Line #51 Trivia/REM


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2	* AcclaimedFlop: ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'', despite a #2 debut, immediately fell down the charts and was the first since ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' to fail to produce a top-40 single on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the beginning of the band's commercial and public decline. Even more egregious in that this was their first album in the wake of their record setting new $80 million contract with Warner Bros. Records. All of this, in spite of it being one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year, a step up from the [[BrokenBase polarizing]] ''Monster''.
3	* ApprovalOfGod: Music/RogerWaters of Music/PinkFloyd enjoyed R.E.M.'s cover of former Floyd frontman Music/SydBarrett's [[Music/TheMadcapLaughs "Dark Globe"]], praising it in an interview.
4	* AwesomeDearBoy: According to Peter Buck and Mike Mills in an interview with Creator/{{MTV}}, this was a driving factor in the band's decision to open for five of Music/ThePolice's shows during the latter group's supporting tour for ''Music/{{Synchronicity}}'', enthusiastically noting that "We get to see the Police for free."
5	* BasedOnADream: Some segments of "It's the End of the World as we Know It" -- namely [[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein a certain trope-naming lyric]] in the third verse -- were reportedly based on a dream Michael Stipe had in which he was at a party and all the other guests in attendance were celebrities with the initials "L.B."
6	* BeamMeUpScotty: The song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was named after the phrase that an attacker of news anchor Creator/DanRather repeatedly screamed while attacking him. However, what the attacker (later identified to be William Tager, who thought that the media was beaming signals into his mind and that if he could find the right frequency he could block the signals) actually said was "Kenneth, what is the frequency?", according to Dan Rather himself.
7	* BlackSheepHit:
8	** See the note on Creator Backlash and "Shiny Happy People" below.
9	** "The One I Love", "Pop Song 89" and "Stand" are poppier than their usual material, so much so that "The One I Love" is frequently mistaken for an actual love song.
10	** R.E.M. got a public image of being depressing due to the success of "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts". Both these songs are pretty atypical of the sound the band had in the 80s, which is a lot more upbeat and optimistic.
11	* BreakthroughHit: ''Music/OutOfTime'' and its lead single, "Losing My Religion", were this, thrusting R.E.M. into widespread mainstream recognition virtually overnight. In the liner notes for ''In Time'', Peter Buck notes that their career can be divided into before "Losing My Religion" and after. They were respected and popular before it came out, but that single was the one which really made them into stars. Earlier, they also first started to get noticed beyond their cult following with the success of [[Music/{{Document}} "The One I Love"]].
12	* ChannelHop: R.E.M. released their debut single through indie label Hib-Tone Records before later signing onto Creator/IRSRecords. The band remained with I.R.S. for most of the 80's, but later jumped ship to Creator/WarnerBrosRecords in 1988 due to dissatisfaction with both I.R.S.'s dismal international distribution and parent company Creator/{{MCA}}'s open hostility towards AlternativeRock. The band remained on Warner for the rest of their careers, breaking up shortly after fulfilling their second contract with them.
13	* ChartDisplacement: Being the first single off ''Automatic for the People'', "Drive" charted higher than the more enduring "Man on the Moon" and "Everybody Hurts". It is also one of their Alternative and Rock chart-toppers - a list that includes "Bang and Blame", which is not as remembered as tracks like "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" or "The One I Love".
14	* {{Corpsing}}:
15	** In "Voice of Harold", Stipe stifles his laughter after reading the line "J. Elmo Fagg", [[HoYay for obvious reasons]].
16	** He also cracks up in "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" after the line "...and a reading from Creator/DrSeuss", as he apparently couldn't pronounce the name right, saying "[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]]" instead of "Seuss."
17	* CreatorBacklash:
18	** The band ''haaaaaated'' the released version of their debut single, 1981's "Radio Free Europe", with Buck once gloating that he took the promo copy given to him by Hib-Tone and smashed it and taped it to the wall during a party at his house. The version released had been mixed by Hib-Tone head Johnny Hibbert himself, while the band preferred the mix done by producer Mitch Easter. The band also had mixed feelings about the song's 1983 re-recording (for ''Murmur'').
