The [your name here] Awards!

1994

Best Movie
Pulp Fiction
Shawshank Redemption, The
Ed Wood
Chungking Express
Three Colors: Red

Winner:

Worst Movie
City Slickers 2: The Ledgend of Curleys Gold
Three Ninjas Kick Back
Richie Rich
Flintstones, The
Street Fighter

"Winner":

Best TV Show
The X-Files (Season 1)
The Simpsons (Season 5)
Seinfeld (Season 5)
Homicide: Life on the Street (Season 2)
Deep Space 9 (Season 2)

Winner:

Best Video Game
The Adventures of Batman and Robin (SNES)


For the longest time it was sort of a joke in the world of video games that pretty much every attempt at making a Batman video game seemed to fail miserably.  That changed pretty dramatically in recent years but for something like a decade this game based on the animated series held the title of best batman game.  Gameplay-wise this didn't necessarily offer much that the average side-scroller did, but it had style and that counts for a lot.


Doom II (PC)


Doom II gets lost in the shuffle because it lacks the innovation of its predecessor and doesn't really innovate much on the original template.  Some would go so far as to call it a glorified map pack, but that's really not fair.  The game has a number of new enemies which do add a lot to it as well as a handful of new weapons including the almighty double barreled shotgun.  Beyond that it's just a larger and more frantic experience that gives you more of what you liked from the original.

Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)

Final Fantasy VI, which was released as Final Fantasy III in America (where the true Final Fantasies 2, 3, and 5 never got releases in their times), is to many people the best game of the series.  I don't know that I share that opinion in part because these 2D games just aren't what define the series in my eyes, but it does have a hell of a lot going for it.  It was the installment that firmly divorced the series from its class systems and also what started adding a little more darkness and depth to the storytelling.  Also its villain Kefka is almost certainly one of the best in video game history.

Super Metroid (SNES)


Easily the greatest entry in its franchise and one of the best games to come out on the SNES, Super Metroid is legendary for being the game that took some of the interesting ideas from the first Metroid and using new technology to firmly bring it to life.  It's non-linear structure has been heavily copied over the years (to the point of itself becoming a sub-genre)  and its art style perfect captured the sense of isolation that Samus was experiencing.

Virtua Cop (Arcade)


Of all the games I've nominated for this thing this is probably closest to being a pure nostalgia pick, in part because I have a very soft spot for arcade lightgun games and this was the one year where I really had space to include one (damn you Time Crisis for coming out in a year with so much competition).  As the genre goes this one is a bit more basic than I usually liked but its 3D graphics were really advanced for the time and there was something about the shooting in it that just felt more impactful.

Winner:



Best Hit Song

The Sign by Ace of Base

The 90s are widely believed to be the decade of grunge and gangsta rap, but trust me, there was no shortage of heavily produced pop music on the charts and this song in particular was one of the most inescapable earworms of that decade.  I don't think that popularity was necessarily unearned however as this thing really is catchy as hell and manages to be simple lyrically without feeling stupid.  Would have rather it not inspired a million awful imitators, but The Sign is alright in my book.

Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb

There were a lot of songs by female solo singer-songwriter types in the early 90s and "Stay" has had more staying power (no pun intended) than most.  Taking the form of a sort of stream of conscious rant on the part of the singer as she looks back at all the ways her relationship with her ex fell apart and her mixed feelings about this, the song is oddly tuneful for what it is.  The self-critical parts of the song are what make it special and helps it stand out.  When Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson look back at breakups they're quick to place all the blame on the awful men they seem to keep dating over and over, but Loeb is more than happy to paint a portrait of exactly why a guy would want to leave her. 

Fantastic Voyage by Coolio

A lot of people think that Coolio was a one-hit-wonder.  Not true.  He was a three-hit-wonder.  Four-hit-wonder if you want to include "C U When U Get There."  "Fantastic Voyage" was his breakthrough hit and while it leaned pretty heavily into the disco song it sampled it maintains a very catchy little song that fits nicely between the poppier hip hop of the Vanilla Ice variety and the harder sounds that Dr. Dre was innovating at this time. 

