I haven't really delved into the DVDs yet, but feel free to do so here.
My first question, though, is where the hell are the transparent fours that used to be overlaid on top of the R's on Green's cover? You'd think with a deluxe reissue they could at least spare a couple of buxx for some transparent fours. Dammit all.
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 7 March 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)
― miccio (miccio), Monday, 7 March 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 7 March 2005 22:28 (twenty years ago)
i'm curious if the new adventures reissue is worth the $20, though. anyone?
― john'n'chicago, Monday, 7 March 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 7 March 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)
Now they are trying to hide the truth.
― Guayaquil, Tuesday, 8 March 2005 02:15 (twenty years ago)
― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)
― his face was burned off in a flaming crossbow accident (King Kobra), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)
― Aaron A., Wednesday, 9 March 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)
You're on it.
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)
― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 04:45 (twenty years ago)
A shoutout to Chris Piuma on that page, too!
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 05:07 (twenty years ago)
― Don't Ever Antagonize The Horny (AaronHz), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)
holy shit! i've been sitting on one for years and never realized it.
― rajeev (rajeev), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)
The story told in interviews is that someone (most likely Michael Stipe)was typing the name of the album and hit the '4' key instead of the 'R'(note their proximity on the "qwerty" keyboard). Somebody (again, mostlikely Michael Stipe) thought it was a neat idea and carried it on to thepackaging as a faint transparent "4" over the "R" in both "GREEN" and "REM"on the CD notes, and by "numbering" the fourth song ("Stand") with an "R".Some later pressings (notably CD club versions) may not have the "4"s onthe cover.
Some newsgroup readers have connected this to the fact that Lifes RichPageant has "OR" in place of "04" in the track listing.
When remarking on oddities in R.E.M. packaging and publicity, always bearin mind the band's eccentric creative bent. (See also the answer to thenext question.)
o B4. "There's a '5' on Document and a '4' on Green, and wait, there's a'10' on Chronic Town, and a '9' on Murmur and an '8' on Fables, and a '7'on Reckoning! Is this some kind of countdown?"
This is an urban legend which even the band are weary of denying. The topichas also been the subject of many flame wars, and most newsgroup membersdon't want to hear any more about it. On AOL in August 1994, Stipe saidthis about the so-called countdown theory:
"the countdown is a silly coincidence. i swear it. pb [Peter Buck] sez were going into neg.#;s next, so there. i did put the #7 on each record for a while but started getting strange mail in volumes about it and so we quit. no reason for 7, it was just a cool typo thing [like typefaces on fables]."
For what it's worth, r.m.r reader Chris Perry pointed out the followingsevens on album covers:
Murmur, in midst of liner notes on inner sleeve, typewritten "SEVEN"; Reckoning, hand-drawn three-dimensional seven with a line running through it on inner sleeve; Fables, very thin calligraphy-looking seven in corner of inner sleeve; Lifes Rich Pageant, underneath the Cricket Machine diagram, "Seven Continents as one Hurrah we are all free now".
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 05:35 (twenty years ago)