Top 105 R.E.M. songs of all time Part 5 (21-1)

Here it is, finally. The last part of my all time best R.E.M. songs of all time. You can see the previous songs on my past blogs. This is the good stuff, their best stuff in my humble opinion. You may not agree with me but that is just fine. If you would like to comment please feel free. This one is going to have more videos in it so you can get a better grasp of the reasons why these are my top 21 favorite songs. There is some really good stuff here. Again I will be giving commentary on it, some long some very short. So here it is the long awaited final 21 Best songs of R.E.M. Enjoy.

21. TURN YOU INSIDE-OUT: from Green: A peppy poppy song to get you started. Green was all about the peppy and this one is no exception. My favorite part is Michael Stipe's long drown out inside-out in the chorus. Classic.

20. LOW DESERT: from New Adventures in Hi-Fi: To me this is a great travel song. A song about what seems to me as travelling across country. It's got a low rhythmic blues type feel to it with some outstanding guitar work from Peter Buck and Mike Mills. And considering this was written and recorded while on the road for the Monster concert tour, it feels like a perfect song for a great travel album.

19. DAYSLEEPER: from Up: A fantastic song that seems a tad depressing but is still a great listen and does not make me sad, it has great lyrics and a great story behind it. It details the travails of a person who works overnights and their mindset which is not always sunny, but not to depressing, just kind of sad. But a great slow song and a good break from the rockers they churn out.

18. UBERLIN: from Collapse Into Now: When Collapse Into Now came out, I had just been in a car accident a few days before. My car was totalled and while I was figuring out what I was going to do, I was given a loaner car since the accident was not my fault. It had a nice CD player, and to cheer myself up I bought the album the day it came out and played it in the loaner car. And played it everyday I had that loaner car. it helped cheer me up, and this song is by far my favorite on the whole album. This one got repeated a ton of times. A classic in their last studio album. The video is a hoot also, pure REM. Check it out.

17. CARNIVAL OF SORTS: from Chronic Town  Can you believe that 1 song from their very first 5 or 6 track cd made it as high as Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) as it is also sometimes called. But it's true, and again it is one of those that I never really thought much about til I started working on this list, and I heard this and was transfixed all over again. This is a great rocker that shows the band at it's best while still raw. It has train imagery that filled Fables of The Reconstruction and this song could very well have easily fit into this album. Instead this is from their very first album and it is awesome. The video I have linked to it is from an Old Nickelodeon show in either 82 or 83, not 85 as the title states. The song is awesome but check out the crazy dancing.

16. SO FAST SO NUMB: from New Adventures in Hi-Fi: The one two punch of Bittersweet Me (coming next) and this song is one of the best 1-2 punches REM has ever done on their albums. If you can get past the glaringly sexual themes of this song, you get a great rocker that complements the song before it.

15. BITTERSWEET ME: from New Adventures in Hi-Fi: While both songs are great, this one to me is the better of the two. It also is not sexual like So Fast So Numb. Instead you get another great rocker with some stellar Michael Stipe singing. Both Bittersweet Me and So Fast So Numb are a great pairing if you want some good Southern rocking.

14. LEAVING NEW YORK: from Around the Sun: The only other really good song from this mediocre album is a tale of leaving a loved one and is a nice reflective quiet song. That talks about loss but in a good way. A good song to listen to while you recover from a broken heart.

13. BAD DAY: from In Time: Best of REM: This song has an interesting backstory. It is one of REM's oldest songs, but it never got released until the late 90s. It also shares a similar framework to End of the World as we know it. Apparently when this song did not come together, they took aspects of it and created End of the World as we know it. But to add some new songs to their 2 disc greatest hits set they reworked it into one of their better songs. A great peppy upbeat song about having a bad day. Good to listen to when you are having a bad day. You may very well find yourself singing along with it, like I do.

12. IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE): from Document: Another of their songs that everyone knows. Used in various movies this peppy list song as Stipe calls it is basically Stipe singing a laundry list of unrelated things in between the chorus. I remember my Freshman year of college. My roomate had to decipher every lyric for the song. He asked me for help and I did my best but it goes by so fast and some of it you can't understand. That being said, a brillant fun song about the end of the world.

