POLL: "Never Tear Us Apart" (INXS) vs. "Everybody Hurts" (R.E.M.)

Yeah, this outcome is undoubtedly one of those "only on ILM" things. No way on Earth or any other planet do INXS have a song that is better than R.E.M. at their worst, and 'Everybody Hurts' is far from R.E.M. at their worst.

*removes earrings*

He's right about the other planets thing, I looked into it.

turri cant

I like 'Never Tear Us Apart' and Kick plenty, but pick an '80s R.E.M. album at random and I can guarantee that Kick isn't even in the same league, and Kick really is INXS at their best.

Well just these two specific songs are being compared here.

'Disappear' > 'Disappear'

'We Are The Vegetables' > 'Man On The Moon'

"Way Of The World" > "Shiny Happy People"

Eheh this thread needed a new... kick !
Btw, listening to Kick reminded me that more than all the obvious hits, I really liked « Mediate ». It’s minimalist, barely a song, almost just a coda to « Need You Tonight » but I find it more moving than their flashy/in your face stuff (I find INXS a little too ott/caricatural in general...).

No way on Earth or any other planet do INXS have a song that is better than R.E.M. at their worst, and 'Everybody Hurts' is far from R.E.M. at their worst.

lol, I love 80s/90s REM and "Everybody Hurts" is like my least favorite song after "Shiny Happy People" -- Never Tear Us Apart is totally better.

Your choices of least favourite R.E.M. songs say a lot about you!

as does your inability to understand different viewpoints

Oh, I understand that people have different viewpoints, it's just that I often find them ridiculous and couldn't possibly agree with them.

My view on INXS is that their pre (and post) Kick work is inconsistent in terms of quality. Some great tracks, but a lot of dross. They got it right for the only time on Kick, but if we're gonna rank huge '80s bands I'd rank 'em well below R.E.M., U2 and even Simple Minds.

By the time INXS released Elegantly Wasted, they were a laughing stock pretty much. R.E.M. and U2 were still thriving. Simple Minds at least had a catalogue of stunning early albums that were ripe for rediscovery, yet INXS didn't have that, and nor did they have an album as good as New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).

As an American, the esteem in which fucking Simple Minds, of all bands, are held by you foreigners is fucking baffling.

Listen to Reel to Real Cacophony, Empires and Dance or Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call and you'll understand why.

In 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 “Need You Tonight” -> “Mediate” was standard radio practice

it ruled

It was always kind of a letdown when MTV just played “Need...” without segueing into “Mediate.”

Your choices of least favourite R.E.M. songs say a lot about you!

it says we stopped paying attention after bill berry left, and rightly so

guys don't let this good thread go down the turdy-can

"NTUA" is probably INXS's 20th best song, off maybe their 2nd or 3rd best album! I much, much prefer REM overall, but I voted for "NTUA" as it seemed fairly clear that this poll wasn't about INXS vs REM per se.

it's almost like the title of the thread told you what was being specifically compared

Early Simple Minds rules

Also <3 DJP

"Everybody Hurts" is my least favorite song on AFTP. The lyric is underdeveloped.

As opposed to "Me, my thoughts are flowers strewn" etc., which are some of my favorite damn lyrics ever.

The lyric doesn't need to say more than it already does!

Yeah, not saying it does, but I think a couple of the lines are throwaways and he could done something better. Specifically talking about "Don't throw your hand" (?) and "Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along."

I agree with that; the lyric walks the line between relatable “directness” and cliché, sometimes falling on the wrong side.

"now it's time to sing along" seems not only delightfully meta bc of the next section of the song but the it's moment the song betrays its awareness of how broad it is

not a great rhyme but it works

I wonder if anyone has actually found the song comforting, in a time of despair. I’m sure some have. But “everybody hurts” and “take comfort in your friends” are somewhat trite offerings of assurance/advice, to a genuinely distressed or depressed person.

(Keep in mind, I like the song!)

i hate to keep defending this song lyrically but "take comfort in your friends" may be trite or cliché but that's bc it's a tried and true method of living through depression

i just think there's more going on textually in "everybody hurts" than ppl give it credit for, r.e.m. by the early-'90s being a band that already had a curious and evasive relationship toward sincerity and saying what you mean

I agree w/that, though I also think ppl had a habit of trying to find “irony” where it may not have necessarily been intended (like with “Happy Shiny People,” which some insisted had to be sarcastic, or something).

I also agree about taking comfort in your friends (when they’re available/able to provide comfort!), and maybe it’s a virtue to express that advice so simply & directly in a song that was destined to be a big international hit.

(it’s possible the song was titled “Shiny Happy People,” I’m a grandpa all of a sudden, lol)

i agree that neither song really hits an ironic register, but they both seem pretty self-aware and are playful with that awareness instead of distancing

I had never particularly thought about EH lyrics and yes they are basic but listening to the song with that in mind, I wish I had been able to say such simple words to a dear friend who didn’t hang on, for instance... so maybe they’re not that bad.

xp - yeah, i think i was "turned off" by what I felt was "schmaltzy" - like it was R.E.M. doing "wind beneath my wings" or "bridge over troubled water" after everyone associated "bridge over troubled water" with commercials for casualty insurance or something

Yeah, not saying it does, but I think a couple of the lines are throwaways and he could done something better. Specifically talking about "Don't throw your hand" (?) and "Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along."

― timellison, Sunday, January 6, 2019 1:44 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, when you just throw your hand into the middle and quit to cut your loses instead of trying to bluff while holding bad cards by continuing to bet

Yeah, I think that's the best line in the song.

Definitely the best line!

I never considered the folding a hand of cards, I always just took "throw your hand" as some sort of dramatic gesture of despair, like maybe punching a hole in the wall, or shaking one's fist at God. What makes it so great is its unexpectedness and obtuseness, something you almost never find in the top 40.

I mean they were Southern boys I'm p sure it's cards

that basic guitar arpeggio on everybody hurts just bores me, it doesn't do the lyric any favours

"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards,

I mean, I thought this was obvious(!); and it’s why I was agreeing w/Tim about that line. “Don’t commit suicide” seems like somewhat... clumsy advice to a severely depressed person. But if it helped some people to hear it in this song, ok!

(Incidentally, I recall some mishearing this line as an even more specific suicide reference: “Don’t blow your head off”!)

there might be a UK/US divide wrt to poker?

FWIW, I actually like “Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along” — it feels like a glimmer of the “self-aware inspirational song” thing

this is an interesting genre, the explicitly palliative/consoling song