However at 1.30....
1
Stipe, "Losing My Religion is a hit" 1990
Started by kizmatica, Nov 08 2011 12:28 PM
12 replies to this topic
#1
kizmatica
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Posted 08 November 2011 - 12:28 PM
Hey, you have to take this quote with a pinch of salt, and I'm well aware he probably didn't expect it to reach the popularity it did, but every interview in the past 10 years you hear the band, and especially Stipe, talk about how they never expected Losing My Religion to be a hit.
However at 1.30....
However at 1.30....
#2
Driver Nate
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Posted 08 November 2011 - 02:40 PM
This interview is an excerpt from the promotional film Timepiece (which you can watch here). I saw bits of and pieces of this back in the day on everything from MTV to USA's Night Flight. And yes, his comment was never meant to be taken seriously. At least that's always been my take on it. I can't remember where I saw it now but in reference to those that think "Losing My Religion" was a conscious effort on R.E.M.'s part to "sell out", Buck said those people were "full of shit". I'm paraphrasing here so that is most likely not the exact quote but it was something along those same lines.
"We were listening to the UNC radio (station) there and they were playing an R.E.M. song. I like R.E.M. fine, but at the end of it, the DJ says, 'Ya that was R.E.M., the sound of the new South'. I looked at my roommate and we said, Gawd, if that's the sound of the new South, I preferred it when it was on the skids. That's how we got the name."
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
#3
kizmatica
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Posted 08 November 2011 - 03:08 PM
Hey, thanks for replying 
Yeah I don't think it was meant to be taken super seriously either. That said, it's still interesting that they later claimed that they are surprised the song had any success. I was never convinced by that. They were still on a major label (Warners) in 1991, and had reasonable success previously with The One I Love, so It wasn't out of the question that the song may have been successful.
I appreciate that they could never have envisaged the sheer impact it had worldwide, though.
Aside from that, a lot of the TImepiece interviews/footage is now on youtube & it's really great to listen to each band member individually in 1990.
Yeah I don't think it was meant to be taken super seriously either. That said, it's still interesting that they later claimed that they are surprised the song had any success. I was never convinced by that. They were still on a major label (Warners) in 1991, and had reasonable success previously with The One I Love, so It wasn't out of the question that the song may have been successful.I appreciate that they could never have envisaged the sheer impact it had worldwide, though.
Aside from that, a lot of the TImepiece interviews/footage is now on youtube & it's really great to listen to each band member individually in 1990.
#4
Driver Nate
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Posted 08 November 2011 - 03:59 PM
kizmatica, on 08 November 2011 - 03:08 PM, said:
Hey, thanks for replying Yeah I don't think it was meant to be taken super seriously either. That said, it's still interesting that they later claimed that they are surprised the song had any success. I was never convinced by that. They were still on a major label (Warners) in 1991, and had reasonable success previously with The One I Love, so It wasn't out of the question that the song may have been successful.
Yeah I don't think it was meant to be taken super seriously either. That said, it's still interesting that they later claimed that they are surprised the song had any success. I was never convinced by that. They were still on a major label (Warners) in 1991, and had reasonable success previously with The One I Love, so It wasn't out of the question that the song may have been successful.They always talk up the mandolin part as the reason they never saw it becoming a Top 40 hit but it really wasn't that far fetched. At the time, maybe but it's not like songs featuring a mandolin have never been successful (I'm thinking Rod Stewart's "Mandolin Wind" and Bruce Hornsby's "Mandolin Rain" here but Im sure there's been others). I also know that the album title came about because they were literally "out of time" to name the record but they've also said the album didn't fit in and it was like pop music from another universe. That, I can agree with.
Quote
Aside from that, a lot of the TImepiece interviews/footage is now on youtube & it's really great to listen to each band member individually in 1990.
All of Timepiece is now on YouTube. It was uploaded to R.E.M.'s official YouTube channel a few weeks ago by R.E.M. HQ:
"We were listening to the UNC radio (station) there and they were playing an R.E.M. song. I like R.E.M. fine, but at the end of it, the DJ says, 'Ya that was R.E.M., the sound of the new South'. I looked at my roommate and we said, Gawd, if that's the sound of the new South, I preferred it when it was on the skids. That's how we got the name."
