Worst REM song

hater

worse than "Swan Swan H"?

THE WRONG CHILD IS THE CORRECT ANSWER

CRUSH WITH FUCKING EYELINER

"Hairshirt"!

Let me explain to you how a poll works ... you pick one of the answers in the poll.

I only wish I could pick both options.

This is ludicrous for so many reasons. For one thing, Around the Sun.

swan swan h is rad

Yes it is.

radio song i don't even want to think about as a song, so i choose option #1

Think about the worst song, wonder why you haven't before.

hairshirt?! the wrong child?!
have you people gone nuts?

there are whole double and triple cds worth of rubbish REM tracks.

Yeah, even if I didn't like "Radio Song" (which I do), there are many many R.E.M. songs that are just bad and don't have any overt goofiness to redeem them. This thread should be used to nominate songs for a real Worst REM song poll.

^^^OTM

I'll start with "Crush With Eyelliner"

UH start again

I agree with Alex: there's the goofiness of "Radio Song", but also it has a gorgeous string arrangement and a great bass-driven melody. Plus, for 17-year old me, who loved REM like everyone else at my (Georgia) high school, but was alone among his friends in loving hip-hop, esp. BDP, the song was an out-of-nowhere vindication, even if I was still alone in liking it. For me, it's still wrapped up in a feeling that finally "we" were going to beat the racist homophobes of the Reagan and Bush years, because if REM and KRS-One could come together on tape, why couldn't we all just get along? (Too bad about the Judgement Night soundtrack.) Then Clinton came, Stipe and Mills played Clinton's first inaugural, "we'd" won. So I can't sympathize with hate for "Radio Song", not musically, not politically, even if it's all a bit silly in retrospect. It's probably in my top 10 REM songs for all these reasons here.

As to worst REM songs: aside from everything on Around the Sun and most of Reveal, I'd vote for "Ignoreland".

Don't they have a new one coming out soon? Should we wait for it before making a new poll?

further nominations:

"We Walk"
"Second Guessing"
"Wendell Gee"
"Lightnin' Hopkins"
"I Took Your Name"
"E-Bow The Letter"
"The Apologist"
"Why Not Smile"
"The Great Beyond"
"I'll Take The Rain"
"Bad Day"

i love we walk! and the great beyond is schlocky, but not terrible. the rest can go...

how can you hate "we walk"? I also like "e-bow the letter" and "why not smile" I don't care that it sounds like a John Denver song.

also I never even heard that song off the last album with the lyric "leaving was never my proud" but I'm nominating that on principle.

these are NOMINATIONS, people. suggest your own, and then when we do a new poll don't vote for mine.

shiny happy people is my nomination

"Animal" can fuck off as well

xpost redeemed by furry happy monsters

TIME AFTER TIME (IS) MY LEAST FAVORITE SONG

Obviously, none of you have heard "Around the Sun." (Alex from Baltimore, you're excused)

I like Radio Song.

The worst-of list needs to include "Nightswimming"

Obviously, none of you have heard "Around the Sun." (Alex from Baltimore, you're excused)

-- Davey D, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 7:52 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Believe me, I avoided it vigillantly after Reveal (and I could've nominated all but 2 or 3 songs from that one, but I figured I should just limit it to one for now).

up the stairs and through the something up the stairs and through the something woah ho ho...

"Radio Song" is indeed hugely dreadful, but what about fuckin' "Stand"? "Shiny Happy People"?

"Lotus", for ripping off the "Where It's At" riff.

Then again, I know I heard "Bad Day" and have no memory of it at all.

But in the end I'll stay with "Stand", as a b-grade Little Creatures outtake.

"Lotus" is really bad, yeah, and seems to get at an essential bad R.E.M. song tendency, Stipe making his voice supergrating and awful.

I actually kinda like "Lotus." BRING MY HAPPY BACK AGAIN

"Bad Day" is the last great REM song.

those "hey hey"s in "lotus" kill me. shut it, Stipe.

Let me get this right: there are people who think "Ignoreland" is better than "Stand"? I'd like to hear a case for that.

I don't get why people hate Ignoreland so much!

I would have been totally fine with "Nightswimming" as the last song of their career -- in fact, I am, as I haven't heard anything since.

I'm sure I've said this on ILM many times before, but I will always stick up for 'funky' R.E.M. "Ignoreland" has slap bass AND cowbell, 'nuff said.

and lyrics that make some sense!

"Desecrated otters, 1972"

some sense

I nominate "Low Desert"

"I'm just profoundly frustrated by all this so fuck you, man!" maybe the most clearly-expressed Stipe sentiment ever.

