Chasing the long tail of new media
Television Performance, 1983
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File Under Sorry
On October 3, 1983, my two most favorite things of the 1980s collided . . . before I knew they were going to be my two favorite things of the 1980s.
In face, I don’t think I’d watched Late Night With David Letterman when R.E.M. made their U.S. television debut on his show. While I had probably read that Letterman was subverting the entire form, I still associated the entire form with Johnny Carson, who, was, you know, for my parents, not me.
Album: Murmur
Year: 1983
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File Under Opportune
Did you know about the joke that R.E.M. had running through their credits for their entire recording career? It had to do with their music publishing, which is why it’s super trainspottingy and utterly nerdy for me to know this. With Murmur, they decided to call their music publishing company “Night Garden Music,” which was “Administered throughout the Universe by Unichappel Music.” For nearly 30 years, on all of their studio albums absent one, exactly which world their Night Garden Music was administered would change.
I don’t remember when I discovered this, or if I read it in one of the many R.E.M. books I devoured in the late 80s / early 90s, but one of my goals as I write about them is to let you know what the variation is for each of their albums, as well as the one album where they — let’s face it, it was probably Michael Stipe who instigated this running joke — didn’t vary from the previous album.
This is just one of many public services of Certain Songs. You’re welcome!!
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1697: R.E.M. – “Shaking Through”
Album: Murmur
Year: 1983
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File Under Conversation
“9-9” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song . . .
I’ve always felt that the dissonant, offjointed “9-9” was the secret key to just how great Murmur was. Sticking it in the middle of side two, after all of the beauty of the first side and the rumble that started the second was like a statement of purpose: “yeah, we can do the soaring jangly songs, and we can do the lushly melodic ballads, but we can also do this weird-ass tone poem of utter incoherence.”
Oh, and I found out recently that I’ve been mispronouncing the title this whole time.
Album: Murmur
Year: 1983
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File Under Par
Probably because it was one of their earliest songs, “Sitting Still” is perhaps the purest straight-forward rocker on Murmur, accomplishing two things at once: uptempo joy and wistful nostalgia, which is a pretty neat trick, actually.
“Sitting Still” was originally released as the b-side of the Hib-Tone “Radio Free Europe” single, and the take on Murmur is the same one they used for the single, absent a new Mike Mills bass part and some fixed vocals, which probably accounts for relative simplicity in terms of both the arrangement and the instrumentation.
Kicking off with a massive Bill Berry snare drum hit, followed by Peter Buck smashing ringing chords on his Rickenbacker and Mike Mills playing about 15 basslines at once, “Sitting Still” gets off to a rousing start which overcomes the fact that I still have no idea which Michael Stipe singing on the first verse.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1695: R.E.M. – “Sitting Still”
Album: Murmur
Year: 1983
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File Under Anything
First, a housekeeping note: The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that I skipped “Perfect Circle” as I turn my attention to side two of Murmur. That’s because there’s a live version that I’ll be writing about in a few weeks that I love even more than the studio version, with its dual piano parts, echoed drum beat and backwards guitars. So don’t worry, we’ll get there.
In the meantime, let’s talk about one of more infamous roads not taken: the Stephen Hague-produced version of Murmur. Apparently the story goes that I.R.S. was a bit dodgy about having Mitch Easter — who’d already produced Chronic Town — produce the full-length. So R.E.M. agreed to go into the studio and do a song with Hague.