U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME? - Document

Episode Date: March 28, 2018

Adam Scott Aukerman welcome everyone back as they discuss R.E.M.’s fifth studio album, Document. They’ll talk about eyes, what R.E.M. stands for, and Adam’s old tie-dye business at 15 years old before diving into the 1987 album. Plus, they chat about Adam’s alternate universe life in another episode of “Talkin’ Bout Other Timelines.” This episode is brought to you by Spotify and Squarespace.

Hey, everyone. Before we get to are you talking REM, Remy, I want to tell you that if you're a podcast fan, Spotify is making it easy for you to stream this podcast and many others like it, although there are no other podcasts like this one, if we're being honest, on your mobile device, desktop app and smart speaker. Just open the app on your mobile device or desktop, click on the Browse channel, and then click on the Podcast section. You'll be able to stay thoroughly entertained during your commute to work, your drive home, and downtime now, thanks to Spotify. from chronic to collapse

town and into now respectively that is this is are you talking rem me me the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things R.E.M., this is Good Rock and Roll Up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,, plang, ploom. Beavis? Cool. Have you ever heard me do my Beavis and Butthead? It is. Cornholio.

Wow, you're actually quite good. That was you doing it. Welcome to the show. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And now I want to, now that I've welcomed my co-host to the show, I want to welcome the audience to the show. Ah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And now I want to, now that I've welcomed my co-host to the show, I want to welcome the audience to the show. Welcome to the show. This is Are You Talking R.E.M. Remy.

We're going to be talking about the musical combination R.E.M. today. The musical combination. Specifically, the album What's Up, Doc, You Meant. Oh, man. Wow. Whoa. Yep.

Yep. Going to be talking about every song, every B-side. Yeah. Not every B-side. All of them. Taking the live ones out. But my name, by the way, is Scott of the... Thank you very much for putting that down.

We didn't have eye contact. Eyes. Yes, eyes. Oh, eyes. Oh, eyes is the name of this chapter of my life. Oh, eyes. Oh, eyes. Old idiots.

Let's talk about eyes. Let's talk about them right now. Eyes. Mm-hmm. Most people? Two of them. Two eyes. Old idiots. Let's talk about eyes. Let's talk about them right now. Eyes. Mm-hmm. Most people? Two of them. Two eyes. Some people, one.

Some people, none. Some people, none. Those are the real unfortunate souls out there. The real, real unlucky fuckers. Although, I bet- I would bet that we have a higher no-eyed percentage of listeners than the percentage of no-eyed people in the world because podcasts are an oral medium. Well, listen, I'd like to backtrack and say the no-eyed contingent are people who are unlucky fuckers. They're unlucky fuckers, but they are unlucky fuckers, you know? They are or who are unlucky fuckers. They're unlucky fuckers, but they're are unlucky fuckers, you know?

They are or they're are? They're are unlucky fuckers is what I'm trying to say. And they are them. If you don't got two eyes or even one eye, get the fuck out. We don't want your listenership. Okay. I think this might be a part of the show we end up cutting out. No.

No. Absolutely not. By the way, from now on up cutting out. No! No, absolutely not. By the way, from now on, new rules. Yeah. Bill Maher, new rules. No more cutting things out of the show. No more cutting things out of the show. No more cutting things out. Man, you should see what's lying here on the cutting room floor.

A lot of tasty bits we're no longer doing. Anytime you say to me, hey, can we cut that part out about? No! Fuck you! It's a no. Hey! If you don't mean it, don't say it. Hey, listen, is this an episode of Talking About Eyes?

I believe it might be. Hey, welcome to Talking About Eyes. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And we're talking about eyes. Eyes. Eyeballs, eye holes, irises. We were talking about people with no eyes, people with one eye. Most people have two.

How about this, Scott? What about the people with three? It's very rare. Three eyes. Very rare, but you see it out there. It's probably been two weeks since I've seen one. I mean, that's how rare it is. But you're just walking down the street just the other day.

Right. And just you'll look at someone and someone will like pull up their cap, Twilight Zone style. Right. Like that guy at the diner and there's the third eye and you're like. So is it always on the forehead when you see people with three eyes? Usually it's on the forehead, but it can bounce around, you know. Like what are some other places where there might be a third eye?

You know, there's sometimes on the shoulder, sometimes in the small of the back. And then occasionally just right there on the butthole. It's just a third eye surprise. And that's been Talking About Eyes. Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. That's a pretty good episode of that show.

I mean, it's not a good show. No, no, no. But a good episode of a bad show. As far as that show goes, good episode. Talk about eyes. Terrible, terrible, terrible show. You know what's interesting is that is the first episode ever of Talking About Eyes and the last. I always brace myself when you say, you know what's interesting. Yeah, because you know. The percentages are very, very sketchy. I think it's zero percent. You told me a story right before we came on air. And you basically said you saw someone. I'm not going to say who. You said

you saw a famous person. And then you said, this is interesting. And then you told me the story. And you basically just said you saw someone. Wait. We did this today? Yes, just right before we pressed record on this thing. You gave me more detail, which was I went to this thing, and then I saw someone.

I was like, you just basically retold me the headline. I don't remember. All right, we'll talk about it later. But we're not going to cut this. We're not cutting this. Fine. By the way, my co-host today for today's episode is a little man named, of course, the star of Big Little Lies 2, Ain't Gonna Stop Lying Ever. That's right.

The lies are coming. A little, a little, man. Lies are ain't going to stop lying ever. That's right. The lies are coming. A little. A little, man. Lies are coming on strong. They're fast and furious this time. Is this in the Fast and Furious universe, by the way? Yeah. The Big Little Lies?

Yeah. Is like Toretto going to come in at some point? Yeah. Wilson and Jones are going to come in and rock the house. How do you know Wilson and Jones? I don't know. I don't know who that is. I barely know Toretto. But I know

the Fast and Furious universe quite well. The funiverse. Because this, are you talking R.E.M. Remy is in the same podcast universe

as as Paul and June's show about movies. How did this get made? Yes, which is our sister show on the very same network.

Exactly. It's in the same universe. Same podcast universe. Why? Have you covered about how did this get made yes which is our sister show on the very same network exactly it's in the same universe same podcast universe why have you covered uh that that uh movie on that show i go and do i it's always nice to meet a fan i do every time there's a fast and furious movie out i go and do uh how did this get made with oh really that must be fun for you it's it's great it's interesting that you is the first you're hearing of it. You know what? I'm a big fan, obviously, of your work, but I can't keep up with it all. You have a lot of projects going on.

That's right. You're not one of these actors who's out there and is like, you know what? I'm going to do a season of Big Little Lies once every two years, and then I'm just going to blow myself at home. Then I'm just going to fart. What's on the schedule today? Scott is my co-host today. Hi. There he is.

Hi. There he is. There he is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And a very, very exciting episode of the show today. Oh, man. Coming up, we're talking, of course, exclusively about the band Hariem and... Hariem.

Did we ever find out what that stands for? Hariem? Hariem. Well, real exciting men. Commonly rapid eye movement. Really exciting men. That's what I...

Commonly really exciting men. That's what... They've never said what it actually is. They've said, well, the common... I was reading a quote, by the way. You sent me a book the other day. I was reading a quote from them in the book.

Nope. I'm not going to thank you because you basically assigned me homework. But did you thank your teachers when your teachers assigned you homework? Every single day. Thank you, Mrs. McGillicuddy. McGillicuddy was my favorite teacher. I love your homework and I love you. I love you.

She would give me an F plus. Just passing. But there's a big quote in the book where they first come up with their name and Peter Dollar Bill is quoted as saying, look, everyone knew that REM stood for rapid eye movement, but we thought that people would just get it, that it stood for the really exciting men. Right. Exactly. From day one.

That's what day one. And they, on the early posters we would write under the big block letters, REM, we would write little tiny, really exciting men. Really exciting men. And it just never caught on. What was the first name that they played under for their very first gig? It wasn't? R-E-M, really exciting men.

I'll tell you that much. See, now you're like the teacher giving me a pop quiz. Okay, you did not do your homework, I can see. I read it. It was not interesting. Twisted Kites, thank you very much. Oh, God, who cares? What was the name of them when they did Tom's Diner?

That was Bingo Handjob. Mm-hmm. See, who do you think you're dealing with here, Scott? Obviously, I mean, you're really holding your own in the comprehensive and encyclopedic nature of this show. And that's why people listen to this show. Yeah. Because they want, Scott, they want to know.

They want the info. They want to know. They want to know. And we're telling them. I'm just on my way in here. Yep. I'm driving down the big boulevard outside. There are people on the street screaming.

People on the street. I want to know. And you assumed. One has to assume. It's about this program here. Yeah. Well, they said, I want to, they screamed, I want to know. And then they said, about the REM podcast.

Okay. They followed it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot to tell you. Right, right, right. Yeah. Usually people don't stop in the middle of sentences when they're telling a story. They usually proceed all the way to the period or the exclamation mark.

You know that I like telling a story. I like stretching it out. Yeah, a lot of yarns from good old Scott over here. By the way, I now remember the thing that I told you. And I disagree. You added maybe one bit of detail of how the person looked. I gave you two pieces of – two little pieces. This is what you said.

You said, oh, by the way, i saw this person at a wedding yeah and i went oh wow and you said this is interesting so i went to this wedding of this person yeah and i looked over and i saw this guy yeah and he looked like this okay and smelled like this that's right okay you and smells. Okay, you gave me two of the senses. All right, so just take it easy. How did he feel? How did he feel? Did not touch. REM.

Did not touch him. Didn't touch him. Do you like that song, How Do You Feel? I like it, yeah. How do you feel? Was that their biggest take? Yeah, REM. How does it feel?

