Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication released

Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers

Released: June 8, 1999 Peak: 3 US, 5 UK, 2 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 5.35 US, 0.9 UK, 15.5 world (includes US + UK) Genre: alternative rock/funk

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Around the World (8/23/99, 16 AR, 7 MR, 35 UK, 30 DF) Parallel Universe (12/1/99, 37 MR) Scar Tissue (5/25/99, 9 BB, 11 GR, 10 RR, 11 A40, 2 AA, 1 AR, 1 MR, 12 DF) Otherside (1/1/00, 14 BB, 23 GR, 25 RR, 11 A40, 12 AA, 2 AR, 1 MR, 33 UK, 18 DF) Get on Top Californication (6/17/00, 69 BB, 30 GR, 31 RR, 28 A40, 17 AA, 1 AR, 1 MR, 16 UK, 12 DF) Easily Porcelain Emit Remmus I Like Dirt This Velvet Glove Savior Purple Stain Right on Time (2/3/03, --) Road Trippin’ (12/11/00, 30 UK, 26 DF) Total Running Time: 56:24 The Players: Anthony Kiedes (vocals) Michael “Flea” Balzay (bass/trumpet/piano/backing vocals) Chad Smith (drums, percussion) John Frusciante (guitar/keyboards/backing vocals)

Rating: 3.981 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Many figured that the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ days as undisputed alternative kings were numbered after their lackluster 1995 release One Hot Minute, but like the great phoenix rising from the ashes, this legendary and influential outfit returned back to greatness with 1999’s Californication.” GP “An obvious reason for their rebirth is the reappearance of guitarist John Frusciante (replacing Dave Navarro), who left the Peppers in 1992 and disappeared into a haze of hard drugs before cleaning up and returning to the fold in 1998. Frusciante was a main reason for such past band classics as 1989’s Mother's Milk and 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and proves once and for all to be the quintessential RHCP guitarist. Anthony Kiedis’ vocals have improved dramatically as well, while the rhythm section of bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith remains one of rock’s best.” GP “The quartet’s trademark punk-funk can be sampled on such tracks as Around the World, I Like Dirt, and Parallel Universe, but the more pop-oriented material proves to be a pleasant surprise — Scar Tissue, Otherside, Easily, and Purple Stain all contain strong melodies and instantly memorable choruses. And like their 1992 introspective hit ‘Under the Bridge,’ there are even a few mellow moments – Porcelain, Road Trippin’, and the title track. With the instrumentalists’ interplay at an all-time telepathic high and Kiedis peaking as a vocalist, Californication is a bona fide Chili Peppers classic.” GP

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Red Hot Chili Peppers GP Greg Prato, All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/5/2011; last updated 11/16/2023.

Live Throwing Copper hit #1

Throwing Copper Live

Released: April 19, 1994 Peak: 14 US, 37 UK, 15 CN, 17 AU, 13 DF Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 0.1 UK, 12.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. The Dam at Otter Creek (19 DF) Selling the Drama (2/94, 43 BB, 42 BA, 34 CB, 29 GR, 30 RR, 4 AR, 1 MR, 30 UK, 41 CN, 49 AU, 6 DF) I Alone (8/22/94, 38 BA, 59 CB, 6 AR, 6 MR, 48 UK, 97 AU, 13 DF) Iris Lightning Crashes (9/24/94, 12 BA, 8 GR, 7 RR, 1 AR, 1 MR, 33 UK, 3 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF) Top (34 DF) All Over You (5/6/95, 33 BA, 2 AR, 4 MR, 48 UK, 18 CN, 52 AU, 27 DF) Shit Towne (19 DF) T.B.D. Stage Waitress (11 DF) Pillar of Davidson White, Discussion (7/29/95, 71 BA, 12 AR, 15 MR, 11 DF) Horse (“aka I Don’t Care”) [unlisted track] (4 DF) Total Running Time: 59:32 The Players: Ed Kowalczyk (vocals, rhythm guitar) Chad Taylor (guitar, backing vocals) Patric Dalheimer (bass) Chad Gracey (drums, backing vocals)

