3 Guilty-Pleasure Songs from 1994

You might think of 1994 as the G Funk Era.

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It’s also the year of Weezer’s Blue Album, the debut of Oasis, and the death of Kurt Cobain. You might remember the ’90s as best represented by Ethan Hawke’s character in Reality Bites, but what about Ross from Friends?

Warren G and Nate Dogg released “Regulate” in 1994, which sampled Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).” This brings to mind HBO’s Yacht Rock documentary and the poetry that is pop culture. (Cue Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.)

Or maybe this is all just history sampling itself, like a Beastie Boys or Dr. Dre record. But these references (apart from yacht rock) do not make a guilty pleasure. They are cool. Beloved. Eternal.

However, the phrase “guilty pleasure” seems antiquated now. Though cultural silos still exist, the very notion of an idealist listener may be yet another relic from the ’90s.

So, if you’re driving with the windows down, here are three tracks to play loudly—without the need to cringe.

Regulators, mount up!

“Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb from Reality Bites Soundtrack

Lisa Loeb’s friend Ethan Hawke suggested she pitch her song for a film he was working on. It became the lead single for Reality Bites, a Gen-X rom-com that’s as ’90s as you like. Loeb didn’t have a record label yet, but she did have a No. 1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100—becoming the first unsigned artist to do so. You could probably name this folk-pop track within its three intro notes. A song about regret, it offered a quiet reprieve from Gen-X cynicism.

You say, I only hear what I want to
And you say, I talk so all the time, so…

“I Swear” by All-4-One from All-4-One

First, John Michael Montgomery had a country hit with “I Swear.” Then All-4-One turned Montgomery’s dusty single into smooth R&B. Think of the original as the perfect first-dance wedding song. But All-4-One’s rework sounds more like a pop-the-question moment. A true guilty-pleasure song requires closed eyes and a clenched fist. The clenched fist is for solidarity. A promise. I swear.

I swear
Like the shadow that’s by your side
I’ll be there
For better or worse
Till death do us part
I’ll love you with every beat of my heart

“The Sign” by Ace of Base from The Sign

Released in the U.S. at the end of 1993, “The Sign” topped the U.S. charts for several weeks in 1994. When you’re in the mood for Euro pop and reggae, this Swedish banger fits the bill. In hindsight, the track sounds like a keyboard preset. But this kind of production and programming offered a digitized evolution in pop music in the early ’90s. Also, do you get to Lady Gaga or Katy Perry without the hooks of Ace of Base? Probably not. Still, for a song about seeing signs, the lyrics are strikingly vague.

I got a new life
You would hardly recognize me
I’m so glad
How can a person like me care for you?

Photo by Steve Eichner/WireImage