How does it feel when you're in REM? What if they- And then you hear Peter Buck go, really good. I love it. I'm fucking stoked. What if they just seriously got back together, put that out as a single? Right. How does it feel to be in R.E.M.?

It feels good. All right. Everyone's like, what the fuck? Wait, what? And that's the whole song. That's it. The song is seven seconds long. Seven seconds long.

And they're like, we got back together. We're here. And they go on tour. Big world tour. Big world tour and only play that. And then no encores, just that. How does it feel? I would still go.

Sure. You got to go. I'd go enjoy myself. I'd get a hot dog. I'd make sure we frame an episode around it. I sometimes feel like... Yeah, how do you feel? Sometimes I feel like going to a stadium or going to a baseball game or something like that.

I get excited about it, and then I go and then I realize I could just eat a hot dog at home, and it would be cheaper. Also, I can just sit in a chair at home. Yeah. You can do everything. You go to a big baseball stadium, where do you sit? You sit in a chair.

You sit in a chair, and the game is so far away from you, it may as well be on a TV screen. I can watch two guys throw a ball back and forth at home too. Yeah, you and your son. Or I can just grab a couple guys. I can just grab a couple guys off the street and tell them and don't offer to pay them. Hey, throw this. But order them to throw something.

And you know what? You probably have a better time. Great time. And you probably wouldn't have to fight for parking. It's very fun. Very fun. And when you go to a concert, for parking. It's very fun. Very fun. And when you go to a concert, it's like you can just sit at home Todd Glass style, turn up all the reverb. Yeah, play drums.

Play drums yourself. By the way, why isn't Todd Glass – we got to get him on the show. We got to get him back for a sequel episode. Do you think he knows of REM? I guarantee you he does not. Yeah, he doesn't get it. Like he probably knows a couple hits. He maybe does. Like he plays of R.E.M.? I guarantee you he does not. Yeah, he doesn't get it. Like, he probably knows a couple hits. He maybe does. Like, he plays drums along with them.

Yeah, he thinks he knows R.E.M. songs. Like, he knows them culturally. Yeah. But he won't know anything about them. We've got to get Paul F. Tompkins in. Yeah, he'll be back. Everyone will be back. Lance Bangs, of course.

We've got to get him back. I mean, we're almost halfway through their discography. No, we are not. Okay. This is episode six, my friend. There are 16. Well, including Chronic Town,

I believe there are 16 episodes to do. Are we going to do the best ofs and stuff? No. Okay. Just purely? Well, they do have a couple live albums

that are both worth an episode. Why are you arguing with me right now? God damn it. Which ones are you talking about? Olympia?

There's Olympia, but then there's rem live no sweeter two words but also there's the bingo hand job uh boot bootlegs i don't have that i don't know that by the way can you bring me uh do you have tour film i have it somewhere yeah isn't it weird that it's not on digitally available yeah i was gonna order it but then uh from amazon but it would take three weeks to get here and by that time we'll have recorded oh god i'm fucking dying are you okay are you okay oh god please don't cool up i love her and tell naomi i love her wait? I'm sorry. Scott just passed away. Am I right? The last thing he said was tell Naomi I love her?

Just for that, I'm going to bring Scott back to life. Let me see if I... Oh, God! I'm back. Oh, my God! I'm back. Oh, my God, I saw. I'm so glad you had that defibrillator here. Did you yell clear? No.

Poor Ryan over here. Sorry, would you mind passing away again really quickly? Oh, Jesus Christ! I just need to do this right. All right, Ryan. Keep your ears open and your eyes on me. Here we go. Clear.

Oh, my God. I love flatlining. Oh, that's like a rush for you. Ultimate rush. That's awful. It's very scary for me. I don't know if you could tell, but I was really concerned. I was communicating with the dead.

I saw your wife. I saw – wait. First of all, you tell Naomi that you love her before you pass away, and then you pass away and you – or are you talking about a wife from another life? Yes, I'm talking about all the alternate universes. Oh. Who do you think that you could have married in an alternate universe? Do you have someone where you were like, man, we were going to get married, but we just broke up at the last second?

Yeah, that's a really, really good question. Who are we talking about? And do you want to name them on the show? Are we talking about different timelines? Different timelines. Is this an episode of talking about different timelines? I think it is. Hey, welcome to talking about different timelines. White lines blow away. Hey, welcome to Talking About Different Timelines.

This is Scott. And this is Scott. And today we're focusing on alternate universes and different timelines. Most specifically, and maybe even more specifically, about Scott over here and his alternate time. Alternate time. Alternate time. Are you? Alternate time. Uh-oh. Alternate time. Ultimate time. Ultimate time. Are you? Ultimate time. Uh-oh.

Ultimate time. Ultimate. Ryan. Oh, Jesus Christ. All right. Get the defib over here. Clear. Alternate timelines where Adam is married to a different person and what those timelines would be like

and whether he is happier, whether he is sadder, whether he has more success, less success. That's right. Scott, I have a question for you. You just passed away again really quick. Did you get a peek into any alternate universe while you were there? I saw a very interesting timeline where you were married to a different person. You were married to

a person that you did not date here on Earth. her name was Leslie Knope. Oh, interesting. And you worked, I guess getting to know her caused an alternate timeline,

the buttercream effect where you became, you were working in city government somehow and you had changed your name or using your original name. Was it Ben Wyatt? It was Ben Wyatt. Yeah, that was who it was. And it was really interesting. I only watched for about 22 minutes. But it was very funny.

Scott, you're just thinking about TV show Parks and Rec that I was on. That's all that was. That's what I'm thinking of. That's it. I saw that last night right before I went to bed. Yeah, see? So you didn't just pass away, did you? I didn't.

No, I was faking it. You just took a little nap. I wanted to seem cool. It was cool. I wanted to seem cool. It was cool. I wanted to seem like I was flatlining. Look, you, Kiefer Sutherland, and all the rest of them, Diego Luna, all of them. Julia?

Julia Roberts? All of them. You ever meet Julia? Yes. Yes. And this has been Talk About Other Timelines. Hey, good app. That was a great app.

Ending with that bombshell about Julia. Yeah. Yeah, but I only talk about that on Talk About Timelines. Yeah, yeah, we can't follow up on this. We, of course, are talking about Hariem on this show. That's right. Musical, certainly what one would consider to be, if you were to go inside a record store, you would say, excuse me, where's the rock and roll music, young man?

And they would point you over to you and I sitting there in the corner with headphones on and a couple microphones. That's rock and roll right here. That's rock and roll, exactly. So we're going to be talking about Document today. For a while. For a long time. My favorite R.E.M. album. What I thought was their indisputable best.

Let's get into... It's a great album. Oh, the reviews are in. Great. Great album. Five stars. Out of how many? Four. Six.

Out of a thousand. Let's get into the background a little bit of it before we take a break and we'll... of course this came out document came out on september 1 1987 adam how old of a man are you and what grade are you going into when i when 1987 i was 15 years young daddy ripe for a new musical direction and ripe i was knee deep in the grateful dead led zeppelin oh that's right i always forget about derrick and the dominoes oh god i was you don't like grateful dead uh they're fine i just everything you're naming is stuff that i'm

like oh i could listen to a song yeah you never got into Layla, the whole album? No. Really? It's great. I like cocaine. I know that you like cocaine, but let's get back to music. Derek and the Dominoes, they did not sing cocaine. I know, it was Eric Clapton

or whatever. It's all on the best of that I have where I go. No, but Derek and the Dominoes is Dwayne Allman and Eric Clapton. You know what I did listen to was because they play,

I don't know if you remember this, but occasionally an FM radio station. What does FM stand for, by the way? Creature Feature. Fart Monster? You couldn't even get the right letters. Creature Feature. It doesn't exist!

How does it feel to be in R.E.M.? It feels good! Occasionally an FM radio station would just play an entire album uninterrupted. In an act of desperation. I don't know why. It was just a gimmick. It was something they would do on a Saturday night for all the losers who were sitting around. Yeah, jerking off listening to the entire album.

And so I remember I – what was the one – I forget exactly. It was an Eric Clapton band, but they do the album with – I feel free. Is it Cream? I feel free. It might be cream. I don't know. Hey, Engineer Cody Ryan, what do we got?

Is that cream? I don't know. Of course you don't know, but you're sitting in front of a computer. Ryan goes, he mouths to me, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. But I'm the one who has to talk. It's not the kind of information I would go to a millennial for unless he had a computer in front of him. A computer right in front of him.

I feel free. Anyway, I taped that, and I enjoy that song. I feel free. I don't know what you're talking about. But Derek and the Dominoes are terrific. I'm a big Eric Clapton fan. So you're 15 years old. You're scooting around.

Do you wear tie-dye at this phase? Not only did I wear tie-dye, I had a tie-dye business I ran out of my garage. Oh, my fucking God. Hey, I was 15. I made bank making tie-dyes. No excuse. Well, you're in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz.

So were you selling to college kids or you couldn't have been selling to your high school friends? I was selling to – no, because high school friends don't have any money. It's not about the money. It's just not cool. My parents' friends. It was very cool in 1987 before I discovered this kind of music. How much would you sell a T-shirt for? I don't remember.

And as I recall, tie-dyeing, you'd tie it around a stick or something like that? What is the process? Well, I had a secret formula that I thought worked well, which was you lay the shirt flat, stick a fork in the middle, and just twist until it's in a ball. Is it laying in a pan at this point? A pan? I don't know.

Where's the color come from? Well, the color comes from dye. But first you have to- Don't treat me like an idiot. Is the color on it while you're twisting it around a fork? You take a white t-shirt. Fuck. Twist it up.