11. GET UP: from Green:  A fantastic, short, to the point song with a fun chorus that is great to sing to.

10. CUYAHOGA: from Lifes Rich Pagent: An environmental song about the Cuyahoga river, a river that due to so much pollution once caught fire, a river caught fire. But beside the message it conveys you get a real slower song with a fantastic chorus that is pure brillance from the lyrics to the music.

9. FIND THE RIVER: from Automatic For The People:  My second favorite song from Automatic for the People is a nice chill kind of song with a great southern quality to it. Makes me think about Tom Sawyer (the story not the song) whenever I hear it. Or a nice leisurely cruise down the river. Nice, sweet, zen song.

8. DRIVER 8: from Reconstruction of The Fables: Early REM always seemed to have an obsession with trains. And that's fine. Because without it we would never get this brillant train song from early in their career. Just a great story song with a kicking beat.

7. DON'T GO BACK TO ROCKVILLE: from Reckoning: I'm from Baltimore, which is not that far away from Washington DC. I had family that lived outside of DC. So going down to the see them on 95 I always think of this song, since we pass the exit for Rockville. This song is about Rockville, Maryland. It's documented. This is one of the few songs where Mike Mills the great backup singer gets to be on the forefront because this song is about an old girlfriend of his who lived in Rockville, MD. Whenever REM played in the Baltimore/Washington area they always played this song. And Mills does a great job of singing. The below video was filmed at Merriwheater Post Pavilion in 2008, the last time REM came to Baltimore.

6. TEXARKANA:  from Out of Time: Another Mike Mills special. Mike is also one of the reasons I love this band. Stipe was given a very able back up singer in Mills, and Stipe knew how well he had it with Mills that let him be the main singer of a few songs. A coda to the previous list. Mills did not originally sing Rockville when it first came out, but he did do the majority of the writing for it. And it's based on a real event in his life. Over the last few years Stipe has allowed him to sing it because it is his song. However back to Texarkana, this is all Mills. Perfect, fun, travel song, and Mills is great in it.

5. PERFECT CIRCLE: from Murmur: A wonderful, wonderful slow song, that is just incredible. Heartbreaking but hopeful at the same time. Everything clicks on this song. When I first started getting into REM, this was my favorite REM song. It was so great that I wrote my first screenplay and titled it Perfect Circle has an homage to this song. Beautiful song. LOVE IT!!

4. I'LL TAKE THE RAIN: from Reveal: Another heartbreaking song that is just so good. SO sweet. So wonderful. It may be slightly depressing, but it's a song about a breakup and breakups are hard. But just like all their depressing songs, it has a very hopeful feeling to it as well.

3. PILGRIMAGE: from Murmur: I know this probably surprises a lot of people because most people even fans have never heard the song before. One of the things I love about it is how layered it is. Multiple layers of vocals, music, etc., all combine to make a perfectly great song that has a bit of quiet in it, but at the same time gets you popping as well, and that is the multiple layers. It is almost dreamlike in some aspects.

This song would probably be very hard to do live since there are so many layers to it.

2. THE GREAT BEYOND: from In Time: The Best Of REM: Originally written for the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey, it always surprises me how this song could not have been nominated for an Oscar, IT IS THAT GOOD. It is so good that it just misses being the # 1 REM song of all time by a hair. This is a great Andy Kaufman esqe song with great performances from all involved, the Chorus is phenomenal, and the lyrics are pitch perfect. The music is cool and makes for a song I could listen to on REPEAT for a very long time. Absolutley perfect.

1. MAN ON THE MOON: from Automatic for the People: This wins because it is the epitome of what REM is, a Southern Rock Band, with a Southern Rock song that epitomized who REM was. This song has everything, the twangy guitars, the great singing, great backup singing, a strange song with interesting yet head scratching lyrics, an ode to Andy kaufman. That was so cool that a movie about Andy Kaufman not only titled it after the song but had REM do the score for it. This is REM, and it is a great song.

That's it. The top 105 REM songs of all time as chosen by me. By all means I would love to hear comments and questions about it. I also have a YouTube Playlist that is public that has all 105 songs on it. So if you want to hear some of the other songs that I did not post Videos for, please check it out. it has been posted on Facebook and soon Twitter. Thanks for hanging with me!

