Welcome everyone to something the latest edition of Top Five Fridays! This week, I give you my top five favorite songs from the band R.E.M.
With this month being the 25th anniversary of the album Automatic for the People, it feels like the perfect time to do this. There may be some songs that you think deserve to be higher or straight up on the list, but keep in mind that this is, in the words of The Dude, my opinion man.
5. It’s the End of the World As We Know It
Admit it; you’ve tried to sing along to the frenetic lyrics coming from Michael Stipe. That alone was enough to make the list. It was also one of the first songs I ever heard from the group and gave me the expectations of this band having a similar sound to this.
Thankfully, as I continued to dip a toe into the discography of an iconic band like R.E.M., I learned that they don’t have a defined sound in a sense.
4. Begin the Begin
Much like last week’s Top Five, I really want to do things right by these bands that I feature on here and try and grab some deeper cuts along with the classics. When I went through the group’s discography, I dove deep into some of the lesser known albums, including “Lifes Rich Pageant” which this track opens it up and does it pretty well.
This is more along the lines of the “typical” sound from R.E.M. but it still has a little bit of edge to it and it’s one of Peter Buck’s favorite songs largely because it shows the direction the album will be heading. For what it’s worth, check out Lifes Rich Pageant and realize how good this group was starting to get.
3. Radio Song
Another opening track off of a pretty solid album “Out of Time” (we’ll get to another song from the album in a second). It’s just so upbeat with the intro and has a completely different sound from other tracks off the album.
It also features a rap from KRS-One which is such a departure from anything the band did at the time and really makes it stand out from the rest of the album.
2. Losing My Religion