U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME? - Fanclub Singles (1988-1998)

Episode Date: May 30, 2018

Adam Scott Aukerman slow things down this week to discuss R.E.M.’s Fan Club Singles (minus the Christmas songs) from 1988-1998. They’ll talk about the dissolution of the classic era of R.E.M., Bill Berry quitting the band, and they open up the R.E.M. mail bag. Plus, they share what they eat at the movies in another episode of “I Love Films.”  This episode is brought to you by Leesa (www.leesa.com/REM).

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this is good rock and roll uh music welcome back welcome welcome back welcome back everybody welcome back what a back it is too because we are back in action much like those loony tunes oh yeah remember them oh yeah who are your favorite loony tunes who's the looniest of tunes first of all who are your favorites and who is the looniest of the tunes like who's legitimately certifiably crazy i I liked Scratchy. And Boogerface. Boogerface, like those classic ones from the 30s, those are really good.

And I liked Stringer. Stringer, oh my God. Stringer Bell. Stringer Bell. Great. Welcome to the show. This is Are You Talking R.E. great. Welcome to the show. This is Are You Talking R.E.M. Rimi, and we have an interesting show today. We have a lot to cover.

Before we go into another album, the next album in the discography is up of R.E.M., Adam and I thought we would slow it down a little bit and get into some, just talk about the band. I mean, just to tell you what's coming up, we're going to go through, we're going to talk about the band. We're going to talk about the band, people who know the band. We're going to talk about other human beings that are not the band. So out of all the seven, how many human beings are there? In the world? Human beings? There's either 7 billion or there's 70 billion.

Well, I think it's somewhere in between. It's like 17 billion times two. 34 billion? 34 billion people. So out of all of those people, we've devoted a lot of time talking about these four. These four guys. Just these four. I mean, there's so many other people. Wait, guys um all right who do we got the and this is part of what

we do is we we talk about the bands and this is the comprehensive and encyclopedia compendium of all uh just all the information about the band and that includes the members we have um we have stripe oh the guy the names of the guys in the band uh rem rem yeah okay we have stripe we have stripe oh the guy the names of the guys in the band uh rem rem yeah okay we have stripe we have michael michael stipe we have stripe we have uh uh peter dollar bill we have buck uh uh i'm just translating uh mike myers mike mills feeling groovy baby and we have um Mike Mills. Feeling Groovy Baby. And we have Boo Berry.

Bill Berry. Got it. Yes. Four Guys. Four Guys. Up to this point, Four Guys. Now, the last album we went through song by song was New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Hi-Fi.

Hi-Fi. Yes. So we've been talking about those guys. So I want to hype what we're doing before we get into it. So we're going to talk about some other people who are not these four guys. And then we're going to talk about the dissolution of the classic four-member band before we get into their next record. And we're also going to go through their fan club singles, which we have not been discussing um from the from 1988 until 1998 we're the uh up till up to where we are now every christmas rem uh would release a fan club single they would go in and record a song just for the fan club uh to the studio not being specific recording studio

thank you uh and it was great. Every Christmas you would get a 45. They'd been outside up till that point. Yeah, and then they would- They'd been snowed on and rained on.

And they're like, let's go in. Meet someone there or open it up themselves. I'm sure they had a set of keys. Someone might have given them a set of keys, yeah.

I don't know who had the keys. Maybe all four of them. Maybe there's one keeper of the key, like the key master, as they say in Ghostbusters. It's like, hey, Mike Mills, you're the key master today. Can I come by? I've got to grab the key. I need to go record some vocal bits.

Or whatever it may be. Yeah, of course. So they would go in, they would record songs, and they'd send them to everyone in the fan club. You would get a 45 record with two songs on it. You'd get 45 records, which is an amazing gift. No, no, no, a 45. It's a small record. I don't know what you're talking about.

And it would come in a really big cardboard envelope with not only the record, but you would get stickers, a holiday card. It was a generous package you get every year, and it was only $10 a year to be in the party. So it's not free. Or maybe it was $10 just to join, and then you were just a member.

Maybe you're just in it forever. I don't think you had to re-up every year. Because $10 a year for a 45 is kind of pricey. I think it was. I think it was $10 to join, and then you're just a member for life. That sounds great. We're going to be talking about it a little later, but we are going to be—

Okay, I'll shut up about it then, I guess. Please, thank you. We're going to be going through track by track of their non-Christmas songs from all those singles from the period that we have discussed up until now. But before we get to all that, there are some things that we want to talk about. I want to go— But also, just taking no we're taking a bit of a break here because this is we're on a break this is the end of an era the bill berry era and we're about to launch into the second it's almost the second half of their career

i mean they were together as a trio for almost as long as they were as a quartet if you will and now and they've been separate as just four human beings in that pool of 17 billion plus 17 billion for a good period of time as well. How long there, Scott? I don't give a shit. Okay. 2011, they disbanded.