Rating: 4.299 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album When it comes to rock in the 1990s, the brunt of the attention is focused on grunge but it was an active decade for plenty of bands that straddled the line between alternative and mainstream rock. Live was one of those bands. They formed in 1984 in York, Pennsylvania and first released The Death of a Dictionary in 1989 under the name Public Affection. In 1991, at the height of grunge, the band released their sophomore effort and major label debut, Mental Jewelry. The album garnered some attention with the top-ten alternative rock hit “Operation Spirit” but it was barely a hint of what the band would become. On their sophomore outing, Throwing Copper, Live “eased up a bit on the Eastern philosophy,” AM “tightened their sound, added crashing crescendos for dramatic effect, and injected some anger into their sound and songwriting.” AM “Ed Kowalczyk knows a thing or two about transmitting personal anguish through song. Even though the Live frontman is often derided as a budget-bin Michael Stipe, there is no denying his cathartic influence on this Pennsylvania foursome’s musical direction.” AZ This proves to be “the best showcase for Kowalczyk’s fierce vocal prowess,” AZ making for “an album of unparalleled intensity by a singer and group of rare passion.” AZ The result is “quite an improvement from the sometimes overly precious Mental Jewelry.” AM Throwing Copper “is a more cohesive, memorable record overall” AM and “ultimately a more passionate and successful album.” AM In fact, the album met with surpisingly strong commercial success. With their debut, Live was just another face in the crowd of alternative rock bands. With Copper, they jump to the head of the pack on the strength of massive airplay for songs like “the violent Selling the Drama” AZ, I Alone, and All Over You. The album’s biggest hit, though, was “the rebirth-themed Lightning Crashes,” AM a “moving” AZ tribute “written in memory of Barbara Lewis, a classmate who was killed by a drunk driver in 1993.” AM The song helped send the band into the stratosphere. The album would reach #1 over a year after its release and go on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide. Four songs from the album reached the top-ten on the alternative and mainstream rock charts. “Other standouts include the Kurt Cobain/ Courtney Love-inspired Stage, the apocalyptic White, Discussion, the bass-driven, obsessive Iris, and the dark Dam at Otter Creek. Of course, Ed Kowalczyk couldn’t resist throwing in a song like T.B.D. (for the Tibetan Book of the Dead), based on Aldous Huxley’s slow descent into death, aided by heroin. Its melodrama is a bit much, even for Live, and is just a sign of things to come on their next album, Secret Samadhi. But Throwing Copper is still a huge improvement from Mental Jewelry, and is the least overtly preachy Live album to date.” AM The album was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and was recorded at Pachyderm Recording Studio. The cover art is a painting by Scottish artist Peter Howson titled “Sisters of Mercy.” WK Notes: A special edition of the album included a bonus live disc, including “Operation Spirit,” “Good Spirit,” “Heaven Wore a Shirt,” and “Negation.”

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Gina Boldman AZ Amazon.com review by Aidin Vaziri WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 7/16/2010; last updated 11/27/2024.

Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Sarah McLachlan

Released: October 22, 1993 Peak: 50 US, -- UK, 5 CN, 102 AU, 5 DF Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, -- UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Possession (9/10/93, 73 BB, 19 A40, 19 AA, 16 MR, 26 CN, 8 DF) Wait Plenty (26 DF) Good Enough (7/19/94, 77 BB, 16 MR, 9 CN, 4 DF) Mary (7 DF) Elsewhere (29 DF) Circle Ice Hold On (3/1/94, 29 MR, 59 CN, 14 DF) Ice Cream (10/16/99, 12 A40, 9 CN, 2 DF) Fear Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (58 CN, 8 DF) Possession [unlisted alternate version] (10 DF) Total Running Time: 57:50