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
#5
robertandrews
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Posted 09 November 2011 - 08:35 AM
Ooooh, great video. Timepiece is one of the few things I haven't seen, I think. Going to find time to watch this. Keep 'em coming.
When you think back... Pop Song '89, maybe Stand, Shiny Happy People... one of them was obviously a comment on the vacuity of MTV pop music... and it's harder and harder not to see the set as verging on an execution of that, to some extent. I think R.E.M. knew what they took on when they joined WBR.
When you think back... Pop Song '89, maybe Stand, Shiny Happy People... one of them was obviously a comment on the vacuity of MTV pop music... and it's harder and harder not to see the set as verging on an execution of that, to some extent. I think R.E.M. knew what they took on when they joined WBR.
#6
robertandrews
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 02:02 AM
Oh wow, I watched Timepiece in bed last night (don't ever remember having seen it), and was quite affected really.
I remember this period so well. This was when I got in to my R.E.M., as a 12-year-old schoolkid.
I'm finding it hard to put this stuff in to words, but I've been struck by a pang of my former self, which always found change difficult to deal with.
I often would wonder who and where I would be when R.E.M., too, were old and split up; how would I cope with it?
After listening Out Of Time to death at the time, I had sort of put it in a mental box and always listened intently to R.E.M.'s *new* material whilst others venerated the sunspot flares of the early nineties. But re-listening a little bit recently, and watching and hearing Timepiece here, I'm struck all at once by how great it sounds, by my memories of the time, by the yawning passage of time between then and now and by how the R.E.M. of the time differs to the one of now. Watching this put me right back in to a rather pleasant time.
How very strange.
I'm struck by two contrasting things:
1) how, even then, R.E.M. appeared very experienced and confident in their professional ability (in many ways, seeing how they went about recording, and also the stock lines that any band might give to an EPK, might just as well have been given around Collapse Into Now's press).
2) but how they appeared relatively more youthful, energetic and playful. Michael's sense of fun in this video is potent. Did I forget that he ever had that? It's so at odds with the common derogatory perception of his out-and-out seriousness. But it also speaks to how he embraced and ridiculed pop music on WBR at the time. Then again, he seems like he might be high on something in Timepiece as well :-)
Strange feelings.
I wonder if, for me, one of the outcomes of R.E.M.'s retirement might be things are pared back and I come back to regard Out Of Time as their greatest work, just like I did at the time but which later denied?
I guess I could have just used one word: Nostalgia.
I remember this period so well. This was when I got in to my R.E.M., as a 12-year-old schoolkid.
I'm finding it hard to put this stuff in to words, but I've been struck by a pang of my former self, which always found change difficult to deal with.
I often would wonder who and where I would be when R.E.M., too, were old and split up; how would I cope with it?
After listening Out Of Time to death at the time, I had sort of put it in a mental box and always listened intently to R.E.M.'s *new* material whilst others venerated the sunspot flares of the early nineties. But re-listening a little bit recently, and watching and hearing Timepiece here, I'm struck all at once by how great it sounds, by my memories of the time, by the yawning passage of time between then and now and by how the R.E.M. of the time differs to the one of now. Watching this put me right back in to a rather pleasant time.
How very strange.
I'm struck by two contrasting things:
1) how, even then, R.E.M. appeared very experienced and confident in their professional ability (in many ways, seeing how they went about recording, and also the stock lines that any band might give to an EPK, might just as well have been given around Collapse Into Now's press).
2) but how they appeared relatively more youthful, energetic and playful. Michael's sense of fun in this video is potent. Did I forget that he ever had that? It's so at odds with the common derogatory perception of his out-and-out seriousness. But it also speaks to how he embraced and ridiculed pop music on WBR at the time. Then again, he seems like he might be high on something in Timepiece as well :-)
Strange feelings.
I wonder if, for me, one of the outcomes of R.E.M.'s retirement might be things are pared back and I come back to regard Out Of Time as their greatest work, just like I did at the time but which later denied?
I guess I could have just used one word: Nostalgia.
#7
robertandrews
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 02:23 AM
If you post Rough Cut, you'll have me in floods.
We watched the Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb soundcheck clips on the way back from a Glen Campbell gig last week. It's one of my favourite scenes.
I have most of the videos R.E.M. has released on VHS. And no longer a VHS player to play them on.
