The World Is POLLapsing Around Our Ears: REM's "Out of Time"

No one will ever agree like we did in 1991 that "Radio Song" was the first.

As a fan Mills’ vocal is affecting; I can see why others would sneer.

also whatever happened to Ismael Klata, that was a good poster

Country Feedback, Half a World Away, and LMR are the three keepers for me.

I am also surprised that NWH is that high. But Deadbeat Club is my favorite B52s song and it kind of has the same vibe so I guess I can see it now.

Just looked up where they filmed it and never realized it was at Spring Lounge in nyc.

belong was the first track that grabbed me back then, but i'm sure i ended up voting for country feedback

I really really like "Radio Song" including the KRS-One part, don't know why I haven't mentioned that in this thread

I love Near Wild Heaven. Sounds like how I imagine the Beach Boys could have sounded in 1991 if they'd all still been around and functioning.

I like Belong too

When I first heard this album I was still quite young and new to alternative rock music, so I didn't know much about what REM looked like. In my head I imagined Michael Stipe looked like Robin Williams. I still think of Robin Williams when I hear 'Endgame' somehow

I also like “Radio Song” à lot, all of it, and have probably said so way too many times on this message board.

Dammit, if I had seen this thread in time I would have voted for Near Wild Heaven and thus pushed it over the top as unchallenged number one.

I never took to Radio Song. I get that they liked rap at the time and wanted to tip their hat to the genre in some way, but it makes about as much sense as Stipe turning up on a hip-hop track. It just doesn't work, and at the very least it certainly shouldn't have been the opening track. (The cascading jangly riff on the chorus is good though.)

Haven't heard it in years but "Out of Time" was my first-ever cd I got (I was 11 when it came out). Strangely, it was on Top 40 radio as well as "alternative" radio programs. The same thing happened later when "Nevermind" came out. Rather than picking separate songs it's the overall production and baroque sounds/arrangements that make it a highlight of their career. I wonder what the poll results would have been with "Fretless" being an album track. I remember Buck saying it should have been on the album.

surprised Low polled as poorly as it did.

losing my religion towers so many miles above the rest of the album that overexposure can't do it any harm. and i was so much in love with an rem fan at the time that it hurt.

It's crazy what you could have had if you had 5 more voters, but as it was, you were not near enough.

Yeah LMR is a very special track for me too, in a coming of age way. It was so ubiquitous during the summer of 91 and I still feel emotional when I listen to it (rarely though).
That said, there are other great tracks on the album.

that Unplugged where Michael wears a stupid hat with snaps on the side.

1991-core... barn jacket & shorts, perched on that stool... doing those weird little hand flick motions he was into at this time... luv it

every time At 10:35 on an early summer's morning, John Lanchester sat down at his study desk, switched on his new Dell computer, opened up the word processing programme that the computer had come with and began reappears in sna, i think

those creatures jumped the barricades and headed for the sea
sea

so many of my weirdo friends skipped school to buy this on release day that one of the principals thought something was going down and we all had to talk to the counselor and have our mental health confirmed

Yer old.

tempus fugit dept.: released 30 years ago today. a rare song in that I can recall exactly where & how I first heard it (my freshman dorm room; on WFNX) & what I first thought ("that's pretty good--wonder if it'll be a hit, there's a lot of mandolin on it") pic.twitter.com/ejEksBvfGm

— Bowiesongs (@bowiesongs) February 19, 2021

Pitchfork Mark, in the replies, wants to make sure the world knows he's lukewarm on the song.

30th for the album

ffs

I am listening to this album in full for the first time ever right now. “Radio Song” and “Shiny Happy People” are universally reviled as the band’s nadir when “Endgame” and “Belong” are RIGHT THERE?!

Fucking hell is “Me in Honey” a great song.

I like Me In Honey as a closer, there are two or three more obvious choices but they made the right decision

"Belong" rules

otm

“Radio Song” and “Shiny Happy People” are universally reviled as the band’s nadir

Is this true? “Endgame” is kinda weak as a “song,” but I guess it sounded ok at the time, as some texture…

i like endgame, would like it better if it had been arranged/produced in the style of pretty much any other era of good REM though, and if it lost the "lead" vocal

I haven't listened to radio song on purpose in years, but I heard it on the radio, and I kind of thought, eh, if it had no KRS One it might be okay.

"Belong," "Shiny Happy People," and "Radio Song" are all better than "Losing My Religion"

(none of these are as great as "Me In Honey" obviously, I'm not a madman)

Oh I just realized I have already said all this in this thread again and again over the years, sorry

I like "Half a World Away" and could do without every other song on this. R.E.M.'s weakest record.

Texarkana -> Country Feedback -> Me in Honey

greatest 3 song run in their catalog imo

The top two are correct. In fact I might even go so far as to say they're all time top 5 REM for me

I think I like every song on here. Even Radio Song I really don't mind. I can give or take LMR though

Give or take? Take or leave

Went looking for Spitting Image's 'Whiny Crappy People' parody but it's not on Youtube. I recall it had Mike Mills as the lead vocalist, playing double bass like in the SHP video. Why?

Texarkana -> Country Feedback -> Me in Honey

greatest 3 song run in their catalog imo

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, F