Okay, so seven years. Almost seven years. Okay. You're Mr. Details today. Well, I'm just... Mr. Deets. Listen, we're Almost seven years. Okay. You're Mr. Details today. Well, I'm just... Mr. Deets. Listen, we're on the record. It is true.

We were sworn in before we started this show. We're both under oath. And it's a federal crime to lie to the FBI about this. Rudy Giuliani might walk in here at any moment. I don't know why we're attached to lie detectors. It's just the way we do things around here. Yeah, I guess so. Before we get to all that,

and that's coming up a little later in the show, there's some things I want to do. Before that... Oh, also... Just kidding. I want to go

to the old mailbag. Oh, open up the old REM mailbag. How's that sound? We get letters occasionally, and this is one that I thought you would enjoy

which is why I'm reading from it now. This is from Dave Williamson, I believe. He just signs the letter Dave, parentheses, a fan. But then being the sleuth that I am,

I went to the envelope and he puts his last name Williamson, on the... Just a regular Sherlock Holmes over here. Sherlock Homeboy. Sherlock Homey. How about that? Okay, well, let's settle on a compromise. We should update the Sherlock

Holmes franchise, but update it and give it sort of maybe an urban feel. I really like what you're talking about now. Sherlock Homey, do you know what I mean by that? I guess I like what you're talking about now. Sherlock homie. Do you know what I mean by that? I guess I know what you mean. Okay.

Like my original joke? Yeah, but update it even more. By shortening it to homie instead of homie. So it's like 45 seconds fresher. Okay, great. Dave Williamson from Athens, Georgia writes to us. Oh, cool. Enjoy the podcast.

Adam mentioned Wuxstree on episode one and cheap bastard that I am sending you a dollar beer cozy to keep your beverages cold.

Continued success to you. Here is a Wuxstree Records beer cozy as well as a sticker. You can take one of them.

There you go. Take the red one. You'll take the red one. I get the black one. And what I could not figure out from the note is whether he works there or whether he went in there and just got it and sent it to us. Well, he said he's a cheap bastard, so maybe he either stole them or he does work there and he gets them for free. If you're going to steal something, steal something more expensive. Like, you can't be a cheap bastard stealing things.

Like, you know, go for the expensive stuff and steal it and then send it to us. Don't just send us a piece of – what is this material that they make beer cozies out of? I don't know. What do you think this is? Metal. I really don't think it's metal. Steel? I don't think it's aluminum.

No, I actually think that it's more like some sort of plastic or vinyl or something like that. Stu Zickerman got me a Wuxstree Records T-shirt once. Tell me about Stu. Stu's a great guy, and we were shooting a movie in Atlanta, Georgia, and he took a weekend trip into Athens, and he knew what a big fan of R.E.M. I was, and I didn't have time to go into that on that little jaunt. Why is that?

Is that because you were lazy or because you had such a big part that you... My family was with me there in Atlanta, so I couldn't just bail to Athens for the weekend. I mean, you could. With Stu. I could. You're right.

I could. Hey, guys. I physically could. Me and Stu, we're going on the road together. Thanks for coming to Athens to see me. It's gonna be super fun. So he got me a t-shirt, which is really nice. That's nice.

Do you still have it? I do somewhere. It was kind of one of those, like, not the most comfortable materials. Right, and not the most flattering fit, perhaps. Maybe. But thanks to Stu for that. Love the t-shirt. I do have it.

It's great. All right. Very good. And thanks to Dave, parentheses, a fan for that. If you write to us. Dave Williams. Thank you. Dave Williams' son.

Son. Dave Williams' son. You interrupted me, so I hadn't finished saying his name. I'm sorry. Do you want to continue with anything else? No. Okay. You're good.

Thank you, Dave. I want to ask you, Adam. Williamson. I want to ask you a follow-up to last week's episode or the week that we were doing New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Yeah. Did you listen to my track listing? Yes. And what do you think?

I think it's a disaster, just like I said when we recorded the album. What did you – tell me about it. I hate it. I think the album is perfectly fine as is. Perfectly fine? No, the reviews are glowing. Perfectly fine. Two and a half stars.

No, no. There's no augmentation needed for that album. It's a classic and the the songs you took off uh Undertow is a great song

um what was the other one you took off uh I took off four I believe I definitely took off that kind of country not country

but a bluesy one towards the end oh Low Desert Low Desert no you leave Low Desert it's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. You leave it alone. It's a classic album.

