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.



AVENGERS ASSEMBLE FOR 15 HOURS

In a blog a few weeks back I lamented the fact that I was not going to be able to go to the Mighty Marvel Movie marathon, a marathon of 5 movies that leads to the midnight show of The Avengers. But fortune favored the lazy and I was able to get a ticket. So on a warm, humid Thursday, I took a vacation day from work and went to sit in an air conditioned movie theater for 15 hours to watch movies based on Marvel Comics that culminated in the midnight show of The Avengers.

Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. was the first of the modern era of Marvel movies to come out, and probably my third favorite. Downey was cast perfectly and we started to see the beginnings of a new era. The film directed by Jon Favreau was embraced and made a ton of money. Marvel had started on the right foot.

While Mark Ruffalo (pictured above) did not get the nod as the Hulk until the Avengers, Marvel released The Incredible Hulk the same year as Iron Man, and while it did not do as well as Iron Man, the movie starring Edward Norton was not bad. But what really saved it was the apperance at the end by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man). We were now getting an idea of what Marvel had planned. A tight continuity where stars from other movies could show up as their character in different films.

Then there was a break for a year, then Marvel came back with Iron Man 2. While not as good as the original Iron Man, fans were happy to see the return of Downey as well as Clark Gregg who played fan favorite SHIELD agent Coulson, and the introduction of The Black Widow (plyed by Scarlett Johanssen). Another potential member of the Avengers. Samuel L. Jackson continued his role as Nick Fury. As per all the other Marvel films, after the credits were over one scene came on that hinted at the next Marvel Movie, in this case we find Coulson finding Thor's hammer.

2011 would be a huge year for Marvel Movies. They would be releasing 2 movies featuring 1 character (Thor played by Chris Hemsworth and directed by Kenneth Braughn) who had made one live action apperance on a horrible Incredible Hulk Tv movie and 1 mention in Adventures in Babysitting. Then you had Captain America who had 1 horrible movie as well. These new Marvel movies were not going to have Iron Man, or the Hulk (whom people knew from a 70s tv series) to bring awareness. But you would have the knowledge that Marvel had released 3 pretty good movies. And sure enough Thor (which is my 2nd favorite film) made good money and introduced us to not one but 2 possible members of the Avengers. Thor and...

Hawkeye,(played by Jeremy Renner the new Bourne) who makes a brief cameo apperance in the film. Which to some critics felt was shoehorned into Thor to introduce a character they wanted to use in The Avengers. It also introduced us to Loki who would end up being one of the main bad guys in The Avengers. The post credit scene teased Captain America with the modern day arrival of the Cosmic Cube, or as they call it in the Marvel Movies, the Tesseract.

Chris Evans who was best known as playing another Marvel Character, the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies was cast as Captain America, in a movie that spends the majority of it's time in the 1940s. This film did great as well and lead to the post credit trailer for The Avengers.

There is only one way to describe the Avengers and it is as a Comic Book come to life on screen. While watching the five previous movies again yesterday in the movie theater I came to the realization that even though they have the look, and some of the beats of a comic book they are still movies. The Avengers was a comic book come to life on screen. it hit every comic book beat and should be looked at as the best way to make a true adaptation of a comic book into a movie. I will not spoil anything, or talk about anything for a bit, but I think I will be writing a review sometime next week. So take my advice. Go see The Avengers. If you have never seen any of the previous films, that's ok, The Avengers does an excellent job of introducing the characters.  Avengers Assemble!

Smoke Signals 2: Sports, Movies, SMG, and me

Welcome to Smoke Signals my mini blogger on my blog. Just a bunch of random thoughts I've had recently.

-My Facebook at work is not working, everyone else at work has working Facebook. I even downloaded Google Chrome to see if that helped. It didn't. Our IT guy was on my computer today. I wonder if he did something to it.

-As readers of my blog know, I have a crush on Sarah Michelle Gellar. Just found out she and her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. are expecting their 2nd child soon. Which may but the damper on a second season of Ringer. But for now who cares. Congratulations!

-The NFL draft started yesterday. The Ravens had the 29th pick overall. They ended up trading out of the first round for more draft picks. It makes sense, it makes real good sense, but I kind of wanted the Ravens to draft someone in the first round. I watched the whole thing waiting for it. In the end it was a good move and hopefully we will get some good players.