We watched the Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb soundcheck clips on the way back from a Glen Campbell gig last week. It's one of my favourite scenes.
I have most of the videos R.E.M. has released on VHS. And no longer a VHS player to play them on.
#8
Sweden
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 05:49 AM
robertandrews, on 10 November 2011 - 02:23 AM, said:
If you post Rough Cut, you'll have me in floods.
We watched the Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb soundcheck clips on the way back from a Glen Campbell gig last week. It's one of my favourite scenes.
I have most of the videos R.E.M. has released on VHS. And no longer a VHS player to play them on.
We watched the Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb soundcheck clips on the way back from a Glen Campbell gig last week. It's one of my favourite scenes.
I have most of the videos R.E.M. has released on VHS. And no longer a VHS player to play them on.
Isn't Rough Cut on the DVD-A of Monster?
The shorter version, 45 min compared to an hour or so, is on youtube:
******************************
"Conventional wisdom would dictate that when the singer is trying to hit the high note and not quite getting there, the last thing you should do is tickle him! No tickling the lead singer when he is reaching for a note that he can no longer hit, OK?" JMS, post-audience visit during The One I Love in Bergen, 2008
******************************
"Conventional wisdom would dictate that when the singer is trying to hit the high note and not quite getting there, the last thing you should do is tickle him! No tickling the lead singer when he is reaching for a note that he can no longer hit, OK?" JMS, post-audience visit during The One I Love in Bergen, 2008
******************************
#9
robertandrews
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 08:48 AM
Oh, you did it. There goes the afternoon. I just *love* Rough Cut.
Isn't Rough Cut on the DVD-A of Monster?
The shorter version, 45 min compared to an hour or so, is on youtube:
Sweden, on 10 November 2011 - 05:49 AM, said:
Isn't Rough Cut on the DVD-A of Monster?
The shorter version, 45 min compared to an hour or so, is on youtube:
#10
kizmatica
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 11:30 AM
I've always disliked that Documentary (ROUGH CUT). Everything about it is so miserable to me. Probably doesn't help that it's shot in grey, either.
#11
smk77
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Posted 10 November 2011 - 12:14 PM
Driver Nate, on 08 November 2011 - 03:59 PM, said:
They always talk up the mandolin part as the reason they never saw it becoming a Top 40 hit but it really wasn't that far fetched. At the time, maybe but it's not like songs featuring a mandolin have never been successful (I'm thinking Rod Stewart's "Mandolin Wind" and Bruce Hornsby's "Mandolin Rain" here but Im sure there's been others). I also know that the album title came about because they were literally "out of time" to name the record but they've also said the album didn't fit in and it was like pop music from another universe. That, I can agree with.
All of Timepiece is now on YouTube. It was uploaded to R.E.M.'s official YouTube channel a few weeks ago by R.E.M. HQ:
#12
hikerdeb
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Posted 15 November 2011 - 12:19 PM
I watched "Timepiece" last week. Seen it several times in the past but had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Wouldn't it be great if Warner had done similar promotional films for the release of some of the other albums?
To me, the most poignant moment in "Timepiece" is when Bill speculates on how long R.E.M. will last. "Maybe we'll make it to 2000," he says.
Well, three of them did.
To me, the most poignant moment in "Timepiece" is when Bill speculates on how long R.E.M. will last. "Maybe we'll make it to 2000," he says.
Well, three of them did.
#13
Driver Nate
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Posted 15 November 2011 - 01:10 PM
hikerdeb, on 15 November 2011 - 12:19 PM, said:
Wouldn't it be great if Warner had done similar promotional films for the release of some of the other albums?
Even though I haven't seen them all, I'm pretty sure they did. If I'm not mistaken, some of them are available as bonus material on the DVD-A releases of some of the Warner Brothers records. Not so long ago, EThan said he'd be posting those online at some point.
This one for Document has been posted here before but here it is again for those that may have missed it the first time:
"We were listening to the UNC radio (station) there and they were playing an R.E.M. song. I like R.E.M. fine, but at the end of it, the DJ says, 'Ya that was R.E.M., the sound of the new South'. I looked at my roommate and we said, Gawd, if that's the sound of the new South, I preferred it when it was on the skids. That's how we got the name."
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
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