Flashback: April 22, 1994

 Good morning, everyone. Last time I did one of these flashbacks was about a couple of weeks ago, when I did a flashback in honor of my crush's birthday. Since then, some things have changed a little bit. Let's just say that the fire that was there has been somewhat extinguished, much to my chagrin. Be that as it may, this blog continues on, and today's flashback goes one year later than the previous one, to 1994. Now 1994 was a very interesting year if you're a chart geek like myself in that the methodology of how the Top 40 songs, at least as far as what was printed in Radio & Records Magazine, changed drastically, and this is the particular week in which those changes were implemented. 

Before the April 22, 1994 issue, Radio & Records tabulated their Top 40 by various radio stations calling into their office and basically calling in which songs were played and how often. Then those songs were tabulated by a mathematical formula (based on market size) to determine how the songs were ranked. Starting this particular week, however, the system became automated and from that point (and here on out to present day) were tabulated by the number of spins a particular song garnered, otherwise known as the plays per week, or PPW era. I kind of miss the old system itself now that I found out that iHeart Media now runs Meidabase, and man do I have issues with them, but I won't get into that here.

So, without further ado, these were the Top 40 songs according to Radio & Records magazine for the week of April 22, 1994:

40. Beautiful In My Eyes by Joshua Kadison. Not very memorable in my opinion. Down seven from the previous week.

39. Leaving Las Vegas by Sheryl Crow. Her debut effort. The title of the song was based on the 1990 novel from John O'Brien. Very sad story regarding O'Brien by the way. On a side note, it seems like more and more entities are going to Las Vegas rather than leaving. The Oakland A's are the latest example.

38. Don't Turn Around by Ace Of Base. This song making its debut this week was the third release from this group. It would eventually reach number 1 later in the year.

37. Completely by Michael Bolton. Unremarkable song. Down from 25 the previous week.

36. I Swear by All-4-One. Full disclosure, I hated this version because at the time I thought they blatantly stole this from John Michael Montgomery, who made this hit a monster on country radio at the time. I was unaware that the country version had been released a few months beforehand. Then I realized that country and pop have been copying off each other for years (ex: "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters and covered by Conway Twitty).

35. Regular Thing by Ovis. Rather unremarkable song as I don't remember ever hearing this on any radio station, but then again radio where I was located at the time (Charleston, SC) wasn't exactly good.

34. The Right Time by I to I

33. No Excuses by Alice In Chains. Incredibly enough, their only top 40 hit.

32. Misled by Celine Dion

31. Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. I'll never forget the tumble she took in the video for this song. Thank you, "Pop Up Video", for that little tidbit of info.

30. The More You Ignore Me (The Closer I Get) by Morrissey. I never understood the fixation with him, or the Smiths for that matter.

29. And Our Feelings by Babyface

28. Bump 'N' Grind by R. Kelly. Of course, in sorry-ass Charleston, we got a completely different version of this song. Still I don't see nottin' wrawwwwwwng. 

27. Dreams by The Cranberries. RIP Dolores.

26. Dream On Dreamer by Brand New Heavies

25. Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Oh my my, oh hell yes. This song I think was supposed to played at 11;58 pm of 4/20. #IFYKY.

24. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) by Us3. I don't think this track gets enough credit as the years go by. I think this was one of the songs that helped define that era of music.

23. I'm Ready by Tevin Campbell. Ready for what, exactly? Campbell would only have one top-40 hit after this song, in 1996.

22. Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge. This song practically stayed on the top 40 forever after this week when the PPW era started. In fact, it would stay on the chart for another nineteen weeks after this one...

21. Neon Moonlight by Roscoe Martinez. A pretty good and catchy song that I feel didn't get enough run.

20. Love Sneakin' Up On You by Bonnie Raitt. And as the late Garry Shandling once said during the 1990 Grammys, Bonnie Raitt has just scored again on the Denver Broncos. 

19. Loser by Beck. Soyyyyy un perdadorrrrr. I still don't know why Beck's mask was censored/blurred out for the video to this song.

18. You Mean The World To Me by Toni Braxton. Now if only a particular woman actually felt the same about me.

17. Found Out About You by The Gin Blossoms. This is one of those chart anomalies created by the PPW switch. The song had exited from the chart two weeks prior yet magically reappeared for this week's chart, and all the way into the top 20 at that!

16. I Want You by Juliet Roberts

15. Because Of Love by Janet Jackson

14. I'll Take You There by General Public

13. Whatta Man by Salt N Pepa f/En Vogue. I loved the video to tis song because, well, the ladies of En Vogue and Salt N Pepa were attractive, especially to a twenty-year-old virgin.

12. So Much In Love by All-4-One. Ugh, just what I need to hear, a sappy song that could be played at a wedding. NEXT!

11. Streets Of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen. I'm still a little pissed at Philadelphia, not as much as I was over last summer, but along those same lines...

10. The Power Of Love by Celine Dion. Remake of the late Laura Branigan's 1983 track. 

  9. Now And Forever by Richard Marx. What's with all the sappiness on this stretch of the chart? seriously...

  8. MMM MMM MMM MMM by Crash Test Dummies. Seriously, how did THIS song make the Top 10? Because the singer sounded unique? Because the subject matter was somewhat disturbing? Because it was mindless? Probably all of the above.

  7. Return To Innocence. Now this was a song that I enjoyed. The video was kind of weird though.

  6. Without You by Mariah Carey. Remake of Nilsson's 1971 smash hit.

  5. I'll Remember by Madonna. A reminder that Madge not only dominated the 80's, but a good share of the 90's as well.

  4. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World by Prince. Just before his career went kind of sideways thanks to a dispute with his record label.

  3. Baby I Love Your Way by Big Mountain

  2. Mr. Jones by Counting Crows

and the number one song this date 29 years ago was

  1. The Sign by Ace of Base. 

Well, that's it for this week's flashback. Now time to look in to why my computer wants to shut itself off every hour or so (Spoiler alert: it's older than dirt). Until next time.

CT