Look, here's why. Why would you rearrange? It's like rearranging Abbey Road. How about the White Album? There are imperfect songs all over that thing. I'll tell you why I did it. I'll tell you why I did it. It's because of the imperfection. Here's why I did it. Did you ever see the movie Robocop? Yes,

I did. Okay, Peter Wellerer he's a cop in it right yeah he's a great cop great cop great he's one of the best cops just take a minute sorry is this an episode of i love films i think it may be hey everyone this is uh i love films this is scott and this is scott and we're just a couple of guys Hey, everyone. This is I Love Films. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And we're just a couple of guys. Look, not to brag, but we love films. Listen, I'm not one to brag.

I'm not one to boast. But I'm intercontinental when I drink French toast. You certainly are, Adam. And that's a drink. Drink French toast. You can't drink French toast. I don't know. I think you could whip it up in a blender and chug it down.

That would be interesting. But what I'm trying to say is I love films. I love films. And you know what? The more classic the film, the better. Oh, God. You said it. Listen, I don't know about you.

I can only speak for myself, but I think I might know what you're thinking. No, I give you permission. Okay, I'm speaking for both of us. We're not talking about movies. Or flicks. We're not talking about something you go down to the drive-in. Can I have my popcorn, please? Yeah, please, ma'am.

May I have my popcorn? Oh, please, please. Popcorn mistress. Please give me my popcorn. I want my popcorn. No, enough of that. We bring trail mix to these films. Yes, we bring gross broccoli.

We bring raw broccoli and we fart. We love films. See you next time. Bye. Bye. Oh, that tickled us. Good ep. Good ep.

Oh, God. But, okay, so Peter Weller, he's a great cop. Great cop. The greatest cop. Wait, why did we end the episode and then start talking about a movie again? Because, look, because it's a movie. That's why. Right, you're right. But he gets the shit shot out of him.

Yeah, he sure does. You know? He's on life support. He's not going to survive unless they augment him. They put all the chrome and metal on him. The bells and whistles. All the bells and whistles, and that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to turn Peter Weller, a. Weller, aka New Adventures in Hi-Fi,

into RoboCop. It's still a disaster. Plus you put revolution on there, which is like- Well, I told you you could sub in the other one. And did you? And that's the track list I sent you. So fast, so numb. Which, just the fact that you even-

What'd you say? So fast, so numb? So fast, so numb. So fast, so numb. So fast, so numb. So fast, so numb. So fast, oh, oh, oh, oh, spicy meatball. Ariem, come toumb. So Fast, So Numb. So Fast, So Numb. So Fast, oh, spicy meatball.

Ariem, come to our country and sing So Fast, So Numb. The fact that you even temporarily took the best song on the album off of the album. The best song. So Fast, So Numb is an epic, it's the one at the pre-release. Look, I know you relate to it because it describes your lovemaking style. The pre-release kind of outdoor thing at Tower Records, that's the song everyone applauded for. Okay.

That song played and everyone was like, holy shit. This is like, who's just playing on the loudspeakers there? Was that Derek and the Dominoes? Oh, God. No, it's a great, great song. So anyway, so I put that back on instead of Revelation. We have not released that episode yet. I'd be interested in what the listeners have to say about it.

No, you took off Undertow. You took off Low Desert. But then you also took off... Was it... No, you didn't take off Departure, did you? I think I did. Oh, no, you changed Leave to the electronic. To the cool version.

No. To the not seven-minute version. It's seven minutes because it's an epic. Oh, God. It was, it just doesn't, it's infuriating. Infuriating. This is, see, this is what I'm dealing with. It is.

It's their sort of white album. It's not their white album because it would have been two CDs if it was the white album. The white album could fit on one CD. They just did that for effect. Sure it could. No. Wilco's being there could. Certainly.

Have you ever tried fitting the white album on one CD? Yeah. I've tried shoving it onto one CD. I put it all on one CD. Hold on. The CD was like four feet long. Hold on. I'm going to look up the. The CD was like four feet long. Hold on. I'm going to look up the running time of Beatles' White Album.

Okay. You do that. I'm going to look it up too. This is like a lookup competition. What if we get different results? Okay. We have a running time of 93 minutes and 35 seconds. Too long to fit on a CD.

But that's just because you would take Revolution 9 off of the White Album, right? Well, yeah. Okay, so it does fit on one CD if you take off that. I think, wait, how long is Revolution 9? It's really long. 822. Still not enough. You'd have to take off something else.

What did you take off? What's a CD? See, you said that you fit the White Album on one CD, which means you did exactly what I did, which is you took off songs. I did not do that nor attempt it. I was... You were lying? I was lying.

Why do you have to lie to me? Wait a second. Well, I thought it would be funny, but it sounded like it was something I really did. Weird lie, too. Don't you think that the White Album... Like, if you'll lie about that, what else will you lie about? Anything, Scott. Anything.

Anything. What about, like, the White Album, wouldn't you say that its imperfections is part of what makes it special? But it's a little bit longer than... Than it should be. No, no, no, it's longer than bit longer than the 60. Than it should be. No, no, no. It's longer than New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Oh, certainly. 63 minutes is like a half hour longer.

