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – Frente! (2:01)
Longest Song: ‘Burn’ – The Cure (6:39)