Rating: 4.151 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Sarah McLachlan Sarah McLachlan was born in 1968 in Nova Scotia, Canada. She started music at an early age, playing the ukulele when she was four and later studying classical guitar, classical piano, and voice at the Maritime Conservatory of Music. She fronted the band October Game while still in high school. After their first concert McLachlan was offeed a recording contract with Nettwerk, a Vancouver-based independent record label. WK She wouldn’t sign with them until two years later after finishing high school and a year of school at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design at the insistence of her parents. WK She released her first album, Touch, in 1988. It peaked at #132 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went gold. Her follow-up album, 1991’s Solace, would also achieve gold status in the United States and again dent the lower regions of the Billboard album chart (#167). Three singles charted in her native Canada where the album reached #20 and sold 200,000 copies. American Success Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, her third album, was “a slow-burning success story.” SL It saw McLachlan reach the Billboard Hot 100 in America for the first time. While the album only peaked at #50, it would go on to sell three million copies. About the Album It is “a softly assured album that combined the atmospheric production of Pierre Marchand (a former apprentice – and evident disciple – of Daniel Lanois) with some of McLachlan’s strongest songwriting to date.” AM “Tales of sin, lust, and love are delivered alongside piano arpeggios and electronic flourishes.” AM “At the center of everything was her voice, an ethereal, lilting soprano that helped pave the way for Paula Cole, Lillith Fair, and a decade’s worth of successful female songwriters. McLachlan utilized the crack between her chest and head voice, emphasizing the changing tones as her melodies climbed into the vocal stratosphere.” AM “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy takes most of its strength from the lush, rhythmic dreamscapes that dominate the album.” AM It is “alternately dark and shimmering, intimate and ornate, soothing and slyly unsettling.” AM “McLachlan’s work was rarely as raw or honest as it is on this record.” AM The Songs Here are insights into some of the individual tracks. “Possession” Possession, the album’s lead-off single, “is a jarring love ballad with lyrics inspired by a stalker’s correspondence.” AM It “is an intensely dark account of a man (or woman) who becomes obsessed with a pop singer and ultimately finds satiation in dreams.” SL “There’s a double-edged quality to the song’s eerie lines – ‘I’ll take your breath away,’ ‘I won’t be denied,’ ‘Just close your eyes, dear’ – and Marchand underscores that tension by setting McLachlan’s melodies to a nocturnal trip-hop beat.” AM The song “took its time fluttering around the bottom regions of the pop charts, but it’s ultimately become one of the artist’s signature songs.” SL “Good Enough” Good Enough, the second single, gave McLachlan her first top-ten hit in Canada. Like “Possession” it would also crack the Billboard Hot 100’s lower regions and reach the modern rock chart. “Allusions to forbidden love, temptation, and shame are littered throughout tracks like ‘Good Enough’ and the propulsive Wait.” SL “Ice Cream” Ice Cream would also reach the Canadian top-ten, although it wasn’t until it was released as a live version in 1999. The song “likens love’s sweetness to decadent deserts.” AM “Hold On” Hold On was a minor hit for McLachlan, reaching the Canadian pop chart and the American modern rock chart. It “was inspired by the AIDS documentary A Promise Kept, and serves as a woman’s impassioned plea for God to keep her dying lover safe both in life and death. “ SL “Ice” “The foreboding Ice finds McLachlan imploring, ‘You enter into me a lie upon your lips / Offer what you can, I’ll take all that I can get.’ The track begins with an anxious acoustic guitar riff, a serpentine saxophone winding its way in between the beats of a pulsing drum machine and menacing kick-drum.” SL “Elsewhere” and “Plenty” “Longtime producer Pierre Marchand expertly stacks McLachlan’s vocal harmonies one on top of the other, as on the exquisite Elsewhere, in which the brittle percussion chips away at the ‘heaven’ she claims to have found and on the stunning Plenty, where Marchand’s ‘found sounds’ mingle with McLachlan’s hesitant vocal overdubs.” SL “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy” So much of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is about restraint, so that by the time she (and we) reach the album’s title track she truly is on her way toward ecstasy. The trouble with the album’s title, however, is that she never fumbles. Not even once.” SL

Review Sources: AM AllMusic.com review by Andrew Leahey SL Slant Magazine (6/30/2003). “Vital Pop: 50 Essential Pop Albums” by Slant staff WK Wikipedia page on Sarah McLachlan Related DMDB Links: First posted 11/14/2008; last updated 12/10/2024.

R.E.M. Out of Time released

Out of Time R.E.M.

Released: March 12, 1991 Peak: 12 US, 11 UK, 19 CN, 4 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 1.79 UK, 18.0 world (includes US + UK), 24.01 EAS Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Radio Song (with KRS-One) [4:15] Losing My Religion [4:28] Low [4:55] Near Wild Heaven [3:17] Endgame (instrumental) [3:48] Shiny Happy People (with Kate Pierson) [3:44] Belong [4:03] Half a World Away [3:26] Texarkana [3:36] Country Feedback [4:07] Me in Honey [4:06] Total Running Time: 44:08 The Players: Bill Berry (drums, percussion, etc.) Peter Buck (guitar, mandolin, etc.) Mike Mills (bass, piano, keyboards, etc.) Michael Stipe (vocals)