Top 105 R.E.M. Songs of All Time Part 4 (42-22)

Here I am back again with the 4th installment of my Best 105 R.E.M. songs of all time. We are starting to hit the homestretch here. Again let me clarify these are my picks and mine alone, you may agree or disagree and that is fine. I would love to here your comments on these songs. Since I am getting closer to the end and there are a lot of excellent songs heading this way I am upping the video total to 6 for this blog. So let's delve into # 42-22 of the greatest R.E.M Songs of all time as chosen by me.

42. WALK IT BACK: from Collapse Into Now: This brillant song made it's way onto an episode of the revamped Hawaii 5-0 on CBS in it's first season and it was a perfect choice for the show. A more introspective song.

41. CRUSH WITH EYELINER: from Monster: This is one of the most bizarre songs REM has ever done. But it totally works. The song itself is about a transvestite. Michael Stipe is almost unrecognizable in the song, the wah wah pedal gets quite a workout and it's kicky.

40. MAPS AND LEGENDS: from Reconstruction of the Fables: It's amazing what a different take on a song can do to make you like it better. I never really liked this song when I first heard it. But cruising the internet a few months ago. Someone posted a version of this song on their Facebook page with the statement best version of song ever. So I played it and loved it. Loved it so much I went to the original song on the CD and discovered what I loved about the one version was audible but different and I liked it. I have added this version known as the best version of the song on to this countdown. Enjoy!

39. ORANGE CRUSH: from Green: Another song the band is known for. I think it was one of their first songs on Guitar hero or Rock Band. But it is a great song about of all things. Agent Orange the chemical used to kill lots of people. Great song with a great message.

38. ELECTROLITE: from New Adventures in Hi-Fi: "20th century goes to sleep." A wonderful song that ushers REM into the new century. Kicky travel song on what turns out to be their travel album. They recorded New Advs. while on the road for the Monster Tour. This also happens to be the last song that REM recorded before original member Bill Berry left the group and is also the last track on New Advs. "I'm outta here..."

37. FINEST WORKSONG: from Document:  Classic REM. A very peppy, trippy song.

36. E-BOW THE LETTER: from New Adventures in Hi-Fi: With backups by musical legend Patti Smith, REM's first single off of New Advs. is a powerful moody ballad that sets the stage for one of their better albums, and a welcome return after the horrible (in my opinion) Monster. It is also the last album where all 4 of the original members were together.

35. THE ONE I LOVE: from Document: Another song most people know REM from. They recognize the FIRE!!! that Stipe sings in the chorus. It is also misinterpreted all the time. To regular people it sounds like a love song. In reality it is a song about obsession. "A simple prop to occupy my time". But this is one of the first REM songs I ever remember listening to. My sister had the tape single of it and when I started getting into REM in my Senior Year of High School I borrowed it from my sister and played it over and over again.

34. I REMEMBER CALIFORNIA: from Green: Great use of the WAH WAH pedal on this song. Kind of an homage to Califonia Dreaming, but reversed.

33. ALL THE WAY TO RENO (YOU'RE GONNA BE A STAR): from Reveal: Another song of theirs when I first heard it, I hated it. But only one sequence. There is a bridge where Stipe keeps singing You know who you are, and it annoyed me. But the rest of the song is actually really good. This bridge just killed it for me. But then I just started zoning out when that part came on and didn't really listen to it and it became good.

32. FALL ON ME: from Life's Rich Pagent: At one time Michael Stipe himself said this was his favorite song of theirs. But anyone who knows him, or has listened to him knows while it may be true, he has a lot of favorite songs that they do. Regardless this is another one of their more known songs, and it has a very environmental message to it. Another song that was one of the first I ever heard them sing.

31. 9-9: from Murmur: An underrated song that most people have never heard before. It is from their first main album, is track 9, but is one of the craziest cool songs I have ever heard in my life.  I remember I was able to get one of my friends from College, Kevin to play it on his radio show on the college radio station I worked at for a year. I even think I may have snuck it into one of my radio shows as well.



30. LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE: from Accelerate: What better to kick off the fast and explosive album Accelerate then a fast and explosive song. Pure rock adrenaline. "baby I'm calling you out..."

