Archives for January 2020

Certain Songs #1740: R.E.M. – “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”

January 31, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Monster
Year: 1994

. . .

File Under Irony

Of course, by the time Monster — AKA “The Scary One” — came out two years later, everything was different. And I do mean everything.

I had moved out of Fresno and was living in Oakland, and had just discovered the World Wide Web, soon to be the source of the career path I’m still on. Also, the Wild Blue in Fresno had closed, cutting off a major venue for local bands, including one called “Kenneth, What’s The Frequency?” that had formed around the time Automatic For The People came out, but I think had broken up by then.

In the wider world, there wasn’t a World Series that year — sorry, Montreal Expos — and Kurt Cobain had killed himself, sending shockwaves throughout the music world about which I still cared deeply. The deaths of the Blue and Cobain, I think, were a major spur for me getting the hell out, as was leaving my job at the Video Zone, where I’d been since 1985. All of that stuff happened within a month or so of each other, a clear message that it was really now or never, I had to decide.

Certain Songs #1739: R.E.M. – “Find The River”

January 30, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic For The People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Ocean

“Find The River” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song.

At the very least, it’s on the shortlist of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, R.E.M. Division.

That said, unlike the two titans that immediately precede it on the album, I don’t have all of the words memorized, instead, I just really love “Find The River” as an incredibly beautiful piece of music.

Certain Songs #1738: R.E.M. – “Nightswimming”

January 29, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic For The People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Recklessness

The final three songs on Automatic For The People — “Man on the Moon,” “Nightswimming,” and “Find The River” — represent if not the the peak of R.E.M.’s music, then for sure a peak of their music: a trio of pretty and poignant songs that would have never occurred to the band at any previous point in their existence.

Or any other band, for that matter. That was one of the joys of Automatic For The People: just how out of step, how out of time it felt in the autumn of 1992. After this, every R.E.M. album felt like a reaction to something: their stardom, their drummer, their sophistication, their break-up.

Certain Songs #1737: R.E.M. – “Man on the Moon”

January 28, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic for the People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Andy

“Man on the Moon” just might be my favorite R.E.M song.

Andy Kaufman was only on this planet for 35 years, but he made a helluva impression, to the point where there are people who firmly believe that he’s actually been on this planet for 71 years, having faked his 1984 death.

Certain Songs #1736: R.E.M. – “Sweetness Follows”

January 27, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic For the People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Sweetness

I guess the most surprising thing about “Sweetness Follows” is how long it took R.E.M. to write a song that sounded like “Sweetness Follows,” which sounds a lot like Big Star’s Third as filtered through Murmur.

Certain Songs #1735: R.E.M. – “Everybody Hurts”

January 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic For The People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Sometimes

R.E.M. may have written a more straightforward and sincere song in the R.E.M. but outside of possibly “World Leader Pretend,” I can’t think of one that has fewer levels of irony or metaphor than “Everybody Hurts.” It’s all right there on the page: everybody hurts, sometimes. So hold on.

Which, of course, in the irony-drenched early 1990s, might have a bit of a hard sell, but with its slow-burn to big build Stax arrangement and utter sincerity, “Everybody Hurts” kinda cut through, which is probably why there wasn’t as much of a backlash to it as what Space Ghost called “that shiny shiny people song.”

Certain Songs #1734: R.E.M. – “Drive”

January 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Automatic For The People
Year: 1992

. . .

File Under Bushwhacked

It happens to just about everybody, with the exception of Neil Young, Robert Pollard and Prince: there comes a time when you just can’t crank out an album per year, especially if you’re successful. For one thing, success often means long tours, which are anathema to both writing and recording.

So after cranking out six albums in six consecutive years, R.E.M. took some time off between Green and Out of Time, and I figured that it was pretty much the end of yearly R.E.M. albums. And, in fact, that was kinda how the culture started trending in the late 80s / early 1990s: nobody was doing yearly albums anymore. Thanks a lot, Boston!

Certain Songs #1733: R.E.M. – “Me in Honey”

January 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Out of Time
Year: 1991

. . .

File Under Baby

“Me in Honey” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song.

Some of you might be worried that I skipped “Country Feedback.” Don’t worry, there is a live version from 1998 coming up soon enough where Michael Stipe makes like Van Morrison and Peter Buck channels Neil Young.

The spring of 1991 was a weird time.

Not only was my band falling apart — the greatest band I was ever going to play in (or at least until last year) — I was dealing with the sputtering ending of the longest relationship I’d ever had, as well as looking for a new place to live that was closer to the Tower District. All of this was in the shadow of the pointless Gulf War 1.0.

Certain Songs #1732: R.E.M. – “Belong”

January 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Out of Time
Year: 1991

. . .

File Under Barricades

After the straight-forward uplift pop of “Shiny Happy People,” Out of Time took a lyrical turn towards darkness that lasted the rest of the album, starting with the spoken word opening verse of “Belong.”

Certain Songs #1731: R.E.M. – “Shiny Happy People”

January 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Out of Time
Year: 1991

File Under Shine

I know, I know: many of you hate this song. Hell, R.E.M. hates this song: not only did they never play it in concert, Michael Stipe once uttered the immortal phrase “I hate that song, Space Ghost” on a very popular late-night TV show.

It often shows up on lists of “worst songs by great bands,” (which is insane while Around The Sun exists), but you know what? Y’all need to calm down. Because “Shiny Happy People” is a fucking great song. Don’t @ me.