THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 7, 1995 TAG: 9501060081
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
NIRVANA'S ``MTV Unplugged in New York'' was chosen as Hampton Roads' favorite album in an INFOLINE poll last weekend.
With more than 50 votes, the live recording beat its closest competition, Green Day's ``Dookie,'' by a margin of more than 2-to-1.
From the first vote at 4:25 a.m. Saturday - for the Rolling Stones' ``Voodoo Lounge,'' which placed third - to the last, for Nirvana, 31 hours later, more than 230 Daily Break readers called to note their favorite 1994 releases. They also qualified to win copies of the CDs on the Break's 10-best list.
Our winner, chosen in a random drawing, is Melissa Murphy, a student at Salem High School in Virginia Beach.
Several entrants seemed to believe their choices had to be limited to records on the Break list, as votes for ``No. 2'' (Meat Puppets' ``Too High to Die''), ``No. 4'' (Hole's ``Live Through This''), ``No. 7'' (Soundgarden's ``Superunknown'') and even ``No. 6'' (Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and Pharoah Sanders' ``Trance of Seven Colors'') were tallied.
On the other hand, some records that didn't make our cut received strong support, with Green Day, Boyz II Men's ``II'' and R.E.M.'s ``Monster'' among readers' top choices.
Nirvana and Hole voters were among those who left comments on their choices. Hole is led by Courtney Love, widow of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in April.
``Hole rules,'' said one reader. ``She's come back through a lot.''
Another called Nirvana's CD ``by far the best album of the year, from the Meat Puppets songs to `Man Who Sold the World' and `Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam.' Everything, every song is killer. I love Kurt Cobain and I'm just sorry it had to happen this year, what happened to him in April.''
James Lambert of Portsmouth didn't agree.
``How 'bout Counting Crows or Gin Blossoms, instead of Hole, for example? If I sounded like Kurt Cobain, I'd kill myself.''
Yet another putative critic praised the ``mature, emotion-filled'' voice heard on Julio Iglesias' ``Crazy.'' Two Whitney Houston fans cited the soundtrack from her film ``The Bodyguard,'' released in 1992.
And single votes were cast for everything from Little Texas' ``Kick a Little'' to Obituary's ``World Demise,'' from Anita Baker's ``Rhythm of Love'' to Mary Chapin Carpenter's ``Stones in the Road.''
The complete readers' Top 10:
1. Nirvana
2. Green Day
3. Rolling Stones
4. Soundgarden
5. Hole
6. Boyz II Men
7. R.E.M.
8. Counting Crows' ``August and Everything After'' and Stone Temple Pilots' ``Purple'' (tie).
10. The Eagles' reunion disc, ``Hell Freezes Over,'' Nine Inch Nails's ``Downward Spiral,'' Offspring's ``Smash'' and Pearl Jam's ``Vitalogy.'' by CNB