So, on the old board, people listed their favorite R.E.M. songs. I saved that thread and even PMed some people who didn't vote. Over 60 people voted. For ties, I chose the songs that were higher up on the lists. I've added a few quotes from the band about certain songs.


125. Auctioneer (Another Engine) (Fables of the Reconstruction)
124. Belong (Out of Time)
123. I Don't Sleep, I Dream (Monster)
122. Sad Professor (Up)
121. Low (Out of Time)
120. Fretless (non-album track)
119. Low Desert (New Adventures in Hi-Fi)
118. The Wrong Child (Green)
117. Can't Get There From Here (Fables)
116. The Ascent of Man (Around the Sun)
115. Bang and Blame (Monster)
114. Kohoutek (Fables)
113. Airportman (Up)
112. Underneath the Bunker (Lifes Rich Pageant)
111. I Wanted to Be Wrong (Around the Sun)
110. Stumble (Chronic Town)
109. Lotus (Up)
108. Departure (New Adventures)
107. Ignoreland (Automatic for the People)
106. Hope (Up)
105. Near Wild Heaven (Out of Time)
104. Bang and Blame (Monster)
103. Texarkana (Out of Time)
102. I've Been High (Reveal)
101. Be Mine (New Adventures)
100. She Just Wants to Be (Reveal)
99. New Test Leper (New Adventures)
98. Suspicion (Up)
97. The Great Beyond (Man on the Moon soundtrack)
96. Animal (In Time)
95. Let Me In (Monster)

"It wasn't a surprise. As a friend, you wish there was something that you could have done. But everyone tried. It wasn't like this poor kid [Kurt Cobain] was abandoned. I know people that work at his record label, and I know his booking agents. There were four interventions in the last two weeks he was alive. Everything that could have been done was done. That was a thing that he planned, and it sucks and I wish that something could have been done. I think about it every day and it's really hard to deal with." Peter Buck '94

"I lost another friend [River Phoenix] last year. It was the most profound loss of my life, and I couldn't write the record [Monster] for months. I couldn't write songs because I didn't want to make Automatic for the People Part Two.... I didn't want to write about death. Then, in the middle of the record, Kurt died, and I fucking threw my hands up and said, 'I've got to get this out.' And 'Let Me In' came out of it, which was written to Kurt and for Kurt and about Kurt." Michael Stipe '94

94. Photograph (non-album track)
93. Burning Down (Dead Letter Office)
92. Bittersweet Me (New Adventures)
91. Disturbance at the Heron House (Document)
90. Star Me Kitten (Automatic)

"We played the notes on my sampled voice of faders as though they were an instrument. The vocals are very similar to the vocals to the 10cc song "I'm Not in Love," a brilliant piece of work. There's nothing wrong with a nod here and there to people who've done it before." Mike Mills

89. Hyena (Pageant)
88. Circus Envy (Monster)
87. Monty Got Raw Deal (Automatic)
86. Star 69 (Monster)
85. What if We Give It Away? (Pageant)
84. Little America (Reckoning)
83. Get Up (Green)
82. Second Guessing (Reckoning)
81. King of Comedy (Monster)
80. We Walk (Murmur)
79. Crush with Eyeliner (Monster)
78. Wendell Gee (Fables)
77. Laughing (Murmur)
76. Harborcoat (Reckoning)
75. I'll Take the Rain (Reveal)
74. Leaving New York (Around the Sun)
73. Walk Unafraid (Up)
72. Shaking Through (Murmur)
71. Me in Honey (Out of Time)
70. Pop Song '89 (Green)
69. 9-9 (Murmur)
68. Feeling Gravity's Pull (Fables)
67. I Took Your Name (Monster)
66. Crazy (Dead Letter Office)
65. The Wake-Up Bomb (New Adventures)
64. Untitled (Green)
63. Exhuming McCarthy (Document)
62. West of the Fields (Murmur)
61. Catapult (Murmur)
60. Half a World Away (Out of Time)
59. Moral Kiosk (Murmur)
58. E-Bow the Letter (New Adventures)

"I think this is one of the best songs I've ever written....I wanted this record to have heart. And that song maybe comes as close as anything on the record to being really real." Michael Stipe

