"The ocean machine is set to nine": IT'S THE INEVITABLE REM HIT SINGLES OF THE 1990s POLL

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
Losing My Religion 12
Drive 11
What's The Frequency Kenneth 10
Near Wild Heaven 8
E-Bow The Letter 7
Nightswimming 6
Strange Currencies 6
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite 5
Man On The Moon 5
Electrolite 3
Daysleeper 3
Bang And Blame 3
Crush With Eyeliner 2
Everybody Hurts 2
Lotus 2
Radio Song 1
Shiny Happy People 1
Tongue 0
Bittersweet Me 0
At My Most Beautiful0


Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

Let's not do one for their singles of the 00s, huh?

Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

maybe 'crush with eyeliner' altho i hate the bit where he sings "she's ah reeeal womanchiiild"

blueski, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:51 (eighteen years ago)

Utter dross the lot of 'em

ledge, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

Drive is good.

chap, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

At My Most Beautiful

^^^used to go to a support group for troubled teenagers when this dropped, this was the jam for the self-harm kids

Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

Oh man. It's like choosing between flavors of ass. I'll have to go with "Lotus."

Sara Sara Sara, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going with Strange Currencies. I'd vote for Everybody Hurts but I hate that part where he sings and they play instruments.

deusner, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

words like 'dropped' and 'jam' feel strangely out of place on an REM thread.

blueski, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:55 (eighteen years ago)

I think it's E-Bow The Letter. It's gotta be something off that album, which is the only 90s one that's really worth a damn.

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 14:56 (eighteen years ago)

I can't vote for any of these, they're all pretty bad. Pretty uniformly bad as well.

Pashmina, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

Would have voted for Furry Happy Monsters, just for the bit where they all get sad.

ledge, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

lol Brits

I voted for "Bang and Blame" today (I know, wtf), but I could have voted for any of these except "Strange Currencies" or "E-Bow the Letter".

Euler, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:12 (eighteen years ago)

I always thought Texarkana was a single(?) and 5 singles off Monster? Damn.

this is a pretty sad list.

will, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

It's all be swiftly downhill since "Losing My Religion".

Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:28 (eighteen years ago)

E-Bow, followed by Man On The Moon.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

Man on the Moon fucking rules so that's first, followed by Sidewinder, Kenneth and Drive.

Frogman Henry, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

yeah I think it was around the 114th time I saw the LMR video in the course of a day and a half that I was kind of "these dudes need to take a break."

will, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

Strange Currencies, because it's the best song on the album that pissed off their fans. Hurrah!

edwardo, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, Lotus.

nate woolls, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

Should've released Hope though, that's the best song on that album.

nate woolls, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:36 (eighteen years ago)

It's shocking to see all the hatred these guys inspire now. Their stock has really fallen since the early 90s.

Drive.

kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

REM hatred has been a popular hipster move for decades.

dad a, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

top 10:
Man On The Moon
Strange Currencies
Radio Song
Nightswimming
What's The Frequency Kenneth
Bittersweet Me
Lotus
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
Near Wild Heaven
Drive

Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

going to have to revist E-Bow cause i thought that sucked, but several people have gone for it.

Frogman Henry, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

no, it does suck.

Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:51 (eighteen years ago)

E-Bow is like Everybody Hurts or Radio Song, seems to polarize opinion. I find the stream of consciousness lyric annoying, and Patti Smith's moaning or whatever too. But lots of folks think this is great, I guess. I love "Radio Song" though for the reasons others hate it, so I'm cool with this.

Euler, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

New Adventures In Hi-Fi is actually quite a strong record. Though I wouldn't select E-Bow as its strongest song, it was an odd choice for the first single.

zaxxon25, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

I think the New Adventures singles debacle was what had Warners going 'right then boys, we pick the singles from now on' from about 98 onward.

I'm pretty sure 'Suspicion' was a single as well, mostly because I remember thinking 'what the fuck are they doing?'

Matt DC, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

Was "Nightswimming" really a single? I don't remember that, but it is still my favorite of their songs, pretty much ever.

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't even thought of "Bang and Blame" for a very long time. It was like two songs, the verse (which I loved) and the chorus (which was terrible).

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

Can we ban anyone who votes for "Shiny Happy People"?

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

I'd vote for Everybody Hurts but I hate that part where he sings and they play instruments.

hahahahahaha

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

It's all be swiftly downhill since "Losing My Religion" Stipe started enunciating.

Sara Sara Sara, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:18 (eighteen years ago)

I like most of these, and I'm tempted to vote for Kenneth just because listening to the new live CD, the "withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy" line finally grabbed me. But, Drive.

dad a, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:57 (eighteen years ago)

"losing my religion". (out of time is unfairly maligned these days, it's a good record. also i think "shiny happy people" gets misunderstood a lot, but whatever. song has has one of buck's best riffs.)

tipsy mothra, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:19 (eighteen years ago)

It gets misunderstood for sounding like cats dying.

