When R.E.M. released “Out of Time” in 1991, this song became my go-to break-up song. Michael Stipe’s voice calls up all the fragility, desperation, longing, and despair that I felt as I drove aimlessly around and belted out the words on repeat.
This is my favorite song, even though every time I listen to it I’m reminded of moments of loneliness and unhappiness. It’s my favorite because it evokes those emotions, because it makes me feel.
This is how I feel today.
Showing posts tagged music
Judge me for it if you will, but this song and this video were a big part of who I was at sixteen: a bookish, depressed Catholic kid in a new town. All that nightmare religious imagery and Vermeer light blew my tiny mind, accompanied by that spine-chilling mandolin and Stipe’s nearly affectless vocals (so much more effective than some mass of emoting).
Reading the chapter on R.E.M. in Dorian Lynskey’s 33 Revolutions Per Minute has given me a fresher appreciation of their early work, and, well, “Shiny Happy People” aside, Out of Time will be a key part of my high school soundtrack. I admit, I had a bit of a “what, they were still alive?” reaction to the breakup news. Still, they had a good run, didn’t they?
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R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
(This post has been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks just waiting for the right time to be posted. I think today is that day.)
A lot of people have very deep and meaningful connections to this song. It’s a serious song, full of emotion and that lends itself to having personal associations with it.
Mine is that episode where Brenda broke up with Dylan because she got all freaked out when she thought she had gotten knocked up.
See? Deep and Meaningful Connections.
I wonder if Michael Stipe was a big 90210 fan.
Axoplasm: New R.E.M. Albums
(Reposted from my old blog. Originally written April 4, 2008)
I stood outside the door of Pickles Records, waiting for opening time, on the day of Document’s release in 1987. (It was also, coincidentally, the day before my 16th birthday.) That event began a pattern that continued through 1988’sGreen (released on Election Day), 1991’s Out of Time (sometime in early spring — oh, March 12, thank you Wikipedia!), and 1992’s Automatic for the People (October 6): I would buy R.E.M.’s newest album on its release day.
Archaeological fieldwork (in the vicinity of Buffalo, Texas) delayed my purchase of 1994’s Monster (September 27), but I resumed my habit for New Adventures is Hi-Fi (September 10, 1996). The last R.E.M. album I bought on its release date was the post–Bill Berry Up (October 27, 1998). During the same year, someone at a party asked me who my favorite band was and my then-girlfriend answered for me: “Stereolab.” I recall being a little put off — where did she get off saying my favorite band wasn’t R.E.M., which was certainly the case since at least 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant? But the hell of it was, she was right.
I bought Reveal several months after its release (May 15, 2001). I knew of its existence during the entire time, but the uneven quality of the band’s last two albums dulled my enthusiasm a little. I eventually bought it on CD — one of the last albums on bought on CD, actually.
I can’t recall when I bought 2004’s Around the Sun. I think I noticed some unfamiliar R.E.M. songs on a coworker’s shared iTunes library, which prompted me to wonder — “did R.E.M. release a new album and I didn’t even know about it?” Yup, that’s what happened. I downloaded the album from iTunes mainly out of loyalty. By that time — probably early 2005 — R.E.M. occupied the same place in my pop culture universe as The Simpsons…their early work had essentially bought them a lifetime free pass in my opinion.
I feel pretty good about being only three days late for Accelerate, which is a stronger effort than any R.E.M. album since 1996. Like U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, it’s a return-to-form album, with none of the electronic experimentation of Up or the soft-rock coasting of the previous two albums. So in the sense of “resembles older, better R.E.M. albums,” it’s pretty good. On the other hand, at least until 2004, the one thing you could safely say about the newest R.E.M. album was that it wouldn’t sound much like any R.E.M. album before it.
When I was 16, I wrote a screed about classic rock radio called “Fuck Radio” for a friend’s zine (the Subterranean). It used to infuriate me that a young person could turn on the radio and hear great rock and roll coming from at least five F.M. stations, but that none of that great rock and roll was newer than about 1978. I thought I was living through the halcyon years of rock and roll, which had been revitalized first by punk rock in the late 70s and then again by New Wave and the R & B–influenced pop of the early 1980s. I held especial contempt for the Rolling Stones and Eric Claption, both of whom I regarded as way past their prime, holding back rock and roll, filling the airwaves and critical attention with stuff that had already been done. This was part of a larger rubric in my head that kind of loathed the remaindered 60s culture of then-thirtysomethings. What little airspace was left for pop music seemed to be filled with execrable hair metal and junky throwaway pop.
I wonder where that screed is now? I bet it’s funny.
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R.E.M. - Loosing My Religion
I love this band. They were one of my gateway drugs into music. They were one of the first bands I got into as a kid. Their lyrics are so life changing and mind altering for me.
My Dad was obsessed with them when I was growing up and he would cover “Loosing My Religion” all the time with his band. Many memories of sitting in the garage listening to my Dad sing it over and over. He’d pick me up from school sometimes in his MG controvertible and he would be blasting that song. I didn’t appreciate then how good of taste my Dad has. And as an Atheist this song hits even closer to home after all these years. After 30 years of consistently making great music they have split and I am completely bummed. They will be on an endless loop while I painting and drawing tonight. RIP R.E.M.
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Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.
You have no idea how cool these guys were circa 1981-83. That “Chronic Town” EP was played relentlessly at nerd parties my freshman year of college (hipsters were non-existent because EVERYONE shunned us nerds - we were not a lifestyle like now). Then “Murmur” was released and an entire US rock music genre was born from this song. I could gush on but it’s time to simply say:
Thank you Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, & Bill Berry for all of your music and art!