Ryan, what do we got? Yeah, that was cream. All right. Thank you. I was right. Oh you. I was right. Oh, you're so right. You don't know an Eric Clapton song. One of his most famous songs.

Was that the one? Did Cream make a lot of albums? They just made like one album, right? They made. Oh, God. And now Ryan gave us another look like you are killing me here. How am I supposed to find out this information? Was Cream all about jizz?

Yeah. That's why the name of their album was Jizz Times. Jizz Town. USA. Population. Us. Eric Clapton and Cream. Okay, so you twist it around a fork,

then you dip it and die. You take the white T-shirt, you lay it flat, you twist it, you stick a fork in the middle, twist it up, rubber band it, and then put it in a pot of hot dye. What color is the dye? How does it make it? I would ask the person, what colors do you want? Custom-made, bro.

Okay, but what I'm getting at is usually a tie-dye thing is several different colors. Do you have to dip it in several different colors? What do you do? I don't remember exactly what, okay, but what I'm getting at is usually a tie-dye thing is several different colors. Do you have to dip it in several different colors? What do you do? I don't remember exactly what I did, but yeah. Oh, you know every step of the process about your stupid fork, and you can't remember how a t-shirt is different colors? I remember that because the fork thing

was like how I got this big spiral in it that no one knew how I did that. No one could figure out how I did that. Can I ask, did they give a shit? Well, they pretended to because I was the son of their friend, I guess. Wait, you were the son of? Oh, it was like my parents' friends who would commission me to make them tie-dyes.

I assume you're talking to other 15-year-olds at this point. No, not at all. Okay, got it. So you're bothering your parents' friends. Yes, for money. Oh, okay, for money. Well, just telling them I'll make you a tie-dye if you give me. How much?

Yeah, what are they retailing? I don't remember. You buy a regular T-shirt. You buy them in probably packages of two. I think I asked him to give me a T-shirt. No, Adam. I think so. You can't even be bothered to go buy the original white tee?

No. I didn't have any money. So you need that seed money. Yeah. I didn't go buy t-shirts. No. Okay. So you're not asking for the money in advance, but you're asking for a t-shirt in advance.

Yeah. You got to give me a t-shirt and I'll do what I do to it. Plus, you don't know if it's going to fit a person. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's safer if they give you a t-shirt. do to it you don't know if it's gonna fit a person exactly you know what i mean yeah and also they give you at the time i would have bought like some shitty t-shirts that were uncomfortable and didn't fit anyone right exactly that's how i think like any clothes that we buy you know when you go to a

store nordstrom i would assume is where you buy a lot of your stuff from when you go to a store i think you should bring the clothes to the store and say, what can you do with this? Yeah. Can you make this into something that I would wear? Yeah. Look at me. Look at this pile of clothing. Do your magic.

Do your magic. Just do what you do. Just do what you do. You're tight. So what are we talking? 10 bucks? I guess. In 87, 10 is a bit what are we talking, $10? I guess. In 87, $10 is a bit of money.

1987, you could buy a house. Wouldn't be a big house. No. It wouldn't maybe have walls. No, but you could live there. You could live there. You'd be very happy there. Very happy.

You'd have a house and food for a year. $10. $10. People don't realize how bad inflation's gotten. Yeah, and a helicopter. And a hel a year. Ten bucks. Ten bucks. People don't realize how bad inflation's gotten. And a helicopter. And a helipad. And your own personal chauffeur. You would have to switch off.

You would have to copy a document. And a chauffeur. You'd have to switch off between the helicopter and the car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously. Of course. You can't have two employees. Well, you can't be in two places at once, Scott.

That's true. So you'd have to find a person with an automobile license. Yeah. Class probably two. Yeah. And then someone find a person with an automobile license. Yeah. Class probably two. Yeah. And then someone with their pilot's license as well. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Yes. Sure.

So you're scooting around like a hippie. Are you taking drugs at this point or can you mention that? Are your parents still with us? Yes. And would they listen to anything like this? Do they ever watch anything you do or listen to anything you do? Yeah, but I don't know if they even know this exists.

It doesn't exist. Well, no, I think they know it exists because when we had you two on our other show, I believe they were like, whoa, how did that happen? But I don't think they know. They certainly don't know that we're recording. Because we're recording these before. So you can say anything you want on this show. Anything I want.

So were you into drugs at this point in your life? I don't think so. What was the first time? What time? 87. September 1, 87. Oh, yeah, we were drinking beer and stuff. I wasn't into drugs or anything.

So how would you get your beer? Well, this was – I don't think we're shoulder tapping at this point anymore. 15. Were you still shoulder tapping at 15? At 15 was the first time that I got drunk, and I asked someone to buy coolers, Bartles and James coolers for me at a market. And he did. And I drank them alone in my room to feel what it was like, again, to get drunk. Because the first time I got drunk was at a cast party, obviously.

Of course. Same with me. Yes. And I was like walking around, stumbling around. People were like, you were so funny. I was like, it was fun. You're just basking in the glow of the performance. Yeah.

And I wonder what show it must have been. It must have been Aladdin, I bet. I think I played the genie. That's amazing. So then I was like, oh, I wonder what it's like to you know i want to like study this and and it's the same study this drinking study this i remember before i ever had sex i bought a package of condoms because i was like i want to try i want to figure out what this is all about before the deed goes down sure what's it feel like how do you put it on all that kind of stuff

so it was purely experimental. So I got the six pack of Bartles and James and I drank them in my room. I certainly couldn't have done all six. Didn't those come in four packs, Scott? You're right.

I bet it was a four pack. Maybe I got two four packs then. I'm not sure. Those were fucking gross. Oh, man. But did I have a good time sitting around my room? I remember plugging my nose

and just pounding wine coolers. Just getting them down. I mean, to a 15-year-old, it's not as bad as straight liquor, like whiskey or something like that. Yeah, no, you're right. I mean, it's certainly sweet. I think it's like later in the evening. Later in the evening. Maybe it's a little flat and warm.

It's a little flat and warm. This is a good song. This is like a little flat and warm. It's a little flat and warm. This is a good song. This is like a Bob Seger song. How does it feel? To be in R.E.M. Feels good. The addendum to this story is I didn't know how to dispose of the bottles without tipping off that I had. I had to sneak them into the house under a coat, as I recall.

Like a coat draped over my arm or whatever. I'm sure it was smooth as silk. That getting it in was fine, but then I was like, well, how do I dispose of the bottles? Because occasionally my parents would go to throw something away in our trash cans and they would see whatever is in the trash can, right? So I kept them in my room for six months or something like that. Yeah, sure. And then I went to camp during the summer.

You forgot about them. And I – no. I sat up straight in my room at camp and was like – Oh, God. About four days into camp and I said, oh, shit. I bet my parents are going to search my room and they're going to find these bottles. I get back from camp. They sit me down. They have, quote, cleaned going to search my room and they're going to find these bottles. I get back from camp. They sit me down.

They have, quote, cleaned, unquote, my room and found the bottles and want to know if I'm an alcoholic. And empty wine coolers where I'm drinking alone in my room. It is so funny, first of all, that you have the wine coolers in your room, you drink them, and then you're like, fuck, I got to get these out. Just the 15-year-old mind at work. I got them in. It was fine. But getting them out is a big problem. It's a big issue.

So what I need to do is just leave them here. Yes. It's just so dumb. And then in a period of six months, you don't have an opportunity. A window. Yes. No, my room is so – or my closet is so messy that I just think like, oh, well, at some point, no one is going to get in here. That was – it was good. It was no good, I mean.

And I had to convince my parents that I was not – did not have a problem. I was like, no, I've only drank these once because I wanted to see what it was like. And it was gross, and I didn't uh we talked on a previous episode about the Frankie Goes to Hollywood album yeah I was like yeah I was mad at it too I was gonna throw it away I was like what the fuck is this yeah ah terrible I used the I wanted to see what it was like. I hated it. It was gross thing. That must just be a universal excuse for drinking. I tell you, I didn't drink again until I was

18 and went to college. Oh, wow, really? Yeah. I just didn't really think I really liked it. And then my friends were at 18 when I went to college. My friends were like, well, you should drink beer. Yeah, beer is terrific. Yeah, I was like, beer is not good. And I drank one and I were like, well, you should drink beer. Yeah, beer is terrific. Yeah, I was like,

beer is not good. Yeah. And I drank one and I was like, this is not barley juice. Yeah. And then the second one, I was like, oh yeah, this is great.

Let me try that again. So we would stay up until the sun came up. Drinking beer. Drinking beer in a van every single night. It's the fucking best. Yeah, and just jawing away with my pals. Drinking beer. Drinking beer in a van every single night. It's the fucking best. Yeah, and just jawing away with my pals.

It's great. I remember we went to an REM show once and got a pony keg just for the drive over the hill. Just to drive. Is that what the song Drive is about? Yeah. It was so fun. Pony keg. It was great.

Look, there's a lot of background. We're going to get into what I was doing in 1987 if Adam would ever ask me a question, but we need to take a break. We just heard your whole drinking adventure. I know. That's 1987. I'm ribbing you, pal. This is like we're sitting around drinking beer at 5 in the morning. Except it's a cliff bar and iced coffee.

Yep. Let's go to a break. When we come back, we're going to be talking exclusively about the album Document. This is Are You Talking R.E.M. Rimi. We're going to be right back

on the other side. Hey, podcast fans! I'm talking to you. I mean, you're listening to one right now, right? Presumably. Unless you've pressed stop. I mean, I'm just talking to no one. That would be depressing. Although it feels like that sometimes. Although I got engineer Sam over here half listening to me and half checking his phone. That's right.