I sort of compare it to Wilco's Being There, which could fit on one CD. It's a little bit longer than New Adventures in Hi-Fi. But I think the songs on Wilco, Being There, are better. So you wouldn't change a thing about Being There? No, I love that record. Okay. But you have had 20 years to listen to Being There and kind of grow into the album.

But I loved it from minute one. Like literally the first 60 seconds, I was like, I love all of this album. Same with me and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Okay, well, it's a difference of opinion. I don't know why you're infuriated by it. Because you tried to take it apart and alter it and make it better, and it's something that should not be touched or altered in any way. I think, look, if you're going to go to an art museum,

you want hands-on experiences. You know what I mean? Like you want to touch the art. Yeah, and change it. Yes. That all being said, I do have theories about Up and another one of their albums. See, this is the issue. I know, but... You're

going to do an alternate track listing for an upcoming album, so the very idea of me doing it should not offend you. The very idea of it does not offend me. The idea of you doing it to that album... You are ludicrous. But maybe it's because of the songs you took off

And the fact that you put Revolution on it You don't like it You like the idea Can you just admit that the idea of doing it is fine? It's just you didn't like it The idea of doing it is okay I think that Alright, I'm getting you there

I think that my I think that I just Come over to my side, Adam I only trust my taste For this particular But that's what taste is. But can't you get into the spirit of how fun it is to discuss something like this? No, because for whatever reason, I was offended by it.

You're still offended by it. And I find it very funny, but it is also similarly infuriating. All right. I also want to bring up the song Electrolyte. Yeah. Okay, because he mentions a bunch of actors in there. Yeah. And I think a missed opportunity, he mentions Martin Sheen.

Yeah. It should be Charlie Sheen, shouldn't it? Yeah. Tiger Blood? Yeah, probably. Charlie Sheen's. Hashtag winning. So awesome.

And he was awesome then, too. It's not like he didn't exist then. Oh, he was in his prime. Oh, man. He'd been in Platoon in 1986-ish or so? 1996 is when the album came out. What was he up to then? Major League Two, probably. What was Charlie Sheen doing in 1996?

You want me to look it up? Can someone look up what Charlie Sheen was doing in 1996? Can you get that to me day by day as well? What's the Wi-Fi here? Bitcoin? Why is Bitcoin in this building? Wait, Bitcoin is one of the Wi-Fi options that comes up?

There's two Bitcoin Wi-Fi. Bitcoin? Who's out there doing cryptocurrency in the building? Have you seen a Bitcoin ATM? No. There's one in a liquor store. That dispenses Bitcoin? Aren't Bitcoin now five grand or something? You can buy Bitcoin at this ATM.

You can put cash into it. And one Bitcoin is 11 grand. It's 11 grand now? 11 grand. And you can buy it at this liquor store. All right. We're getting some information in. Chef Kevin is...

Oh, he's just giving you the Wi-Fi password. Yeah, that's all it was. I thought he was looking up Charlie Sheen. He was making The Arrival in 1996. What is The Arrival? It's a movie. But just a movie. He was making it or it came out then?

No, I think he was making it. Because he didn't have a film that came out that year, I'm guessing. He was just making one. So that's interesting stuff. All right. So Charlie Sheen, Martin'm guessing. He was just making one. So that's interesting stuff. All right. So Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen. Okay. Yeah, he could have swapped those out.

I wonder when they play the song live if he ever says Charlie Sheen. I bet he does. I bet he does. He winks to the audience like, you get it. Tiger blood. Martin Sheen came over to my house recently. Really? Yeah.

Oh, right. Because of the TV show. What? Because of June. Oh, right, because of the TV show. What? Because of June. Oh, well, actually not because of that, strangely, but we were doing a benefit for Legacies of War, which is an organization that my wife, Kulop, works with, which is all about the bombs that were dropped on Laos during the Secret War, and he is involved in that organization.

And was he cool? He was very cool. He came by, met everyone. He came by right at the end of the night to pick up his wife, I think, who does a lot of work, and just went around meeting people. That's awesome. Did it feel like Josiah Bartlett was there? It really did, in a way. I kind of wanted him to yell at me like he yelled at God in that episode about Mrs. Landingham.

Put the cigarette out on the floor. Ooh, that was powerful stuff. I have a theory that Martin Sheen is the best living actor. Wait, wait, wait. Is this an episode about Sheen theories? I believe so. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Sheen Theories. This is Scott.

And this is Scott. And we're just talking about our favorite Sheen theories right now. One theory I have is that Martin Sheen is the greatest living actor. I have a theory. I have a Sheen theory. Sure. I think he's the greatest dead actor. I think he's a ghost. That's been Sheen Theories. We'll see youen theory. Sure. I think he's the greatest dead actor. I think he's a ghost.