Rating: 4.133 out of 5.00 (average of 30 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album “Though R.E.M. titled a later album Monster, this 1991 smash was the true monster, with the little Athens, Georgia, quartet graduating once and for all from its jangling independent-rock roots.” AZ “The supporting tour for Green exhausted R.E.M., and they spent nearly a year recuperating before reconvening for Out of Time. Where previous R.E.M. records captured a stripped-down, live sound, Out of Time was lush with sonic detail, featuring string sections, keyboards, [and] mandolins.” AM “The scope of R.E.M.’s ambitions is impressive, and the record sounds impeccable, its sunny array of pop and folk songs as refreshing as Michael Stipe’s decision to abandon explicitly political lyrics for the personal.” AM “Peter Buck put down his Rickenbacker and picked up a mandolin, while Mark Bingham’s sugar-free string arrangements and Kate Pierson’s guest vocals added the kind of ethereal beauty rarely heard on a rock record.” TL “Rather than treat the most overdone of emotions directly, Michael Stipe took an oblique approach, writing impressionistic lyrics about the way love manifests itself in loneliness (Belong), regret” TL – on “the haunting Country Feedback” AM – and, most famously, obsession” TL on “the masterpiece Losing My Religion.” AM There’s also the “dark-and-dreamy Low” AZ and “Mike Mills’ Byrds-y Near Wild Heaven” AM. “There are also odd but successful experiments, like ceding the opening Radio Song to rapper KRS-One (with Stipe playing the moaning straight man) and going peppy for the surprisingly nonsarcastic Shiny Happy People.” AZ “The album is more notable for its production than its songwriting,” AM but should also be noted for its timing. It “hit the mainstream-rock audience when it was most primed for uneasy angst. (Nirvana’s Nevermind was released a few months later).” AZ The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Radio Song R.E.M. with KRS-One

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 11/4/1991 (single), Out of Time (1991) Peak: 43 AR, 28 UK, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 17.94 streaming About the Song “R.E.M. fans were likely thrown for a loop on their first listen to Out of Time. The first sounds on the album weren’t a Berry drum beat, a Buck guitar riff, Mills’ melodic bass, or even Stipe’s vocals, but the voice of rapper KRS-One from the hip-hop act Boogie Down Productions.” CR-107 Stipe was a fan of “KRS-One’s social consciousness and…using entertainment…to educate listeners.” CR-107 Stipe said, “It made sense since we both had similar gripes about radio and formatting. He fit right into the track.” CR-107 Berry said, “The song kind of sucked before we put that stuff on it…It had a good groove but it just wasn’t that exciting. When Michael sent the tape to KRS-One, all he asked him to do was the ‘hey hey hey’ parts but he came up with this whole rap that was exactly what the song was about.” CR-107 Beyond KRS-One’s contribution, “Mills’ Hammond organ sounds as if it would be at home on a Stax record, Buck opts for funky-but-chic guitar riffs, and Berry’s syncopated drumming swings. On top of it all, Stipe’s vocals are alternately heartfelt and humorous.”

Losing My Religion R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 2/19/1991 (single), Out of Time (1991), In Time: The Best of (compilation: 1988-2003, released 2003), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) Peak: 4 BB, 6 CB, 3 GR, 4 RR, 28 AC, 1 AR, 1 MR, 19 UK, 6 CN, 11 AU, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.50 US, 0.60 UK, 2.10 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 1312.35 video, 2162.61 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “With a jangly-guitar sound that was equal parts rock and folk, cryptic yet compelling lyrics, and the quirky charisma of lead singer Michael Stipe, R.E.M. steadily built a cult following until their 1987 breakthrough” SS with top-10 hit “The One I Love.” However, the song that became the band’s biggest hit happened four years later. “Alternative rock as a genre remained on the fringes throughout” MM the 1980s but “Losing My Religion” was a turning point in that it “primed the market for grunge’s breakout…and created a model for…independent rock bands that strive to succeed without selling out.” MM It was a “morose ballad dominated by a mandolin,” TB not exactly the record label’s choice for a lead single. MM The instrument’s “very distinctive sound and emotional quality grabs listeners immediately.” SS Peter Buck, the band’s guitarist, started playing around with the instrument afer 1987’s Document and used it to write two songs for the 1988 Green album. He came up with some other chords that he hung onto until the band went into the studio to record Out of Time. That was the basis of “Losing My Religion.” MM On top of that, “Stipe’s beautiful, yearning voice sings about indecision and regret and fear in an abstract lyric.” TC Stipe said, “I wanted to write an unrequited love song, like the Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take.’…I wanted it to be unclear whether the relationship in the song was real or a figment of the protagonist’s imagination. I created a character so shy and insecure that he questions every one of his moves and choices.” MM The phrase “losing my religion” is used in the South that refers to losing one’s temper or being at the end of one’s rope. The Times, a UK publication, called it “the first existential pop song ever to make the American Top 10.” HL Warner Bros., R.E.M.’s record label, was not sold on releasing such an “unconventional track” as the first single WK in support of the group’s 1991 album, Out of Time. Stipe himself said, “There’s no chorus, there’s no guitar, it’s five minutes long, it’s a fucking mandolin song. What kind of pop song is that?” TC However, the company got the song established via a “critically-acclaimed music video,” WK and airplay on modern rock and album rock radio stations before promoting it to mainstream radio. One Top 40 radio station director said, “the record crosses the boundaries of being just an alternative record.” WK