-The Baltimore Orioles who were projected to be a terrible team with at least 100 losses are now in a tie for first place. Now this doesn't really mean much right now since they tend to do good right out of the gate, liek last year they started 6-1 but soon started to fall badly. However this year seems to be different. Their pitching staff is pretty damn good. And they are getting the clutch hits they need. They are 5-1 against The Toronto Blue Jays who were supposed to be a good power this year. They are 0-3 against the Yankees and 1-2 against the Angels, so we shall see. May will be a big month for them. But now it is fun to watch this team.

-I have a zit. At the age of 38. WTF is up with that???

-My family pet Bonnie is not doing to good. She has not been eating alot the last 24 hours and threw up about 6 times last night. I still blame me letting her go out to eat grass. But she is old and she is showing it. Someday I will write a blog about my adopted cats Bonnie and Clyde. Just pray for her.

-Today April 27th is the last Friday before the Summer movie season starts. It's always seemed to be a weird movie day. Releasing a film a week before the first Summer Blockbuster knowing full well that you will be getting killed in your second week is always interesting to me. I will be writing a Summer Movie Rememberance blog sometime this summer. Should be fun.

-Maybe I will write it next weekend after I get back from the Mighty Marvel Movie Marathon. 6 Marvel Comics movies in order in one day, concluding with a midnight show of The Avengers. Starting at 1130am and going til about 230am. Should be interesting.

-I love watching my kids grow up and start to develop their personalities. I also see a lot of me in my kids. Recently Noelle started making up stories on her own and reading them to us. I used to do the same thing when I was a little older then her. In fact I wrote a lot of them down. I had written like 3 books, all about 33 pages long with illustrations, and my mother typed up some of my short stories and laminated them. I hope we can do something similar for Noelle.

That's it for now.

UPDATE: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Just a real quick follow up to the blog I wrote on Monday. Discovered yesterday that White Marsh has opened a second theater for the Mighty Marvel Marathon. And who got a ticket? This guy! So one of my opportunities has opened up and now I have put my money where my mouth is. Can't wait.

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.

Missed Opportunities

Before I get into today's blog. Let me say that I do not like the new blogspot set up. It's cluttered, too much going on, needs to be simpler. I am not a professional blogger who has time to take a look at all the nuances it offers. I just want to write down my damn thoughts. Ok enough bitching.

Today was another in a few missed opportunities that while not life changing would have been fun. I missed out on getting tickets for the Mighty Marvel Movie Marathon. Now I am a huge comic book fan and it has been fun recently with all the comic book movies out there. And you have to give Marvel credit their movies seem to be far better then DC's. They have created a whole universe that reminds you of their comic universe and it is very cool. So far 5 movies have been released in the Marvel Universe with the 6th The Avengers opening up on May 4th, 2012.

Now I had heard about this marathon about a month or so ago. Movie theaters starting at 11:30am on Thursday May 3rd will be showing all 5 movies leading up to the midnight showing of The Avengers. All of it was 40 dollars. Course you would be sitting in a movie theater from 1130am-230am. And that was one of the things that had me hemming and hawing about if I should do this or not. That is close to 14 hours in a movie theater.  I did not know how they would do food their, if they would let us bring things in or were we at their mercy. Plus I could not really take two days off in a row from work, so I would get home around 3-315am and have to get up at 530am and help get the kids ready for school and then go to work for 8 hours with very little sleep. In the end I think a once in a lifetime feel came to me and decided to get the tickets. So I sign up today, all sold out. And it is only at this one theater near me and only one theater is doing this marathon. So no new showings will open up and there are really no other theaters it appears that will be doing this in the area. So I missed out because I hemmed and hawed to much. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, though it is a little different secnario.