That's been Sheen theories. We'll see you next time. Bye. Great app. Edgy stuff, though. Yeah. I wanted to bring up this book. We haven't talked about it in a while, the REM book, Talk About the Passion. I talked about it a lot early on, and then listeners may notice that I dropped off, but I just wanted to say why.

Because it's kind of crappy? Well, what's interesting about it to me was the writer has access to all of the friends in the early days. Right. And then that's all he has access to. I know. And then they get popular. And then they get popular and they don't speak to any of these people anymore. It's only music journalists and stuff.

Yeah. Well, going from like document on, it's just people griping about like, well, they wouldn't talk to me anymore. I know. like document on, it's just people griping about like, well, they wouldn't talk to me anymore. I know. It's like, well, you know, if you're really going to do an oral history about the band, that's going to cover.

And half of the book is about the later years. Like talk to some of their friends from the later years. I know. Or just say that the books about their early years. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, uh,

I did want to mention that because I felt like, uh, we talked about it in the early episode so much and then I just never brought it up again so I wanted to bring that up the Tony Fletcher book though

is good for kind of a narrative that's the guy who the writing style I find very obnoxious sure but information wise

sure there's a lot of good stuff in there but my favorite is it's a lot like the bible yes information wise the information in there is solid. Writing style... Eh.

I like the Song of Solomon. Shaky, to say the least. But my favorite is It Crawled. Song of Solomon gets me horny. It Crawled. It Crawled. It Crawled. Wait a minute.

Is this an episode of It Crawled? I believe it is. Crawling, crawling, crawling from the wreckage. Hey, everyone. Welcome to It Crawled. Hey. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And you were saying to It Crawled. Hey. This is Scott. And this is Scott.

And you were saying? It crawled. And you were also saying? It crawled. But then you told me? It crawled. We'll see you next time. Bye.

Bye. Crawling, crawling, crawling from the wreckage. Yeah, the Song of Solomon gets me horny when they would talk about it in church. Like, it's all about, like, getting all up in them guts. Oh, yeah. You know, it's like, damn, son, the Bible is fucking horrified. The Bible is fucking shit. What I was going to say is.

Yeah, the Tony. That book, not the Tony Fletcher one, but It Crawled from the South, I think is the best of those R.E.M. books. Is that the one you loaned me? I gave it to you, like a hard copy of it. It was very hard, by the way. As hard as me listening to the Song of Solomon in church. But that was like an encyclopedia. You gave it to me like, hey, read this book.

And then I opened it up expecting it was a story about the band from a different source. And all it is is, like, information. It's like, here's a chapter of every song they've ever written. Here's a – you know what I mean? But it also has – like, it has a story about every song, where it was written, why it was written. I guess I didn't read it that much. Oh, it's great. You should check it out.

No, no thanks. It's something you can, like, jump into it. It's not – you're right. It's not a narrative. Thanks for the gift, it's not a narrative. Thanks for the gift, but no thanks. Okay. Okay, when we get back, we're going to be, we need to go to a break. When we get back, we're going to talk about the dissolution of the classic era of REM.

Are you ready for this? Because this is a very meaningful subject to you. What, you think I'm going to get emotional talking about Bill Bear? You're already like welling up a little bit. I can't quite tell if you have allergies or just the very thought. You know what we should also – anyway, yeah. Okay. You want to tell me off air during the break?

Maybe that's a better idea. Then why don't we take a break? We are going to come back with more from REM. This is R, you talk at REM, Rimi. We will be right back. Hey, everyone. We want to tell you about a great Earwolf podcast, one of the first ones that we ever had on Earwolf, one of our super podcasts, Who Charted.

I've been a guest on this show. You have! Your episode is wonderful. Thank you, Scott. On Who Charted, comedian Howard Kramer, one of the funniest dudes alive, brings his funniest friends to discuss the top five songs

and the top five movies of the week. Recently, he's been joined by Natasha Leggero as co-host, who you may know from shows like Another... Everyone knows who Natasha is. Everyone knows who Natasha is. Look, if you don't know who Natasha Leggero is, you may want to check your pulse.

How about wake up and smell the coffee, okay? Coffee smells really good. They talk about everything from mumble rap to new country music. They debate, what is this? Neil Young. No, but what else do they debate? They debate everything, don't they? It's like the Lincoln-Douglas debates over here,

except they're debating Neil Young versus Jimmy Buffett. I love both of them. Yeah, they're both curmudgeons, and apparently they think movies are too loud. Plus, each episode, Howard, Natasha, and the guests also share their hot picks with listeners, things that they recommend over all the garbage on the charts. There you go. Recent guests include actor Ben Schwartz, comedians John Erling and Kate Berlant,

Earwolf's own Paul F. Tompkins. So, listen to Who Charted on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Up your butt. Welcome back. Are you talking R.E.M. Remy? Right into the mic. Sing it. Oh, man.