19	** The band's opinions of ''Fables of the Reconstruction'' were pretty cold for a good while, largely owed to the CreatorBreakdown that permeated it; Bill Berry went on record saying that it "sucked," while Peter Buck specifically took shots at "Driver 8". Michael Stipe seemed to grow more fond of the album over time despite his initial ire, going on to say that he considered it the band's best 80's album and complimenting it to producer Joe Boyd. The rest of the band would also warm up to ''Fables'' with time, with Buck describing it for its 25th anniversary reissue as a personal favorite of R.E.M. as a whole; in his words, "nobody but R.E.M. could have made that record."
20	** Michael Stipe disliked the idea of R.E.M. covering "Superman" from the get-go, so much so that he refused to sing lead vocals on it, leading Mike Mills to StepUpToTheMicrophone with Stipe on backing vocals. The song almost ended up as a mere B-side before eventually being made the closing track on ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' (and even then, the band unsuccessfully tried to make it a HiddenTrack).
21	** The band (except, interestingly enough, Buck) all ''hate'' "Shiny Happy People" and refuse to play it live. They originally refused to add it to compilation albums. However, the song ''is'' a part of their career-spanning greatest hits release, ''Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011'', most likely being the "Part Garbage" mentioned in the title. That said, in the booklet that accompanies ''Part Lies...'', Peter Buck mentions that, despite how much the other members regret the song, as well as how dumb and silly he thinks the song is, he has come to appreciate it. Just below Buck's comment, Stipe mentions that despite his feelings about the song, he does realize that the fans do enjoy it, which ultimately led to him finally putting it in a compilation album. Mike Mills has said that it is a happy song, which is not representative of their usual music.
22	** They also have a low opinion of their album ''Around the Sun'', having stated that it nearly broke up the band and that it became a reference point for them regarding how ''not'' to make an album.
23	* CreatorBreakdown:
24	** ''Fables of the Reconstruction'' and ''Up'' were recorded on two separate occasions that the band was on the verge of breaking up -- the former because of intolerable conditions in general at the time (i.e. stress with their growing fame, culture shock towards recording in London during the winter, the AIDS crisis, and health issues among the band members), the latter because of the fallout from Bill Berry's retirement and the consequent loss of a songwriter among the highly collaborative band. Both albums carry a distinctly melancholy tone (apart from an upbeat track or two each) informed by these circumstances.
25	** ''Around the Sun'' was recorded when the band were depressed about 9/11 and the Iraq War, and exhausted from touring; they almost broke up then. Their utter boredom is evident in most of the songs. However, they were so disappointed in ''Around the Sun'' that they did not want it to be their last album, and so stayed together to return to their rock roots and gave us ''Accelerate''.
26	* DenialOfDigitalDistribution: Though it was included in full on the ''Succumbs'' and ''When the Light Is Mine'' video collections, ''Left of Reckoning'' was never given an official digital release-- be it in full or split into segments-- for unknown reasons. In lieu of this, R.E.M.'s own Twitter account gave their blessing to a series of fan reuploads on [=YouTube=] by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/utahwrx utahwrx]], indicating that whatever's preventing the film from being officially released online is out of their control.
27	* DevelopmentHell: Common in the group's repertoire.
28	** "Just a Touch", the first song the band ever wrote (from early 1980), was played live regularly and attempted for ''Reckoning'', though didn't get released until ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' in 1986. The main reason it appeared on Pageant was that the group needed filler and revisited several older songs. Producer Don Gehman annoyed Michael Stipe so much with his demands that Michael gave a very pissed off rendition in one take that was a perfect capturing of the song's live energy.
29	** "All the Right Friends" was one of the band's earliest songs, performed as early as 1980. The band tried recording it in 1983 for ''Murmur'', but this version would not be released until 1993 when it appeared as a bonus track on the ''I.R.S. Years'' CD re-release of ''Dead Letter Office''. The band ended up rerecording it in 2001 due to the producer of ''Film/VanillaSky'' wanting an old style R.E.M. track, and the band having revisited it live around that time.