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We're talking about the album document. Before we get to that, I do want to say we got some viewer mail. Listener mail. This is from a woman named Haley. Do I have her last name? Where's that envelope? Did I give that envelope to you? No.

Oh, okay. Maybe it's on here. This is Williams. Hayley Williams. Hayley Williams sent us a nice card. And this is interesting. She happens to work in the music department at Saturday Night Live and sent us a picture, only about 30 printed, of the band Huey 2.

That's very nice. Taken by Mary Ellen Matthews. Very nice of her. Thank you so much. We're going to fight over who gets that. If you have mail to send to us, figure it out and send it to us. I don't know where to send it. I love getting mail.

I love it. You know, I love it. Quite honestly, like on my other show, I have to talk about the post office and how much it's terrible oh it's so good i love the post i love just going there me too i love just the ambiance sometimes they'll give me they'll let they'll like hand me a stack of keys or like a ring of keys and go, have fun. Just open up all the boxes. Yeah. I love it. You go in there

and just look at everyone's mail. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun. And they go, you know what? You can take one thing. Yeah.

And you take a really important letter that someone needs badly. Yeah. The letter saying that their son has died in the war. Yeah. And you just take it

and you take it home and you're like, yep, and go, fuck you. Ooh, that's terrible. Can I take a look at that? Sure. At the album? Oh, the album?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, document. Okay, here it is. Gotcha. You got me. We're talking about document. September 1, 1987, this comes out. Adam is 15 years old and you said on a previous episode—

How old were you in 1987? I had just turned 17 when I was 17. It was a very good year. By the way, don't feel like you have to ask me questions just because I needled you right before the break, okay? If they come up, fine. Okay. But you mentioned that your brother gave this to you for a Christmas present a few months later, right? Yeah, Christmas 1987.

Was it wrapped? It was wrapped. It was a cassette. It was a cassette? Really? Did you know it was a musical cassette from the dimensions? I thought, hmm, this is probably a cassette. Or the world's

shortest, fattest record. Yeah. And like I said before, I put it in the tape player in my mom's car as I was practicing driving because I had my learner's permit. You were 15, you said? I was 15 and she made me turn it off because

it sounded, it was just too loud. It's too loud. It's a loud record. His finest work song is, it's an aggressive opener. The whole album is pretty loud and like, hey, where are you? It sounds very different from the previous album. It's like a cleaner, more angular. Do you know what that word means? Angular?

Yeah. Never used it before. I've never heard it. I'd say retire it at this point. Done. Because perfection is achieved with it. But a lot of these songs, they had practiced out on the road in the Life's Rich Pageant Tour,

or a few of them. One I love, I know. I would imagine they would have to, because this is where we've spoken about it before, but they're on a one album every 12 or 13 month cycle. Lightning Hopkins, I think they played on the road. Oof. You don't like that one.

We'll talk about it when it comes up. Yeah, so this came out in 1987. You listened to it in your mom's car. Would you listen to it in your bedroom? Did you have a tape player in your bedroom? Were you sharing with your brother or did you have your own? I was sharing with my brother. At the time you were sharing with your brother.

Okay. Did he have his own copy of this record or was this – So he had his own. So two copies. He had it and he was like, you got to check these guys out. Because also the Rolling Stone cover had just come out like around that time. Yes, of the best band in America. America's best rock and roll band.

America's best rock and roll, yes. And that was a big deal. Really splitting hairs with that qualifier there. Well, America's best band. Do we want to fuck around or do we want to do this for real, Scott? No, I'm saying Rolling Stone was, not you. Right. And probably because this is something I wanted to bring up.

Yeah. We were just talking about the band Hue 2. They had put out The Joshua Tree in March of this very same year. God, what a big year for albums. It had like 365 days in it. Yeah. It was crazy. The very next year had 366 though,

so slightly bigger. In 91, both Octoon Baby and Out of Time came out. These guys were, they were in sync with that.

They were doing it. What's interesting to me when I was looking at these dates, they recorded, R.E.M. that is, they recorded this record mere weeks after the joshua tree came out so right in that album release cycle of you two coming out and having

big songs with or without you where the streets have no name selling out all the tour and all that rem is starts recording okay so do you think the comp the little kind of friendly competition between the bands kind of pushed them to – I don't even know if they have a friendly competition. How do you say that word? Comp-shinson? Comp-stintion. I think there's an unsaid – I mean, they've always been very friendly. I remember back in the day when Rolling Stone would have artists list their favorite albums of the year.

The U2 guys would always put whatever R.E.M. record was out on their lists. How nice of them. Yeah, they were always friends, but I think they kind of were always, you know, they were the two bands. They were the two big bands in the world. You know, Rolling Stone didn't say the world's best band about R.E.M. because they probably said, you know, the world's best band would be U2 at the time. But at the time, putting R.E.M. on the cover saying they're the best rock and roll band, they weren't.

They hadn't broken through. No. They did not have a hit single at all at this point. This is, we mentioned at the very end of last episode, this is the album where they broke through to the mainstream and had a top 10 single and that song was scott we are rem how does it feel to be in rem it feels good um okay so this this for me this album i this is the first no sorry the last

the B-Sides compilation the Dead Letter Office yeah Dead Letter Office was the first one that I bought on the day it came out so this is the second

R.E.M. record that I bought on the day Super Into Life's Rich Pageant Super Into Life's Rich Pageant loved the Dead Letter Office compilation

listened to those over and over and over. Went back and got Chronic Town and Murmur and Reckoning on record. And at some point got a Fables tape, which I didn't really listen to all that much. I got this the day it came out at where? Tower Records. The warehouse. The warehouse.

You're supposed to say, where are the warehouse the warehouse where the warehouse loves that place um this is the same warehouse by the way where um i it this very year i remember oh no no it must have been it must have been a couple years later or no it was like one year later uh get it right a girl who worked there uh i went up to pay for a crowded house thing that I was buying. Maybe it was Temple of Woodman or Temple of Lomain. Get it right. Lomain. Temple of Lomain. It was basically about Panda Express. But I went up to pay for it and she was like, oh, I love crowded house. And no one in my high school liked crowded house. I was like the one weird outlier who happened to see them on an MTV

spring break special and was like oh my god this is one of the best live bands I've ever seen and she was really cute and I was like

yeah they're good right you know or whatever and then I was like I left and I was like should I have like asked her out or something

I need to keep going to the warehouse yeah so I would I would go back and like find her occasionally and then she wouldn't be there occasionally. Nothing ever happened.

Nothing? Yeah. Don't you think though, especially in today's climate, wouldn't it, isn't it like kind of scavy

to like find a person at work where they can't, first of all, it's customer service as part of the job. They're supposed to be nice to you. They're supposed to be nice to you and then just assume they're doing it because they're interested in dating you.

Yeah. I think she was. Well, yeah, but especially at that age when you just don't know. I'm like, girl, talking? Yeah. What? Yeah. I had so many things like that where I just didn't know.

I was clueless. Yeah. Whether they would like me or not, I would have no idea. No idea. So then Document comes out. You go get it. So Document, I go get it. So this is the point I was getting.

I hated the warehouse, by the way. That place sucked. What did you not like about the warehouse? It was just all shitty. All the albums were, it was just like. I mean, certainly Tower is always better or an independent record store. Warehouse was the place where no one gave a shit. It's not as bad as Sam Goody.

No, not as bad as Sam Goody. Warehouse was bad. good warehouse was bad i know sam goody still exists though doesn't it doesn't exist it doesn't i don't know i just wanted to say you're what's that that's your favorite that's your famous quote from the youtube interview we did it doesn't exist um i've said it three times on this episode. I know. Trying to jog your memory. Okay, so the point I was getting to was I bought this record. By the way, I started in my high school rock band this year. Yeah. And we played the one I love. Oh, really?

That was in our repertoire. Repertoire. So I have fond memories of this record. And in fact, before we started the show, I was like, let me rank the albums as far as I can remember them of what I think my favorites are and not favorites. And I ranked this pretty high because I was like, Document, that's a good one, right? So then a week ago, after our last episode, I have been listening to these albums week by week when we're about to record and then listening to them all week much to the chagrin of cool up um and really diving into them but i was like document that's a good record and i looked at the titles of all the songs and i was like i don't remember i wonder how this goes which oh really which is not necessarily like you know

life search pageant has some titles that I was like, how, what is this one? But I was like, yeah, I like this record, right? I don't, I must, I bought it.

I put it on, like, I don't remember any of these songs. Really? I know, I, So you haven't listened

to this in years. I haven't listened to this since it came out. Oh, wow. And, and I was trying to figure out why that was. Because't listened to this since it came out. Oh, wow. And I was trying to figure out why that was. Because I listened to

Life's Rich Pageant endlessly after that, and I was like, is it because I think I had mentioned that Christmas of this year, 1987, I got my first CD player when I was working at the LA Times in telemarketing. And I won at our Christmas party, I won the raffle for the cd

player right which i think cd cd players were like 150 it was a huge deal yeah yeah at the time they were so expensive so i won the cd player and after that i shifted everything into cds and i was like is it because i only listen to cds Right. And you had the record of this. But I remember I went to – I had a very strange senior year. This is my senior year of high school where I went to my regular high school that I've been going to for the previous three years from 8 a.m. to noon, including one free period in there where I was – You just do whatever you want. Yeah, I had three classes basically and one free period. Yeah then afternoon then I would go home and eat usually and then I went to the always got to fit in some jerk off say session some session of masturbation um then in the

afternoon I would go to the high school of the arts that had just opened up in Orange County um fresh from my jerk off, just feeling good. Yeah. A little tired, but feeling relaxed. Had nature's sleeping pill, but I'm ready to focus. I started going there in September, whenever school started. First day, by the way, this is terrible. First day, I'm in my new class, and the first class was theater history, and then we would, like, do acting and dance and rehearse plays and all that kind of stuff. But we had to go to theater history first. We're sitting there in the desks, and the teacher is asking us a question. I'm looking around at all the students, and this is a school of the arts.