Regulate by Warren G Ft. Nate Dogg

Alright, everyone knows this song is awesome, no point in elaborating so let me vent about something related.  In my area there are two different classic hip-hop stations that are almost identical in format with exactly one difference that distinguishes the two: whenever 105 The Vibe plays this song they play a more heavily edited version of the song while whenever Hot 102.5 plays it they allow me to hear "sixteen in the clip and one in the hole, Nate Doggg is about to make some bodies turn cold" without the censors getting in the way.  That alone kind of tells me which of these nearly identical stations I prefer.

Who Am I (What's My Name?) by Snoop Dogg

While Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle album is very much the work of the doggfather it can also be viewed as Dr. Dre's follow up to The Chronic given his extensive production work on it and this is probably the album's masterpiece.  Some would argue for Gin and Juice as the definitive hit and while that song is a legit classic as well, it doesn't have a George Clinton sample and that is more than enough to give this one an edge.  

Winner:

It is officially called "Three Colors: Red," or I suppose technically it's "Trois couleurs: Rouge."

Look, Regulate is a classic but much as I love Nate Dogg, he's not the top dogg...

Dracula didn't even give the award to the right Snoop Dogg song.

Billboard on crack.

The Chronic (1992)
Doggystyle (1993)
Murder Was the Case (1994)

Who Am I was released as a single in 1993 and used to promote the album. You might as well have gone with Gin and Juice.

1993

Best Movie
Menace II Society
Three Colors: Blue
Short Cuts
Schindler's List
Carlito's Way

Winner: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Blue

Worst Movie
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Falling Down
Coneheads
Swing Kids
Super Mario Bros.

"Winner:"

Best TV Show
Cheers (Season 11)
Homicide (Season 1)
Seinfeld (Season 4)
The Simpsons (Season 4)
The Wonder Years (Season 6)

Winner:

Best Video Game
The 7th Guest (PC)


It doesn't get talked about much today, but The 7th Guest was hugely popular in its day and is said to have helped accelerate adoption of CD-ROM drives.  The game is a bit like Myst, but on a smaller scale... and good.  It had the player (who is something of a disembordied observer) exploring a haunted mansion, solving puzzles, and watching FMV sequences of the home's former inhabitants.  I doubt the FMV production values hold up, and the puzzles didn't work much better for me than most point and click adventure games (not a genre that I care much for), but it had atmosphere and intrigued me.

Doom (PC)


The importance of Doom in creating a genre is clear and undisputed, but on top of that it was also just so fucking rad.  It was a game where you got to run through a Mars base killing literal demons from hell with shotguns and chainsaws and got to use a weapon called the BFG.  There's a part where you get to fight a giant alien brain with spider-like mechanical legs.  That is cool as hell.  It was also immaculately programmed and is seemingly able to run on everything from a wrist watch to a damn printer. 

Jurassic Park (SNES)

This was kind of an odd game, but one I remember playing a lot.  It had kind of a neat structure where you had a whole lot of tasks to do in a vaguely Zelda-ish open world of a park as you encountered various dinosaurs along the way.  It was really cool whenever a big dinosaur like a T-Rex did show up and was generally a very fun and cool looking game... the one fatal flaw is that you couldn't save in any way.

Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)


The most fondly remembered of the original MK games is almost certainly the second one, which in the long tradition of good sequels took the ideas of the original game and expanded on it in meaningful ways without getting mired in hubris and self-parody.  Hosting a much bigger roster of fighters than the original and upping the ante on the gore and the colorful locations.  It also had much better home versions than the original game so people with the SNES could enjoy watching Kung Lao split a dude down the middle without Nintendo trying to get all up in your business.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES)


This game has become a cult hit and for good reason.  It took some really well executed top down action gameplay and applied this wonderful tribute to B-horror movies all through the surroundings with excellent attention to detail.  It's a long game too which keep providing you with interesting new levels and fun monsters to fight along the way.  

Winner:

Best Hit Song
"Hip Hop Hooray" by Naughty By Nature

The second most famous song by Naughty By Nature doesn't have quite the x factor that made OPP such a classic but it's a hip-hop classic just the same.  They're often thought of as something of a novelty act but Naughty By Nature was actually a pretty legit outfit and a lot of great emcees like Eminem have cited Treach as a major influence for his rhyme abilities.