I would love to sit around your house. Not have me do that anymore. Welcome back. We're – transitional episode for us. Yeah. About a transitional moment for the band. And you know what's crazy is that this is such a heavily transitional era for the band. He leaves in 97. 98, they have a new album as a trio.

It is incredible. But before we get to that new album, which will be in one of our next episodes, we just kind of want to talk about everything that happened to the band because they put out new adventures in the hi-fi. And we briefly touched on this in the Hi-Fi thing that Bill Barry quit. But let's talk about exactly what happened. So they are just about

to put out New Adventures in Hi-Fi. And this is their final album in their Warner Brothers contract. Yeah. Okay, now if you recall in a previous episode, oh wait,

previously on Are You Talking R.E.M. Remy. Is that the guy that does Lost? Yeah, I think it's the guy who does Lost. Okay, so that wasn't the clip that I was looking for. But in a previous episode, we talked about how they jumped from IRS Records to Warner Brothers, and they made like a giant deal where they got full creative control, and they got the rights reverted back to them after a period of years for the Masters and all that kind of stuff. So they are at the end of their contract. This is the fifth record of five that they were to record for Warner Brothers Records. New Adventures was.

New Adventures was. New Adventures was. So they – as they're preparing to put this out, Warner Brothers Records comes to them and wants to lock up their services for another deal. Because I was reading in that one book that you sent me, there were a lot of changes at Warner Brothers Records where a lot of the people were getting fired and the head warner brothers records was being asked to step down like the guy that they went to warner brothers because of was getting yeah pushed out skip i think his name was skip skip henderson um and so skip intro that's a comedy bang bang callback stevenson that's who i meant to say from uh real people he was running warner brothers you used to did you ever watch Real People? Oh, yeah. Who was on that again? Skip Stevenson.

But who else? Well, Peter Billingsley was on there sometimes. Right, right. Who was the blonde woman? That was Judy Hindora. Hindora, right, yeah. I remember my parents, we went to the beach once with some other couples that were friends of theirs from the church. Weird.

And, yeah, it was weird. It was a weird situation. Like, what are we, all going to go to the beach and, like, take off half of our clothes? Yeah. And you were the only child there with all these church couples. But we saw a restroom, public restroom, that had a sign. It was the women's restroom, and it had a sign on it that said, no dogs allowed.

And they thought it was so funny. Women, you know, women restroom, no dogs allowed. They took a picture of it and they were going to send it to real people and hope that they would get on the air. That's exactly the kind of thing. They probably would have put it on the air. Yeah, they probably would have. I think my parents were never like great in the follow through

of that kind of thing. So I just remember getting the pictures developed months later and seeing that one and going, oh, yeah, there it is. I don't think they ever did anything with it. Throw it in the garbage. So all the people in Warner Brothers Records are leaving. They want to lock up REM because the future of Warner Brothers Records is kind of at stake at this point. Yeah.

They need their big act to stay on the label. Yeah. And if Hariam leaves for another record, they realize it's going to be a terrible, terrible PR move. Yeah. And they also realize that Hariam being at the peak of their commercial period, New Adventures is not coming out yet. Monster didn't perform up to expectations certainly but it sold like nine million you know so it still is like you know it was not seen as a it was not appointment no but the the the second or the uh the first two singles performed really

well and then the third and fourth like disappeared so it didn't have legs is what they're saying so so they don't so they they're like we're like – Warner Brothers apparently is between a rock and a hard place because they say if the album does really well and REM leaves, we look dumb. And if the album does terribly and REM leaves, they blame it on Warner Brothers and say like it did terrible because Warner Brothers is terrible now. So we need to lock them up no matter what. Yeah. So they offer them a contract that is reportedly – how much, Adam? $80 million. $80 million.

They were courted by all the other record companies as well during this period, right? Yes, all the other – well, Warner Brothers wanted to lock them up before the contract expired this is like still several months before right but during that period all the other like dreamworks was i can imagine i can imagine jeffrey kassenberg took him to a lunch no because mo austin the guy they went to warner brothers for went over to dreamworks right and tried to get them right so there were a lot of like, but they had contacts all over the world, all their Warner Brothers contacts all over the world, all their contact lens stores that they frequented all over the world. How's that mic coming for you?

It's so hard. I got it. I got it. I got it. I mean, basically because you want to put your legs up on the table, cradle your laptop in your actual lap. Bro, I'm Kumpf. Wait, is this an episode of Bro, I'm Kumpf?

I think so. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Bro, I'm Kumpf. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And, bro, I have one question for you, and you've got to answer honestly, and you are hooked up to the lie detector. What you got, bro?