This is where, like, there are dancers and actress actresses and they're all like beautiful, beautiful people. Right. And I'm like, wow, this is going to be a good year. Yeah. The teacher asks me a question and I fart. What? What? And I just fart.

And audibly? Oh, yeah. Because the most beautiful girl sitting two people in front of me turns around like it was Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something and says, did you fart? Oh, God. This is a nightmare. This is not my first day of a new school. I turn red. Oh, fuck. I would imagine. And I go, well, I'm dead. This is the nightmare. This is my first day of a new school. I turn red. Oh, fuck.

I would imagine. And I go, well, I'm dead. This is the end. Yeah. This is it for me. For good reason. Thankfully, it was not. And people like me.

And actually, the girl that I'm speaking of weirdly sexually harassed me when we were doing the musical Chicago. Whoa. I was getting ready to go on stage, and I'm in my tuxedo because I'm playing Billy Flynn. And she comes up behind me and like puts one arm around my chest and then slips one hand underneath in my thigh gap basically, which is very wide at this point because I'm like 17 and super hot. And cups my dick. What? Yeah.

Very weird, right? And like says. And says something of like, hey, you're looking good. You're going to die, motherfucker. Very mixed message, I got to say. But very strange when you're 17. And said what? Said something of like, hey, looking good, or something like that.

Whoa. Hey, looking good. Yeah, I'm wearing like a tuxedo and I'm like the lead in this play or whatever. Jeez. Very weird. That's confusing. Especially, you know, if she was like the coveted, you thought she was. Yeah. I never followed up on it. Great move. Great, you thought she was. Yeah, I never followed up on it. Great move.

Great, great move. Yeah. Very strange. Anyway, so I was thinking of those two things. So I was like, wait, is it because I got it on record and I transitioned to CDs? But then thinking about being in high school there, I transferred whatever records I had onto tapes because I was driving a lot to this new school

and there were plenty of things I had on record that I taped that I was listening to a lot. But not this. Not this. Wait, I just have a quick question. The teacher called on you and before you answered the question, you just farted?

Or while you were talking, you farted? I don't understand. Well, ask me a question. Scott. Who's it? Like, I don't understand. I don't, I have no idea. I don't recall.

You just remember audibly farting. I just remember like audibly just going. Oh, that's so great. By the way, would farts be, would they be funnier if instead of the noise, which is funny. The noise is great. Sure. Sure. Would it be funnier if out of your butthole it just was like poop?

Well, sometimes it is. That's what's great about it is that every fart is different. It just says, but it says the word like poop. Yeah, I think it would still be, because it's not the sound as much as it is where the sound is coming from, which is your butt. Farts are funny because they smell bad, right? If farts did not smell bad and it was just a noise, you'd be like, eh, whatever. Yeah, the smell is certainly part of it. They go hand in hand.

It's a big component. One of the main properties of farts is the foul smell. So, Adam, I did not have any clues as to why I don't know this album all that well. And I'll tell you exactly what I gleaned from it as we go song by song. You ready to go song by song? Well, I'll just tell you that, no exaggeration, I probably listened to this album. This is what got you into R.E.M.

Yeah, and still, I probably listened to it 20 times a year. Yeah. Like, I listen to this all the time. This has such incredible memories for you.

But also, it's, it's, I mean, we'll go song by song, but I think it's front to back, just, it's classic after classic.

There are a couple questionables, but it is a great. Well, let's go to the first song. This was a hit. This is one. Okay, I know three of the songs. Sort of a. I mean, it wasn't like a big hit. Yeah, it wasn't like a giant hit, but I know three of the songs really well

because I got the CD of Eponymous the next year, and I was like, and I'm realizing now, I was like, oh, I don't need to listen to Document. I like these three songs on it. Okay, so this is the first song. This is Finest Work Song. The time to rise

has been engaged. Your better best to rearrange. I'm talking here to me alone. I listen to the finest work song. The finest work song. The finest hour. The finest hour. Boom, boom.

Big drums. Nothing sounds like that still. I mean, that does not. Well, it would be weird if a song came out and it'd sound exactly like that. Yeah. Like they'd get sued. But this doesn't... We're going to get sued just playing it. There's nothing on here that sounds like, oh, 1987.

I mean, that's something with all the records we've been playing so far. Occasionally, there's a song that sounds a little 1987. Yeah. Occasionally, the vocals have a lot of reverb. Well, then there's also some kind of drum stuff later on. But like there is a timeless quality to this that's – and at the time, there was nothing like this out there. That's something we haven't really touched on is that from Murmur on, the other music that was surrounding it culturally. Yes.

This, their music – 1987 is not a good year for rock and roll. Neither was 1983. I mean there was great pop. I, their music. 1987 is not a good year for rock and roll. Neither was 1983. I mean, there was great pop. I like, yeah. But nothing sounded like what these guys were doing all the way through. But yeah, 87 is a real dodgy year for music. Actually, I remember listening to K-Rock in the 90s at some point.

I think it was Jed the Fish, one of their big DJs, was saying that the late 80s were very rough on the station because the music was terrible. Oh, yeah. It was like air metal and shitty pop. Well, just even the music they could play, alternative music, was bad. talks about this with his mid and late 80s records. The production style of the time was you had the instruments people, the types of keyboards you were using. Elvis Costello really fell into the production of the time, like way too much.

A lot of his stuff from that period sounds really dated. Which mix of this song do you like best? This one. You like the album one. I like the horn one. No. Let's hear a little bit of the horn one. That's because you were

into eponymous. I was always annoyed with people that we were into eponymous. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, it's the same song, it just has horns in it. Yeah, let's get the horn part.

The vocal mix is different too Yeah, see how isolated the vocal is? Yeah, a little more up front Yeah, here it is I think it's weird Yeah, whatever Yeah. Here it is. I think it's weird. Yeah, whatever. Whatever.

The album version's better. I like the other version. Yeah, incredible song. It was a single after End of the World. Is that what it was? Like their third single. Yeah, it was their third single. It became sort of a staple on K-Rock. Yeah, and in their third single. It became sort of a staple on K-Rock.

Yeah, and on in their shows all the way up to the end. Right, but it certainly, it was not a huge hit, but certainly a song that I knew really well.

Yeah. There are three songs on this record that I know really well and then I discovered these other ones. Yeah. And this is track two.

This is Welcome to the Occupation. Hang your collar up inside. Hang your dollar on me. Listen to the water still. Listen to the causeway. You are bad and educated, primitive and wild. Welcome to the occupation.

Here we stand and here we fight. All your fallen heroes, held and dyed and skinned alive. Pretty dystopian worldview there. Yeah. Real cynical guy,'s type um that's that sounds to me like a very uh kind of classic instrumentation for rem of like you know they're not they a lot of the songs on this record are very um like loud guitar-y kind of stuff oh boy oh yeah you're right like distorted guitar kind of stuff and this is a very jingle jangleangle, jingle, you know, the arpeggios. Yeah, the record feels like metallic or something throughout. This one is like it's beefed up production on sort of a classic REM.

The songs, they sound, and this is sort of what I was thinking as I was looking at these dates. I was like most of these songs sound like they're designed to be like, hello, Cleveland. And then they go in. Big songs. They're big and and produced that way by the way we should mention that uh the the guy who uh produced the last record uh a life search pageant uh don did we ever land on a pronunciation of his name yeah we did i think it was don gay man oh ohman? Oh, Don Gayman, I believe is how you... Gayman, okay. He was asked to do this record,

and he looked at his schedule and was like, I'm too busy. Says it's the biggest mistake of his life. Yeah, I'm sure it was. Yeah, no shit, Don. No shit, Don. Because Scott Litt stayed with him for six albums. Yeah, and he recommended Scott Litt.

He was the guy who was like, oh, you should have Scott Litt do it. for six albums yeah and he recommended Scott Litt he was the guy who was like oh you should have Scott Litt do it you dumb shit Don I love the production on this I like it more than

on Life's Rich Pageant I love how clean and loud it is Welcome to the Occupation is a great song it's one that became a favorite of mine like five years later

it's a really it's a little it's you know minor key-ish but I like it. It is one that I'm like it doesn't really have the most beautiful chorus

I would say. It's like a very Does it even have a chorus? I don't even know. The last two songs don't really even have Finest Work song doesn't have a chorus.

This one doesn't really have a chorus. Losing My Religion doesn't have a chorus. Yeah so it's But Welcome to the Occupation is about our the Contra

the Iran Contra And how the Iran-Contra. And how cool it was. Yeah. How great it was. I could be wrong. I believe it is. Well, Exhuming McCarthy is definitely about the politics at the time. Yes.

And that is our next track. By the way, we're on the page side. This is a really political, most overtly political record so far. Yes. By the way, it's going to start with some typing sounds. Don't be alarmed. This is part of the song. I remember the first time I heard this, by the way, it's going to start with some typing sounds. Don't be alarmed. This is part of the song. I remember the first time I heard this,

I was like, who's typing? Where's the typewriter? I'm trying to listen to Hariam. Hariam. This is Exhuming McCarthy. And I'm going to turn it up. There are the aforementioned sounds.

Terrific song. Just the sounds, just the typewriting. That was. Terrific song. Just the sounds. Just the typewriting. That was already a good song. You're beautiful, Lord. Beautiful to me. You're honorable, Lord. I used to go around my high school

with my Walkman putting headphones on people and playing them this song. Oh, boy. Bank of America. Oh, boy. So I kind of go back and forth on this one. Are you kidding me? I'm not.

