Let's take a mini-tour through slightly obscure R.E.M. history.
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Michael Stipe's early work was based mostly on "words that sounded nice when set to music." Therefore, it's hard to understand what the early albums were even "about," if anything. Eventually he grew weary of nonsense lyrics and turned to more specific messages, but even early on, it was interesting to listen to a song driven by sound and emotion. I like this one because it's about friendships. Friends are nice.
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Okay, this one is more well-known and specific ("Hey, I love you, don't got back to Rockville, etc.) but it's one of my favorites from the early era, and how often am I asking people not to go back to Rockville, MD? Well, fairly often, but I might not get a chance to say it this year.
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Oh, this one's just fun. It's like "Shiny Happy People" but...not so silly?
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And sometimes you just want to listen to a song about acid rain. It's around this time that Stipe's songs had more of a political bent.
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We're going to be skipping some stuff from what I consider to be R.E.M.'s best era (Document, Green, Out of Time, and Automatic for the People). Each of them have many great songs and each album deserves it's own focus. Green has some great songs, but I don't see me going into as much detail with that album as I will the others, so here is today's Green representative.
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This is sited to be Stipe's favorite R.E.M. song and there is good reason for it. While everyone turns to "Everybody Hurts" as the signature R.E.M. sad song, I always admired the subtlety and rawness of "Country Feedback." Apparently, it was a mostly improvised song recorded in one take, so it showcases some great talent. I always liked this song, and considered it my favorite from the Out of Time album, even if bigger hits overshadow it.
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In the '90s, R.E.M. got a little more "pop" sounding. There are still songs from this era that I enjoy, but when you follow a band very closely, it's clear when the lukewarm years crop up. Still, as long as songs like this were being created, I'm happy.
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But when you turn away from the "lesser" albums, you miss gems like this. It wasn't a single, and I would have never heard it had I not obsessively gone through the entire catalog of R.E.M.'s work. And with an epic song like this, I'm glad I searched deeper.
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If you know your R.E.M., you should be intimately familiar with "Man on the Moon," the tribute to Andy Kaufman. So of course they were called upon to do the music for the biopic Man on the Moon. In addition to the score, this song was their major addition to the film. It took me a while to get into it, but I find that I seek it out often nowadays.
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I remember when this music video premiered, during the very brief window in which I was old enough to appreciate MTV. And it became one of my favorite songs from that day on. Now, it's probably not in my top 10 R.E.M. songs of all time, but I always enjoy revisiting this one, due to nostalgia.
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Yes, this is basically "It's the End of the World as We Know It" Part 2, but...I can't help but enjoy it. It lifts my spirits.
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As we approach the end of R.E.M., you can feel the spark grow dimmer. Sometimes it feels like they are rehashing their earlier material. But hey, we liked their earlier material! So, strange lyrics and bold music abounds. This is apparently the song Stipe is the proudest of. Good choice!
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Sometimes it's nice to go out on your own terms. This was specifically crafted to be R.E.M.'s final song and I think it is such a sweet note to go out on. There is a circular theme in the lyrics and music. I always find myself listening to it whenever a big chapter in my life ends. And hey, these are just 13 of my honorable mentions. The rest must be pure gold!
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