29. KOHOUTEK: from Reconstruction of the Fables: The only thing I know about the word Kohoutek is that it was the name of a comet. This song is excellent and was one of the only ones I liked immediately from Reconstruction of the Fables when I first listened to the album. Still a strong song. Though I'll be damned if I can tell you what it is about.

28. FLOWERS OF GUATAMALA: from Life's Rich Pagent: A slow paced song that I always seem to air drum along to. A terrific song.

27. PRETTY PERSUASION: from Reckoning: Another really good early rocker that will get your toes a tapping.

26. BEGIN THE BEGIN: from Life's Rich Pagent: The one-two punch of this and These Days (a couple of spots below) at the beginning of Life's Rich Pagent will automatically hook you into the album. Followed by the more subdued Fall on Me and Cuyahoga it's almost a roller coaster ride, and why to me Life's Rich Pagent is REM's 2nd best album behind Automatic for the People.

25. HORSE TO WATER: from Accelerate: OH MY GOD! You want to Rock. Rock out to this. the live version does not do it justice, but this a pure, speedy rock song that will make you want to Rock out yourself. Great guitar work on this one by Peter Buck.



24. BOY IN THE WELL: from Around the Sun: Around the Sun is probably REM's worst album, however the two songs I love on it are in the top 24 of all time. Boy in the Well is one of the best songs with a catchy chorus and musical bridge which unlike Reno actually works. "You wanted me to be someone that I could never be. My new friends are offerin things I've never seen, it'sa beautiful..." great lyrics.

23. GOOD ADVICES: from Reconstruction of the Fables: It's literally a song about good advice. Things you may not think about but in the end could be considered good advice.

22. THESE DAYS: from Life's Rich Pagent: The second part of the one two punch that starts off Life's Rich Pagent is the better one in my opinion. But not by much. REM has been known to put two kickass songs back to back which creates an excellent girth to the album. In my next and final post about this, you will see another good example. Til then enjoy this rocker. See ya soon with the top 21 of all time.



TOP 105 R.E.M. SONGS OF ALL TIME (63-43)

Welcome to part 3 of my 5 part list of the best 105 R.E.M. songs of all time. Again to re-iterate this is my list of favorites in my order. If you have a different take by all means let me know what you think in the comments section. Again I will have about 5 videos in here as well. Let's move along:

63. LEAVE: From New Adventures in HI-FI: This is one of those songs where when I first heard it. I hated it. The beginning was too much with some every electronic music which I am usually not a fan of. But when I got In Time the best of REM, on the second CD they had a different version of the song and I loved this new version. Gone was the electronic part. But begrudingly I went back and listened to the original one again and voila I liked it. 

62. SITTING STILL: From Murmur: More classic early REM. Just a fun little song. 

61. DISCOVERER: From Collapse into Now: The first track from what turned out to be REM's last studio album is a catchy grabber of a song that actually makes an appearance in the last song of the album. Blue (which was #81).

60. SWAN SWAN H: From Life's Rich Pagent:  Another great song from a great album. This one is pretty interesting and is one of their slower songs. Still good though. 

 

59. STAND: From Green: One of REM's more popular and well known songs is the epitome of peppiness and goofiness. It was also used as the theme song for the long ago sitcom Get A Life starring Chris Elliot and Brian Doyle-Murray.  But is definitly one of the songs most people remember REM did.

58. LOSING MY RELIGION: From Out of Time: This is the song that made REM. This was by far their biggest hit, another of the songs they are mostly known for, and it is grossly misunderstood. It is not an anti-religion song. Listen to the lyrics. It's about losing yourself, not your faith or religious beliefs. Losing My Religion is a Southern term. The video however made it out to be a song about losing the literal religion, that may be where some of the confusion comes from. Regardless, this is the song that propelled REM into the stratusphere and sent them on an incredible journey that most bands would love to have. In the end it is not one of favorite songs, but it is tolerable.

57. TRY NOT TO BREATH: From Automatic for the People: Love this song. A song that tries to be dark and depressing ala Everybody Hurts, but is actually a song about hope. And one of the neatest songs out there.