30	** "Permanent Vacation" was from their 1980 days and revisited live in the 2000s, and received its first commercial release when they recorded a Live In-Studio version for their iTunes Session. Peter did mention the group toyed with revisiting the song as a joke around the time of Aerosmith's 1987 album also titled ''Permanent Vacation'', though decided not to.
31	** "Mystery to Me", "Wait", "That Beat" and "Narrator" originated from the group's 1980 days too. "That Beat" was recorded for Reckoning though not used, "Mystery to Me" and "Wait" were recorded for "Lifes Rich Pageant" but not used, and "Narrator" was recorded with Warren Zevon as a Hindu Love Gods single.
32	** "Get on Their Way" was written near the end of 1980, but would not appear on an album until ''Lifes Rich Pageant'', under the title "What If We Give It Away?", in 1986. Apparently, the group were suggested to rerecord the song by both Don Gehman and an associate from their early days who liked it; the group felt the song was unmemorable and eventually wondered why they included it.
33	** "Pretty Persuasion" and "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" both originate from 1980 but would not appear on an album until 1984's ''Reckoning''.
34	** "Burning Down" was one of the group's earliest songs, performed for a while in 1980/1981, dropped, reworked into the similar "Ages Of You" (which itself was intended for but missed out on appearing on ''Chronic Town'' and ''Music/{{Murmur}}'') before both songs were reattempted in the "Reckoning" sessions, only for their release to be delayed until b-sides were needed for Fables era single "Wendell Gee" in 1985, for which the tracks had reverb added. They later appeared on ''Dead Letter Office''.
35	** The fan-titled "Ha (We Still Get Paid for It)", from 1980-1981, was never officially released. Parts of it were turned into "Burning Hell" and "Old Man Kensey" in 1984 (the former found on ''Dead Letter Office''; the latter on ''Fables''), and the other half formed the basis for ''Document'''s "Oddfellows Local 151" in 1987.
36	** "White Tornado" was recorded at the same time as "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" in 1981, and as a result appeared on the "Cassette Set" demo released that year, but the track did not see a commercial release till "Superman" single in 1986 (and didn't see a wider release until ''Dead Letter Office'' a year later). Unlike a lot of examples, it is the same 1981 recording. The group did later attempt a Live In-Studio version for ''Reckoning'', but decided they preferred the earlier one.
37	** The band's cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was recorded in studio 10 years after they had started performing it live, for the sole coincidence that it was the b-side of "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite".
38	** "Romance" was written and performed before ''Murmur'' and recorded for it, but it wouldn't see release until a rerecorded version (the group's first recording with producer Scott Litt, in fact) appeared on the ''Made in Heaven'' soundtrack in 1987.
39	** "Hyena" was the first song written after ''Reckoning''s release and was played on its tour well before any other songs were written. It was attempted for ''Fables'', but was discarded due to the band feeling they had played it too quickly. When they rerecorded it for ''Lifes Rich Pageant'', they decided their judgement was wrong and played it even faster.
40	** "When I Was Young" (aka "Throw Those Trolls Away") had been performed live on the band's 1984 tour for ''Reckoning'' and was recorded for ''Fables'', with the title even written on the inner sleeve. The band decided not to include it at the last minute. It was eventually reworked into "I Believe" for ''Lifes Rich Pageant''.
41	** "PSA", also known as "Bad Day", ''was'' recorded in 1986, but ended up not being released due to Michael Stipe feeling it was too personal. Parts of the song ended up being reworked and used in "It's TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (And I Feel Fine)". The band ended up re-recording it under the "Bad Day" title for the 2003 greatest hits album ''In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003''.
42	** "Nightswimming" was written by Mike Mills during the ''Out of Time'' sessions, though was not seriously considered for the album at the time.
43	** "Photograph" was written in the ''Automatic for the People'' sessions but not included on the album. It ended up being reworked into a duet with Natalie Merchant in 1993.
44	** "Low Desert" originated during the ''Monster'' sessions, under the name of "Swamp", but it wouldn't be released until the following album, ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi''.
45	** "Daysleeper" started out as a demo during the ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' sessions, but just barely missed being on the album. It eventually became the BlackSheepHit of the album ''Up'', in 1998.
