Tip o' the hat to mookieproof!
Two driving rock ballads with strings, released a few years apart, by two successful "letter" bands -- at a time when each group was around a decade into its career, and arguably at its commercial and artistic peak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIBv2GEnXlc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rOiW_xY-kc
Both songs were moderate hits, enjoying roughly analogous chart success. ("Never Tear Us Apart" charted higher on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Everybody Hurts" did better in the UK and, interestingly, Australia.)
They’re somewhat similar in style and feel... though the R.E.M. song is almost two minutes longer (even in radio edit). The INXS single is a surprisingly tight 3:05; its video edit adds 40 seconds of strings 'n' synths to the intro.
But we know all this, from Wikipedia. What we don't know is... which song does ILM prefer?
Poll Results
Option | Votes |
"Never Tear Us Apart" | 66 |
"Everybody Hurts" | 21 |
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Saturday, 29 December 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link