Because baby boomers control the mainstream media, and because 40 is a nice, round number, we’ve been hearing and reading a lot lately about 1967 and the Summer of Love. But if you’re under the age of 65, there’s a good chance the breathless hype has you feeling unimpressed. Sure it’s worthwhile history, and some of the music was great, but come on — Woodstock wasn’t even for another two years!
Enough already. We’re looking for a new summer to feel nostalgic about. Not so far back that it’s completely obscure; not so recent that we can all remember it perfectly. A summer where a lot of important stuff happened. We submit, for your consideration, the summer of 1994.
The summer of 1994 got off to a rough start, with the suicide of Kurt Cobain (he was found on April 8), and Brenda Walsh’s last episode as a regular on Beverly Hills 90210. Shannon Doherty was replaced by the hyphenated hotness that was Tiffany-Amber Thiessen, but we’ve yet to find another Kurt.
More highlights from the summer of ’94:
JUNE 17: OJ Simpson leads the LAPD on a slow-speed chase down a Los Angeles freeway.
JULY 6: Forrest Gump is released in theaters.
JULY 7: Lollapalooza rolls out one of its stronger all-around lineups, featuring the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins.
AUGUST 8: Oasis releases “Live Forever,” their first top-ten hit and the third single from the soon-to-be released Definitely Maybe, an album that would change NME best-of lists forever.
AUGUST 12: Major League Baseball players go on strike, which eventually leads to the first-ever cancellation of the World Series.
On the same day, 250,000 topless young people flock to upstate New York for three days of drinking, moshing, and antagonizing Les Claypool at Woodstock ’94. The rain arrives on August 13, and the festival is quickly re-dubbed “Mudstock” as the crowd (and many of the performers) spend the rest of the weekend happily wallowing in filth. It is, by most accounts, a unifying experience — unlike it’s crass, exploitative, commercial-driven sibling, Woodstock ’99.
For those who lived through it, the summer of 1994 was a pivotal time that changed America forever. Or at least that’s what we’ve been telling people. So while the boomers get all misty-eyed about Sgt. Pepper’s, Monterrey Pop, and hallucinogen-fueled sex with anonymous strangers in Haight-Ashbury, we’ll be waxing nostalgic about Brandon Walsh’s trip to Washington, the bloody glove, and the mud people of Saugerties, NY.
 |
 |
i was 9 years old in the sweet summer of ’94 and I lost my virginity to a beautiful 7 year old at a concert.
I’ll have to go dig those Blind Melon albums out of the trunk now…
I think the Brits would be nostalgic about their “Second Summer of Love” in 93 or something, when the first Stone Roses came out and they were all on E.
Sounds like a good time to me.
When the OJ thing happened, I was in upper state NY camping for school and we had no tv, radio, nothing. So when I got back my mom was like: “did you hear about OJ?” and I’m like: “No, what happened?” At least I had a reason for being clueless. Good times.
for some reason, i’ve always remembered the year ’94 in general to be an outstanding year for everything
1994 was the last great year. nothing since then rivals it. try me…
and this was the year “dulcinea” was released by toad the wet sprocket so therefore it was a great year.
please correct me if i’m wrong: summerslam ’94: battle of the hart brothers, bret vs owen AND undertaker vs undertaker…. yea best ever
man how i miss Shannon Hoon
I miss Hoon, too. I feel that Blind Melon are highly underappreciated and, because of his drug use and, subsequent death, never got to reach their full potential. If that was the second summer of love, Blind Melon was definately a great throwback to the first one.
i love how sometimes he changed the line to “all i can say is velvet underground is great”. indeed a great throwback.
1994, good year. I graduated from high school, and was green with envy about not bein’ able to wallow in the filth that was Woodstock, just had to watch the damn thing on TV.
And the O.J. thing? Hearing the late Peter Jennings react to someone calling up ABC News and yelling “Ba-ba-booey!” Priceless.
Vitalogy was a great record
Soundtrack to Summer ’94: Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
Only a US American can forget to mention the Fifa Worldcup (soccer) which was an obviuos highlight of that year. And which actually was in the…. USA!
I was almost 17 when the Summer of ’94 arrived. Really miss the 90′s, especially the early-to-mid-90′s.
HAHA, mad props to ‘w’ who posted
“Only a US American can forget to mention the Fifa Worldcup (soccer) which was an obviuos highlight of that year. And which actually was in the…. USA!”
Hey stereogum, wtf???
Hey, what do you know, no one gave a shit about soccer in this country then, either. The more things change….
Sports-wise, I remember it as the summer of a great seven-game series between the Rockets (who, mid-season, had gotten Clyde “the Glide” Drexler for Otis Thorpe!) and the Knicks.
That summer for me was dominated by two records: Nas’s Illmatic and Jeru the Damaja’s The Sun Rises in the East.
Also, my stupid friends and I had our learner’s permits, and we’d frequently steal our parents’ cars at night and drive around listening to Beck’s “Loser,” which seemed like a pretty progressive thing to be on the radio (the guy’s previous record was on K, for God’s sake).
Commercial radio that sometimes had some things worth listening to, a brave new Jordan-less world in pro basketball, Arkansas’s “Forty Minutes of Hell” winning the NCAA championship that April, Clinton era in full swing, flannel and Doc Martins everywhere, people wearing long underwear underneath shorts, backlash against liberals still forthcoming . . .
I choked on my coffee when I read the “Dulcinea” comment. I still like ‘Fall Down.’
The summer of 1994 was fantastic. I saw Jeff Buckley live in Nashville and “Grace” formed the soundtrack to the rest of the year.
It kinda sucked a few years later, though. I miss Jeff.