If you would have put those headphones on me, I would have said, get the fuck away from me, bro. This is a high point. This is an incredible song. Okay, so it's two different types of song, right, put together. You got this kind of, it kind of reminds me of Stand. Stand. Real poppy. Real poppy.

Yeah, fun. And then the guys start getting funky. Boom, boom, doo, doo, doo. But it's pretty tongue-in-cheek. Yeah. Because they're talking about McCarthyism and how Reaganomics and McCarthyism have started kind of intersecting. Right, right. And they're putting it in the frame of a fun, happy song,

so there's irony there. I've gone back and forth on it. I've listened to it. By the way, when I first put this record on, I was like, oh, I like this one. I heard it. I listen to all, is it 11 songs, I think? And I was like, ooh, this is not good.

Exhuming McCarthy is a classic R.E.M. song. I think I've grown to like this one better. I think if it came on in the car, I would be like, yeah, I think I've grown to like this one better. Like, I think if it came on in the car, I would be like, yeah, I think I like this song. And said that Mike Mills singing Sign of the Times, that's a direct reference to Prince. To Prince, yeah. Yes.

I think you're crazy. Well, you're going to say that several times throughout the course of this show. I'm going to be slightly more critical. But also, this is the thing that got you into them. So every single song is a classic no matter if it has flaws or not. Yeah. No, there's some songs down the road here on the album that I'm –

I will say, yes. Let's – by the way, and I mentioned it before, there are two – occasionally REM will call the sides of the record different things. This is the page side. Page side. And then the next side is the rage side. That's a fish reference. Okay, this is Disturbance at the Heron House.

This is track four on the page side. We'll be right back. The number in the monkeys, the monkeys and the monkeys, the followers of chaos out of control. I like this one. Yeah, I think this is the best song on the album. This is really good. Could maybe use a little mike myers harmonies oh really make i haven't heard any yet at this point it gets there it's definitely oh yeah it's uh definitely uh feels like uh what i like about the earlier stuff a little more and by the way i don't i think bands should change yeah you know like i love radiohead oh this is today you know what i mean yeah this is essentially gardening at night slowed down.

I mean, Peter Buck admitted that in an interview at the time. He was like, yeah, some of our stuff sounds the same. Was he under oath? Yeah. Yeah. He had been sworn in. Okay. But I like it.

The one thing about the production style, you know, okay. So Scott Lidd comes in and he produces this. You mentioned clean. Yeah. The vocals are up front now. Yeah. production style you know okay so scott lidd comes in and he produces this you mentioned clean yeah um the vocals are up front now yeah they're they're you can pick out what he's saying now he has as well um started actually writing lyrics that mean something right before it was a lot of gibberish or there's a lot of allusions to things that he did with friends or whatever. Now the lyrics kind of are – he realizes the importance of his platform and now he's trying to say stuff. And he also – does this make sense to you?

It seems to me like he is doing like a rock voice over the next few records in a way. Like this, Life's Rich rich pageant this and green you know how you can kind of like go you you can sing like la or you can go la like he's kind of putting grid on his voice well yeah it's definitely different this album his vocals are different they're they're more aggressive yeah so and and sometimes that aggression comes to when like you'd like do the maybe you know how paul mccartney is like oh yeah no i get what you're saying i don't think then he goes maybe i'm amazing yeah i don't know if i if i hear that i hear his his voice getting um getting his vocals getting more aggressive.

I don't know if I hear that kind of cliched rock voice thing. I don't think he's doing it like too much. I just think that somehow it's more out front and he's – I don't want to say annoying, but it's like it's a little more like out there. Yeah. I mean they were definitely – I think they were all being pushed to do something different and more kind of big and upfront. I think that – Disturbance – isn't this – this is about Animal Farm, right? Isn't it basically a retelling of George Orwell's Animal Farm? No idea. Not interested. Let's go to the next song.

This is – I have to stop for a sec. I'm sorry. I have to answer for a second. I'm sorry. I have to answer this phone call. I'm really sorry. Well, Adam's taking a phone call now, and he's walking out of the room. Very cool.

All right, well, let's go to a break then. A little earlier than we expected. We'll be right back to talk more about Document. This is RU Talking R.E.M. Remake. Hi, everybody. Scott Aukerman here, and I want to tell you about a brand-new podcast called Threedom. That's right. I have another show in addition to this one and Comedy Bang Bang.

Brand-new podcast called Threedom featuring me, Scott Aukerman, also Lauren Lapkus and Paul F. Tompkins. That's right. We all went on tour together last year or the year before. I don't even remember. And we had such a good time that just hanging out and talking with each other, we said, you know what? Let's just do a show where we aren't playing characters. We're not doing comedy. No.

It's a fun show, but we just drop it all. We just have fun conversations. It doesn't have a format necessarily. We just talk about each other, our lives, the world, everything in between, those three things. It's a limited series. During it, we try to figure out what the show should be called. That's fun. I think that takes us through several episodes. We share weird stories from our childhoods, and they make fun of me constantly, and it hurts my feelings. So be sure to check out Threedom coming out March 29th on Stitcher Premium. If you're not already

a Stitcher Premium subscriber, go to stitcherpremium.com slash Threedom, T-H-R-E-E-D-O-M, and use the promo code REM. You're going to get

a free month of listening. Threedom! Welcome back. 20 minutes later, I feel like I'm at the doctor's office waiting to be called. Adam. I am so sorry. I'm back in the room. This is the worst.

You know, I was at the doctor today, and I was like, okay, I don't know why they can't get it within a half hour. Right. okay i don't know why they can't get it within a half hour you know right when you go to it when you go to a a restaurant i sort of get it because people sometimes take longer sometimes it's like trying to predict 15 minutes you have to wait but going to a doctor it's like can't you get it within 20 minutes or so but then but then what i was gonna say is a lot like this situation i was just reading stuff on my phone. It's what I would be doing at home anyway. I know, but it's still terrible. But at the doctor, literally it's like hour and a half sitting there.

Yeah, it's crazy. Just for them to tell you you have AIDS? It's like, come on. Call me with that or just put it in a text. You know, I found first thing in the morning, get the appointment, 9 a.m. 7 a.m. They'll get it right to you. 7 a.m. They'll get it right to you. 7 a.m.

Exactly. First one on that table. Who does the bit about – I think it's John – it must be John Mulaney. Oh, I think it's John Mulaney and Nick Kroll about putting it like they like a real early doctor's appointment because they like their bare asses being the first ones on that cold table. Oh, yeah. I just got a physical on Tuesday, actually. Did you? How are you looking?

Great. Tip top? Great. Yeah? Yeah. What percentile of human beings are you in? Are you in the... I'm in the top of the bottom 1%.

I was just playing, and we'll play a little more of it, just playing Strange, which is the next track on Side 1. Yeah, I had incorrectly said in the last episode that Superman was the only cover that they put on the proper album. On an actual album. We have to make a correction. We're so sorry. A retraction. A retraction, yes.

And I'm sure that you have all tweeted at us all week to tell us that we were wrong. Wrong. But we're recording this way in advance of you even listening to it, and we fucking know! We get it, people. We get it. This is a cover of a Wire song off of Pink Flag, This Is Strange. Let's hear a little bit more of it.

This is it. You know, this is what I'm talking about with his voice. There's something strange going on tonight. No, I know, but it's not the usual rock voice thing. It's a very weird version of that. He's doing his vowels. He's extending. He's going to the E sound in E. If you were to say tonight, you know how when you just say tonight,

you make that E sound at the very, very end right before the T? He's going to that immediately and then extending that and said going tonight. It sounds like he's grabbing the microphone and wrestling it and eating it. Why would you wrestle a microphone? Because the microphone slighted you in some way. I love the way his vocals evolved on this album. When I first heard this album getting introduced to the band,

it was weird. I was like, what is this music? This is insane. Did you know this was a cover when you, it was weird. I was like, what is this music? This is insane. Did you know this was a cover when you heard it? No. And I probably didn't either until I started listening to this again and were looking at the credits and all that. I was like, oh, this is a Wire cover.

Yeah. Have you heard the actual? Yeah, yeah. This is a little bit of the original. I think Wire was one of the bands they were thinking of when they were yeah they were very into when they were making this record strangely enough so this version of this song uh it was supposed to be b side they were recording much like uh you know femme fatale or whatever uh a cover just for a b

side and it sounded so much like the regular record and like it belonged on the record that they put it on the record i think also at the time this and life's rich pageant they were worried about not having enough songs because they were touring so much i will say that it it sounds the you know hear a little more of that the wire version yes even though i just closed it god damn it all right here we go oh here we go. Oh, here we go. Is this on Pink Flag? Yeah. It's a great album.

Great album. Be brave, be brave That's all I got Obviously like a punk or maybe even post-punk even though it was 1977 I'm not really sure. Can we hear a little more? Oh my God.

I just want to hear the So they really kind of reinvented the song. Yeah, that's what I mean. It's very different. And much like a lot of their covers and I personally I think sometimes it's very interesting for a cover to make it totally different.

Yeah. And sometimes it's great just to hear the singer singing it the way that this singer would have like, oh, wow, a different voice. I will say it sounds – I was listening to it today and I was like, this sounds a little like what I sent you the other day in Twitter. I don't know if you listened to it, but you and I off mic were talking about how you didn't really know the difference between a major key and a minor key because I had been talking about minor keys. I did listen to that. It's really weird. It's really weird. So someone auto-tuned Smells Like Teen Spirit to make it from minor chords into major chords. And I just sent it to you like, well, this is the difference. It's a perfect illustration of the difference.

