R.E.M. POX

I tried to spread out my picks over albums otherwise they were all going to be from Murmur, Reckoning etc. But those were the albums and songs that meant the most to me. Actually, going over the later albums I realized that I never gave these albums much of a chance due to the post release dissapointment but that they seem to have aged pretty well and I should go back and give them a listen.

Wolves, Lower
Voice of Harold
These Days
Perfect Circle
Auctioneer
Life and How to Live It
You
Begin the Begin
Disturbance at the Heron House
At My Most Beautiful

Wendall Gee
Perfect Circle
Country Feedback
Find the River
Daysleeper
Try Not To Breathe
Hairshirt
New Test Leper
Nightswimming
Half A World Away

Near Wild Heaven
Pretty Persuasion
Sitting Still
Imitation Of Life
Harborcoat
Radio Free Europe
Wolves, Lower
Perfect Circle
Begin The Begin
Half A World Away

1) They're not in order.
2) You know as well as I do what an awful lyricist Stipe was capable of being even in his "heyday."
3) But he's a great singer!
4) "Emotional Rescue" was on my Stones POX and I'm sure I own more Stones than you, you little pipsqueak.

1. Perfect Circle
2.
3.
4. Shaking Through
5. Leave
6.
7.

(this.is.pure.torture)
phleeez, may i do cover versions and instrumentals first!?!

Honorable Mention: Catapult, 9-9, Pretty Persuation, Shaking Through.

gardening at night
laughing
harborcoat
maps and legends
kahoutek
good advices
fall on me
the one i love
losing my religion
untitled from Green

later notables:
near wild heaven
country feedback
tongue

11) "Slip Inside This House," the song they SHOULD have covered for Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye but didn't, and therefore doesn't exist as far as I know, goddammit.

The annoyingly repetitive, monotone and "underproduced on the verge of unfinished" "Nightswimming", you mean?

This is really hard for me.

warner years (new adventures songs first, cuz that album fucking rules):
1. new test leper
2. electrolite
3. leave
4. country feedback
5. sweetness follows
6. the sidewinder sleeps tonite
7. me in honey
8. turn you inside-out
9. sad professor
10. world leader pretend

Untitled Final Song On Green - I'd completely forgotten about that one. I have to say that I haven't played Green in 5 years or more - is that the song where they swop instruments? I have no idea how it goes, except for a vague recollection of a clumsy drum intro (Buck?)

though Nightswimming has kind of ruined the actual act of night swimming.

clumsy drum intro (Buck?)
Yup.

IRS

Pilgrimage
So. Central Rain
Harbourcoat
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Life and How To Live It
Begin The Begin
Just A Touch
Finest Worksong
Disturbance at the Heron House
Exhuming McCarthy

Warners

You Are The Everything
Untitled
Find The River
Sweetness Follows
You
Tongue
Circus Envy
Crush With Eyeliner
Binky The Doormat
Electrolite

post-Berry

Hope
Sad Professor
Walk Unafraid
The Great Beyond
I've Been High
The Lifting
Animal
Electron Blue
I Wanted To Be Wrong
Around The Sun

You know what? Take out You and replace it with, oh, Airportman.

I Believe
Try Not To Breath
Sitting Still
Find The River
Nightswimming
Radio Free Europe
Cuyahoga
Shaking Through
Daysleeper
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

E-Bow the Letter
Star Me Kitten
Gardening at Night
Strange Currencies
King of Birds
Tongue
Losing My Religion
Nightswimming
Stumble
Drive

...how did I forget "Driver 8"?! I suck at these!

the one i love
kahoutek
gardening
harbourcoat
sitting still
good advices
get up
losing my religion
it's the end of the world
fall on me

What's that one "a hundred million birds fly away...." That would have to be in there.

that's "king of birds," the second side of 'document.' great song. my pox

"carnival of sorts"
"life and how to live it"
"nightswimming"
"me in honey"
"shaking through"
"camera"
"circus act"
"green grow the rushes"
"fall on me"
"belong"

chrono:

sitting still
pretty persuasion
KOHOUTEK
begin the begin
cuyahoga
disturbance at the heron house
orange crush
belong
country feedback
nightswimming

radio free europe
pilgrimage
cuyahoga
life and how to live it
camera
romance
these days
just a touch
you are the everything

and, fuck it, i never would have thought this would make my top 10 but i have to admit i sing it to myself all the damn time

what's the frequency, kenneth?

sort of surprised by how much i weighted this towards the louder side of rem.