46	** "Final Straw" and "Until the Day Is Done" both had their geneses during the ''Monster'' sessions. The former would eventually be released on the band's official website in 2003 (and on ''Around the Sun'' a year after that), while the latter would be released on ''Accelerate'' in 2008. The demos of both, named "Harlan County With Whistling" and "Black Sky" respectively, were eventually released on the Monster 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition in 2019.
47	** "Magnetic North" was recorded for ''Around the Sun'', but ultimately never finished. It appeared on the band's 2007 Christmas Fan Club single.
48	** The two-disc ''Live at the Olympia'' set, chronicling the band's 2007 "live rehearsals" in Dublin, saw the first official releases of "Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance" and "On the Fly", both of which were written for, but ultimately left off of, ''Accelerate''.
49	* ExecutiveMeddling: While the band are generally known for having been given a high degree of creative control throughout their careers, more so than most other artists, they've still been under the thumb of higher-ups a number of times over the years.
50	** Thwarted in one instance during the recording of ''Music/{{Murmur}}''. I.R.S., eager to give a few of the songs a more radio-friendly sound, asked the album's producers, Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, to remix "Radio Free Europe" and "Moral Kiosk" to give them more of a "discofied" tinge. When the band found out about this, they ordered Easter and Dixon to remix them ''again'' to remove the pop.
51	** Speaking of "Radio Free Europe", which was released as the lead single from ''Murmur'', it was only given a music video at the request of Creator/{{MTV}}. Further, the second single, "Talk About the Passion", was only released in Europe. (It ended up being released stateside in 1988 as the only single from ''Eponymous''; only then did it get a music video.)
52	** Averting this trope is said to have been the reason that recording for ''Reckoning'' was so relatively quick -- they wanted to have the album recorded and mastered before I.R.S. came to visit. Once the company did, the band just presented them the completed album, and according to Peter Buck, the company "really didn't have anything to say about it".
53	** ''Reckoning'' was intended to be titled ''File Under Water'', with both names being listed on the LP spine, but UK distributors insisted on using ''Reckoning'' as the album title.
54	** After Creator/IRSRecords switched distributors from Creator/AAndMRecords to Creator/{{MCA}} in 1985, the band were faced with increasing pressure to record hitmaking material; the fact that MCA were doing this yet didn't consider the band important enough to widely distribute outside the U.S. eastern seaboard led them to eventually jump ship to Creator/WarnerBrosRecords in 1988.
55	** While Warner promised R.E.M. total artistic freedom, they did manage to arm-twist the band into including "Bad Day" and "Animal" on the 2003 GreatestHitsAlbum ''In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003''. This ended up contributing to the burnout and lack of good material that plagued ''Around the Sun'' the following year.
56	** The prospect of more of this from Warner Bros. due to shake-ups at the label and declining sales as the band's contract came up for renewal apparently motivated R.E.M. to break up.
57	* FollowTheLeader: Though Music/TheB52s (and, to a lesser extent, Pylon) had already let the world know that Athens, Georgia existed, it was R.E.M.'s success that really put the sleepy little Southern town on the map, and inspired many would-be musicians to pack up and move to the city in the hopes of becoming famous and being on Creator/{{MTV}} "like R.E.M."
58	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remasters of ''Music/{{Murmur}}'' and ''Reckoning'' have never seen any re-releases since [=MoFi's=] initial limited-edition CD releases of those albums in 1995 and 1996, respectively. These remasters are somewhat divisive among fans because they both featured Mike Mills' bass-playing much higher in the mix than the original I.R.S. masters, but the fact that the band has gone on record stating that this alteration was closer to their original intentions for those albums has led to these specific versions becoming somewhat coveted.
59	* NoExportForYou:
60	** ''Chronic Town'' was not released in the UK at the time, despite getting a release in The Netherlands. Though some tracks were released as B-sides, the UK wouldn't get the whole EP until the CD release of ''Dead Letter Office'' in 1987.
61	** I.R.S. only released the 1991 ''Best of R.E.M.'' compilation album in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
62	** The 1992-1993 ''The I.R.S. Years'' reissues of the band's first five albums plus ''Dead Letter Office'' were also Europe-exclusive, to the ire of completionists given that the [=CDs=] in this set included previously-unreleased live recordings and alternate versions of songs as bonus tracks on each album.