But it reminds, I was like, this cover reminds me of what this sounds like. Let's hear a little bit of it. Sounds like the Spin Doctors. It suddenly sounds like Blind Melon, is what I was going to say. But yeah, Spin Doctors. It sounds like the Spin Doctors.

It really does. It's so weird. It's a nightmare. It's weird. It's so happy. It is. But that's what it sort of sounds like they took this you know punk or post-punk

kind of icy song and turned it into a party song yeah I love this cover it's really fun

so wait going back a second you did not give a shit that Disturbance at the Heron House was a retelling of Animal Farm yeah I don't care

okay just checking in about that I find it interesting because it's also it's also you know was a retelling of Animal Farm. Yeah, I don't care. Okay, just checking in about that. I find it interesting. Because it's also, you know, it's kind of a summation of how they felt about the Reagan administration. I'll say it's interesting if I were to find that out for myself.

It's not interesting when you tell it. I get it. All right, this is the last song on the page side, the side one. This is a classic. It's the end of the world as we know it. That's great. It starts with an earthquake.

Birds and snakes and airplanes. Do you remember hearing this for the first time? Oh yeah. Just being like whoa, this is awesome. You know what? It's been played so much. It's a classic. It also probably played so much. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a classic. It also probably annoys people.

I don't know. It definitely gives people a reaction. That said, I think it's the jam. Listening to it again, I'm like, it still is a good song. Oh, it's great. When it came out, it's like, I don't know. The first time you hear it, it's like, oh, I don't know. I mean, we didn't start the first time you hear it, it's like, oh, I don't know. It's sort of, I mean, We Didn't Start the Fire ripped it off.

Yes. So any hate you have for it may come from hate for We Didn't Start the Fire. Yeah, but I also think it's, as a song, it wasn't as big a hit as One I Love at the time. But it's the one that ingrained itself in culture more than anything else. Way more than the One I Love. I was thinking about that. They were saying that it was sort of a disappointing follow-up single, and I was like, no.

When I was a senior in high school, everyone sang this. No one really cared about the one I love other than, you know. It didn't really chart as much. But, like, newspaper headlines. Extra, extra. R.E.M. releases songs. No, but, I mean, it's the end of the world as we know it

and I feel fine that is used constantly in culture oh yeah 30 years later oh yeah it's like not gonna do it

yep it was in also used in Independence Day the hit film the incredible hit yeah came out on July 4th

probably 1991. No, 1995. Five, maybe something like that. Okay. This is the aforementioned hit. This was the big hit off the album. Oh, but Bad Day was the end of the world.

Sort of a remake of Bad Day in a way, yeah. This is side two. This is the one and what is this? The leaf side, they call it. Yes. This is the one I love. This one goes out to the one I love It's incredible. This one goes out to the one I love

I remember being so thrilled that one of my favorite bands had a hit. I know. I was like, and it was already hit when you started listening to it. Yeah, yeah, that's how I kind of got to know them. For me, a fan for a couple of years at this point, it was like validation. Yeah. You know what I mean? Where I could go around to people and say, and they would go.

I knew that these guys were great. They would say, like, oh, is this that band? Oh, this is that band you like. Oh, yeah, I like this. Yeah. And it was like, see, I'm not such a fucking weirdo. It was very exciting. Like I said, we played it in our band.

Yeah. Is it an easy song to play? Well, okay, so I got into this band because I got a guitar as a gift for Christmas the previous year, 1986. And I started— An electric or acoustic? Acoustic that plugged in. Acoustic electric. Right. And I started teaching myself or acoustic? Acoustic that plugged in acoustic electric so and I started teaching myself

how to play right? Right. So I figured out how to play all the open chords which are really easy you know your A's D's you know

E's and all that and then a friend at church taught me how to play bar chords where he was like I was like I just don't get them and he's like no no no

it's just playing an E but you bar are you flipping me off right now yeah fuck you but you just bar the uh you know and you go up and down the thing or it's an e or an a and i was like oh it opened up a whole new world to me so then i just taught i and then i taught myself minor chords and all this kind of stuff so but this was an easy song to play because it's basically in E minor if you're playing it in the E minor key. I don't even know if that's the right key, but I picked it up and I like figured it out in E minor.

Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is easy to play. So we would play it and it was a hit at the time. So we would play it. Although we didn't start playing. Did you actually do the don't, don't, don't, don't? Or did you just play the chords? I was trying to figure, I played,

see, I only played rhythm guitar. So I think I i only played the chorus but we had a lead guitarist who i think played the do do do do do do because he could he could uh do stuff like that but yeah it was uh and he would always got a good response oh i'm sure people you know being into it so but it's also a very weird song. The chorus is him just saying fire. And the verses are just the same thing over and over again. Yeah. It's very obvious. This is the album that R.E.M. starts going into obvious territory for. Well, but the song is a very cruel breakup song. It's not a song about being in love with someone.

But I guess I mean in the structure of the songs, they start becoming very like simpler, which in a way is to get more radio play in a way. But I think they were also evolving. They were just changing. I mean, this is a pretty complicated album. It's just— And it sounds bigger. So many of the songs have a fire theme. In fact, the spine—I don't know if you read the spine

of the record um it says file under fire file under fire so many songs i inspected this thing front and back i remember all this shit yeah um but also another thing about this band because just being introduced to them with this album i was like there's no pictures of them there's a tiny picture of them up in the corner of the record that you have here. Right, on the sleeve. All other bands, there's just fancy photos of them. Of how cool they look.

Yeah. Everywhere. And these guys, at the time, there was no internet. I was like, what do these guys look like? There was so much mystery. The internet didn't come around until a month later. Yeah. And then I was like, oh. So many pictures. And like, oh, they're ugly. But there was something much mystery. The internet didn't come around until like a month later. Yeah. And then I was like, oh.

So many pictures. And like, oh, they're ugly. But there was something so cool about them. Oh, yeah. They're very mysterious. Everything about it is still there in that mysterious like page side, leaf side, file under fire. There's no pictures of us anywhere. We don't put the lyrics on the sleeve.

Yeah, I think it was the Rolling Stone cover where I was like, whoa, these guys look cool. Like, I finally see them. Like, maybe Michael Stael stipe like bill barry was wearing this like leather cap at the time leather cap like what like a queen no look yeah like a like a motorcycle freddie mercury what the fuck look at him he had rad style what is he doing bill Bill Barry always said cool. It's a village people kind of thing. They all looked cool. Okay, so this, we're on side two. This is where it starts to get pretty dodgy for

me, my friend. Oh, really? Okay, let's go through it. Here we go. This is Fireplace, track two on side two. Crazy, crazy world Crazy, crazy times Crazy, crazy world Crazy, crazy times. Hang up your chairs to better sleep.

Clear the floor to dance. Shake the rug into the fireplace. Crazy, crazy times. I like the, I wouldn't even call that a chorus. Yeah, but it sounds like a lead up to a chorus, but it is the chorus. I like the chorus. I'm not really that into crazy, crazy. Oh, really?

I'm a fan of this song. I mean, at the time, it was fucking crazy, though. You got to give it that. But the song's about burning it all down and revolution and all that stuff. I like it a lot. It's an album track. I wouldn't put it out there as a single, certainly, which they didn't. I would say maybe it only is dodgy for me, these last four songs,

because, well, one is terrible, but they're not very catchy, I don't think, these last four songs. Oh, I think King of Birds certainly is. King of Birds is catchier than the others. And I love Fireplace and Lightning Hopkins, although I feel like you're going to not like Lightning Hopkins. This is Lightning Hopkins. This is, well, let's just hear it.

This is a big crowd pleaser live, apparently, at the time. I never saw them play this live. Is this the one you're thinking feels very 1987 to you? at the time. I never saw them play this live, but... Is this the one you're thinking feels very 1987 to you? Maybe a different one. I mean, this feels very 1987

Red Hot Chili Peppers to me, yeah. Oh, interesting. Primus. Not the guitars, though. That doesn't sound like Chili Peppers. Yeah, they do.

Really? Yeah, like higher ground style? No. He's doing the sort of slap bass stuff. The slap bass, sure. I need myself to sleep. Pray that I don't go too deep. Lightning one, lightning one.

Because it's cold down, cold down there. I'm covering my face because I don't want you to look at me listening to this because you're so disappointed in me. No, I feel like you're my dad and I've let you down. I feel like you found those wine coolers. you're my dad and i've let you down i feel like you found those wine coolers if you're not gonna like an rem song i think lightning hopkins is it's one of the candidates that's right out there for the picking sure it's a sacrificial lamb i like it but i get it um we should do worst rem songs oh yeah we can do that yeah of, of course. This would be up there for you though.

There's, there's some, there, you know, usually within our, up till now, if there's ever a song that I've been like,

oh, it's not my favorite. Even that one that I wouldn't put on Fables, the end of side one. I can't, I can't recall the title

of it anymore. Even that one I could listen to and be like, eh, it's not my – Was it Kahotek? No, it's not Kahotek. It's the one after that about the artist, about the writer. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Even that one – Old Man Kinsey.

Old Man Kinsey. Even Old Man Kinsey I would put on and go, it's not catchy to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not grabbing me, but I don't think it's abhorrent. Yeah. This is like an insult to me. Oh, okay, okay. This is like he came up and spat in my face.

Yeah. I think, you know, it's a live song. I do think it's like meant for, oh, man, we can't just have these pretty songs that are beautiful. If we're filling up arenas. Yeah. And they're not in arenas yet. They're in like, I don't know, the Universal Amphitheater or places like that. No, they were filling arenas at this point.

