Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.
Over a 25-year period, R.E.M. went from under-the-radar college rock band to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. It’s a rare story in rock & roll. And it’s a band that I listen back to fondly. In truth, this is a band that I got bored with after the early 90’s. But I would be lying if I said those early 80’s records didn’t mean something to me. Listening back to Murmur, Reckoning, Lifes Rich Pageant and others, I can’t imagine what alternative rock music would be like without them. Just beneath the holy grail of “Radio Free Europe”, “Everybody Hurts” and “Losing My Religion” is a massive catalog of masterpieces, including an early college rock staple called “So. Central Rain”.
This is Thom Yorke’s favorite R.E.M. song. The Radiohead frontman once praised Michael Stipe for being able to surface an emotion and then take a step back from it to give it more power. This is certainly true of Stipe, of R.E.M. and the song “So. Central Rain”. Only I would phrase it this way. I think what R.E.M. has done masterfully on this track and on so many others is have a laser-focused consciousness of emotion that seems to get stuck on repeat. Why? Because that’s how it often plays out in our lives. We say sorry. But then somehow saying it once doesn’t always seem to be enough.
“Go build yourself another dream, this choice isn't mine. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”