One problem with "Ignoreland" is that it doesn't fit on the album at all. More importantly, it's a sub-"End of the World As We Know It" Stipe rant, with a lousy riff and an obvious but obviously annoying chorus. I think I'd rather they covered "We Didn't Start the Fire" and stuck it there.

xpost "Ignoreland" funky? I guess I need to relisten, but that sounds completely wrong. I think the only time I've heard it since 1992 was at Braves games or something, where it sorta works.

I have a high tolerance for Stipe rants, I think.

E-Bow the Letter is great. SO is Low Desert. Does anyone else really really like "New Test Leper" a lot? that remains the REM song most in my memory.

Guys, what about Up? jesus god that was an awful experience.

sigh

this is why I don't read ILM

"New Test Leper" is my favorite song on Hi-Fi, which I like a lot. I like Up, too, though. or at least, half of Up.

"Up" rules, doodz.

Democracy wears out Nick.

As far as I'm concerned, REM have only made two real missteps, album-wise - the warning bells started ringing on Reveal, and the plane crashed into the goddamn mountain with Around the Sun, but one and a half terrible albums does not a ruined career make. I look forward to their next release.

Has anybody been reading Perpetua's awesomely nerdy REM catalog overview?

The worst REM song is The Wrong Child.

For me, it's still wrapped up in a feeling that finally "we" were going to beat the racist homophobes of the Reagan and Bush years, because if REM and KRS-One could come together on tape, why couldn't we all just get along? (Too bad about the Judgement Night soundtrack.) Then Clinton came, Stipe and Mills played Clinton's first inaugural, "we'd" won.

Euler, I was surprised to reach the end of this story and learn that you take Ignoreland as the worst REM song. "1980, 84, 88, 92 too?" It's at least trying to be an anthem for that "we" in the Reagan/Bush I years.

I'd nominate something off Around The Sun but I can't remember how any of the songs go so picking one seems a tad churlish. I'll go with 'King Of Comedy' then.

I know, dad a, I wish I agreed, but I can't get past the awful sound of that song. Politics aren't enough to make a song great, unless we have a pretty expansive understanding of "politics".

My first thought was "Shiny Happy People," but I had forgotten "Stand," which I must have repressed. "Radio Song" is bad, but not please-make-it-stop bad like those two.

"Ignoreland" is also a worthy nominee.

I couldn't listen to "Around the Sun" enough to be able to nominate any songs from that album. I've been a fan since 1980 and that was the first time I've felt like a fool for buying an R.E.M. album.

There are several songs on "Up" that I never need to hear again. I liked "Reveal" more than "Up."

xpost "Ignoreland" funky? I guess I need to relisten, but that sounds completely wrong. I think the only time I've heard it since 1992 was at Braves games or something, where it sorta works.

-- Euler, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 8:09 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

well, I did put 'funky' in scare-quotes, but I guess I should've gone with my first instinct and said awkwardly funky instead. I just love that Mills occasionally feels the need to play slap bass in the most un-slap bass-y band of all time.

and I totally love New Adventures and to a lesser degree Up, I just kind of picked my least favorite songs from them as tokens.

Euler xpost - Funny, that's how I felt about Radio Song's proto-Judgment Night/Kool Thing guest rapper move. To each their own!

I was thinking long and hard about this question until I remembered they'd made Around The Sun and clearly it's whatever that fucking awful thing is with Q-Tip on it.

I love Crush With Eyeliner, it's the only song that really managed to pull off that whole insouciant tremolo thing they were going for throughout Monster.

You're right. It's the song with Q-Tip.

If this thread goes on long enough, we'll awaken Tim Ellison.

I gladly voted for "Radio Song", which may also be their worst. :)

They all sound the same.

"Beach Ball"

The worst REM song is "the album called Out of Time"

I mean, really, fuck that record. Monster a close second. I haven't heard anything since that.

wack!

I'm with Gavin. "King of Comedy" blows. "Make your money with a suit and a tie" - way to make me hate you in 5 seconds, Stipe.

On the other hand, I really like "Crush With Eyeliner."

I vote for any of their pre-Chronic Town/"Radio Free Europe" material.

The worst-of list needs to include "Nightswimming"

You are insane and deaf!

I dont much care for any REM post-"Green", but I will defend their early work (the IRS stuff mainly) to death.

You have introduced a paradox - you claim to not care for any REM-post "Green," yet are defending "Nightswimming." What up?

I'm with Gavin. "King of Comedy" blows. "Make your money with a suit and a tie" - way to make me hate you in 5 seconds, Stipe.

