R.E.M. POX

Honorable Mention: Catapult, 9-9, Pretty Persuation, Shaking Through.

gardening at night
laughing
harborcoat
maps and legends
kahoutek
good advices
fall on me
the one i love
losing my religion
untitled from Green

later notables:
near wild heaven
country feedback
tongue

11) "Slip Inside This House," the song they SHOULD have covered for Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye but didn't, and therefore doesn't exist as far as I know, goddammit.

The annoyingly repetitive, monotone and "underproduced on the verge of unfinished" "Nightswimming", you mean?

This is really hard for me.

warner years (new adventures songs first, cuz that album fucking rules):
1. new test leper
2. electrolite
3. leave
4. country feedback
5. sweetness follows
6. the sidewinder sleeps tonite
7. me in honey
8. turn you inside-out
9. sad professor
10. world leader pretend

Untitled Final Song On Green - I'd completely forgotten about that one. I have to say that I haven't played Green in 5 years or more - is that the song where they swop instruments? I have no idea how it goes, except for a vague recollection of a clumsy drum intro (Buck?)

though Nightswimming has kind of ruined the actual act of night swimming.

clumsy drum intro (Buck?)
Yup.

IRS

Pilgrimage
So. Central Rain
Harbourcoat
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Life and How To Live It
Begin The Begin
Just A Touch
Finest Worksong
Disturbance at the Heron House
Exhuming McCarthy

Warners

You Are The Everything
Untitled
Find The River
Sweetness Follows
You
Tongue
Circus Envy
Crush With Eyeliner
Binky The Doormat
Electrolite

post-Berry

Hope
Sad Professor
Walk Unafraid
The Great Beyond
I've Been High
The Lifting
Animal
Electron Blue
I Wanted To Be Wrong
Around The Sun

You know what? Take out You and replace it with, oh, Airportman.

I Believe
Try Not To Breath
Sitting Still
Find The River
Nightswimming
Radio Free Europe
Cuyahoga
Shaking Through
Daysleeper
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

E-Bow the Letter
Star Me Kitten
Gardening at Night
Strange Currencies
King of Birds
Tongue
Losing My Religion
Nightswimming
Stumble
Drive

...how did I forget "Driver 8"?! I suck at these!

I should have found room for Electrolite.

Me too but I have no idea what I would dislodge to make room for it.

sitting still
the wrong child
belong
fall on me
shaking through
kohoutek
circus envy
wolves, lower
wendell gee
little america

there are too many positive feelings on this thread. so let me say it: i think electrolite (which i like!), is possibly the most overrated REM song.

damn son

to me it’s like nightswimming except it’s good

sorry for the ‘lops

I have a mental thing where I think up additional lyrics: I'm Steve McQueen, I'm Jimmy Dean, I'm Martin Sheen, I'm Aqua Teen, I'm Vaseline, I'm Paula Deen, I'm Mister Bean, I'm Billie Jean, I'm David Lean, I'm margarine, etc.

Nightswimming>>>>>Electrolyte

nuh uh

YMP, i do the same with "catapult": "can of pork!, cat afloat!, gallow's pole!" lyrical madlibs was one of the minor joys of early mumbly michael singalongs. "electrolite" is maybe a final callback to those early days, on their last great (bill involved) album

Ranking their openers.

I don’t love “Radio Song,” but I think it works well as an opener for that particular album.

aw c'mon "How the West was Won" is one of the all-time great openers, REM or other

Find The River
Time After Time (Annelise)
7 Chinese Brothers
Disturbance At The Heron House
Life & How To Live It
Sweetness Follows
I Believe
Perfect Circle
DaySleeper
Pilgrimage

Great choices, more ballad-y than mine would be I think.

wolves
carnival
pilgrimage
laughing
harborcoat
diminished
be mine
the one i love
losing my religion
sidewinder

Hmmm how about

Near Wild Heaven
Find the River
Let Me In
Nightswimming
Sweetness Follows
I Remember California
Why Not Smile
The Wrong Child
Leave
Fireplace

nice lists. don't think I've attempted one since college.

Green Grow the Rushes
Near Wild Heaven
Sweetness Follows
Hope
Harborcoat
World Leader Pretend
Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
Rockville
Electrolite
Aftermath

Near Wild Heaven
Catapult
Sweetness Follows
New Test Leper
Disturbance at the Heron House
Feeling Gravitys Pull
Nightswimming
Moral Kiosk
Low
Try Not to Breathe

glad Sweetness Follows gets so much love, might be my favorite song of theirs.

pilgrimage
moral kiosk
so. central rain
green grow the rushes
maps and legends
i believe
low
sweetness follows
find the river
electrolite

hi!

wolves, lower
laughing
sitting still
(don't go back to) rockville
life and how to live it
driver 8
nightswimming
sweetness follows
strange currencies
electrolite

my high school had coffeehouse nights, and my two best friends and i were the organizers our senior year. our last week of school, the three of us holed up in a room for two hours and arranged a string bass/cello/acoustic guitar version of “Sweetness Follows” that i sang. brought down the house, deeply happy memory for me.

It really is a staggeringly beautiful song. Must have felt so powerful to sing it.

crush with eyeliner
world leader pretend
pilgrimage
e-bow the letter
kohoutek
country feedback
beat a drum
suspicion
exhuming mccarthy
harborcoat

Thought the thread revive was related to the band members' own POX:

MICHAEL STIPE
World Leader Pretend
Country Feedback
Strange Currencies (Remix/The Bear Edit)
The Lifting
Electron Blue
Supernatural Superserious
Oh My Heart
We All Go Back To Where We Belong, Kirsten,…
The Flowers of Guatemala
Half A World Away
PETER BUCK
Feeling Gravity’s Pull
So. Central Rain
Walk Unafraid
You’re In The Air
Discoverer
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star)
Try Not To Breathe
Undertow
Electrolite
Finest Worksong
MIKE MILLS
Wolves, Lower
Pilgrimage
I Believe
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
You Are The Everything
Orange Crush
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us
Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Every Day Is Yours To Win
BILL BERRY
Beachball
Daysleeper
Leaving New York
These Days
We Walk
I Remember California
I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
Rotary Ten
Voice Of Harold
Find The River

Glad to see ilxors love near wild heaven. Best song on that album easy

…their worst video, though (MTV Classic plays it a lot)

Eazy, it probably was indirectly but the discussion of the band's top 40 has been on the other thread:

REM: Classic or dud?

I think the best I can do is narrow their catalog down to a core 20 songs… beyond this, it’d just be throwing darts to prune it further (which isn’t really fun for me):

Wolves, Lower
Gardening at Night
Laughing
Perfect Circle
Catapult
Sitting Still
Shaking Through
Harborcoat
7 Chinese Brothers
Camera
Good Advices
Life and How to Live It
Pop Song 89
Get Up
You Are The Everything
Hairshirt
Drive
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
Crush With Eyeliner
E-Bow the Letter

…oh shit, I forgot “Letter Never Sent” (listening to Reckoning now). POXXI(?)