Low R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) Peak: 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 8.16 streaming About the Song “With Mills’ funeral parlor-organ serving as the musical backbone,” CR-111 this is “one of the darker songs on Out of Time.” CR-111 This was Stipe’s reflection on love songs. He said, “”Get them out of my face, they’re all horrible and manipulative.” CR-111 “Despite the somber mood of the song, Stipe has said it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. ‘It’s just a song…It was written on the road and I put together a bunch of nonsense phrases. I never meditated on it…I wrote it in a feverish moment somewhere touring around the world. I think it’s funny actually.’” CR-111 This was one of the first songs R.E.M. completed for the album. In fact, they’d played it during their tour in support of 1988’s Green album and submitted for the soundtrack of Wim Wenders’ Until the End of the World, but their song “Fretless” was chosen instead.” CR-111

Near Wild Heaven R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 8/5/1991 (single), Out of Time (1991) Peak: 27 UK, 65 AU, 35 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 22.63 streaming About the Song “This Beach Boys-influenced pop delight brings Out of Time up with its optimism.” CR-111 Guitarist Peter Buck said, “When we were making that record Capitol came out with those Beach Boy two-fer records…I was listening the one with Smiley Smile and Wild Honey a whole lot…I think I even suggested the high harmony part, just so it would sound kind of like the Beach Boys.” CR-112 Stipe, however, has said he isn’t a fan of the group. “I don’t get it…I think Brian Wilson was amazing…but I never dug the Beach Boys.” CR-112 “Near Wild Heaven” is one of two tracks on the album featuring Mike Mills on lead vocals. Buck said, “It’s kind of a duet with Michael…and they wrote the lyrics together.’” CR-112 “The song’s title brings to mind an early critical rave. ‘When I get to heaven, the angels will be playing not harps but Rickenbackers. And they will be playing songs by R.E.M.,’ read a review of Reckoning in New Musical Express.” CR-111

Endgame R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.23 streaming About the Song “As the title suggests, the song was conceived as an end theme for a film that doesn’t exist.” CR-112 “Endgame sounds like some lost Brian Wilson orchestral piece.” CR-112 Peter Buck said he read that George Melly “was saying that most rock musicians don’t have any idea what classical music is – they’re all upwardly mobile lower middle class kids who think that if they rip off a little bit of the ‘1812 Overture’ everyone’ll think they’re really high brow.” CR-113 Although the song doesn’t have any words, Stipe does add some ‘la la las’ to the majestic instrumental track.” CR-112 Stipe said, “What I basically did was take my vocal line and replace it, except for the final verse, with instruments that I thought sounded like my voice.” CR-112