On the other hand, I really like "Crush With Eyeliner."

-- clotpoll, Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:27 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i dont see how you can like crush w eyeliner and hate king of comedy!

I'M NOT COMMODITY!
I'M NOT COMMODITY!

Whither "Everybody Hurts"!?

I vote for any of their pre-Chronic Town/"Radio Free Europe" material.

"Narrator"

You have introduced a paradox - you claim to not care for any REM-post "Green," yet are defending "Nightswimming."

Said I didnt care much for. Couple of exceptions. That being one of them :)

okay sorry, but Out of Time has at least two great tracks on it.

choose between:
"Near Wild Heaven"
"Texarkana"
"Country Feedback"

Out of Time is very good and I'm not afraid to say it. Better than Green, for sure.

I'm also surprised Everybody Hurts isn't getting much mention.

Hairshirt is one of my favourites.

"Near Wild Heaven" is one of their ten best.

"Ignoreland" wins this in a runaway, for being a dull shouter both musically and politically. "Everybody Hurts" is stupid, and deserves extra hate for becoming the canonical R.E.M ballad that the great "You Are The Everything" should have been, but is at least pretty. Probably there are worse songs on <i>Reveal</i> and <i>Around the Sun</i> but that whole era of R.E.M. seems more mild than actively bad. Surprised by the lack of mention of "Drive," R.E.M.'s worst big single. If forced to pick "worst R.E.M. song not on Automatic for the People" I might have to go with "You."

"Stand" and "Shiny Happy People" are both first-rate, and are criminally underrated, not least by the band itself. The band would be much better today if they'd taught Kate Pierson drums and made her a full member after Berry left.

As for the original post, I hated "Radio Song" when the album first came out but it's grown on me over the years, and I now often find myself, when walking down the street, quietly saying to myself "DJ's communicate. To the masses. Sex and violent classes." Is that so wrong?

Honestly, they should have quit after Chroic Town. They've never bettered it.

So wrong, Murmur is loads better. Chronic Town is great but they produced greater sonic variety later to good effect.

Worst IRS-era R.E.M. song -- a challenge, because there isn't a really bad one. "Feeling Gravity's Pull," I guess.

Ha. That's the best song on Fables, if you ask me.

Feeling Gravitys Pull is great. Worst IRS song = probably Fireplace or Oddfellows on Document. Good Advices isn't very good either.

For worst IRS song I nominate "What If We Give It Away?", which isn't exactly terrible but pretty unmemorable, and easily skippable to get to "Superman".

When it came out, Chronic Town felt like a shift from their more raucous live sound and set list toward something artier. Murmur completed that transition.

Some relics from their very early period might be in the running for worst song, as Mr. Snrub suggests. They also did some good songs then that as far as I know are preserved for the ages only on a few bad bootlegs.

Honestly, they should have quit after Chroic Town. They've never bettered it.

Chronic Town may be their best, but the idea that "they should have quit" after it doesn't follow. They might not have bettered it, but they've made plenty of very good to great music since (and, more recently, a lot of mediocre to subpar music, too, sadly).

bad day=worst song, but the great beyond is also insanely mediocre and annoying.

the worst REM IRS song is Side 2 of Document.

OTM.

That's nuts, side 2 of Document is terrific, "Fireplace" an evil indie hoedown, "King of Birds" hot karaoke for shut-ins, and "Oddfellows Local 151" REM's "When the Levee Breaks".

I can't stand it. Stipey's vocals = ugly evil hoedown.

oh my god

you are so crazy

I actually prefer Side 2 to Side 1 of Document, maybe just because two of the best songs on Side 1 (the two singles) were so overplayed at the time.

Side 2 of Document is the like the Da Vinci code of indie rock, the aural equivalent of the picture on the front.

o___0

Side 2 of "Document" would be great even if it were just "King of Birds" and 21 minutes of Stipe brushing his teeth and spitting.

Worst IRS song is "Strange" you buffoons.

Lots of great contenders here, yes, but nothing makes me want to punch the wall red quite so much as "Radio Song," it's true...although that's more KRS-One's fault than Stipe's.

xpost Strange ain't an REM song so shouldn't count

REM's versh of "Strange" ain't half bad!

As per their original great offenders, though, I agree with peeps who've pointed their accusing fingers at "Ignoreland".
Also true that Reveal contains loads of dismal time-waste.

You are insane and deaf!

I dont much care for any REM post-"Green", but I will defend their early work (the IRS stuff mainly) to death.