Once Document hit, they were. They were at like the Forum? Yeah. No, I saw them at the Forum on the Green Tour. That's where I thought they'd graduate. Maybe in LA or something. The Work Tour was pretty big. Of all these songs, I think this one shows its age by far

the most. I get it. This is King of Birds, and you like this one? I do. This was great live on the Green Tour. It was a big kind of showstopper. They would just stop the show? Stop completely and just play the song from a tape in the middle of the stage. Everyone left.

I think this type of song for them, everyone does this thing, don't they? Where they want to do the march. They want to do the Civil War guy beating on the drum. Well, they did it for Swan Swan H. Yeah. But this type of REM song evolved and became much better down the road. I get that. This is the DNA of automatic and out of time type song.

Dino Nucleus. What does DNA stand for? Dan. Are you going to get this right? What is it? Dan, right?'s dan nancy dan nancy uh you're running out of time there at home anymore i like it it's a cool song this one i don't think it's offensive A hundred million birds fly I like it. It's a cool song.

This one, I don't think it's offensive. I just, I would never really listen to it. You don't really care about it. Yeah, it's not really. I really like it. I put it on headphones and be a teenager with that song. This is, I was a teenager, I have to say, but this is, I think I narrowed down why I never returned to this album

is I think side two. I just would never listen to side two. This is the last song, and this is not my favorite either. This is Oddfellow's local 151. What do you call it, 151? Like Bacardi? He says 151 in the song,

so I'm going to go with 151. Let's go with his. I mean, out of anyone who would know, it would be him. Let's hear it. About a bunch of guys that used to hang out at a union hall in Athens. Local eccentrics. The fire theme continues. One of them was named Pee-wee. Pee-wee. Pee-wee?

Does he mention that? Yeah, he just said Pee-wee sits. Oh, there it is. Pee-wee gathers. I mean, Pee-wee's Big Adventure had come out two years earlier. Did anyone think he was talking about Pee-wee Herman? I think that everyone did, and that's why the song was never a huge hit. I mean, this screams huge.

Oh, yeah. Fire house! Also, you can't have another song where he's just going, fire! This is the song of the summer, 1987, wasn't it? Yeah, not, you know, the greatest song. They definitely front load, the album is classic, classic, not, you know, the greatest song. They definitely front load. The album is classic, classic, classic, perfect, perfect, right up until. One I love and then.

Fire, yeah. Yeah, I mean, Fire. I like Fireplace a lot. Fireplace is okay. And I love King of Birds, but I get. And I like these other two, but I get it. And also it's the first, your introduction into this band. Yeah.

And you're like, your brain, it's like when you're learning Spanish when you're two. Yeah. Your brain is so open to it at this point. Of like, you know, over and over, listen to it over and over. Yeah. It just, it's part of your Dino nuclear. Aren't.

Aren't. I had never heard anything like this before. This blew my mind, all of this music. So, yeah. Yeah. like this before. This blew my mind, all of this music.

So, yeah. So, at the end of the day, well, let's wrap it up later because we have a few B-sides. Yeah, this record comes out and everything changes for them. Everything changes for them. And for you. They're a huge band.

And for you. You're no longer a tie-dye entrepreneur. No. I saw these tiny pictures of R.E.M. here, and I thought, those are my guys. This is me.

I am going for it. Did you ever get a hat like that? I never got a hat like that. I could never pull that off. But once Green came out, and there were more pictures of them, because that was a poppier, bigger album, and they kind of got out there a little more,

I was like, I'm going to dress like these guys. Let's hear a few B-sides this is romance this uh this was on eponymous and i i like this a lot this is weirdly the first song they did with scott lit um as kind of a test oh is it it's in a movie it's in some movie i can't remember what movie it is but uh this is romance Definitely poppier Sounds like the last album to me It does I like this a lot I do, too.

I haven't heard this in a while. Can we? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. That's Mercedes, not Ford. Put our heads down on the test. I'll send you to the race for rest. Easy come, easy go. Easy come, easy go.

Easy come. I think they famously hate this song as far as I remember. I could be wrong, but I think they all hate this song. I like it better than anything on document. No way. Come on. I do. Come on.

I do. I'm sorry. What is wrong with you? I don't know. That's insane. I got a broken brain. I'm sorry. What is wrong with you? I don't know. That's insane. I got a broken brain. That is insane. But this is the first song that when old dumb shit Don says,

I don't want to work with you anymore, he sends him Scott Litt. Yeah. And the rest was history. This is Last Date. This is another B-side. Oh, this is just instrumental. It's instrumental. Oh, this is just instrumental.

It's instrumental. Did you know that Deborah Harry sang over it on one of her records? Really? Mm-hmm. She sings the... All that. What else we got here? We got... Oh, this is off of the Athens, Georgia.

This is a couple years ago. This is an Everly Brother. It came out right before this. This is the Everly Brother song, obviously. I love this and the harmonies. I would go around singing this in my car all the time. But this is like Life's Rich Pageant era. It's era, but because it came out right when this came out is why we did it on this. And that is all for the B-Sides.

I've got a couple cool ones. What do you got? I got some cool work tour stuff that they used to do. This was something I didn't discover until 91, but it's from a work tour show, and it became a big deal because I kind of discovered it by really thumbing through. You're like an archaeologist.

That's right. I'm the Indiana Jones of the indie section. It belongs in a museum! So, oh, is this the time after time? I actually have this. I didn't play it.

This is great. So they start with time after time. It's just he and Peter Buck. I think I can hear Mike Mills definitely harmonizes later, but I think there's a little bass in there. Were you able to ever

pick that up? I don't think, until they start playing South Central Rain, I don't think. I don't even know if there's bass in South Central Rain. So they're singing time after time, which we've talked about from a previous record. Yeah. And this is the, yeah, this is like an encore, the third encore at a work

tour show or something. Yeah, and it's just them and they're singing it and then he segues into Peter Gabriel's Red Rain. See if you can get to that part. Red rain is coming down. It almost sounds like Peter Buck was like, wait, what are you doing? It fits with the chords, so he should just keep playing. Come on, Peter.

Come on, Peter. And so was still kind of a new album, because that was 86, right? A needle pulling thread. I come to you defenses down with the trust of a child. And then this time they segue from rain to rain this was a big like this version of all these songs south central that is this is are you talking okay so there's that you know what you

know what i wanted to tell you about this you know the uh live uh show that they have on disc two of the document yeah that was what i was about to go to it's that's from this but they cut it off they only play this south central rain park because because of the length of a compact disc but i think also they have to pay peter gabriel oh yeah no one wants to pay that dude um but although we are going to pay him for this right is that right ryan so check this out in that live, the work tour live show, Lightning Hopkins is the third song they play. I listened to it today.

So you can tell they were like, this rocks. Oh, boy. But it's great to hear these stop this. Their old songs kind of going through the work tour.

Wait, no, stop. If you're going to talk over it, turn it down. Yeah, this tour was terrific. You didn't see them on this tour. I didn't see this tour. But you were a 15-year-old boy, and did you go with your brother? No, I didn't see them until Green. Yeah, I didn't see them until Green green as yeah i didn't see them so

green either we'll talk about that on the next episode did you have anything else you want to play i don't think i did no i don't um well this is you know what i gotta say this has been a successful episode i believe so we took a trip down Mamory Lane. If you know what I mean. And I enjoyed it. And I enjoyed picking this album back up and trying to figure out my feelings about it. I think that's really interesting how you had put it down. I've done that with a lot of albums, not this band, but where I get an album, I'm like, oh, I kind of like this. And then the greatest hits comes along and I just never get about the album. But this, and this

is still where I'm the age where I'm pouring over albums and listening to them obsessively over and over and over. Nowadays, you know, I'll get an album and listen to it once. Maybe I'll listen to a couple songs on it and then put it on random this is you know so I just I don't know why that was but it is what it is and on the next episode we're going to be talking about green where REM gets even bigger and

has a lot of interesting stuff on it so until then I want to say thank you to all of you and I want to say thank you to you and I hope to say thank you to you. And I hope that you all find what you're looking for. Bye.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for listening. And remember, the future is coming. Make it brighter with Squarespace. Squarespace makes it easy to turn your idea into a unique website. Showcase your work, blog, or publish content, tent. Even sell products and services of all kinds in just a few clicks. You can customize everything from look and feel to settings and products using beautiful templates created by world-class designers. And there is nothing to install patch or upgrade ever head to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch,

use the offer code REM to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. My memory is a mess. More and more stuff's coming back. Came here because I was running. Fucking. Running from myself. Fucking, please. But I'm not gonna run again.

No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm one of the great guys. Killing is a sin, isn't it? So I'm a sinner. All right. Marvel and Stitcher present Wolverine, The Long Night. Out now only on Stitcher Premium. For one month free, go to wolverinepodcast.com and use promo code MARVEL.

This has been an Earwolf production. Executive produced by Scott Aukerman, Chris Bannon, and Colin Anderson. For more information and content, visit Earwolf.com. Hey Queeros. It's me, Cami Esposito, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, Queery. You can sit in on hour-long conversations between me, Cameron Esposito, and some of the brightest luminaries in the LGBTQ family. Queery explores individual stories of identity, personality, and the shifting cultural matrix around gender, sexuality, and civil rights.

Plus, it is fun. We have had some incredible guests. Emmy winner Lena Waithe? Yes, definitely. Congressman Mark Takano? You bet. L Word creator Eileen Shakin? Yes. President and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis? We definitely have. We've got celebs. People like Trixie Mattel, Evan Rachel Wood, Tegan and Sarah, the band and the people separately on two different episodes. We also have activists and change makers in our community. I think it's a one of a kind show full of chats you have never heard before. It's identity, it's community, it's query. You can find query every Monday on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.