nightswimming
king of birds
stand
swan swan h
radio free europe
life and how to live it
the one i love
man on the moon
cant get there from here
near wild heaven

Talk About The Passion
Little America
Can't Get There From Here
I Believe
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
You Are The Everything
Radio Song
Sweetness Follows
Leave
Hope

'its the end of the world' is maybe the only big r.e.m. radio hit i outright dislike. im not even sure why either other than it seems so insipid

i have a pavlovian positive reaction to hearing it, every single time, imo it's their greatest single. i totally get hating it, though.

i mean i rep for radio song so obv i'm coming from kind of a wrong place with this band anyway

i love that song (and video) but i understand the hate

earliest r.e.m. song i actively disliked was probably "ignoreland"

bring it que

The guitars in the verse of "end if the world" are so dreamy. And then mike mills going "ohhhhh ohhhhh".

i mean i rep for radio song so obv i'm coming from kind of a wrong place with this band anyway

i dont think your take is any worse than my penchant for wistful sweetness!

like ive probably been spending 'too much time on ilx' all day today but part of the reason i mb seem sorta bemused w/ you is that you seem to come at music from a totally different place than i do but at the same time like i look @ yr list and totally get it and it makes me sorta reconsider how i see those songs yknow?

Carnival of Sorts
Gardening at Night (Acoustic)
Laughing
Don't Go Back to Rockville
Driver 8
Oddfellows Local 151
Untitled
Texarkana
Drive
I'm Gonna DJ

pilgrimage
harborcoat
nightswimming
life and how to live it
man on the moon
fall on me
gardening at night
windout
little america
wolves, lower

dude KOHOUTEK

Oh, and the "Sing Along" part of Diminished.

i dont think your take is any worse than my penchant for wistful sweetness!

like ive probably been spending 'too much time on ilx' all day today but part of the reason i mb seem sorta bemused w/ you is that you seem to come at music from a totally different place than i do but at the same time like i look @ yr list and totally get it and it makes me sorta reconsider how i see those songs yknow?

― Duran Duran Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom (Lamp), Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:08 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

word. this is a band that does wistful sweetness well, though, "nightswimming" and "king of birds" and "life and how to live it" might have been in my POX if i wasn't posting it right after yours fwiw.

1.Harborcoat
2.Laughing
3.Find The River
4.Leave
5.Losing My Religion
6.So.Central Rain
7.Fall On Me
8.Electrolite
9.West Of The Fields
10.The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

earliest r.e.m. song i actively disliked was probably "ignoreland"

― I'll be interesting in 20 years (rip van wanko), Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:04 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

ha i cut "ignoreland" from my list at the last second

earliest album i brought home and was like what the fuck was automatic for the people

guess I never did this?

Sitting Still
The Flowers of Guatemala
Letter Never Sent
Endgame
Disturbance at the Heron House
Good Advices
Pop Song 89
Monty Got A Raw Deal
Leave
Circus Envy

Feeling Gravitys Pull
Maps and Legends
Driver 8
Life and How to Live It
Old Man Kensey
Green Grow the Rushes
Kohoutek
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
Good Advices
Wendell Gee

earliest r.e.m. song i actively disliked was probably "ignoreland"

this is otm

buzzaotm

mike mills playing slap bass and/or wearing a nudie suit is hilarious and makes REM 10x more awesome fuiud

Harborcoat
Sitting Still
Fall On Me
Nightswimming
Perfect Circle
Sweetness Follows
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Country Feedback
Circus Envy
Beat a Drum (Dalkey demo and absolutely not the ruined album version)

Fairly arbitrary choice, but the top 3 are untouchable.

overdue.

huh, weird. kind of figured they were at the point of just going on forever, like U2.
when's the reunion!?

I share your sentiments, Tyler. But Peter Buck has been saying for the last few years that he's had more fun backing up Robyn Hitchcock than as part of REM!

I still really enjoy Michael Stipe's vocals, I think perhaps this could be a chance for him to stretch his musical horizons, let's see where else he winds up.

yeah true, could be interesting to see what stipe does. though it'll probably be something horrible, like an album produced by moby or something.
would actually be curious to hear a mike mills solo rec. could go either way maybe. but it's probably a good idea for these guys to make music w/o the burden of being this gargantuan rock band.

I hope Stipe does an album with Metallica.

though it'll probably be something horrible, like an album produced by moby or somethi

lol otm

Stipe replaces Mick for SuperHeavy II.

