R.E.M. POX

i feel like a jerk for not putting losing my religion in there. it's not honest without that. losing my religion may be the song that i still like the most that i've listened to the most times, if you know what i mean

Gardening at Night
Sitting Still
Don't Go Back to Rockville
Driver 8
Fall On Me
Country Feedback
Nightswimming
Find the River
Strange Currencies
E-Bow the Letter

Since my picks are pretty basic, here's 10 deeper cuts I also love:

9-9
Catapult
Kohoutek
Swan Swan H
King of Birds
You Are the Everything
Hairshirt
Belong
New Test Leper
Airportman

this is pretty much the same list I would have had at age 19. sadboi REM will always be my favorite REM

The Wrong Child
Fireplace
I Remember California
Nightswimming
Near Wild Heaven
Hope
Gardening At Night
Radio Free Europe
Leave
Crush With Eyeliner

good list

Oh fiddlestix I need 7 chinese brothers on there. Gah.

Kohoutek
Gardening at Night
Harborcoat
Driver 8
World Leader Pretend
Country Feedback
I Believe
Laughing
Find the River
Daysleeper

Lots of overlap with evol j. I too probably would have chosen very similarly perhaps, um, two-thirds of a lifetime ago.

Try Not To Breathe
Sitting Still
E Bow The Letter
Harborcoat
I Believe
Nightswimming
Find The River
Electrolite
Sweetness Follows
Wolves Lower

^^^oooooh yeah

Wolves, Lower
Gardening At Night
Sitting Still
So. Central Rain
Driver 8
Fall On Me
I Believe
Near Wild Heaven
Nightswimming
Find The River

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(?)