57. 1,000,000 (Chronic Town)
56. Seven Chinese Brothers (Reckoning)
55. Welcome to the Occupation (Document)
54. Bandwagon (Dead Letter Office)
53. Sitting Still (Murmur)
52. Driver 8 (Fables)
51. Ages of You (Dead Letter Office)
50. Time After Time (Annelise) (Reckoning)
49. Life and How to Live it (Fables)
48. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight (Automatic)
47. Try Not to Breathe (Automatic)
46. Camera (Reckoning)
45. Daysleeper (Up)
44. Man on the Moon (Automatic)
43. How the West was Won and Where It Got Us (New Adventures)
42. The Flowers of Guatemala (Pageant)
41. So Fast, So Numb (New Adventures)
40. (Don't Go Back to) Rockville (Reckoning)
39. Swan Swan H (Pageant)
38. Finest Worksong (Document)
37. Begin the Begin (Pageant)
36. Pretty Persuasion (Reckoning)
35. Wolves, Lower (Chronic Town)
34. The One I Love (Document)
33. Gardening at Night (Chonic Town)

"There was an old guy in my neighborhood who would be gardening at two a.m. in his suit and tie. I'd see him when I was trying to get a beer at the Magic Mart or somewhere. It's basically a metaphor for the uselessness of everything." Peter Buck

32. Green Grow the Rushes (Fables)
31. Strange Currencies (Monster)
30. Imitation of Life (Reveal)
29. Maps and Legends (Fables)
28. Radio Free Europe (Murmur)
27. Superman (Pageant)
26. Sweetness Follows (Automatic)
25. At My Most Beautiful (Up)
24. Cuyohoga (Pageant)
23. King of Birds (Document)
22. These Days (Pageant)
21. Boxcars (Carnival of Sorts) (Chronic Town)
20. World Leader Pretend (Green)
19. I Believe (Pageant)
18. Orange Crush (Green)
17. Electrolite (New Adventures)
16. Everybody Hurts (Automatic)
15. Turn You Inside-Out (Green)
14. Talk About the Passion (Murmur)
13. Pilgrimage (Murmur)
12. You Are the Everything (Green)

"Peter came up with the mandolin line for that. I picked up the bass, and Mike picked up the accordian, and in about 20 minutes we had a song." Bill Berry

11. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? (Monster)

"There's a newscaster in America, Dan Rather. He's very stolid and sincere--really a straight guy--and he was beaten up one day. And he claimed that two men ran up to him and started pounding him mercilessly, and then they'd stop and go, 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' and then beat him some more. It didn't make any sense. It's like, what the fuck are you talking about? What exactly is going through your mind here?" Peter Buck

10. Drive (Automatic)
9. Fall on Me (Pageant)

"This may well be my favorite song in the R.E.M. catalogue." Michael Stipe

8. Nightswimming (Automatic)
7. So. Central Rain (Reckoning)
6. It's the of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine) (Document)
5. Leave (New Adventures)
4. Losing My Religion (Out of Time)
3. Perfect Circle (Murmur)

"I was standing in City Gardens in Trenton, New Jersey, at the back door and it was getting dark. These kids were playing touch football, the last game before dark came, and for some reason I was so moved I cried for 20 minutes.... I told Michael to try to capture that feeling [on "Perfect Circle"]. There's no football, no kids, no twilight. But it's all there." Peter Buck

2. Find the River (Automatic)
1. Country Feedback (Out of Time)

"We didn't have a song. I walked in, I had four chords. I put them down with Bill playing bass. I put the feedback on it. John Keane put the pedal steel on it. Michael walked in and said, 'Oh I've got words for that.' The next day he just sang it. The total recording time, not including the mix was, like, 35 minutes. It's really nice if you can get it to flow like that." Peter Buck

"CF" is a great number 1.

Country Feedback?

yeah, it's a good song, i'm just a little weirded out.

it's good to see "Perfect Circle" placing so high, but i'm a bit out of step with this list.

"Gardening at Night" will always be my #1 R.E.M. song

great list! i'd probably put superman a little lower.

can we assume that the "around the sun" tracks start at #126?

Sweet- love CF.

Wow, great to see this list! Thanks. A pretty impressive top 40. Not many other bands post punk could compete with that. I've been meaning to do a REM two CD set for my car. This will be very helpful.

"Country Feedback" shouldn't be too surprising; it's always high on R.E.M. fans' lists, and Stipe consistently calls it his own favorite. And anyone who's seen it played live -- especially on the Monster tour, when Peter unleashed some wicked solos -- would probably agree.