You fucking kumpf. I'm kumpf. All right, we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Good app. Great stuff. Really short, and I think that the people who think we should take an editing slicer to this,

Are You Talking R.E.M. Remy, they'll be very happy with that episode. Yeah, and it dilutes their point. Right? Okay, so they signed this deal for $80 million. Biggest record deal of all time. Deal of all time. $80 million for five more records, right? Yeah.

Which, by the way, does not sound like all that much money to me in retrospect for being superstars. You know what I mean? It's like if Jim Carrey made that much off like four movies. But at the time, that was like $200 million. 1996, it was in 1996 dollars it's 80 million in 2018 dollars it's 200 million dollars but but it sounds like what they're worth to me but it sounded and also by the way part of it i read is that they are getting more points on the records that sold really well yeah they're getting a better deal on past records past records that already are in the black.

Like they were in the ultimate bargaining position. They were the biggest band in the world. They're like, you're not only going to pay us a lot of money for our future records, but you're going to pay us more money for the ones we already put out. That's right. So they're getting paid what they're worth, essentially. Yeah. You know, because record companies are, it's just such a shady business.

Yes. They just squeeze everyone for like, I read that they're getting like probably $3 a CD for $13 CDs. They've been fucking people over for like a century before this deal was – Right. Meaning the band gets $3 and the record company gets $10. Right. It's just ridiculous what they do. So for my money, REM is getting paid.

But when it comes out in the press, reportedly at $80 million, the public – how did you feel? I mean it didn't really have an effect on me, but how did you feel when you heard it? I mean just as a fan, I thought it was cool that they were getting that kind of deal and it was a cool band and they deserved it. Also, the other part of it is like when Jim Carrey got $20 million a movie, he's one guy. Yeah. Like they got to split it four ways. And that's, I mean, really chump change, Scott. Honestly, you try living on $20 million.

Exactly. It's hard. Oh, God. It's hard. If I hadn't made an extra $20, I don't know what I would do. I mean, it's almost like you need an extra 20 just to pay for the 20 you already have. Exactly, and just for walking around money also, by the way. And that's before Uncle Sam comes knocking.

Oh, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Oh, my God. Uncle Sam here. Here, why don't you just take the shirt off my back, too, why don't you? Oh, no thanks. I'm already wearing my Uncle Sam costume. Oh, God. Have no need for a shirt.

Bye. Uncle Sam is such a weird voice and way of walking. He doesn't talk the way that you would expect like a grizzled old man, patriotic man from the South to talk.

He's very light on his feet, though. Yeah. So, but it turned off a lot of people. Did it? I don't know. Do you think that stuff matters?

I don't know. Apparently, I mean, in the two books I've read about it, it turned off a lot of people. I mean, I think that news like that coming out, if you're in a band like REM, you probably don't want news like that coming out. It just makes you look like a big rich person. And they've always said it wasn't totally accurate anyway. It is very weird that people want their artists

and entertainers to be poor. Like they want... Especially nowadays. They also don't... Like they... Nowadays you want to download all of their music for free. Yeah. And you want them to be really poor. Otherwise you don't respect them. I guess.

How rich do you think a person should be? Like a popular artist. A popular artist should be getting at least minimum wage. At the very least. At the very least, yeah. At the very most. In whatever state they live in.

At the very most, I think they should be getting, let's say, $100 every couple of weeks. Right? Just to cover expenses. Wait, wait. So minimum wage. Minimum wage.

For a 40-hour work week? For a 40-hour. They should have time cards. They should punch in. Punch in. Minimum wage. Minimum wage. All the way up to $100 every couple of weeks.

But you know what? If they really mean it, if they really love what they do, they would do it for minimum wage all the way up to a hundred dollars every couple of weeks but you know what if they really mean it if they really love what they do they would do it for minimum they would do it for minimum wage if they really loved it uh but it but isn't it weird like how everyone just wants everyone to be broke yeah and i think when when uh when uh an article like that comes out it just it's kind of gross and And I think you're right. Like maybe the public is like, oh,

fuck them. Also, why does, that's the other thing that I don't know about. Why does anyone care about the business of art these days? You know what I mean? Like how much money a movie makes or how much money an actor makes or how much money REM gets for their records. It's like,

because is it part of the fantasy of like, oh, I'm going to be in a band one day and get an $ million dollar record contract yeah i yes i mean are you seriously i'm seriously yeah i i think so i think it whenever it was that boss box office numbers became bo yeah bo bo became like a you know something that was on the front page of the entertainment section. When was that? Like the mid-'80s or something? I think it was – Yeah, maybe the late-'80s.

Maybe after Star Wars made all that. I don't know. Maybe, yeah. But now it's reported on the local news and everything. Like who gives a shit? I guess so. I always thought it was interesting. Yeah, you're in the business.

Yeah. But like regular Joe six-pack asshole. Yeah. He has a six-pack on his asshole is what I'm trying to say. Like he's ripped. Six-pack asshole. He's got a six-pack of assholes, by the way. He's got six assholes in his butt.

