Kurt Cobain kills himself and Britpop over-runs the cultural landscape like an unstoppable virus. Blur, Oasis, Supergrass, Elastica and, er, Menswear all help ferment a musical brew that quickly goes stale, but nonetheless galvanises both the press and record-buyers in a way that reaches back to punk.
Gone: Any sense that rampant jingoism, a love of the least interesting Sixties bands (The Who, Small Faces) and, like, guitars is no way to fashion a musical revolution.
Album of the year: Dummy – Portishead
Single of the year: Girls and Boys – Blur
Band / Artist of the year: Blur
1994 belonged to: Blur and Oasis.
Key event: Death of Kurt Cobain, which, unsurpisingly, the kids seem to find more important than the passing of Labour leader John Smith. 
The Prodigy release ‘Music For The Jilted Generation’ and Underworld turn out seminal debut ‘Dubnobasswithmyheadman’, both proving glorious antidotes to the predominance of white-boy guitar bands with Small Faces fixations. Jungle finds a figurehead in Goldie, Portishead herald the arrival of trip hop, and the Stone Roses return after five years with a piss-poor Led Zeppelin parody.