For fans of the band this is my list. I listed them in order that I like them. Some of their more popular songs are not in my list or may be high up in the 90s or 80s. This is my list. You are absolutly welcome to disagree with my list and to make your own as well. I welcome it. Please leave comments on my blog if you would like. These are my favorites that span all their albums, from their main albums, to Dead Letter Office there collection of B-sides, and their Best of Albums as well since some of these albums had new songs or songs that were never released in a mainstream R.E.M album. Some were parts of movie soundtracks but were eventually collected on some best of albums. I also plan on posting maybe 5 videos of the songs for this blog, some may be life performances, the actual video that was played on MTV, or just fan films. (I would pick 5 songs from 105-85 to post on this blog). I will also make some statements about the songs, nothing to insightful and also some will be no mre than a sentence or two. So now without further adieu: Here is the 105 best R.E.M. songs of all time. DAY ONE. 105-85.
105. WINDOUT: From Dead Letter Office: Not a real well known song of theirs. Vintage early REM as their early stuff was a little more rocking. Actually appeared briefly in the Tom Hanks movie Bachelor Party.
104. REVOLUTION: From In Time: The best of REM: During their Monster tour they played this song at sound check every night. One of their highly political songs. It rails against the Republican Party of the mid 90s in a very Monstery rock way. Surprised it did not make it on to Monster. Originally appeared in the Batman and Robin soundtrack.
103. AT MY MOST BEAUTIFUL: From UP: UP was their first post Bill Berry album after he left the band and only one of maybe 2 good songs on the album. Still ok REM is better then any of today's music.
102. IMITATION OF LIFE: From Reveal: Reveal is known as the Summer album and one of the main reasons is this song. A peppy cheery sunny upbeat summery song about an earlier time when we were kids playing everyday during the summer. This song was one of their bigger hits. Especially overseas where it was number 1 in Japan for weeks.
101. STRANGE CURRENCIES: From Monster: Said to be "a lazy rewrite of Everybody Hurts". This is untrue in my opinion. This song is not as depressing as Everybody Hurts and also does not have the same melody either. It is it's own creature and a pretty good song on a mediocre album.
100. SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS: From Reckoning: A song that took me a while to realize I liked it. When I originally got into REM back in High School. I did not like this song. But I guess age and time came into play. When re-listening to every album to find the best songs I found myself enjoying this song.
99. MR. RICHARDS: From Accelerate: After a few weak albums REM released Accelerate and the rock was back. I'm not sure if the Mr. Richards is refering to a real person but it is a song talking about how great it is that this Mr. Richards is being punished for something. But it is a very energetic song much like the rest of Accelerate.
98. WEST OF THE FIELDS: From Murmur: Some early REM pops up on the chart. West of the Fields has an irresistible earworm with it's chorus of West of the Fields repeated. The way Michael Stipe does it keeps it in your head and you find yourself singing the chorus at inopportune times. Damn earworms.
97. POP SONG 89: From Green: This almost did not make it in. I like the song, but there was something about it that made my skin crawl and make me want to skip it. But I started thinking about it and replayed the video while compiling my playlist and decided that it is a classic REM song. One of their more well known songs, and was sort of a changing of the guard. This was the first track from Green which was their first album from a Major Label (Warner Brothers). Kind of stating hey we have a sound we are a good band and we now want the world to know who we are.
96. CATAPULT: From Murmur: A pretty good early song from REM with some fun hooks.
95. RADIO SONG: From Out of Time: Even filmmaker Cameron Crowe who loves music as much as he loves film knew this song fit into his early 90s film Singles. The rap at the end is a little cheesy for me, but overall a good song.
94. NEW TEST LEPER: From New Adventures in Hi-Fi: An interesting song on one of REM's most underrated albums. The name alone does not give much hope, but it actually is a very entertaining song.
93. FRETLESS: From In Time: The Best of REM: An underrated and mostly unheard song from REM, that was originally released on one of the greatest Movie Soundtracks for Indie Rock fans of the 90s Until the End of the World. A slightly depressing song, but still the fullness and emotion of Stipe's voice pushes the song into really good territory. See for yourself;
92. HOLLOW MAN: From Accelerate: Accelerate was a fast moving speedy album, and that was one of it's great things, but every once in a while you wanted to slow down. And this song helps you do it.
91. FIREPLACE: From Document: A very quirky song with a terrific hook. Not a well known song but a slight departure from REM.
90. IGNORELAND: From Automatic for the People: Another political song from REM. This is more a look back at disgust at the Republican party over the past few decades, but much like Revolution is a kicking rocker with good guitar work by Peter Buck.
89. NEAR WILD HEAVEN: From Out of Time A nice quiet song from their best selling album. Good love song.
88. ME MARLON BRANDO MARLON BRANDO AND I: From Collapse Into Now: From their last studio album. An ode to the greatness of Marlon Brando with some great hooks and back up vocals from Mike Mills (who I will discuss in future editions of the Best of list)
87. HYENA: From Life's Rich Pagent: Don't let the image of an ugly Hyena stop you from listening to this rocking song from one of their greatest albums of all time. Good beat and groove. Good old country rock!
86. HOUSTON: From Accelerate: A great political song about Hurricaine Katrina. "If the Storm doesn't kill me the Government will gotta get that out of my head." A Haunting line from this song with a haunting guitar riff at the beginning. Fantastic song.
85. SUPERMAN: From Life's Rich Pagent: Combining two of my favorite loves, REM and Comic Books (kind of) Superman is a great song with a peppy beat. See for yourself. "I am Superman."
That's it for day one. Hope you enjoyed it and will be back for day two. Coming soon!
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