My Top Twelve Favorite REM Songs

REM is one of the greatest all-time rock bands ever, in my estimation right up there with the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Who. Drummer Bill Berry, bassist Mike Mills, lead guitarist Peter Buck, and singer/lyricist Michael Stipe have shown over the years that unselfish collaboration and friendship can endure within a band regardless of its level of success. Although Berry had to leave his colleagues in the mid-nineties because of serious health concerns, REM has continued to this day producing quality, significant music. In my opinion, their “golden years” happened in the period from 1989 through 1994 when they (all four) produced four incredible albums: Green, Out of Time, Automatic For the People, and Monster. But they’ve done songs I like all the back from their debut EP Chronic Town up to today. Not only do I like REM’s music, but I like each of its members as well (I can’t think of any other band besides the Beatles that I can truly say that about).

Regarding my selections, I could have listed my “top 50” REM songs, but since this is primarily a writing blog and I wanted to write about each song, I had to undergo the painful soul-searching process of reducing the number to something manageable, like “twelve” (I couldn’t bear to cut it to “ten”). So, here we go:

#12: What’s the Frequency Kenneth
During the summer of 1994, I was poised to hear another refined and melodic album by REM in the mold of Out of Time and Automatic for the People. The first track released from the new album Monster was a radical departure from the previous two works. What’s the Frequency Kenneth featured a solid background of guitar that gave it a much harder edge. The strange title was based on the words a deranged man uttered as he assaulted CBS News anchor Dan Rather (a big REM fan himself). And the rougher sound typified by this first track permeated most of Monster.

#11: Pilgrimage
During the mid-nineties, I “caught up” with REM’s earlier works. Pilgrimage was a slow-developing, but ultimately loud song from Murmur, their first full-length album. For some reason, Michael Stipe kept singing the words “two-headed cow” at various moments in the song.

Yes, it was its musical, not lyrical, side that gave this song its special appeal to me.

#10: Walk Unafraid
REM’s late-nineties album Up was, for them, a commercial disappointment following a string a very successful albums. Bill Berry and his important contributions to the band in the studio were no longer there. The tracks that were picked for singles releases were usually poor choices (in my opinion). Up contained several good tunes that would have done better on the charts, Walk Unafraid being one of them. Walk Unafraid’s lyrics resonated with me and continued to reveal Michael Stipe's uncanny, deep empathy for issues I cared about (such as walking clumsily).

#9: E-Bow the Letter
From the generally-disappointing New Adventures in Hi-Fi album, E-Bow the Letter was one of REM’s many songs whose mood and production was so different that they stood apart, not only from other artists’ works, but also distinctly from REM’s. E-Bow the Letter was a duet between Michael Stipe and Patti Smith. It also may have been Stipe’s greatest single performance as a vocalist, although he basically talked throughout the song.

#8: Suspicion
Suspicion is the track from Up that I was convinced would have been a chart-topper had it been released and promoted as a single. Later I discovered that it had been released as a single, but still went nowhere. Go figure. Suspicion was a mysterious, slow, dreamy piece that would have had great cross-over appeal on different radio stations had it been properly promoted. Oh well, at least I got it!

#7: Man on the Moon
In early 1993, I fell in love with this song, which was also the song that set off my frenzied collection of REM’s albums. It was a memorial to the late comedian Andy Kaufman as well as a patchwork quilt of Michael Stipe’s takes on skepticism, religion, and urban legends (at least that’s my “take” on it).

#6: South Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
South Central Rain was a special REM song in that it was several years after I heard it before I heard any of their other songs. The only reason I even heard it back in 1984 was that MTV showed its video then as part of their regular rotation. A great, stirring old song, although I’m not exactly sure what Michael Stipe was trying to communicate with it (other than that he was “S-O-R-R-Y”)!

#5: Find the River
This song concluded the beautiful 1992 album Automatic For the People. Softly played and sadly sung, Find the River had a mysterious, prophetic mood to it that portended a future containing a finality, possibly that of life itself. To end an entire album this way left me saying “wow!” to myself. A very emotional piece (they keep getting more so the higher up I get with this ranking).

#4: Half a World Away
Buried deep within the 1990 album Out of Time is Half a World Away, another sad tune expressing the sentiments of separation laid out in its title. The acoustic, strummed guitar stands out in this track.

#3: The Wrong Child
From the moment I first heard it in 1994, this song from their 1989 album Green sent chills up my spine for the way it elicited strong waves of memories and emotions about my own childhood. Multitracked with Michael Stipe’s high-pitched singing and featuring acoustic guitar accompaniment, The Wrong Child was what I would call a massive “tearjerker”. I can’t think of any other REM song that even remotely sounds like it, either. It made me wonder what sources of such insight this band possessed to come up with something this sensitive and beautiful.

#2: Let Me In
My favorite track off of Monster, Let Me In was (to me) REM’s most instrumentally-intense piece. Mike Mills was chiefly responsible for flooding this song with an overpowering, constant guitar presence. The lyrics were a belated plea by Michael Stipe to his late friend Kurt Cobain for the troubled Nirvana singer to share his problems with him. Like The Wrong Child, I never heard Let Me In played on the radio. REM is one band whose albums contain the great bulk of their important material. If I had just stuck with listening to their singles releases, I would have completely missed out on some incredible songs (like Let Me In).

#1: Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life was one example of the best song from one of REM’s albums being released as a single. Coming off their inspired Reveal CD, this tune contained two compelling melodies playing off against each other until one of them, childlike and wistful, won out and was repeated to the end. More a collage of images than a coherent narrative, Imitation of Life was one of those malleable songs that could be whatever the listener wanted to make it be. Taking it as a mood piece worked for me. It’s one of those songs that makes me feel good whenever I hear it.

So that’s my personal version of the very best of one of the very best bands ever, REM.