REM: Classic or dud?

I can't see myself at sixty, I don't buy a lacquered dixie

I remember years (decades?) ago Stipe complaining in an interview around the time of peak "omg, Michael Stipe must be sick!" rumors (after he shaved his head and was looking kinda gaunt) that he is just four years older than Brad Pitt. So it's a battle of healthy living vs. good genes, I guess.

Yeah, I mean, he looks 60...

He released a new single y’day, btw.

Good little Q&A; he’s definitely still Stipey, after all these years: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/11/michael-stipe-who-would-i-say-sorry-to-everyone-i-slept-with-before-the-age-of-27

There's really not much going on with it, but that new Michael Stipe single is really pretty.

The “Losing My Religion” episode of this new Song Exploder series is neat, if you have Netflix. Bill shows up!

I noticed this old “UK Collector’s Edition” version of the maxi-single showed up on streaming services this week; must have been timed with the show:

"Losing My Religion" – 4:29
"Fretless" – 4:51
"Losing My Religion" (Live acoustic version/Rockline) – 4:38
"Rotary Eleven" – 2:32

They have such great old faces now, especially Bill, how long before he gets cast in a Coen Bros movie?

Fretless is a really good b-side (also on the Until the End of the World soundtrack)

Oh wow i need to see this. They did Try Not To Breathe on the podcast episode. I guess 'for telly' you need to bring out the bigger guns.

I've seen dozens of little R.E.M. "packages" over the years (with retrospective clips, etc.), and this is a good one :)

I rewatched the 'Rough Cut' documentary recently which is the daddy of them all, imho.

Yeah i love that one.

Also this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT1wdva2jbU

This one is also kinda interesting -

https://www.vincentmoon.com/video-view-rem-six-days-and-ninety-nights-2008-97.html

The guys say a few "interesting" things in this Song Exploder interview - (a) they didn't have high expectations for the album/single, and thought they may flop (I don't believe this; I think they knew what they had); and (b) Peter decided to go in a totally new direction, learn the mandolin, write acoustic songs (are they confusing this album with Green? lol).

it seems like like they have at least 3 records where their narrative is "this was us reacting against the smash success of the previous album"

"We didn't want to write R.E.M. songs this time"

Pete didn't want to be a "guitar dick."

This was charming! Glad to know Bill Berry still bros down with them.

that song exploder episode was so lovely yes

they didn't have high expectations for the album/single, and thought they may flop (I don't believe this; I think they knew what they had)

i don't think this is new info, so even if you don't believe them, this is what they've said they thought about it for ages

i was having a pretty bad day and watching that episode really turned my mood around

helps that the REM guys seem like genuine dudes...

i had the in time dvd and i loved all the interview clips they put between the music videos, they're very funny and silly guys. my favorite part was stipe talking about how much the band hates naming albums and they always had a running list of potential album names and that list always contained the title cat butt

Wasn't Cat Butt a noise band in the late 80's? Like around the time of Squirrel Bait and Killdozer?

On Sub Pop no?

i don't think this is new info, so even if you don't believe them, this is what they've said they thought about it for ages

Sure, the story just doesn’t really make sense – “We fought the label hard to make this the lead single, b/c we thought it was a weird little song that wouldn’t likely connect with people.” It would be interesting to hear a different take on the scenario, after all these years. NBD though.

Haha, yeah, those two comments raised an eyebrow from me too.

So i'm the only one who thought Bill Berry looked like he's just been drunk in a garage tinkering with rusted out trucks for the last 20 years?

those trucks were actually outside, but otherwise, yep

Bill Berry is the hottest of the bunch.

Peter Buck looks like an ILXor now.

Not any one in particular, just generically.

Bill and Michael both look “old“; Peter and Mike look like they’re “drawn by a different artist” or something.

Bob Pollard was a big fan as evidenced by his early records, and he gives a shout out to Cat Butt in the song “Pendulum”...I always wondered if it was a reference to the band of that name or a wink to R.E.M.

Probably was; that's a pretty key piece of R.E.M. lore. (I'm no GBV scholar, but always thought "The Official Ironmen Rally Song" sounded like R.E.M.)

I hadn't thought of that before but yeah can hear it in the melody...

Stuff like this all over the self-released stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfzUau9Pps&ab_channel=stonedcomedianringo

Ugh I thougt all I had to do was back out the "s" in https?

http://youtu.be/lKfzUau9Pps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfzUau9Pps&feature=youtu.be

That song exploder episode is lovely. Would be nice if those interviews were part of a longer piece?

i don't think this is new info, so even if you don't believe them, this is what they've said they thought about it for ages[]

Sure, the story just doesn’t really make sense – “We fought the label hard to make this the lead single, b/c we thought it was a weird little song that wouldn’t likely connect with people.” It would be interesting to hear a different take on the scenario, after all these years. NBD though.

In a Dutch tv-interview for the "Part Lies..." release, Stipe said that LMR was meant as the lead-up to "Shiny Happy People", which Warner Brothers thought was the hit-single of the album.

It was the bigger hit in the UK so Warners weren't completely wrong

Co-signing the love for the song explorer episode on Losing My Religion and esp. Bill Berry. Loved his reaction to hearing the handclaps in the playback of a rough mix/demo and then in the actual song, something he could not recall at all and was flabbergasted to hear

^^^^ that moment was an absolute delight

paired well with stipe having to be handed the lyrics in order to remember them out of context

& getting dewy-eyed as he slowly read through them, or was that when he listened to his isolated vocals, idk I may be misremembering

I too had no idea there were handclaps in that song.

This article has a little backstory on the episode's "mini reunion":

“R.E.M.’s team said, ‘We don’t ask Bill to do very much because this is not something he likes to do, not something he’s comfortable with. We think this is going to be special so we’ve asked him, and if he says yes could you please be, could you just be cool?’” Hirway recalls.

“They were like, ‘If you screw this up, you’re going to make things difficult for us for a long, long time.’ And our ask was not only for us to do an interview but also if he would play his drum part of ‘Losing My Religion’ so we could film it and have him talk about it. It changes the way someone talks about a song when they actually have it in their muscles again and they perform it. And he did… he was game for all of it. He actually played drums for us on camera.”

is it possible that bill berry is actually cool with most things but the REM team is overprotective and paranoid?

(i understand the context of his leaving the band and all of the PR bullshit behind)