No Apologies: Kurt, Bruce Stand Out in ’94 : Cobain’s ‘All Apologies’ and Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ achingly project the human voice in the year’s best singles.

Nothing in pop music can be more comforting or heartbreaking than the human voice--and the voices that spoke most memorably in 1994 combined both qualities in remarkably tender and affecting works.

In “All Apologies,” Kurt Cobain gave us an insider’s view of a generation’s alienation and doubt, while Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” offered an outsider’s gripping portrait of a man battling the ravages of AIDS.

For all the contemporary emphasis on techno razzle and production dazzle, these two gentle, acoustic recordings stand as the most compelling “singles” of the last 12 months.

The term singles is employed out of a sense of tradition, although the reality in the ‘90s is that the songs and recordings that best define the pop pulse of a given year can be individual album tracks that never get released as formal singles. This has been true to some degree for years, but it is becoming increasingly common.

Three of the top five choices on my annual countdown of the most noteworthy pop moments of 1994, in fact, haven’t been released as singles because of marketing and other considerations.

All three, however, have received the kind of mass exposure typically associated with hit singles--either from MTV airplay or from being centerpieces in million-selling albums.

This version of “All Apologies,” a song that first appeared on Nirvana’s 1993 “In Utero” album, comes from Nirvana’s “MTV Unplugged in New York” album that was released six months after Cobain’s April suicide.

Pearl Jam’s “Not for You,” a blistering, youthful anthem that finishes third on today’s list, is found on the Seattle rock group’s “Vitalogy” album, which has sold 2.1 million copies in just three weeks. Nine Inch Nails’ “Burn,” a volcanic eruption of anger that is fourth on the list, is from the hit “Natural Born Killers” soundtrack album.

*

Rock acts captured eight of the top 10 positions, reflecting rock’s recapturing of the creative reins after seeing rap hold the artistic momentum through much of the ‘90s. Where four rap records, including Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” and Digable Planet’s “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat),” made my top 10 last year, only one rap record is represented this time.

The annual Top 10 countdown begins with honorable mentions--formal singles or key album tracks that also touched on some of the year’s most important or engaging moments:

* David Ball’s “Thinkin’ Problem” (Warner Bros.). Despite country music’s immense sales, few country records connect strongly with a pop audience, especially records as honky-tonk hard-core as this. Yet this wry tale of heartache, with its clever wordplay on barroom drinking songs, is so lively that it spent almost three months on the national pop charts.

* M People’s “Moving on Up” (Epic). Dance hits with content are about as rare in the pop Top 100 as hard-core country, making this British trio’s lively declaration of female independence all the more welcome. It’s in the spirited tradition of Gloria Gaynor’s classic “I Will Survive.”

* Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” (Death Row/Interscope). While rap didn’t lose its commercial momentum during 1994, few hits contained the biting social commentary that made rap such an explosive force in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The emphasis was again on party-minded bravado. Snoop and Dr. Dre delivered the best of the bunch with a record whose key grooves were as seductive as the best ‘60s soul.

* All-4-One’s “So Much in Love” (Atlantic)--Speaking of classic soul, here’s one of the dreamiest R&B; ballads in years.

* Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta’s “Royale With Cheese” (MCA). For something different, this snappy discussion about ordering a cheeseburger is from the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack album, and it will brighten any radio playlist. Given the success of the “Pulp Fiction” and “Natural Born Killers” soundtracks, expect more albums to combine music and dialogue in fresh and inviting ways. Even if it lacks music, the track carries the spirit of the most disarming pop.

* Offspring’s “Come Out and Play” (Epitaph). This tuneful single, with its exotic guitar lines, may sound like just any punk-edged hard-rock on first listening, but the theme about teens in conflict is surprisingly biting.

* Elastica’s “Stutter” (DGC). Ready for a new wave revival? You will be once you hear this irresistible single from the most promising female-led band from England since the Pretenders. Justine Frischmann’s singing is spunky and the guitar sound is glorious.

Now, the year’s 10 most memorable pop moments:

10. Liz Phair’s “Supernova” (Matador/Atlantic). Rock’s smartest and most tuneful songwriter in ages lusts after her favorite guy with the kind of graphic detail that makes most of her male peers seem timid and tongue-tied.

9. R.E.M.’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (Warner Bros.). Is there a more consistent American rock group? This single--which mixes the elusive lyric shading of R.E.M.’s earliest records with its hardest musical textures yet--is the fourth time in as many years that an R.E.M. single has made the year-end 10-best list.

8. Hole’s “Doll Parts” (DGC). It’s easy to assume this story of emotional despair was written after Cobain’s death, but Courtney Love, his widow, recorded it months before. “Someday you will ache like I ache” stands, in retrospect, as the most sobering line of the year in pop.

7. Scarface’s “I Never Seen a Man Cry” (Rap-A-Lot). Who ever figured a member of Houston’s notorious Geto Boys would come up with the most sensitive rap single since Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day,” the record that topped last year’s 10-best list?

6. Me’Shell NdegeOcello’s “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night)” (Maverick/Sire). This gifted new arrival uses her striking array of contemporary musical influences, from hip-hop to soul, to bring a ‘90s freshness to the age-old story of a romantic triangle.

5. Beck’s “Loser” (DGC). With his cheeky sarcasm and oddball mix of folk and hip-hop, Beck startled the pop world as much as a bucket of cold water in the face. It even revived the old “new Dylan” cries for the first time in almost a decade.

4. Nine Inch Nails’ “Burn” (Nothing/Interscope). From his spectacular appearance at Woodstock ’94 to Nine Inch Nails’ extraordinary “The Downward Spiral” album, Trent Reznor was the artist of the year. More than anything else in 1994, this track reflected the restless aggression of young people who feel so victimized by an indifferent society that they’re vowing to strike back.

3. Pearl Jam’s “Not for You” (Epic). Eddie Vedder wrote it as an attack on the exploitation of youth by the media and the music business, but it stands as a battle cry for anyone who feels abused by adult authority. Play this track for the next person who says they don’t make rock ‘n’ roll as stirring as they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

2. Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia.” (Columbia). “Streets,” which won an Academy Award earlier in the year, expresses the helplessness and heartache of someone dying of AIDS as convincingly as Springsteen once conveyed the dreams and aspirations of youth. “I walked the avenue ‘til my legs felt like stone/ /I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone/ /At night I could hear the blood in my veins/ /Black and whispering in the rain/ /On the streets of Philadelphia.”

1. Nirvana’s “All Apologies” (DGC). Does Cobain’s death make the uncertainty and pain expressed in this song all the more evocative? Absolutely, but one of the joys of pop is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Just because one song may hold a special place in your heart because you first heard it the day you fell in love, another may always be especially poignant because it carries a darker memory.

On “In Utero” before Cobain’s death, “All Apologies” was clearly a great song--perhaps Cobain’s most nakedly confessional work. Listening to this version now adds to the song’s sad, melancholy tone--causing us to reflect again on matters of why and what if.

Another ’94 Countdown: Here is colleague Dennis Hunt’s list of the year’s best singles, from 10 to 1: Patty Loveless’ “I Try to Think About Elvis,” Warren G and Nate Dogg’s “Regulate,” Ice Cube and George Clinton’s “Bop Gun (One Nation),” Changing Faces’ “Stroke You Up,” Me’Shell NdegeOcello’s “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night),” Crystal Waters’ “100% Pure Love,” Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do,” Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue’s “Whatta Man,” TLC’s “Creep” and Ahmad’s “Back in the Day.”