Shiny Happy People R.E.M. with Kate Pierson

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 5/7/1991 (single), Out of Time (1991), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) Peak: 10 BB, 8 CB, 4 GR, 10 RR, 48 AC, 8 AR, 3 MR, 6 UK, 5 CN, 19 AU, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 36.0 video, 461.88 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “If ‘Stand’ was ‘just a dumb pop song, Shiny Happy People may be R.E.M.’s dumbest.” CR-113 Stipe said it was the happiest song he ever wrote. CR-113 Buck said, “The song is so relentlessly upbeat you want to throw up.” CR-113 although he also said “I’m not afraid to do foolish things.” CR-113 He explained how it came about, saying, “We wrote this kind of silly song in three-quarter time and Michael gave us this sort of silly lyric…We recorded it in one take.” CR-113 The song is significant as R.E.M.’s first collaboration with fellow Athens musician Kate Pierson of the B-52’s. Mills and Stipe have said it was her participation that made the song special. Stipe said, “She’s probably my favorite female singer.” CR-113

Belong R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) Peak: 36 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.54 streaming About the Song “Although the mood is slightly darker, Belong owes more than a little to the obscure ‘Voice of Harold’ [featured on Dead Letter Office], Stipe’s alternate take of ‘7 Chinese Bros.’ in which he substituted that song’s lyrics with the liner notes from a gospel album. On ‘Belong,’ R.E.M. opts for Stipe’s spoken-word vocals, which were employed on a good portion of ‘Voice of Harold’ and would later resurface on New Adventures in Hi-Fi’s ‘E-Bow the Letter.’” CR-114 While “Voice of Harold” “was a goof, ‘Belong is quite serious.” CR-114 “In the song’s lyrics, Stipe mentions that a woman takes her child and opens a window. What happens next is unclear.” CR-114 Stipe has said, “There was no violent act contained within the song…[but] when I first wrote the song, it did seem like the woman hurled her child and herself out of the window, but that’s not what occurs.” CR-115

Half a World Away R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) Peak: 38 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 21.28 streaming About the Song Half a World Away is “a truly beautiful song and points to the more somber direction R.E.M. would explore on Automatic for the People.” CR-115 While lyrically this “melancholy song about longing for a loved one” CR-115 appears to tell a “seemingly heartfelt story” CR-115 Stipe has said, “It’s a totally fabricated experience. It’s drawn from things that I know or saw on TV or that people told me.” CR-115 Musically, it “was inspired by Buck’s experiences while moonlighting with other musicians.” CR-115 He said, “I was hanging out with a bunch of folk musician guys and playing on front porches.” CR-115CR-115 “Apart from R.E.M.’s traditional instrumentation” CR-115 and “the mournful hum of organ, acoustic guitar, and mandolin,” CR-115 we also get Mike Mills playing the harpsichord which “gives the track a nice baroque touch. A Bingham string arrangement is also used.” CR-115

Texarkana R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) First Charted: 5/18/1991 Peak: 7 AR, 4 MR, 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 8.10 streaming About the Song As on “Near Wild Heaven,” Mike Mills steps up as the lead singer. He said, “It makes it add so much texture and depth to any band that has more than one person that can sing.” CR-116 However, he also said, “It’s a lot of fun to do, but I wouldn’t want to have to do it all the time.” CR-116 Peter Buck explained that Michael Stipe had started lyrics for a song called Texarkana but didn’t finish it so Mills stepped in. He said the new lyrics had nothing to do with Texarkana but they kept the old name. CR-116

Country Feedback R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 10.18 streaming About the Song Surprise, surprise – this is “a country song with feedback.” CR-116 Peter Buck said, “I had four chords and put them down with Bill playing bass…I put the feedback on it, Michael walked in and said, ‘Oh, I’ve got words for that.’” CR-116 As for those words, Stipe used what he called the “’projectile vomiting’ approach, scribbling down the song’s lyrics in a stream-of-consciousness manner.” CR-116

Me in Honey R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Out of Time (1991) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.03 streaming About the Song “With its genesis in a one-chord riff, Me in Honey is perhaps the simplest song on Out of Time.” CR-117 Stipe was inspired by “Eat for Two,” a song written by his friend Natalie Merchant with 10,000 Maniacs. He said, “It’s a male perspective on pregnancy, which I don’t think has really been dealt with.” CR-117 As on “Shiny Happy People,” the B-52’s Kate Pierson shows up for a guest vocal.

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon.com essential recording, review by Steve Knopper TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Page 143. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Page 118. MM Marc Myers (2016). Anatomy of a Song. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 317-23. RS500 RollingStone.com (4/7/2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” CR Craig Rosen (1997). Inside Out. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 146-7. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 31. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 249. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light WK Wikipedia page for “Losing My Religion” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 7/31/2011; last updated 10/6/2026.