"Leaving New York" made the top 100.

"Country Feedback" has been a murmurs favorite for a hell of a long time. When R.E.M. toured in '03, they had fans choose favorite songs (the band would play one or two per night) and the easy winner was "Country Feedback."

wow great list.

glad to see nightswimming at eight (higher would have been cool, but CF is damn fine).

i was a huge r.e.m. fan in high school and i never liked country feedback. maybe it's time to revisit

It's one of my favorites too, but I didn't think it'd be number one.

The R.E.M. fans on this board and I have absolutely nothing in common

Country Feedback is probably my favorite REM song, so I'm fine with it being #1, but I can understand a lot of fans not liking that.


I think I've officially become and 80s REM fan, though. I've been listening to Murmur, Reckoning, and LRP tons lately, with the emphasis being on Murmur, and haven't touched the 90s in a while.

Around the Sun has some pretty good songs. Granted though, the cumultive effect of the album is rather soporific.

i concur. it's their own damn fault for raising the bar. (though they've done their best to lower it the past few times out).




how on earth did these guys ever fold?!?!?

hope you took notes, subpop.

Swan Swan H should be in the top 20

Most of the "votes" were from over a year ago. My list would look a lot different now.

"The Flowers of Guatemala" only #42?!?!?!

I'm going to go cry

Yeah, that's one of the ones I wish were higher. "E-Bow" is too low, too.

i agree. it was my #8

"Life's Rich Pageant" always gets the shaft in these polls. What a great album.

Still, a great list to reference for mix CDs.

wow, nice work. damn it reminds me of how good their catalogue is.

LMR is way too high, btw. who's fault is that, kids?

agreed. it's my #1 R.E.M. album, followed by Murmur. New Adventures sucks.

I disagree with Dr. Jimmy about New Adventures. It's not my favorite R.E.M. disc, but it's a good one, IMO.

Here are 126-150


150. Undertow (New Adventures)
149. All the Right Friends (In Time)
148. Oddfelows Local 151 (Document)
147. Pale Blue Eyes (Dead Letter Office)
146. Stand (Green)
145. Old Man Kensey (Fables)
144. The Outsiders (with Q-Tip) (Around the Sun)
143. Strange (Document)
142. Hairshirt (Green)
141. Electron Blue (Around the Sun)
140. You (Monster)
139. The Lifting (Reveal)
138. Bad Day (In Time)
137. Just a Touch (Pageant)
136. Dragging the Line (non-album track)
135. Letter Never Sent (Reckoning)
134. New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 (Automatic)
133. Radio Song (with KRS-1) (Out of Time)
132. Final Straw (Around the Sun)
131. Shiny Happy People (Out of Time)
130. Voice of Harold (Dead Letter Office)
129. All the Way to Reno (Reveal)
128. Windout (Dead Letter Office)
127. Endgame (Out of Time)
126. Good Advices (Fables)

"Strange Currencies" at 31 is way to low for my liking.

It's a song that really strikes you and can pretty much knock the wind out of you if you hear it at the right moment I've found out.

that's a good summation of my favorites. the only songs missing:

Letter Never Sent (Reckoning)
Good Advices (Fables)

EDIT: oh, i see there was a rest of the countdown...sorry.

"Letter Never Sent" is #135. "Good Advices" is #126.

Edit: No prob.

seconded.

I always preferred Texarkana myself. Wolves Lower a close second. I have a friend who thought Bill Berry was hot. Ewww.....

Yeah, I was driving the other day and had the ipod on random, and that came on. Before it, I was singing along and rocking out, so to speak, with whatever was coming on, but when "Strange Currencies" started up (a song which I do know all the words to), I just kind of shuttup and listened and was sort of winded after it. If it comes on at the right moment, it's a real powerful ditty.

Does anyone know if they will put out a box set soon? I hope so. I've just started buying the dvd/cd combos of their cd's.

I know they're putting out a B-side/rarity compilation this year. Other than that, no word on anything.

Eh, "Strange Currencies" has always seemed to me to be a weaker re-write of "Everybody Hurts."

"SC" is less suicidey.

Yes. The first four tracks off Lifes Rich Pageant are fucking great. "Swan Swan H," "I Believe," and "The Flowers of Guatemala" are too. Incredible album!