R.E.M.- “Strange Currencies”
From their album Monster
My favorite R.E.M. song is one that everybody loves; my second-favorite is one that no one else even likes.* It’s from Monster, which rivals only Fairweather Johnson for appearances in used bins.
Looking back, it’s more a product of misplaced expectations than a legitimately subpar record. R.E.M. found themselves, quite surprisingly, the biggest rock act in the world in 1994; so they delivered a loud, tour-ready album befitting that title, one with ripe major chords and mumble-free lyrics. Someone apparently bet Peter Buck that he couldn’t stand on the delay pedal for every song, and he gladly took the money.
For once though, the people might have just had a fever for more mandolin. In trying to give casual fans what they wanted, R.E.M. ended up with a misshapen disguise that lacked the immediacy and steadfastness of their earlier work. The minute they tried to be accessible is when they became more inscrutable than ever. Which is so R.E.M. of them.
In some ways Monster is dodgy and disingenuous, but in other ways, it’s resolute. For example, with its glam signifiers and gender-indeterminate pronouns, it was easily the band’s queerest album at the time. Under cloak of arena-ready melodies and all neon everything, Stipe’s lyrics built upon the catharsis of Out of Time and the vulnerability of Automatic for the People to form a closeted desperation.
Of course, I couldn’t describe any of that when I bought the inescapable CD with the orange cover from Blockbuster Music just because I liked singing “Bang and Blame”. All I knew was that in the middle of this weird mixture of big songs and fast songs was a slow one. I didn’t know how indebted it was to Big Star or how corny it was to imagine slow-dancing to it with some girl whose name I can’t even remember now.* I just knew that it meant something to me in what felt like a unique, special way. In the end, you can talk about how R.E.M. brought the underground to the mainstream. You can admire their longevity. You can describe them with the word “jangly.” But I think R.E.M. would really want their legacy to be songs that connect with people in ways that even they can’t understand. That’s what it was for me.
*- I don’t know. “Talk about the Passion” is amazing too. Maybe I’m being contrarian here.
*- That’s a lie. Elena.
I was going to post this exact song over the weekend before the weekend was eaten up in the ER. So so best.
