- Music
- 16 Apr 01
How was it for you? The assembled Hot Press writers offer their own opinions on 1994 over the next five pages.
STRANGE DAYS
IN MANY ways, 1994 was a strange year – when the unexpected and bizarre happened with confusing regularity: A dance act won the Eurovision, a cowboy hat sold out ten nights at The Point, Ireland beat Italy but didn’t win the World Cup . . . As the year draws to a close, things are showing no signs of changing: A turkey is number one in the charts, The Pope has a best-selling album, the government is terminally ill and if you drive past the Guinness brewery and inhale, you’ll probably be over the legal limit!
It was a year of boring anniversaries of events most of us wanted to forget anyway: Woodstock, Lord Lucan, Northern Troubles, Moon Landings. 2FM celebrated fifteen years ‘comin atcha’ in style with improved ratings. For some strange reason the letter “P” figured prominently throughout ’94: Peace Process; Paedophile Priests; Passports for Sale (& Pet Food!); Parachute Candidates. Next year “Q” . . .
Musically, variety was the order of the day, with singles and albums to relish from a host of Irish bands, including Revelino, An Emotional Fish, A House, Something Happens, Therapy?, Blink, Compulsion and many, many more. The Cranberries continue to do the business with a refreshing lack of hype while Aslan’s much-anticipated long player, Goodbye Charlie Moonhead proved what a lot of people suspected anyway – that local nostalgia and one good tune simply isn’t enough to build a career on.
Live highlights for me were, The Pretenders supporting UB40 at the RDS, Darden Smith and Glen Tillbrook at the Budweiser Country & Roots Festival in Galway, The Holmes Brothers and Ted Hawkins in Whelan’s and Aimee Mann and The Beautiful South at Féile (which was overall, a miserable, cold, wet experience).
1994 also gave us Nirvana Unplugged, Gerry Adams Undubbed, and Chris De Burgh uncovered. Scam of the year has got to be the growing practice of selling concert tickets almost a year before showtime and charging a booking fee. Who’s pocketing the interest – the promoters or the bands?
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Loves of the Year: No Disco, Mike Moloney Show, D’Unbelievables, Beavis & Butthead, Brookside.
Loathes of the Year: Road Traffic Act, Suite Talk, Brendan Smyth, Brendan O’Carroll, Riverrun, Dusty Rhodes.
Hypes of the Year: Line Dancing, Ice Beer, Mini-Disc, MiniCall, The Kitchen, The Family, Information Superhighway, Dolores’ Wedding Dress.
Predictions for 1995: Death of Dance; Commitments 2; Garth Brooks plays Midnight at The Olympia; Cynthia Ni Murchu and Clare McKeon release duet version of Eurhythmics’ ‘Thorn In My Side’. TEAM AER LINGUS finally lives up to its name and becomes a massive indoor soccer stadium! Niamh Kavanagh releases album of Bonnie Raitt covers, Daniel O’Donnell guests with Pearl Jam and Ireland comes last in Eurovision with song written by Fr. Brian D’Arcy. Happy new year!
Colm O’Hare