We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: Monster (25th Anniversary)
Year: 1994
. . .
File Under Jealousy
Like “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)” from Chronic Town, “Circus Envy” was inspired by David Lynch’s Elephant Man, a fact that Michael Stipe only revealed last year during an interview with the RU Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me? guys.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1743: R.E.M. – “Circus Envy (2019 Remix)”
Album: Monster (25th Anniversary)
Year: 1994
. . .
File Under Cunnilingus
So a little bit of housekeeping here: while “Tongue” was always on the borderline of being a Certain Song, it was the 2019 remix that put it over the the line. That said, since the performance and recording were both in 1994, I’m counting the year as 1994, not 2019, even as I specify that the version I’m writing about was the 2019 version.
Confused? You won’t be! Oh wait, you probably will be.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1742: R.E.M. – “Tongue (2019 Remix)”
Album: Monster
Year: 1994
. . .
File Under Kurt
So, as you might have remembered, in early April of 1994, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain blew his brains out with a shotgun, the biggest shock not being that he died — he’d already overdosed a few weeks previously — but how he died. Of course, I’ve already been over this territory before, so let’s focus on how that death affected R.E.M. Spoiler Alert: a lot!
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.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1740: R.E.M. – “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”