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:22 (eighteen years ago)

No, but "E-Bow the Letter" actually features a cat dying.

Euler, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:26 (eighteen years ago)

"Strange Currencies" or "Man on the Moon". Probly the former, today.

Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 21:58 (eighteen years ago)

It was briefly quite cool to be into REM in my school when I was 16 or so. Very odd to consider now.

chap, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:13 (eighteen years ago)

For me it's close between the bizarrely unappreciated "Shiny Happy People" and "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" At the time these records came out I liked "Sidewinder," "Man on the Moon," and "Strange Currencies" just as much, but they haven't aged as well, especially "Man on the Moon" which once seemed fun to me but now reads as forced whimsy.

So if I don't like forced whimsy, why do I rate "Shiny Happy People" the best track on this list?

1. Kate Pierson. Her voice works with Stipe's for the same reason Mike Mills' does -- she's high where he's low, and clear and sweet where he's raspy and shouty. I wish there were more of her in R.E.M.'s catalog than SHP and the even better "Me in Honey."

2. The song, like its twin, the almost-as-underrated "Stand," serves to remind that R.E.M. is at bottom an Athens party band and can play party songs when appropriate.

3. Main guitar riff is unimpeachable.

4. There's a weird general sense around this song that it's some kind of "Up with People" ditty where in fact it's about a guy who has to go bury his love in the ground. Yeah, pretty flowers grow out of the ground, but it's still where you put dead things. Love shines; but so does money. Are you sure you know the difference? Et cetera.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 24 January 2008 01:32 (eighteen years ago)

It was briefly quite cool to be into REM in my school when I was 16 or so. Very odd to consider now.

I'm actually very interested in how old you'd have to be for this to be true. I mean, it's odd to be a big REM fan now, but that's because REM's current output isn't very good, not because their old output seems weak in retrospect, right?

For a long time, i.e. 1983-1990, disliking REM was a possible but usually self-consciously contrarian stance, like disliking the Velvet Underground or the Clash. And I was under the impression that disliking R.E.M.'s '80s records was still like that. No?

Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 24 January 2008 01:39 (eighteen years ago)

"near wild heaven" is probably the only one i could listen to all the way through...

Steve Shasta, Thursday, 24 January 2008 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

This is a pretty awesome list, guys. Seriously, the closest it gets to dud is the hokeyness of Radio Song, but the pretty part is really great and hell, the hokey part's not that bad either. Everything else here is a really damn good song.

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 January 2008 02:17 (eighteen years ago)

There's a weird general sense around this song that it's some kind of "Up with People" ditty where in fact it's about a guy who has to go bury his love in the ground.

yeah at the time it seemed like aids song (of course everything was tinted by aids then, like everything's tinted by iraq/terror now). so it seems off to me when people write it off as some kind of sugar pop. not that i don't like sugar pop, but its bittersweetness is really what it's about.

For a long time, i.e. 1983-1990, disliking REM was a possible but usually self-consciously contrarian stance

i dunno during my high school years (83-87) there weren't even that many people who knew who they were. just us college-radio fans. "fall on me" is the first time i remember any broader awareness. and it really wasn't til document that they started seeming like a mainstream rock band, in terms of being able to say "r.e.m." and have a reasonable number of teen-to-20s people know who you were talking about.

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 24 January 2008 02:36 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry, I should have said "a possible but usually self-consciously contrarian stance among people in the '80s analogous to people who read ILM today," and the truth is, I wasn't one of those people until at least 1988 so I'm kind of blowing smoke here. Maybe I should just say that when Document came out, it was considered cool in my high school to like it, and in retrospect, that judgment still seems pretty sound, not odd.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 24 January 2008 02:53 (eighteen years ago)

near wild heaven by far

electricsound, Thursday, 24 January 2008 03:21 (eighteen years ago)

I have always liked most of these songs except for Shiny Happy People and Everybody Hurts.

billstevejim, Thursday, 24 January 2008 04:07 (eighteen years ago)

After loving this band so much in the 80s, I'm amazed at how indifferent I became toward them in the 90s. Near Wild Heaven, Strange Currencies, and Electrolite are all good songs, I admit.

Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 24 January 2008 04:15 (eighteen years ago)

"near wild heaven" is probably the only one i could listen to all the way through...
OTM

kate78, Friday, 25 January 2008 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

"Losing My Religion" by a mile.

Now, the 80s singles poll, on the other hand, would be hard as fuck!

Mr. Snrub, Friday, 25 January 2008 23:44 (eighteen years ago)

I think REM are the band ILM is most confused by -- there's always a lot of soul-searching whenever their name comes up. For what it's worth, me? I loved almost everything they did up until NAIHF. And at least half of Up was also great. Even Reveal had a moment or two.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go with "E-Bow..." in this.

