# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1994 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771 "2014-11-05T16:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/1 "2014-11-05T16:35:21Z")
The year is now 1994. We’re on the eve of the explosion of hip-hop/R&B that defined '90s pop, and for this year, with Mariah carrying over, we have ten singles to choose from. This year also marks the first time since 1964 that an act replaced itself as #1. You know the drill. What’s your favorite? Previous polls: [1955-56](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731649) [1957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731871) [1958](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732021) [1959](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732199)[1960](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732526) [1961](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732691) [1962](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732872) [1963](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733112) [1964](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733297) [1965](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733526) [1966](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733750) [1967](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733958) [1968](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734168) [1969](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734331) [1970](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734535) [1971](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734741) [1972](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735107) [1973](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735304) [1974](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735502) [1975](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735659) [1976](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735871) [1977](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736076) [1978](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736316) [1979](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736501) [1980](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736705) [1981](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736957) [1982](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737099) [1983](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737315) [1984](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737488) [1985](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737732) [1986](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737957) [1987](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738178) [1988](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738403) [1989](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738639) [1990](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738829) [1991](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739067) [1992](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739360) [1993](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739525) [2012](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=675664) [2013](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710843) ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/2 "2014-11-05T16:42:32Z")
Is there something wrong with a little bump and grind? Yes. I voted for Lisa Loeb. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/3 "2014-11-05T16:46:14Z")
Lisa Loeb is the only one I can even moderately tolerate. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/4 "2014-11-05T16:46:23Z")
Ace of Base. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/5 "2014-11-05T16:46:45Z")
It’s also interesting to note how many of these #1 songs from the early 90s were from the soundtracks to movies: Hotstepper from Pret-a-Porter, All for One I assume is from that execrable Three Musketeers movie, the UB40 one from the last poll was from Sliver. I wonder if the non-stop promotion of the movies combined with movie-tie-in music video was what pushed some of these stinkers to #1. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/6 "2014-11-05T17:09:00Z")
The only one I actually like is “Here Comes the Hotstepper,” so that gets my vote. “The Sign” is the only other one I can even tolerate. All the fun seems to have been sucked out of pop music at this point (with the exception of Here Comes the Hotstepper and The Sign). The rest of these songs are dreadful love ballads. For the first time since the 70s, there is a multi-song tie for dead-ass last place: “All for Love,” “The Power of Love,” “Stay,” “I’ll Make Love to You,” and “On Bended Knee.” The music video for “All for Love” made Beavis and Butt-head vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/7 "2014-11-05T17:17:56Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Lisa Loeb is the only one I can even moderately tolerate. I enjoyed “Here Comes the Hotstepper” until, at about the 1 minute mark, I realized I was less that a quarter of the way through the song. Other than that, Lisa Loeb is the only one I could listen to. I don’t feel too bad voting for it, because I do actually like the song, but it makes me sad that this is the ‘best’ song of the year. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/8 "2014-11-05T17:20:41Z")
I find the man reprehensible, but musically this year is easy for me. Chalk me up for R. Kelly. Great album, too. Shame he turned out to be a creep/child pornographer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/9 "2014-11-05T17:21:01Z")
I voted for “Hero”, because it was one of our sixth-grade graduation songs (“The Circle of Life” by Elton John, which peaked at #18, was the other), I like the message in it, and Meat Loaf compelled me not to vote for it last year. I wasn’t listening to contemporary music at all at this time, but I can at least remember the hooks of most of these songs. “Stay” was one I never knew by name, but upon looking it up on Youtube it took me about half a second to say “Oh, it’s _that_ song”. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/10 "2014-11-05T17:29:39Z")
I’m pretty sure that this is the year I stopped listening to pop radio stations on my own, but I got so much more exposure to these songs than I wanted just by listening to what everyone else had on. I’ll give Ace of Base the win - my best buddy in high school loved them - but if I had that song in my iTunes playlist, it would only be rated at 2 stars. That should tell you what I think of the rest of the songs this year. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/11 "2014-11-05T17:35:53Z")
Lisa Loeb is fine, but sad as a Favorite vote. Same with Ace of Base. R Kelly? Too tangled. Stuck here with nothing - wow, sad list. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/12 "2014-11-05T17:38:42Z")
Lisa Loeb, naturally. Eh, _maybe_ I could muster some measure of enthusiasm for Ace of Base and Ini Kamoze if I tried. But I don’t feel like trying. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/13 "2014-11-05T17:50:01Z")
“The Sign” is the only song I know, and I’m not voting for it. Abstain again. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/14 "2014-11-05T17:54:30Z")
I recognize all the songs, I just can’t work up the interest in any of them to vote. I can nearly pinpoint the moment that the “breathy singing girl” movement started with the Lisa Loeb song. No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/15 "2014-11-05T17:58:37Z")
Somehow I missed out on Lisa Loeb, although she’s the kind of singer I should have been into at the time. I voted Ace Of Base. I remember hearing _The Sign_, and thinking it was actually pretty good, despite being a vacuous pop song. I even considered buying the album a few years later when I saw it in a used CD store in a section simply labeled, “Shame”. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/16 "2014-11-05T18:11:08Z")
This list is, um, better than 1993. Then again, there’s stuff on the bottom of my shoe that’s better than the 1993 list. It also gives me one of my last chances to vote against Bryan Adams (the last one, Og willing, comes in 1995.) Wow, he sucks. Other than that, I’m struggling to figure out my vote. I’m not going to vote for the Lisa Loeb song because it literally cost me $1500. (At a pub trivia final, we did not know that she was the first artist to have a song go to #1 while still unsigned to a record label.) The only ones I would even consider are Ace Of Base, “I Swear”, and Ini Kamoze. Probably go with the Hotstepper. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/17 "2014-11-05T18:12:57Z")
An undistinguished year, IMHO. So many of the damned songs sound alike! Somewhat reluctantly, I voted for “On Bended Knee.” But I could just as easily have gone for Mariah Carey or Celine Dion. I **loathe** that abomination from Bryan et al. It’s even worse than the movie that spawned it. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/18 "2014-11-05T18:13:48Z")
I definitely stopped listening to the radio by this year, because I didn’t recognize a single song. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/19 "2014-11-05T18:25:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I definitely stopped listening to the radio by this year, because I didn’t recognize a single song. Same here, but I was living in Lisbon at this point, radio was not a priority for me, and I was heavily into jazz. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771/20 "2014-11-05T18:25:35Z")
Splunge? Umm, ok, I voted for Ace Of Base…sad, very sad [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1994/703771.md?page=2)