It matters because no matter the method by which someone is accessing the music it is still incorrect to respond with a song from Chronic Town when someone is asked what their favorite song from Dead Letter Office is.
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Some of us bought Chronic Town on tape or vinyl and then jumped at the chance to get it on CD with Dead Letter Office. We knew, we know. The music world was in a very different place in 1987 and it seems silly now that CT was not released more widely as a standalone CD (Then: but we have room for another 82 minutes of music - we can’t waste CD space. Now: dude, what’s a CD?!?!). And, of course, some people are just averse to other people.
and, if anyone cares, Voice of Harold is the only answer to what is the best song on Dead Letter Office. Brilliant, fun and the epitome of what DLO was all about.
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I have no idea what the best song on Dead Letter Office is but some of my favorites are “Ages of You,” “Crazy,” “Voice of Harold,” “Bandwagon,” “Crazy,” and “Burning Down.”
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Yes if it was a different release, packaged differently the answer might be different but if you came to REM in the Cd era and never saw a copy of DLO without Chronic Town on it you might (as I did) reasonably think that the band had used the opportunity of an odds and sods album to include their otherwise out of print early EP so more people could access and enjoy the music. It’s not like the front / back cover of the CD says “DLO and Chronic Town” so if you never opened the liner notes you’d never know.
But to be honest it doesn’t really matter, I was just trying to help with a different perspective from perhaps a different era of REM fandom. I get your point from a purist perspective.
Interesting bonus note: I wondered how this looked in the modern streaming era without liner notes. there seem to be two versions on Spotify - which definitely wouldn’t distinguish. One includes Chronic Town. One does not. So that’s no help at all.
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There’s also these advertisements that say Chronic Town is a separate release. There also may have been a hype sticker that made note of it, I don’t remember. I bought Dead Letter Office first on vinyl. Years later I purchased two copies of Dead Letter Office on CD; the standard release that includes Chronic Town and the I.R.S. Years edition that includes Chronic Town and two bonus tracks: the acoustic version of “Gardening at Night,” and “All the Right Friends.”
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It sounds like six of one, half a dozen of the other. It’s not what I’d consider gatekeeping unless you were belittling peoples fan credentials which I’m sure you weren’t. The flipside is did it really need pointing out when people are just engaging and having a bit of fun? I mean, it was technically part of the CD release of Dead Letter Office. A collection of b-sides and rarities, and Chronic town was technically a rarity at that stage. Its numbered sequentially, not segmented as a seperate thing on the disc. Sounds like pedantry tbh and I honestly dont mean that in a mean way, we all do it sometimes.
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Ok, i just read the thread and you’ve (well, assuming it’s you) gone down the whole thread correcting everyone and then keep pushing it when people pull you up. That can come across as gatekeeping as you’re presenting yourself as an arbiter of REM and a bit superior if I’m honest. Sorry, honest feedback 
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There is so much misinformation & bullshit in the media and out there in general, I don’t blame someone for being passionate about keeping the truth & facts right.
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It’s a collection of b-sides not the efficacy of Covid vaccines.
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Ages of you
For me it’s definitely 1,000,000 or Carnival of Sorts 
I might recalling incorrectly, but didn’t the reverse side of the DLO CD booklet have the Chronic Town EP cover on it? Like you could flip it over and the cover would “change”? I’m pretty sure that’s on my copy at the very least.
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The artwork is included, I know that.
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