63	* PromotedFanboy:
64	** They recorded ''Green'' at Ardent Studios in Memphis, the studios where their idols Music/BigStar recorded.
65	** They were also enormous fans of the Troggs, with "I Can't Control Myself" among the very first songs they performed as a band in 1980, and a cover of "Love Is All Around" with Mike Mills on lead vocals being a popular live staple in the early 1990s. Then in 1992, the group got the chance to actually work with them, on their comeback album ''Athens Andover''.
66	* RarelyPerformedSong:
67	** "Catapult" disappeared from the band's setlists after 1984 thanks to lingering bad memories of the trying task of recording it for ''Music/{{Murmur}}'' with producer Stephen Hague. Hague was an acidic perfectionist during the band's tryout sessions with him, and the Sisyphean process of recording the song deeply demoralized them before they eventually got fed up and convinced Creator/IRSRecords to replace him with prior collaborators Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. Even after they recorded a satisfactory version of "Catapult" with Easter and Dixon, R.E.M. couldn't perform it on-stage without thinking back to their turbulent first attempts with Hague.
68	** "Get on Their Way" was almost completely forgotten for about 5 years until the band was short of material for ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' and a friend of the band who remembered the song suggested they rerecord it. As it had also piqued the interest of the album's producer Don Gehman, the band decided to do so, with rewritten lyrics, under the new name "What If We Gave It Away?". It ended up on the album because it flowed well in the context, though it never made a return to their live setlists. Peter Buck has said that the band never thought it was anything special.
69	** Depending on the source, the band refused to perform [[Music/OutOfTime "Shiny Happy People"]] live due to either [[CreatorBacklash absolutely hating the song]] or because they found it too difficult to perform live. Furthermore, they also bounce between either hating the song or having a love-hate relationship with it.
70	* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
71	** "Gardening at Night" was inspired by a neighbor of the band who would do exactly that. In addition, whenever the band was on the road (which, in those early days, was constantly), they'd occasionally pull the bus over if one of them had to engage in a little "[[UnusualEuphemism night gardening]]". The song also inspired the name of their music publishing company, "Night Gardening Music".
72	** "Disappear" was inspired by Michael Stipe's use of the phrase "I'm not here, this isn't happening" as a SurvivalMantra to cope with tour-related stresses. The name and general theme of the song further came from Music/{{Radiohead}}'s [[Music/KidA "How to Disappear Completely"]] from the year before, which was based on Thom Yorke's use of the same mantra after Stipe suggested it to him to cope with the stress of touring for ''Music/OKComputer''; Stipe and Yorke had been already been personal friends for a good while up to that point. Upon remembering that the Radiohead song existed, Stipe called up Yorke to apologize for "stealing" the concept, to which Yorke retorted by saying that it was more Stipe's song than Radiohead's -- and that Yorke had also "stolen" a few things from Stipe for his own material, so they were now effectively even.
73	* TheRedStapler: The Revelaires' ''The Joy of Knowing Jesus'' became a coveted collector's item among AlternativeRock fans thanks to the release of "Voice of Harold", a B-side in which Michael Stipe sings the album's liner notes to the tune and backing track of "7 Chinese Bros." On [[https://www.discogs.com/release/5678147-The-Revelaires-The-Joy-Of-Knowing-Jesus Discogs]], copies of the album sell for at ''least'' a couple hundred dollars or so.
74	* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Longtime manager Jefferson Holt was dismissed in 1996 following a sexual harassment complaint by one of the band's supporting staff.
75	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: One of the reasons the band moved to Warner Bros. was that I.R.S. had poor distribution overseas. Specifically, Creator/{{MCA}}, who became I.R.S.'s main distributor in 1985 (taking over from Creator/AAndMRecords), had been pushing R.E.M. to record commercially viable material but at the same time didn't consider them a good enough priority for... well, much of anything, really, much less to give strong international distribution to. This was a problem that many other alternative bands faced on cash-strapped independent labels that didn't have the benefit of a major label distributor. Fellow alternative band Music/HuskerDu cited their own distribution problems with SST, also distributed by MCA at the time, for making their own move to Warner in 1986.
