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R.E.M.

Certain Songs #1754: R.E.M. – “The Great Beyond”

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Single, 1999

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File Under Answers

When it became time to make a film about Andy Kaufman, it seemed only natural to get R.E.M. to do the soundtrack, given that the immortal “Man on the Moon” provided at least the title for the film.

And while I don’t think I’ve seen it since, I seem to recall enjoying Man on the Moon the film, despite Jim Carrey — who I took a visceral dislike to during In Living Color — and because of Courtney Love, but 20 years later, it’s clear that the best thing that came from the whole project was “The Great Beyond,” which was released as a single at the turn of the century.

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Certain Songs #1753: R.E.M. – “Country Feedback (Hamburg 11-02-1998)”

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TV Broadcast, 1998

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File Under Need

This live version of “Country Feedback” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song.

At the very least, it’s my favorite live performance by R.E.M., and given that I’ve listened to countless bootlegs and official live albums over the past 35 years, that’s gotta mean something.

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Certain Songs #1752: R.E.M. – “Sad Professor”

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Album: Up
Year: 1998

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File Under Jumped

During the small European TV Show tour that R.E.M. undertook to promote Up, Michael Stipe would ocasionally introduce “Sad Professor” as an “one more incredibly depressing song” before they played it.

And hoo boy, he wasn’t kidding either, as “Sad Professor” was cut from the same musical cloth as “Sweetness Follows,” — Peter Buck strumming an acoustic while overdubbing an feedbacky electric guitar for the choruses, while Stipe told the story of someone who had hit rock bottom.

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Certain Songs #1750: R.E.M. – “At My Most Beautiful”

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Album: Up
Year: 1998

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File Under Nightsurfing

While there was always a Beach Boys influence hidden in the stacked harmonies of songs like “Pilgrimage” and “Fall on Me” — not to mention the “ba ba ba ba ba ba” breakdown in “Near Wild Heaven,” it wasn’t until Up where they went full Pet Sounds.

And while I’m not as much of a Beach Boys fanatic as most of y’all, I could very much appreciate R.E.M.’s take on that sound, especially with Mike Mills propulsive piano anchoring it. Which is why in my headcanon, this song is called “Nightsurfing.”

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Certain Songs #1748: R.E.M. – “Electrolite”

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Album: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Year: 1996

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File Under Sheen

“Electrolite” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song.

And if it isn’t mine, it’s reportedly Thom Yorke’s, so if it’s yours, you have good company. It’s also an important, epochal song in R.E.M. history, as it’s the final song on the final album that R.E.M. released with Bill Berry as a member. Of course, nobody but Bill Berry’s gut knew this as they were tracking the new songs and overdubbing the live songs for New Adventures in Hi-Fi, and I sure as shit didn’t know it as I was eagerly consuming it during the autumn of 1996.

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Certain Songs #1747: R.E.M. – “So Fast, So Numb”

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Album: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Year: 1996

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File Under Fear

If, because I didn’t know the provenance, I thought that “Binky The Doormat” was one of R.E.M.’s worst song titles, then my feelings about “So Fast, So Numb” are the exact opposite. I honestly think it’s one of their best song titles, best suited for their mid-1990s period. (Oh, and like the rest of New Adventures in Hi-Fi it was administered in the surface world by Warner-Tamerlaine music.)

So basically, with that title, all they had to do is not fuck it up, right? Which, naturally, they didn’t, because in a lot of ways, it’s probably the most R.E.M. song on New Adventures in Hi-Fi, mixing electric and acoustic guitars, organ and piano, while Stipe sang a lyric that may or may not have been about his pal River Phoenix.

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Certain Songs #1746: R.E.M. – “Binky The Doormat”

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Album: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Year: 1996

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File Under Away

I’ve never seen the Bobcat Goldthwait film Shakes The Clown, so when I tell you that the title “Binky The Doormat” was taken from that film, I’m repeating information I gleaned from several sources, including a couple that weren’t on the internet.

But because I just learned / realized this fact out of all of the R.E.M. songs I’m writing about for this silly project, “Binky The Doormat” has the second silliest title — nothing will ever be worse than “Mine Smell Like Honey” — and it was enough for me to ignore this song for quite a while.

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Certain Songs #1745: R.E.M. – “Undertow”

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Album: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Year: 1996

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File Under Drowning

One of the more amazing things about New Adventures in Hi-Fi was that much of it was written during the 1995 tour that took down three-quarters of the band at various points.

We’ve already talked about how “Tongue” was the song that caused Bill Berry’s aneurysm in March, even though — or maybe because! — he hardly played on it, and then in July, having made it back to Europe for the make-up dates, Mike Mills had to have abdominal surgery, cancelling a whole bunch more dates, including some of the make-up dates scheduled because of Berry’s aneurysm. Tough luck, Netherlands!

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