neither

Classic when I was 18. Big fat dud now.

Underrated.

No “REM Radio Song”, no “RHCP By the Way”...

Another mark against then.

Underrated but still dud.

huh babybabybabyBABY that stuff is driving me crazy

why, should I be sane without you?

all their life RADIO LISTNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhssss

I’m sure I’ve defended awkward “funky” R.E.M. on old ILM before. it’s kinda funny how this and “Shiny Happy People” both have really pretty intro/bridge sections that seem almost completely seperate from the parts of the songs that make them so maligned.

I loved this song at the time, but I’m kinda surprised now that I didn’t see more reviews that described it as “wack.”

White Man’s Guilt, apparently.

I still like this song a lot and is more convincingly white boy goofy than “Can’t Get There From Here.”

This was back when KRS could do no wrong by me, so Classic for how huge this song was in NYC that summer.

Well, I can’t hear it!

Mikey Stipey: I tried to turn it off...

KRS: TURN IT OFF

Mikey Stipey: ...to say goodBYE MY LOVE....RADIO SONG

deedle-eedle-eedle-eedle-dukka-DEERNDEERN

Obviously, this is just about as heavy-handed as can be about Stipe’s contempt for commercial radio, it’s an “ironic” setup, etc. What I love most is how KRS comes in with his own agenda and just starts ranting overmodulatedly; you can almost see the grin on Stipe’s and Mills’ and Berry’s faces. (I doubt Buck smiled but I bet he appreciated it intellectually.)

It was inspired to place “Losing My Religion” next in the sequence.

I’m surprised Tim doesn’t love it.

I remember the MTV Unplugged performance of this being pretty hilarious. Am I misremembering or did Stipe do some of the rapping parts himself?

I like the pretty parts but the funk parts are not very good. “Can’t Get There from Here” is way better—far more dynamic and not as cornball.

Actually, I’m just listening again and it’s better than I remembered with that organ and Peter’s guitar parts.

without krs it’s a good song.

Are you gear or geir? ;-)

TS: “Radio Song” vs “Kool Thing”. Tell it like it is.

The harping on how the “DJ sucks!” seems almost quaint now—a harbinger of the days when commercial DJs had some say into what they were playing. (It would have to be “Club Song” if you wanted to put a DJ in the song now.)

Even with stricter formatting, there are still plenty of DJs in radio who suck.

Ha, there are lots of good defenses of “awkward funky” REM, along with “awkward rockin’” REM. I mean, one is that they weren’t so bad at either, and made decent songs in both modes. Another is that it was just helpful for them to be able to do it, I think. I mean, the world today — and the world then, kinda — contains plenty of guitar bands who could play nice songs like “World Leader Pretend” or whatever, but the bulk of them always sound tame and polite about it. (Death Cab could play “World Leader Pretend” just fine, but if you want to hear “awkwardly rockin’” like nuts, find their frightening cover of “World Shut Your Mouth.”) Whereas the fact that REM could play funky or rocky — the fact that they often wanted to — seemed to inform even the songs where they didn’t. (Cf also the fact that their drummer did a lot of the work of shaping and arranging their songs.) E.g., on this album ... “Losing My Religion” is kinda steely-eyed and fierce, you know? Or like “Texarkana” is pretty damned active and desperate-sounding, for the type of song it is. And that kind of stuff seems really intimately connected with the band’s ongoing love of getting funky and playing Wire covers and whatnot.

I mean, not like I’m saying “Texarkana” is some great burst of desperation, but it’s a lot more vigorous than I suspect most pop/rock bands would have made it. (Haha plus it’s got the Pseudo-Funky Bass Break.)

(Death Cab could play “World Leader Pretend” just fine, but if you want to hear “awkwardly rockin’” like nuts, find their frightening cover of “World Shut Your Mouth.”)

Are you serious?

Umm, yes, I’m serious — they covered it and it is painfully awkward. It sounds exactly like the original except somehow really creepy and blood-curdling. (Granted, I was never big on the original, but this one is ... I dunno.)

a monster of a dud

worst way to start an album ever

WHEN I GOT TO THE SHOW

YO HO HO

say what say what say what

I’ve probably posted this to ILX at some point in the past, but Blount and I decided at some point that this song would be greatly improved if Fred Schneider from the B-52s had been the guest vocalist. “SurpRIIIIIIIIIIISE!”

This can be easily applied to any other almost-great REM track, but it’s most effective on “Crush With Eyeliner”: “I’m the REAAAAAAL thing!”

haha I might almost find Fred Schneider tolerable in that context.

(I really relish Stipe’s serious and pointed “Hey. Hey. Hey.” as well.)

Schneider would have torn it up, no question. Maybe it should have been him in BDP too.

i don’t really like this song.

but i heard “finest worksong” the other day on the radio, hadn’t heard it in years...reminded me a lot more of gang of four than i remember!

DEEJAYS COMMUNICATING TO THE MASSES

This song was somehow really good in 1991, and sounds like the most dated thing ever in 2007. “Kool Thing” is better, but both songs are lame.

I don’t think I’ve actually listened to this song in 10 years. I covered this in a band in high school—I was so excited to do the KRS-One parts. We were gonna do it at our school’s Battle of the Bands, only we didn’t get in because they (Student Council) decided at the last minute that, instead of the 4 bands with the highest vote count getting in, they would have the top 3 and a grown-up local band (none of the members of which had ever gone to our school) in the hopes of increasing attendance/ticket sales. We were that 4th band that didn’t get in. In retrospect, that you oh merciful God.

I was so excited to do the KRS-One parts

Gah, I left out that this was because we had a lead singer who usually did all the singing, but he needed my help on this one, this was (supposed to be) my first gig “singing” in front of a crowd. Later I provided the Mary Magdalene vocals in our cover of “Everything’s Alright” from Jesus Christ Superstar, but that was only because I could sing those high notes that he couldn’t hit nanny nanny boo boo.

pretty sections C

other sections mostly D

T/S: KRS-One on “radio song” vs. q-tip on “the outsiders”

I’ve probably posted this to ILX at some point in the past, but Blount and I decided at some point that this song would be greatly improved if Fred Schneider from the B-52s had been the guest vocalist. “SurpRIIIIIIIIIIISE!”

this would work for flava-flav, too, i think.

... or eazy-e, come to think of it. though i suspect that eazy-e wasn’t serious or high-concept enough for stipey & crew.