Should have played their last show NYE 99 like they promised. Glad they're going out like this instead of some other unsavory way. I assume in 10 years they'll reunite to play Murmur in order.

Should have played their last show NYE 99 like they promised.
^^^

i liked most of up, too. it really would have been a great way to go out.

should have changed their name to R.E. after berry left

well then

I don't get people being all tore up about this honestly - it's not like they broke up right as they were in the middle of this amazing string of records

are people tore up about it? my wife is a huge fan, and when I told her she said: "huh."

Who's tore up? A couple of my most REM-obsessive friends are all "well, the time was right" and "now I feel kind of old" but they aren't crying.

I don't get people being all tore up about this honestly - it's not like they broke up right as they were in the middle of this amazing string of records

yeah, this ^^^^. it's a good time for them to break up, since they rebounded with the last disc (which was okay to pretty-good at times).

i think a lot of the torn-up feelings are about fans being reminded that their childhood/adolescence ended a long time ago. that's how i feel.

Lot of posts on fb calling for The Cure and U2 to follow suit. Can't disagree tbh.

yes and for the love of god, the red-hot-chili-peppers.

red hots are gonna keep on rockin forever, nothing can stop them now

That would've been pretty cool if all four of those bands got together and planned to break up on the same day. OPPORTUNITY WASTED!

man SO many "this sucks" on Twitter & Facebook about this. and I kinda don't think it does - even if their last stuff wasn't their strongest, I don't think they ever did the "performing their classic album, _________!" thing which I consider such an embarrassment - I think it kinda rules for a band to ring the bell themselves instead of getting counted out

for all I know they did a Murmur tour though in which case I take it back, eat shit R.E.M. for the Murmur-redux tour

xxp like an unwanted 80's bands suicide pact

More time for Buck and Rieflin to play on Robyn Hitchcock records = win

for all I know they did a Murmur tour though in which case I take it back, eat shit R.E.M. for the Murmur-redux tour

they're saving that for their "free-concert-at-the-outdoor-racetrack" phase.

would be awesome if they did all songs from the album tour for Dead Letter Office

More awesome if they did all their fan club singles. Oh and put them out on one CD, damnit!

epic marketing move for Coachella 2014 (LCD Soundsystem opening)

http://twitter.com/#!/nprnews/status/116566425988112384

several dozens of pasty cubicle farmers mourn...

CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.

REM's been one of my favorite bands since adolescence but I'm happy for the band going out on their own terms. I haven't really loved an REM record since Automatic though I dug big parts of Monster & Up & haven't had much use of anything else of theirs.

but back in the day this would have spurred on more rumors of Stipey's imminent demise from AIDS so I guess we've, uh, grown or something?

lol, how very "NPR" xp

Carnival of Sorts
Shaking Through
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Fall on Me
King of Birds
Harbourcoat
So Central Rain
Maps and Legends
Driver 8
Cuyohuga (sp?)

lmao @ npr

I realize my original post was a bit too "Reveal"-centric. Sure, it was much better than its reputation, but by no means their best. Missing "Try Not To Breathe" in that list in particular.

Having an R.E.M. phase after playing "World Leader Pretend" by chance (It was on a CD-R in the car, on an old holiday compilation).

Bemused to discover there were at least three albums that I hadn't even noticed/that don't even seem familiar in a "I saw that but decided not to bother" sort of way and that "Up" (which I do own) is really good.

i've been having a 'world leader pretend' phase recently, too. i've always liked it but i didn't realize it would be in my r.e.m. POX until recently

Always been one of my faves.

My absolute favourite.

I've never loved World Leader but someone on the Green poll thread brought up a good point that the Tourfilm version serves it really well. It looks like I posted this list above 15 years ago. I still can't really get too into the Warner Bro years, (although I really like a lot of the songs Bittersweet Me, Imitation of Life) I would have to do a separate list for that. My changes in parentheses.

Shaking Through
Radio Free Europe
Perfect Circle (delete, put in Fall on Me)
Green Grow the Rushes Grow (weird. delete and put in Harborcoat)
So. Central Rain
I Believe
Pop Song 89/ or Get UP
Don't Go Back to Rockville (delete put in These Days)
Wolves Lower
...some song post Green.

Have bought the final three albums for a quid apiece (from Music Magpie).