"Insane in the Brain" by Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is clearly a rap group but for whatever reason they seem to have had an easier time crossing over to more of an alternative crowd.  This was their biggest hit, possibly because its beat kind of sounded like "Jump Around" by House of Pain but more likely just because the phrase "insane in the membrane" just jumps out at you in a way.  

"It Was a Good Day" by Ice Cube

1992 was a very chaotic year for L.A.'s black community but by 1993 the dust had finally settled and artists were starting to look forward and ask "what now."  Inspired by the truce that had recently been bartered between the bloods and crips Ice Cube decided to make a song about what it's like in the hood when things aren't going bad and imagines an ideal AK-47 free day where everything just goes right.  There is however this ominous feeling throughout the song that all of this could fall apart and everything could go to shit the next day.

"Nothin But a G Thang" by Dr. Dre Ft. Snoop Dogg

I've heard it said that Dr. Dre's early solo work was kind of like rap's answer to The Beach Boys... a bit of a strech in many ways but if you consider that it's the work of a production genius making songs about sunny SoCal with fast cars and hot girls you can kind of see where they're coming from.  This was obviously his biggest hit and the interplay with Snoop Dogg (who wrote all the lyrics) is really effective even if there are one or two lyrical shortcomings.

"What is Love" by Haddaway

Lets throw on a nice little cheesy track to round things out.  This song has kind of had its reputation taken over by the Night at the Roxbury guys but if you can get past the silliness there is a pretty damn good beat to this thing and Haddaway adds all the right effects to his voice to make that chorus stand out.  

Winner:

1994

Movie of the year
Nominees

Forrest Gump
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption

Winner:




Show of the year
Nominees

Seinfeld S5
The Simpsons S5
The X-Files S1


Winner:

1996

Best Film: Fargo
Hamlet
Hard Eight
Trainspotting
Twelve Monkeys

Winner:

Best Song:

"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson


It's not really surprising this was one of Manson's more popular tracks. There's a perpetual energy to the insutrmental work and the Manson's weird vocal sensibilities work pretty well. Add to that some fist pumping lyrics like, "There's no time to discriminate/Hate every motherfucker that's in your way" and you got yourself an anthem.

"The Gods Made Heavy Metal" by Manowar


Am I embarrassed by my enthusiasm for Manowar? Possibly. The band is undeniably juvenile, but their so epicly juvenile that I can't help but be charmed. This song is particularly Spinal Tap-esque (it's basically "Rock and Roll Creation") and its good fun. Truth told I think this is significantly inferior to their work in the 80s, but the track works all the same.

"Mutual Slump" by DJ Shadow


There are certain anomalies within my musical taste, things that don't fit in with the rest of my typical jams, and Endtroducing is maybe the biggest. I don't much care for DJ Shadow's work since, but this first album really does it for me. The drumming sampled as a really loose feel and seemingly nonsense lines like, "Do you feel like Darth Vader" have a bizarre power. The song as a whole is strangely haunting and effective.

"Stem/Long Stem" by DJ Shadow


This was the first song I heard off Endtroducing and it's always stuck with me. There's a certain sense of dread and emptiness that is conveyed that I find very gripping and Shadow also builds a ton of energy when necessary. I think what most impresses me is the way Shadow uses a bit from semi-obscure comic Murray Roman and spins it into something powerful.

"Until it Sleeps" by Metallica


I've already made it clear that I'm not big on Metallica's 90s run and Load is no exception, but I suppose there are some gems to be found. "Until it Sleeps" is probably my favourite song on the album. I like the guitar work and Hetfield's vocals suit the lyrics perfectly. I think why this sticks out though is that there's clearly more behind it than most of the songs on the album. Hetfield has made clear the song is about his mother's battle with cancer and that struggle does come through.

Winner:


1995

Best Film: Before Sunrise
Heat
Seven
Toy Story
The Usual Suspects

Winner:

Best Song:

"Hindsight" by Headstones


Looking at the lyrics, "Hindsight" is about dealing with knowing someone who has commited suicide (suicide also explored on their track "Swinging") but the song is a lot less dour than you'd expect. Actually, this thing is bouncing with momentum and is just really easy to groove to. Nice lyrical flow too.