Lostandfound, Saturday, 26 January 2008 03:11 (eighteen years ago)

"Dreaming of Maria Callas... whoever she is." I mean, it's so awkward, but it's nice too, empathic or something.

Lostandfound, Saturday, 26 January 2008 03:13 (eighteen years ago)

Up could not sound more like a relic of the late-90s. Wow.

Going with "Crush With Eyeliner." Big Loud Fun REM is awesome.

milo z, Saturday, 26 January 2008 04:58 (eighteen years ago)

at least half of Up was also great.

i thought more like, half of up was ok. the best melody on the album is from leonard cohen. after that i just heard assorted singles, haven't bothered with the albums. but i think it's true that r.e.m. elicits an interesting ambivalence. i've been a fan for 25 years (i can't believe i've been a fan of anyone for 25 years, jesus) and i'm still ambivalent about them. there's tons of r.e.m. stuff i love and god knows i've spent plenty of time listening to them, but they never spring to mind when someone asks me my favorite bands. they were always a band i liked having around, appreciated their general presence, but they were never the most interesting or exciting thing going on.

of course anyone who's grown up largely with the 1990-and-later r.e.m. might see them as a totally different thing too. i can understand why some people can't stand them. still don't get the out of time hate though. that's a really good album. and maybe more than anything else they ever did really emblematic of its era. "radio song" is easy to make fun of, but it has to be understood in a landscape of all kinds of interesting hybridization that was going on in the late 80s/early 90s. (against the backdrop of aids, the collapsing eastern bloc, a recession, etc.) (not that all the hybridization made great stuff. radio song's not as good as kool thing. but r.e.m. at least gave krs-one gets a lot more room than chuck d got.) but a lot of it is really elegiac -- "losing my religion," "low," "country feedback," it's really kinda somber --including or despite "shiny happy people" depending on how you hear it. but good tunes too.

tipsy mothra, Saturday, 26 January 2008 06:15 (eighteen years ago)

(should have said against a backdrop of "aids, crack," etc., because crack had really complicated and fucked-up ramifications for a lot of things, but combined with all the other stuff it helped create some political solidarities.)

tipsy mothra, Saturday, 26 January 2008 06:20 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:01 (eighteen years ago)

"Was "Nightswimming" really a single? I don't remember that, but it is still my favorite of their songs, pretty much ever.

-- nickalicious"

i didnt realise it was a single. same with "the sidewinder sleeps tonight". "automatic for the people" is quite obviously the best REM record, i wish they hadnt beaten "everybody hurts" to death since it was the weakest track on there anyway, but now i just skip it. if you take that track off, that is a perfect album. my vote goes to "drive" though i like other songs better (such as the two mentioned) im not sure they really worked very well as singles.

pipecock, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

wb

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

Between "Drive", "Man On The Moon" and "Losing My Religion" for me. "The Great Beyond" might have been a contender (a very underrated late masterpiece IMO), but of course it isn't a 90s single.

Voted "Drive", but "Man On The Moon" is probably closer now that it was in the past.

"Daysleeper" and "Near Wild Heaven" are also great. And wasn't "Find The River" a single?

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:31 (eighteen years ago)

Why isn't "The Great Beyond" on here?--released Nov. 1999.

mulla atari, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

Not my favorite, which might actually be "Strange Currencies," but I think this has to go to "Losing My Religion," which all by itself was like their Joshua Tree - it made them deservedly huge and deservedly over all at once. Still a beautiful song though. REM haters give herpes to kittens.

rogermexico., Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

The one I thought was missing wasn't a 90s single: "Imitation of Life".

HI DERE, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 00:48 (eighteen years ago)

Where's the one with Miss Piggy?

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 01:07 (eighteen years ago)

"Near Wild Heaven"

wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 01:16 (eighteen years ago)

Losing My Religion, mostly for the memories

Reatards Unite, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 01:37 (eighteen years ago)

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

ILX System, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 00:01 (eighteen years ago)

Bang And Blame 3

^^^Why?

Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

nothing for 'bittersweet me'? that's a pretty nice song

i would have voted for 'losing my religion' though. despite having heard it about two million times too many

Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 09:57 (eighteen years ago)

SOMEONE VOTED SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE (PROBABLY AN IRONIC INDIE FUCKER)

I would voted "Sidewinder" if I voted.

King Boy Pato, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

Tongue 0

this makes me so so sad ^

:-(

great song

stephen, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 20:08 (eighteen years ago)

i would have voted for it, had i seen the poll.

stephen, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 20:09 (eighteen years ago)

SOMEONE VOTED SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE (PROBABLY AN IRONIC INDIE FUCKER)

That would be me, unironically. See explanation earlier in thread.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 31 January 2008 03:28 (eighteen years ago)


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