Good luck trying to get through Around the Sun past the first couple of tracks (the only R.E.M. album I dislike)

life and how to live it
e-bow the letter
crush with eyeliner
country feedback
get up
harborcoat
pilgrimage
bittersweet me
exhuming mccarthy
monty got a raw deal

Sitting Still
Leave
Letter Never Sent
Circus Envy
The Flowers of Guatemala
This World Is Big
Me In Honey
Disturbance at the Heron House
I've Been High
Little America

Losing My Religion
Find the River
Nightswimming
Man on the Moon
Everybody Hurts
Driver 8
Rockville
Fall On Me
Perfect Circle
Harborcoat

Nightswimming
So. Central Rain
Harborcoat
Shaking Through
Country Feedback
Driver 8
Maps and Legends
Swan Swan H
E-Bow
Be Mine

Fuck, I don’t know about this.

Fall On Me
Try Not to Breathe
Cuyahoga
Near Wild Heaven
Laughing
Bittersweet Me
Disturbance at the Heron House
Man on the Moon
Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)
You Are the Everything

KING OF BIRDS
Belong
So. Central Rain
Nightswimming
Daysleeper
You Are the Everything
The One I Love
Losing my Religion
Swan Swan H
Find the River

I guess?

king of birds nearly made mine

So many great things not fitting. One tries to be reasonably broad in tone and era but... gah.

there should be a gen x dating app where you list your top ten rem songs to find a match.

Not in order, but this is what i've decided on today (and I feel fine about it).

Driver 8
Cuyahoga
Carnival of Sorts
I Believe
You Are The Everything
Country Feedback
Haborcoat
Don't Go Back to Rockville
Texarkana
Untitled (from Green)

sitting still
world leader pretend
cuyahoga
life and how to live it
e-bow the letter
gardening at night
swan swan h
me in honey
fall on me
drive

what's great is that i love all of the other lists...these are all good songs.

r.e.m. POXXV?

i feel like an old man in a nursing home, with the game rigged in my favor by a polite staff so that whatever choice i make is correct, in some way

Is "This World Is Big" what people are calling the untitled song on Green?

Yeah sorry that’s what I call it

so. central rain
the one i love
gardening at night
talk about the passion
finest work song
7 chinese brothers
near wild heaven
the sidewinder sleeps tonight (feel like this is not a partic popular choice, but as a kid - i was 8 when automatic was released - this was the first REM song i remember really liking a lot)
nightswimming
what's the frequency kenneth

the sidewinder sleeps tonite (i hear you jim in vancouver; this song is pure joy)
shaking through
cuyahoga
e-bow the letter
bang and blame
near wild heaven
wendell gee
world leader pretend
time after time (annelise)
it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine)

i feel like a jerk for not putting losing my religion in there. it's not honest without that. losing my religion may be the song that i still like the most that i've listened to the most times, if you know what i mean

Gardening at Night
Sitting Still
Don't Go Back to Rockville
Driver 8
Fall On Me
Country Feedback
Nightswimming
Find the River
Strange Currencies
E-Bow the Letter

Since my picks are pretty basic, here's 10 deeper cuts I also love:

9-9
Catapult
Kohoutek
Swan Swan H
King of Birds
You Are the Everything
Hairshirt
Belong
New Test Leper
Airportman

this is pretty much the same list I would have had at age 19. sadboi REM will always be my favorite REM

The Wrong Child
Fireplace
I Remember California
Nightswimming
Near Wild Heaven
Hope
Gardening At Night
Radio Free Europe
Leave
Crush With Eyeliner

good list

Oh fiddlestix I need 7 chinese brothers on there. Gah.

Kohoutek
Gardening at Night
Harborcoat
Driver 8
World Leader Pretend
Country Feedback
I Believe
Laughing
Find the River
Daysleeper

Lots of overlap with evol j. I too probably would have chosen very similarly perhaps, um, two-thirds of a lifetime ago.

Try Not To Breathe
Sitting Still
E Bow The Letter
Harborcoat
I Believe
Nightswimming
Find The River
Electrolite
Sweetness Follows
Wolves Lower

^^^oooooh yeah

Wolves, Lower
Gardening At Night
Sitting Still
So. Central Rain
Driver 8
Fall On Me
I Believe
Near Wild Heaven
Nightswimming
Find The River

I should have found room for Electrolite.

Me too but I have no idea what I would dislodge to make room for it.

sitting still
the wrong child
belong
fall on me
shaking through
kohoutek
circus envy
wolves, lower
wendell gee
little america

there are too many positive feelings on this thread. so let me say it: i think electrolite (which i like!), is possibly the most overrated REM song.

damn son

to me it’s like nightswimming except it’s good

sorry for the ‘lops

I have a mental thing where I think up additional lyrics: I'm Steve McQueen, I'm Jimmy Dean, I'm Martin Sheen, I'm Aqua Teen, I'm Vaseline, I'm Paula Deen, I'm Mister Bean, I'm Billie Jean, I'm David Lean, I'm margarine, etc.