56. UNTIL THE DAY IS DONE: From Accelerate: One of the songs that slows the speed of Accelerate down, but is another glorious soft song full of hope.

55. SWEETNESS FOLLOWS: From Automatic For The People: The last three songs are a pretty good group to listen to in one sitting. A good retort to Everybody Hurts that is absolutely wonderful.

54. BEAT A DRUM: from Reveal: Another great song to go with the three previous. Another soft hopeful song that REM has been known for. Has kind of a Summery feel to it to go along with the album being called the Summer album.

53. IT HAPPENED TODAY: from Collapse Into Now: What I love about this song is that the actual singing is only about 2 minutes long, and it's a great catchy song. But what nails it for me is the Minute and a half of just music and humming. The Mandolin that was so prevalent in Out of Time makes a reapperance here as well.

52. SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS: from Acclerate: This was the first song in a really long time by REM that was played on the radio. I remember hearing it on 98 ROCK a number of times. This in turn helped Accelerate get REM back on the charts. It also is a fun song that has some rememberances of going to camp when you were younger.

51. LIFE AND HOW TO LIVE IT: from Reconstruction of the Fables: Like much of Fables I did not like the songs until I started listenting to it more. This one is a good old fashioned rocker, very REM-esqe and I am still surprised at myself for not liking it more when I was younger.

50. SO. CENTRAL RAIN: from Reckoning: "I'm sorry, I'm Sorry..." While a good old fashioned Southern rock song, it is also an apology to a scorned loved one. So. Central Rain is one of their classic songs that when you hear it know immediately that it is REM. It is also one of their first ever televised songs.

 

49. RADIO FREE EUROPE: from Murmur: Their first ever single. Their first ever song that made REM storm onto the scene. At the time it was an Indy wonder. Now it is one of their best songs that epitomizes who REM was.

48. EXHUMING McCARTHY: from Document: REM has always been a political band and this song is another one of their political songs. Though not has overt has Ignoreland or Revolution, this one in a peppy no nonsense way tries to let everyone know that McCarthyism is still around. They even dip into history and pull out a section from one of the McCarthy hearings. "Have you no sense of decency sir?"

47. THE SIDEWINDER SLEEPS TONITE: from Automatic for the People: With it's title it is supposed to make you think of The Lion sleeps tonight, though both songs are nowhere close to being near each other. This song though is a fun one that would have probably felt better suited for the more fun out of Time then the contemplative Automatic For The People.  But there it is, and it is a nice palatte cleanse for the more slower album that is Automatic For the People.

46. BANG AND BLAME: from Monster: The second single from Monster after What's the Frequency Kenneth? This one is one of their classic rockers but without as much electricity as What's the Frequency Kenneth? had. The chorus is a little earwormy, but it has a good opening and is a great fun rocker.

45. DRIVE: from Automatic for the People: The first single from what I still think is their best album leads you right into their contemplative state of mind that the album is mostly about, it also differentiates itself from their previous album Out of Time.

44. MORAL KIOSK: from Murmur: Moral Kiosk is a quirky song that keeps the upbeat tempo of their first album in tact in a fun song that will also earworm you as well.

43. WORLD LEADER PRETEND: from Green: A truly amazing song, a deep song, and one you won't stop thinking about.

That's it for this countdown. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully the next one won't be as late.

Top 105 R.E.M songs of all time (84-64)

Blog # 2 of the best REM songs of all time. Again this is my list, my choices, my order. If you do not agree or have a comment please let me know. I will again be adding 5 videos and little comments on the next batch of songs. Here we go...

84. LOW: From Out of Time: Considering Out Of Time was a trippy up tempo album, there are a few lower key songs. This is one of them.

83. UNDERTOW: From New Adventures in Hi-Fi: Another guitar charged feedback style song, but kind of a funky tempo and some good guitar licks.

82. MONTY GOT A RAW DEAL: From Automatic for the People: One of R.E.M. 's best aspects is their bizarre songs. This one about Monty Hall of Let's Make a Deal fame. But as bizarre as it is it's quite an entertaining song. Hear for yourself.

81. BLUE: From Collapse into Now: The last REM song on their last studio album is a haunting spoken word song with background vocals by Patti Smith. It also has a repeat of the beginning part of Discoverer which was the first song on the CD giving it a Full Circle feel.  Has some great lines including "3AM Halloween night had enough to drink to have my own party" Haunting.