76	-->'''Peter Buck:''' [I remember] being told by MCA's head of promotion at the time of ''Lifes Rich Pageant'', "We're not going to promote this record, because there aren't any hit singles." I mean, he's sitting there ''telling'' me this.
77	* SimilarlyNamedWorks:
78	** The title of "Time After Time (Annelise)" is mostly similar to Music/CyndiLauper's unrelated song "Time After Time". Mike Mills has (facetiously) expressed disdain at this coincidence in interviews.
79	** "These Days" off of ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' shares a name with the B-side to Music/JoyDivision's [[Music/SubstanceJoyDivisionAlbum "Love Will Tear Us Apart"]].
80	** Music/DavidGray also has a song titled "The One I Love".
81	* ThrowItIn: Listen carefully to the end of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", and you might notice the song slows down near the end. It wasn't intentional; Mike Mills was taken ill from appendicitis and slowed down involuntarily, and the rest of the band slowed down to match his pace. They never re-recorded the song.
82	** Early live performances saw Michael Stipe changing up the lyrics on an almost-regular basis during certain songs, often using them to quote passages, give {{Shout Out}}s, and various other things. "Radio Free Europe" was a particular target of this, as was "Sitting Still", to the extent where Stipe simply strung together an incoherent series of vowels at first before roughly approximating WordSaladLyrics out of them when recording it in the studio.
83	* TropeMaker: The band was this for American AlternativeRock in the '80s with their jangle-pop sound and uncompromising anti-commercial stance; their 1981 debut single "Radio Free Europe" is even widely considered the de-facto starting point of alternative rock as an identifiable genre. According to [=AllMusic's=] biography, R.E.M. "marked the point when PostPunk became alternative rock."
84	* TroubledProduction: The "Losing My Religion" video was a frustrating experience for both the band and its director, Tarsem Singh. Since English was his second language, he didn't fully understand the concept of the lyrics, so he was mostly winging his ideas for the video. He staged for vocalist Michael Stipe to show various poses related to Indian religions, however it wasn't quite looking right. Singh also had a stomach bug and was rushing back and forth to the bathroom. That's when Stipe said "Just let me do my thing," which resulted in the random choreography of the video. Despite of it's lack of structure, it's a beloved video of its era and turned the song into R.E.M.'s biggest hit ever.
85	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
86	** "Cans of Piss," "Twisted Kites," and "Negro Eyes" were among the names the band considered for themselves before going with "R.E.M." The group had actually performed under the Twisted Kites name for their debut concert on April 5, 1980.
87	** R.E.M. were originally approached by Creator/RCARecords in 1981, and the band recorded [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHF-wXmzdN0 demos]] of "Laughing", "Romance", and "Shaking Through" for them, but they ultimately turned the offer down.
88	** ''Chronic Town'' was originally set to be the debut release on the up-and-coming indie label Dasht Hopes, which had been founded by Jefferson Holt's one-time business associate David Healey[[note]]the same David Healey who would be listed as "ex-producer" on the eventual ''Chronic Town'' sleeve notes[[/note]], but Creator/IRSRecords swooped in with a contract when company head Miles Copeland heard an R.E.M. demo tape given to him by his brother Ian, resulting in the ''Chronic Town'' EP being released through them instead.
89	** The original tracklist for ''Chronic Town'' had "Ages of You" in place of "Wolves, Lower", but producer Mitch Easter felt the former song wasn't right for the EP. A re-recorded version (for the ''Reckoning'' sessions, as described above) was eventually included as the B-side to two European releases of "Wendell Gee" (a double-7" in the UK and a 12" in the Netherlands) and on ''Dead Letter Office'' in all regions. "Wolves, Lower" was also originally recorded in a much faster style.
90	** When the band finished putting together ''Reckoning'', they included two names on the spine: ''Reckoning'' and ''File Under Water'', with the latter being intended for the album's official title. However, at the insistence of UK distributors, this position was shifted over to the ''Reckoning'' title, though Michael Stipe has gone on to claim that ''File Under Water'' is still the album's true name. ''Second Guess'' was also a working title for the album, as evidenced by an I.R.S. press release of the period.