As you may or may not know I am a huge REM fan. They broke up last year and I was Ok with it. They had been around since the early 80s, their later stuff was good, but no where as good as their early stuff. I guess about 3-4 years ago they went on tour to promote Accelerate, which was their next to last album. But it turned out to be their last concert tour. They were going to play at Merriweather Post Pavillion which is in Columbia, Maryland which is near me. Their concert was also going to be in June, about two weeks before my birthday, unfortunately it was also going to be on a Wednesday or Thursday night. I told my wife I would kind of like to go for my birthday present, but I guess I did not push it enough because I did not end up going. REM had a blog I read and they gave the playlist of their concert and I was so pissed at myself because it was an awesome playlist. But at the time I did not know it was going to be their final concert. I was hoping that in a few years they would tour again and this time I would make sure to go. To late.

Is my life any worse for the wear? No, but still I think it would have been two events that would make great stories, or at least good blog entries.

Space: the Forgotton Frontier

Got an email from my sister today. It was about the declining health of my Grandmother. The only one I have left. But after letting me know some news, she switched gears on me and told me she was lucky enough to see the Space Shuttle fly over her school on it's way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I thought that was kind of cool and it got me thinking about Space, and my own encounters with the Space Shuttle.

I remember the first time it launched, back around 82 I believe, maybe before. However my friend Michael Leavitt was either over my house to play or we had a sleepover that night. I think he just came over to play because I don't remember having too many sleepovers. Anyway we were playing the boardgame Clue on my dining room table in the house I grew up in when my folks called us into watch the launch of the first Space Shuttle. Space had always fascinated me and soon after that I subscribed to the space magazine Odyssey. It mesmerized me and excited me because I always loved space and space exploration. Found it fascinating. Still do now a days though there really is not too much of it going on.

Another Space Shuttle memory. I was in Middle School playing intramural touchball which was a very cool sport that was a combination of many sports that I don't think exists anymore. Anyway my team was awesome and we were playing on one of the lower fields of Dumbarton Middle School. When someone noticed something in the sky. It was a giant plane carrying the Space Shuttle. It flew over us to destination Florida I guess but it was a massive sight. Then 1986 happened.

I was still in Middle School at the time when January 28, 1986 happened. This day alone is probably what sent the space program reeling and it has never recovered. On that day the first teacher ever was going to rocket into space for a full shuttle mission thus giving ordinary people a chance to go into space. However tragedy struck and the shuttle exploded soon after liftoff killing all on board. The Shuttle missions were shut down for at least a year and a half while investigations went on. Now I was in the cafeteria when the rumor started circulating. Apparently one of the teachers was playing the launch in their classroom. Me and my buddies heard rumors that such a thing happened but we had no proof. So we started talking about how that was impossible. And that it never happened. Then we found out for sure it did. I don't think we got out of school early, but I remember going home and watching the constant replay over and over again.  I also recall on February 1, 2003 when Shuttle Columbia exploded as it was returning from space. I had it on with my wife in our apartment. I think we were on our way to her folks house for a visit when we put it on.  So I have lived through 2 shuttle disasters.

Now the Shuttle is gone. No more missions. And to be honest the missions were boring routine things. Nothing exciting like going to the Moon or Venus or Mars. Just orbiting the earth. And I guess that is fine, but the fact is we have not landed on the moon since the early 70s and we have a few robots and satelites visiting other worlds. But no real talk of of re-visiting the moon or going to Mars. And Space has now become boring. Our space program now is hanging on by a thread because of the situation in Washington and many people saying it is a waste of money to go explore Space when there are so many other problems to solve on Earth. I get it, I do. But we are explorers. Always have been. The Geeks and Nerds are the hot things now, and yet we cannot get money to explore or build new spacecraft. Or even look into new forms of fuel or types of travel so we can explore Space. And the excitement of space exploration is disappearing fast. Soon we will never do any exploring of space and that is sad.

I love space, I love Earth also, but I also believe we should get back to Space being the Final Frontier. Someplace mysterious and scary, and dangerous. I would like to see humans on Mars or Titan. I would love to see more exploration of our solar system. 2014 is going to be huge when we get our first views of Pluto which to me is still a planet, scientists be damned. That is exciting stuff man. i'd like to see more pics of Mars or Mercury, or Titan, all of which have satelites exploring them. I love space and hope that there are enough people out there to get us jumpstarted back on the space highway. Maybe when the aliens come in December 2012 we will then decide, hey maybe we should keep exploring space. Science fact is as interesting as Science fiction.