-- Trayce, Thursday, 11 October 2007 02:52 (Yesterday)

If you prefer the IRS material then you'd agree that the seminal Perfect Circle is head and shoulders above the shabby copyist and whiney Nightswimming.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

http://videos.brokencurve.com/The%20Wait%20Is%20Over%20-%20Prosperous%20Living%20Through%20Prosperous%20Giving%20With%20Rev%20Jack%20Bomar%20-%20Part%202480x320.jpg

Can I vote for both?

(I suppose some "Shiny Happy People" haters dislike your poll btw)

I don't see how Around the Sun could really be that offensive to anybody, as anyone still awake by the end of the record was probably daydreaming though it and forgot most of the songs anyway. Yeah the rap in "Radio Song" is cloying as hell and the "Got to the show, Yo ho ho" couplet is particularly annoying, but the chorus at least partially redeems the song. 1990/91 was notorious for otherwise resectable rock artists being like lol let's be cool and have some fun with that "rap music." Didn't age so well, to say the least.

My unofficial vote would be for "I'll Take the Rain." It tries so hard to be "Everybody Hurts - Part II" and it just falls facefirst in a saccharine dungheap of failure.

im starting to accept that no one hates "out of time" as much as i do, but boy howdy i really really hate that record

so all votes OTM i guess

I'm glad we've needed a year to make up our minds.

Other than "Radio Song", I see no need to hate "Out Of Time". "Losing My Religion" is perhaps their best ever song. "Near Wild Heaven" is a nice Beach Boys pastiche and even "Stand" is perfectly OK. And other than the singles, there is the beautiful "Endtheme" among others.

Hmmm.. Not "Stand". "Shiny Happy People", I mean. "Stand" is of course on "Green".

"I'll Take The Rain" is certainly my choice for worst song. Such an incredibly plodding, feeble chorus.

For worst IRS song I nominate "What If We Give It Away?", which isn't exactly terrible but pretty unmemorable

I think I kind of lean towards this as worst song, with the usual caveat that I haven't heard Around The Sun and the actual worst song is probably on there. Tons of the stuff mentioned on this thread is GREAT in my book - "Lotus" seems like a particularly wtf inclusion - but "What If We Give It Away?", like "Ignoreland," is just really boring to listen to.

Actually, nevermind. "Perfect Circle" is even more boring than either of these. I know it's a touchstone song for a lot of people, but I've never gotten the love, just a real draggy dead stop in the middle of an otherwise hypnotic, rhythmic album.

Woah, just read Perpetua's Pop Songs for the first time in a while and apparently Stipe read it and wrote him this really frank and nuanced response. Genuinely interesting to read.

Other than "Radio Song", I see no need to hate "Out Of Time".

Why don't u dig "Radio Song," Geir? It sounds sufficiently melodic and all that.

In part, maybe. The rap parts are.. well... first and foremost corny.

Oh, it's the "all rap is bad"

MAF,NTS.

"Everybody Hurts"

Oh, it's the "all rap is bad"

No, not necessarily, but I feel, on "Radio Song", they do actually start the song great with the "The world is collapsing..." part, but it needs to develop melodically and harmonically and it doesn't, instead it ends up treading the same ground all the time, in a "cyclic" almost drone-line way. Which leaves us with one promising but unfinished melodic/harmonic bit and that's it.

Geir, I would grant the amelodic moral evil of the verse, but I think the contrast between the two works really nicely.

Geir, do you prefer "Radio Song" or "Walk This Way"? Or "Numb/Encore"?

Probably "Radio Song". And I hate "Radio Song".

("Walk This Way" was horrible already in its original version)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Gotta say it's really cool of Stipe to do that thing on the Pop Songs blog.

"Radio Song" is okay, I guess. I don't particularly need to hear it again. Never could stand "King of Comedy," and I haven't heard much of Reveal or AtS.

ha.

so do people really like "Accelerate"?

And just so y'all know. I actually LIKE Shiny Happy People and the entire Monster album. I ain't a hater.

It's alright, I guess. But there's nothing on it that I like as much as "The Lifting."

"Accellerate" is OK, but no more OK than most of their weaker album. I liked the pop direction on "Reveal" better although I admit they had become dangerously close to MOR on "Around The Sun".

shocking results! recount!!

Radio Song was robbed.

Actually I'm pretty sure that one with Q-Tip on Around The Sun was actually worse than Radio Song but I'm fucked if I'm listening to it again to find out.

"The Outsiders" it is called and it is indeed much much worse than "Radio Song". That being said, despite dismissing it wholesale when it came out, I've belatedly come to appreciate some of the songs on ATS - "Aftermath", "Boy in the Well", "The Ascent of Man". Accelerate has yet to reveal any such charms, but we'll see.