"More Human than Human" by White Zombie


Do I feel like a rube highlighting the most popular song on the album? Meh, a great track is a great track and I'm not ignoring it. First off, this thing has an awesome build-up, with a techno type sound and a woman having an orgasm and it only gets better once it goes full-on industrial metal. This is also a great vessel for Rob Zombie's weird lyrics and beneath the surface there is some commentary on how vile and deprived humanity is. Also, any song that so overtly references Blade Runner is aces in my book.

"Mrs. Blaileen" by Primus


Oh Primus, you're so delightfully odd. It's easy to make a song about bullying preachy, but Primus turns "Mrs. Blaileen" into something a lot more weird and fun. Simply put, I just love the way this sounds. Really cool bass.

"Perry Mason" by Ozzy Osbourne


I'm not really sure what possessed Ozzy to write a song about Perry Mason of all things, but I'm glad he did because this is a lot of fun. Zakk Wylde's guitar work is excellent and there's a sort of goofy charm to the whole thing that gets me. I'd never put the song up as one of Ozzy's better works, but it's a fun little tune for what it is.

"Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson


I swear, I'm not big into Manson, but he does have a handful of songs I really like and this is a favourite. It takes the perverse nature of the lyrics to the original song and really brings it out with aggressive instrumental work and Manson's strange vocal style. The whole song is basically a slow build that eventually explodes and then dissipates in haunting fashion.


1994

Best Film: The Crow
Ed Wood
Leon: The Professional
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption

Winner:

Best Song

"Becoming" by Pantera


The 90s are typically not thought of as a good decade for Metal. Most of the major bands were in decline, Halford had left Judas Priest, and the rock scene shifted towards Grunge. Metalheads did however have an oasis in Pantera, a full on Metal band that provided a heavy sound and didn't fuck around. All of these traits are emphasized in "Becoming", which features some awesome riffing and just hits with maximum impact.

"Blood for Blood" by Machine Head


As far as I'm concerned, Machine Head never lived up to their first album. They did some good stuff after, sure, but Burn my Eyes is a cut above, with "Blood for Blood" being the best track. A relentlessly pounding song that just makes you wanna bang your head and thrash out. The song itself as a very shallow anthem of vengeance, but man oh man does it rock.

"Burn" by The Cure


Alright, so this song is angsty as fuck, but I do think it works pretty well all the same. A very moody piece which is musically simple but very compelling. Also, melodramatic though the lyrics may be, I'd be lying if I said they didn't get to me.

"Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails


Full disclosure, I'd have been content to only nominate tracks from The Downward Spiral. "March of the Pigs", "Closer", "Ruiner", "I Do Not Want This", "Big Man with a Gun", good shit. Only being able to pick one song though, it's gotta be "Hurt". While the Johnny Cash cover may overlook the original for most people, I ultimately think Reznor's version is superior. The lyrics are simple, but there's a sense of poetry to them and the cut to the core pretty effectively. There's also a sense of dirtiness to this version that really sticks and when Reznor hits the chorus for one final time...powerful stuff.

"Nutshell" by Alice in Chains


And closing out the nominations we have another depressing song, this time for the great Alice in Chains. Usually I'm attracted to Alice in Chains for their heavier sound, but this is a lot more low-key and it's very moving for what it is. Great song.

Winner:

1992

Best Film
Unforgiven
Hard Boiled
Reservoir Dogs
Malcolm X
Glengarry Glen Ross

Winner:

Worst Film
Universal Soldier
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Mighty Ducks, The
Shining Through
Honey, I Blew Up The Kid

"Winner":

Best TV Show
The Simpsons (Season 3)
Seinfeld (Season 3)
Young Indiana Jones (Season 1)
Wonder Years (Season 5)
Cheers (Season 10)

Winner:

Best Video Game
Final Fantasy 5 (SNES)


Final Fantasy 5 never actually got an American release back in the day, but it did eventually get a re-release years later on the Playstation, which is where I played it. The fifth final fantasy isn't as story driven as some of the later installments but it has a really interesting RPG system called the "job system" which can be really fun to play around with.  Also it allows you to kill the final boss by throwing a ton of money at it.

Mortal Kombat (Arcade)


The game that started it all and freaked the hell out of Tipper Gore.  Serious fighting game fans generally have very little regard for the series, and I get why, but it had a lot that sparked my imagination back in the day.  The roster of characters was interesting, the story/lore was... better than it needed to be, and those gory fatalities stood out for a reason.

