Tag Archives: Decades

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Song of the Day #5,052: ‘When I Come Around’ – Green Day

When I do these Decades series, I’m always surprised by how many copies albums sold two or three decades ago. Most of the albums I’m featuring as part of this look at 1994 went at least three or four times platinum. A few made it to diamond status (10 million units).

Among those is Green Day’s Dookie, the band’s third album and first for a major label. The album went diamond in the U.S. and sold 20 million copies worldwide, making it their top-selling album by far (eclipsing 2001’s American Idiot by several million).

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Song of the Day #5,051: ‘Sour Times’ – Portishead

1994 was a big year for well-received debut albums. At least a half dozen of the albums I’ve already featured from that year have been debuts, and a handful of other first efforts just missed the cut.

English electronic band Portishead have released only three albums during their on-again, off-again career, and 1994’s Dummy — their triple-platinum first effort — is the standout.

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Song of the Day #5,050: ‘In the Garage’ – Weezer

In May of 1994, Los Angeles rock band Weezer released its first — and still most successful — album, a self-titled record popularly referred to as the Blue Album due to the background color of its cover image.

The power pop collection went triple platinum in the U.S. and reached #16 on the Billboard 200. Its first two singles — ‘Undone – The Sweater Song‘ and ‘Buddy Holly‘ — became minor hits largely due to the prominence of their Spike Jonze-directed videos on MTV.

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Song of the Day #5,047: ‘Waterfalls’ – TLC

I missed out on a lot of popular music in the 90s, whether it came from grunge acts or boy bands. I spent some time on alternative pop acts (see Toad the Wet Sprocket, Hootie, Gin Blossom, etc.) but otherwise I spent that decade following my personal faves that were largely out of the mainstream.

That’s why I completely missed out on TLC’s CrazySexyCool, the first-ever album by a girl group to reach Diamond status in the U.S. This R&B smash placed five singles in Billboard’s top five (two at #1) and ultimately sold 15 million copies worldwide.

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Song of the Day #5,046: ‘Hurt’ – Nine Inch Nails

Before he was a two-time Academy Award winner (for 2010’s The Social Network and 2020’s Soul), Trent Reznor melted brains and faces with his hardcore industrial music as the sole member of Nine Inch Nails.

The Downward Spiral, released in March of 1994, was NIN’s second full-length album, following the critical and commercial favorite Pretty Hate Machine.

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