TOP DOGG!

On the face of it Snoop Doggy Dogg is a sad case. He’s accused of murder. He raps about smoking pot all day, about bitches and niggaz, about big dicks, bigger dicks and the biggest dicks of all.

Despite all this, Doggystyle is my album of the year. It just has this awesome, smooth groove. ‘Gin And Juice’, ‘Murder Was The Case’ and ‘Serial Killa’ are mesmerisingly funky tunes. Listening to them as I write, they have lost nothing of their mouth-watering freshness. On another angle, behind the crude language and bravado, there is a sad and tragic story being told. Doggystyle is a masterpiece; a great tragedy.

It was a fine year for Irish albums. Wormhole and Sunbear released brilliant debuts. If I had to, I’d give the nod to Wormhole’s Chicks Digs Scars. It’s down, it’s dirty, it’s rock ’n’ roll with massive attitude, with brilliant and distorted ideas. Sunbear’s self-titled debut, on the other hand, is that bit more sweet and melodic. It still has loads of risk and experimentation in it though. Two really great albums.

The gig of the year has got to be Shane MacGowan at the Olympia. It was like a gathering of the clans in a way, and the first time I have ever seen the entire audience up off their seats for nearly the whole gig. A warm and thrilling night. And the album, The Snake, is well worth checking out. Powerful stuff.

As is Sinéad O’Connor’s Universal Mother. Not the easiest-going at times, it is nevertheless always dignified and passionate. Sinéad is a genuine believer who has the courage to say and do things that run against commercial logic. She is a rebel and rebels are always needed.

For many, the event that will mark 1994 out is the death of Kurt Cobain. The man who said that “I hate myself and I want to die,” finally fulfiled his wish. Kurt Cobain was a rebel too. Was it because of his family history of depression that he committed suicide? Or was it that he became an offering on the altar of rock ’n’ roll stardom? Whatever, his death, like any young person’s death, was a sad and tragic event. Nirvana; how ironic can you get?

Gerry McGovern