Super Star Wars (SNES)


Super Star Wars was the first of a trilogy of side-scrolling Star Wars games that came out for the SNES.  These games were not exactly innovative or anything but they gave Star Wars fans exactly what they'd been asking for: well made platformers (the dominant genre of the day) that simply retold the beloved trilogy of movies in a detailed and polished way.  The games were hard as hell, but they provided what its audience wanted.

Wolfenstien 3D (PC)


Wolfenstein 3D is often just seen as a trial run for the Doom games... and yeah that's more or less what it is but let's not forget that it has charms of its own.  It's well documented that it's fun to kill Nazis in video games
and this was one of the first ones that allowed for it.  Yeah, Doom had more complex levels and more atmosphere and better enemies... but it didn't let you kill Robo-Hitler.

X-Men (Arcade)


Man does this game bring back memories. One of the movie theaters I most frequently attended as a youngster had a cabinet of this and I would ritually play it while waiting for my movie to start or waiting for my ride to pick me up afterwards.  I made a point of seeing exactly how far I could get on a single quarter week in and week out.  The game itself probably doesn't impress as much outside of a coin-op environment(these beat-em-ups were basically programmed to eat quarters) but I really like the way each of the characters played differently and if you were lucky enough to find one of the dual screen cabinets you could really get into some multi-player craziness.

Winner:

Best Hit Song
End of the Road by Boyz II Men

It's hard to under-estimate just how popular this group was for about two years before they seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth.  Their popularity was not unwarrented, however, as they did manage to make some pretty solid traditional R&B tracks using their vocal harmonies.  This song in particular feels like a classic 70s quiet storm song transposed to the 90s complete with one of those spoken word verses at about the three quarters mark. 

"Jump Around" by House of Pain

This whole project has been a pretty good lesson in just how important Dr. Dre and Death Row Records were in getting Hip-Hop onto the charts as very few of the pre-1993 billboard charts had nearly the offering of classic rap songs as the years after and the songs that were on them generally had less street cred.  There were however some cool tracks like this House of Pain classic that has become a staple of throwback parties, bars, and sports stadiums.  House of Pain was sort of an odd group that got into rapping while having a sort of tough "Southie" Boston whiteboy image.  I don't think they lasted too long but this song is immortal and has a number of cool quotables like "Word to your moms I came to drop bombs, I got more rhymes than the bible's got psalms" and "I'll serve your ass like John Macenroe, if your girl steps up I'm smackin' the ho."

"November Rain" by Guns N' Roses

A lot of people don't really like the Use Your Illusion albums because they diverged too much from the Appetite For Destruction formula but I think they're classics in their own rights. Axel's stadium rock ambitions mixed with the streetwise playing of the rest of the band in interesting ways and nothing on it was as bold and crazy as "November Rain" which was clearly Axel's attempt to make a grand epic in the mold of "Freebird" or "Layla" and I think he mostly pulled it off.  One could almost say that this was the final "Classic Rock" song ever released. 

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

The common stereotype of the early 90s was that the Grunge scene was king and that it took over music... but you wouldn't know that by looking at the Billboard charts.  Very few of the Grunge classics like "Black Hole Sun" or "Evenflow" ever made it onto a year end top 100 but there was of course one inescapable classic of the era that did break big enough for Billboard to pick it up and that was of course Smells Like Teen Spirit.  Honestly I'm kind of surprised that this is the track that would become THE Nirvana song.  Lithium and In Bloom would almost seem like the more commercial tracks, but the raw power of Spirit was what ended up taking over.

"Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Most of the Chili Peppers songs were these funky sex fueled party jams but arguably their biggest hit is this slowed down track about the hangover after the party's over.  Honestly it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes the song so compelling.  Maybe it's the honesty in Anthony Kiedis' voice, maybe it was that breakdown at the end where the backup singers come in, maybe it was just some x-factor in John Frusciante's strumming.

Winner:

November Rain has the greatest outro in the history of music.

1992

Movie of the year
Nominees
A Few Good Men
Patriot Games
Wayne's World

Winner:




Show of the year
Nominees

Seinfeld S3
The Simpsons S3



Winner:




Game of the year
Winner:




Video Game of the Year
Winner:

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