Nightswimming>>>>>Electrolyte

nuh uh

YMP, i do the same with "catapult": "can of pork!, cat afloat!, gallow's pole!" lyrical madlibs was one of the minor joys of early mumbly michael singalongs. "electrolite" is maybe a final callback to those early days, on their last great (bill involved) album

Ranking their openers.

I don’t love “Radio Song,” but I think it works well as an opener for that particular album.

aw c'mon "How the West was Won" is one of the all-time great openers, REM or other

Find The River
Time After Time (Annelise)
7 Chinese Brothers
Disturbance At The Heron House
Life & How To Live It
Sweetness Follows
I Believe
Perfect Circle
DaySleeper
Pilgrimage

Great choices, more ballad-y than mine would be I think.

wolves
carnival
pilgrimage
laughing
harborcoat
diminished
be mine
the one i love
losing my religion
sidewinder

Hmmm how about

Near Wild Heaven
Find the River
Let Me In
Nightswimming
Sweetness Follows
I Remember California
Why Not Smile
The Wrong Child
Leave
Fireplace

nice lists. don't think I've attempted one since college.

Green Grow the Rushes
Near Wild Heaven
Sweetness Follows
Hope
Harborcoat
World Leader Pretend
Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
Rockville
Electrolite
Aftermath

Near Wild Heaven
Catapult
Sweetness Follows
New Test Leper
Disturbance at the Heron House
Feeling Gravitys Pull
Nightswimming
Moral Kiosk
Low
Try Not to Breathe

glad Sweetness Follows gets so much love, might be my favorite song of theirs.

pilgrimage
moral kiosk
so. central rain
green grow the rushes
maps and legends
i believe
low
sweetness follows
find the river
electrolite

hi!

wolves, lower
laughing
sitting still
(don't go back to) rockville
life and how to live it
driver 8
nightswimming
sweetness follows
strange currencies
electrolite

my high school had coffeehouse nights, and my two best friends and i were the organizers our senior year. our last week of school, the three of us holed up in a room for two hours and arranged a string bass/cello/acoustic guitar version of “Sweetness Follows” that i sang. brought down the house, deeply happy memory for me.

It really is a staggeringly beautiful song. Must have felt so powerful to sing it.

crush with eyeliner
world leader pretend
pilgrimage
e-bow the letter
kohoutek
country feedback
beat a drum
suspicion
exhuming mccarthy
harborcoat

Thought the thread revive was related to the band members' own POX:

MICHAEL STIPE
World Leader Pretend
Country Feedback
Strange Currencies (Remix/The Bear Edit)
The Lifting
Electron Blue
Supernatural Superserious
Oh My Heart
We All Go Back To Where We Belong, Kirsten,…
The Flowers of Guatemala
Half A World Away
PETER BUCK
Feeling Gravity’s Pull
So. Central Rain
Walk Unafraid
You’re In The Air
Discoverer
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star)
Try Not To Breathe
Undertow
Electrolite
Finest Worksong
MIKE MILLS
Wolves, Lower
Pilgrimage
I Believe
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
You Are The Everything
Orange Crush
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us
Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Every Day Is Yours To Win
BILL BERRY
Beachball
Daysleeper
Leaving New York
These Days
We Walk
I Remember California
I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
Rotary Ten
Voice Of Harold
Find The River

Glad to see ilxors love near wild heaven. Best song on that album easy

…their worst video, though (MTV Classic plays it a lot)

Eazy, it probably was indirectly but the discussion of the band's top 40 has been on the other thread:

REM: Classic or dud?

I think the best I can do is narrow their catalog down to a core 20 songs… beyond this, it’d just be throwing darts to prune it further (which isn’t really fun for me):

Wolves, Lower
Gardening at Night
Laughing
Perfect Circle
Catapult
Sitting Still
Shaking Through
Harborcoat
7 Chinese Brothers
Camera
Good Advices
Life and How to Live It
Pop Song 89
Get Up
You Are The Everything
Hairshirt
Drive
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
Crush With Eyeliner
E-Bow the Letter

…oh shit, I forgot “Letter Never Sent” (listening to Reckoning now). POXXI(?)