80. DISTURBANCE AT THE HERON HOUSE: From Document: Another strange little ditty that again is fascinating.

79. ME IN HONEY: From Out of Time: The second duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52s from this album may not be as well known as Shiny Happy people. But is just as peppy.

78. WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH?: From Monster: The first single from Monster was a guitar heavy rocking pounding song. The band did it because after two slower albums in Out of Time and Automatic For the People, they wanted to get back to some rocking music. Hence this song. It refers to an incident in New York City in 1986, where news anchor Dan Rather was the victim of an unprovoked attack by one or two assailants who, between beatings, would ask, "what's the frequency, Kenneth?" The previous statement was from Wikipedia.

77. HARBORCOAT: From Reckoning: A good early song from the band. Took me awhile to warm up to it, but again when I got older liked it alot.

76. ANIMAL: From In Time: The best of REM: A new song to go with one of their greatest hits compilations. This is a raw rocker with Michael Stipe screeching "I'm an Animal..." and it works. A rough and tumble song.

75. KING OF BIRDS: From Document: "100 Million birds fly away..." a great visual in one of these underrated songs that not a lot of people would have heard about. But is a very intense longing of a song. And it's brillant.

74. CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE: From Fables of the Reconstruction: Fables of the Reconstruction is REM's 3rd album and the original cover had both Fables of the Reconstruction and Reconstruction of the Fables. Most prefer Fables as do I, but either title is approriate. Anyway Can't get there from here used to be lower in the countdown, but the more I listened to it compared to some of the other great songs off the album it got pushed up to 74. A poppy, peppy song that is pretty good.

73. I DON'T SLEEP I DREAM: From Monster: A fantastic rocker off of a mediocre album. Worth it also to hear Stipe's higher register in his singing voice.

72. YOU ARE THE EVERYTHING: From Green: REM has always claimed never to write love songs, but I find that hard to believe considering some of the songs on this list. Of course they may have wanted to distance their indie love songs from mainstream, and this one is a good example.

71. THE LIFTING: From Reveal: I love this song. So unique and another good example of what makes REM unique, strange songs that have you wanting to keep listening to them.

70. NIGHTSWIMMING: From Automatic for the People: This is one of my friend Ellyn's favorite songs. Now I like it a lot, but there are 69 other songs I would like to listen to. But that being said. A bittersweet song about the loss of innocence and getting older while trying to hold onto your past. A very sweet song and part of in my opinion REM's greatest album. Can't beat it.

69. GARDENING AT NIGHT: From Chronic Town: REM's first mainstream album was Murmur, but before that there was Chronic Town that only had 5 songs on it. This is one of them, and there is one other one which I reveal later. This song is the first look at what REM would become, unlike some of the other songs on the album this one is the most like REM.

68. WELCOME TO THE OCCUPATION: From Document: Another great early rocker that started to show the more mainstream of REM. Great song.

67. TALK ABOUT THE PASSION: From Murmur: The Second single from theirdebut album is another sweet song.

66. THE WAKE-UP BOMB: From New Adventures in Hi-Fi: An in your face, explosive song that starts strong and never let's go. Good Rocker on a great album.

65. COUNTRY FEEDBACK: From Out of Time: When I first heard the song. I hated it. I was never a big fan of feedback songs. But as per the course with me the more I listened the more I loved it. And to me it is one of the quintessential songs that proves that REM is southern rock at it's best.

64. DISAPPEAR: From Reveal: Much like Country Feedback. I hated this song upon first hearing it. But again once I got past some of the feedback/background noise it is actually a very haunting song that digs into your brain and may freak you out a little bit.

That's all for now!

TOP 105 R.E.M. SONGS OF ALL TIME (105-85)

It's been months since R.E.M. decided to call it a day. Since then I have been working diligently to pick my favorite R.E.M. songs of all time. I finally settled on 105. I know it's an odd number but it works for me. Over the next two weeks I hope to countdown from 105 to 1 on this blog. When I am done I will also be posting the link to my Youtube playlist of the Best R.E.M. songs of all time.

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!