91	** "Lifes Rich Pageant" was initially going to be a double album in the vein of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. The band only had about half an album's worth of new material ("Begin The Begin", "These Days", "Fall On Me", "Cuyahoga", "The Flowers Of Guatemala", "Swan Swan H" and "Bad Day"), which they supplemented with rerecordings of unreleased older material ("Hyena", "Theme From Two Steps Onward", "I Believe", "What If We Give It Away", "Just A Touch", "Mystery To Me", "Wait" and "All The Right Friends"), as well as a number of experimental recordings ("Underneath The Bunker", "Rotary Ten", "Out Of Tune", "March Song") and covers ("Superman" and "Tired Of Singing Trouble"). Due to IRS feeling that the band could make a commercial breakthrough with this album, it was whittled down to one disc, which contains examples of all these categories. The sole new song with vocals to be dropped was "Bad Day" due to Stipe feeling that the lyrics were too personal, and it was eventually reworked into "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" before the original song was rerecorded in 2003. "March Song" was also finished as "King Of Birds" for Document. Thanks to the band releasing the outtakes, it's possible to piece the original double album back together, although it isn't known exactly what the tracklisting would have been.
92	** The release of ''In Time'' delayed the band's work on ''Around the Sun'', and by the time they got round to recording it they were burned out, plus they had contributed two of the best tracks to the compilation. Had it not been for this, the album might have been better, though it's not as though the compilation was a waste of time.
93	** A line in "Welcome to the Occupation", off ''Document'', originally read "Hang your freedom fighters." Stipe had intended for it to have [[DoubleEntendre two meanings]]-- "hang" as in "lynch" and "hang" as in "frame on a wall like a picture"-- but Bill Berry requested it be changed due to the UnfortunateImplications it would've had (the line in the finished product reads "Hang your freedom ''higher''").
94	** Had the band not broken up, the three "new" songs on ''Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011'' -- "A Month of Saturdays", "We All Go Back to Where We Belong", and "Hallelujah" -- would instead have been released on a potential sixteenth studio album. Since ''Collapse into Now'' completed their second (and final) five-album contract with Warner Bros, the band considered releasing the hypothetical album completely independently, rather than renewing their contract a second time or signing onto a new label.
95	** When the band were signed to I.R.S. Records in 1982, the label paired them with producer Stephen Hague, who would later become known for producing arty British new wave bands like Music/NewOrder, Music/PetShopBoys and Music/{{Erasure}}. The band recorded just one song with him, "Catapult", as a demo for him recording their debut album. The band hated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUv4tn3zGj0 this version of the song]] and especially Hague's additions such as guitar reverb, vocal echo and synth hits on the pre-chorus. The label relented after hearing the band's complaints, and let Mitch Easter, who had produced their ''Chronic Town'' EP and first single, produce what became ''Murmur''.
96	** Universal Pictures wanted Creator/JimCarrey to appear in the band's video for "The Great Beyond" as Creator/AndyKaufman to better tie into [[Film/ManOnTheMoon the movie it was promoting]]. Carrey, who was so exhausted from [[MethodActing the out-of-body experience he went through to play Kaufman]], turned them down.
97	** Circa '94, the band was planning on collaborating with Kurt Cobain of Music/{{Nirvana}}. Then the latter committed suicide. Michael Stipe has said he wanted to collaborate to help save him from himself; the SurvivorsGuilt he felt in the wake of Cobain's death later became the basis for "Let Me In".
98	** The group was asked to contribute to the soundtrack of ''Film/BatmanReturns'' -- their submission, a very loose reinterpretation of the ''Series/Batman1966'' theme, was rejected. It ended up being released as a BSide under the name "Winged Mammal Theme", and would later appear as background music on the Weather Channel. R.E.M. did get another shot at having a song in a Batman movie -- ''Monster'' outtake "Revolution" ended up on the ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' soundtrack.
99	* WriteWhatYouKnow: Previous generations of Michael Stipe's family were Methodist ministers, and Stipe described himself as having come from "a place of faith." As such, several of R.E.M.'s songs [[AsTheGoodBookSays reference Christian scripture]].

Context Trivia / REM