That's a lot of assholes. Yeah. Anyway, so $80 million contract. What I thought was interesting about it was there were about three of these that happened around the same time. R.E.M., Aerosmith, and Madonna. I think

all three of them didn't work out the way that the record company Really? Like their records didn't sell as well? They made these incredible deals right at the peak of their – right at the apex. Yeah. And then Aerosmith, Madonna, and I think REM never sold the way that they ever would again. When did Madonna –

I think it was like after – it might have been after Ray of Light or after Music or something. She made like this insane deal for – it was like a 360 deal of touring and all this kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, record companies have recouped on all of these deals. They all – they end up recouping and it's also – getting a band like R.E.M., whether they lose money or not, it also attracts – It's a loss leader. Exactly. And it attracts other acts.

Yeah. So let's not cry for mo austin and yeah let's don't cry for me argentina you know what i mean go ahead just sing that song i know you you asked me if i could lead you into that so go ahead yeah sorry i i wasn't uh i wasn't the most skillful uh that's okay yeah i tried but you know what i'll do it i'll do it in a bit you're gonna do it in a bit yeah okay great just to do it in a bit? Yeah. Okay, great. Just surprise me. Okay. So $80 million contract, which gets signed before New Adventures in Hi-Fi comes out.

That's right. They announce it at a party with like a fake telegram or something that the head of the record company says. And people at the record company are crying. Because it's like saving the record company. It's saving the record company and saving their jobs, I guess jobs i guess you know um cut to now of course record companies there are no more record companies but hey glad those guys were happy when it happened yeah um also some other big changes in the lives of uh harry and before we get to the departure of Bill Barry, but their longtime manager, Jefferson Holt, is fired by the band. Yep.

And interesting reading about it from these two different sources. It's shrouded in mystery. Yeah. The Los Angeles, you know, ostensibly the band is partly it's because supposedly Jefferson Holt lost interest in the management duties around the time of Monster. But also the Los Angeles Times reports that there were some sexual harassment things happening where he was harassing someone who worked at the tiny Athens office of R.A.M. Office of R.A.M. And what's interesting about both of these books is they were written a while ago. Yeah.

Like pre the Me Too movement where we all got a little more tuned into like how uncool it is for a boss to even like – and some people are like, it was a consensual relationship. Right. It's like, was it really a consensual relationship? Yeah. And then Peter Buck had that weird quote about like we all lead moral lives and I can look myself in the mirror. Yeah. Which was an interesting quote. Yeah.

Yeah. Never quite got what that was all about. But it was certainly a big change. I mean, Jefferson Holt was a huge part of – He's in their videos. They reference him in songs. Totally. And he was partially responsible certainly for their success up to that point and their aesthetic and just sort of the way they were presented to the – not as much the aesthetic but the way they were presented to the world, which was really a smart way of unfolding a band. A very integral part of early REM and they gave him a nice severance package apparently.

But Peter Buck also quoted as saying they wanted to fire him before the big new $80 million contract because they didn't want him to share in that contract. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Oh, well. So, hey. I guess that's a smart way of doing it. I guess so.

Have you ever fired a manager? I don't know. What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? Do you think I've ever fired a manager? Do I think you're with your first manager when you first moved to L.A.? No, I don't. Okay.

How about you, Scott? I have. I've done it once, a manager. I've left my agent, and that was a very easy call to make because he understood why because he didn't really have a – I was moving into more of a screenwriting and he didn't have a lit department. He was like, I get it. I understand what you're doing. That makes sense. And then my manager, my very first manager I fired and that was a very difficult call.

And we're still friends and – but it was like – and he got it. He was totally – It was on the phone? It was on the phone. I couldn't even do it in person. I did my first one in person. I probably should have done it in person, but at the same time, he had initiated the initial call on the phone,

and he says he was so hard. I don't know if doing it in person – that's actually kind of worse for – Is it? Yeah. No, no. It's all – No, my first manager is a great guy. He actually is like a Game of Thrones executive producer now, and he's like Reese Witherspoon's manager and stuff.

He's like – I was his first client. There is no way he should be my manager. Like his business is totally, totally different than what I do. He's doing great. He's doing great, but it's a hard call to make. It sure is. And you know who apparently it was hardest on

was Bill Barry they say. Oh. That he was that when they fired him that it was not something that he was he took too well apparently. According to these sources

we don't know. Yeah I mean this is a group of people that have been together for 15 years at this point or even longer. Well, this is 1981. So it's 96. Yeah, 15 years.

Mr. Dietz over here goes to Washington. I think, yeah, it was probably hard for everybody. Probably a hard thing to do, but necessary for them to move on another person that is now out of the fold Scott Litt their producer ever since Document or Green?

yeah ever since Document right now their final album with him their final New Adventures

is their final album with him and as I was reading about it apparently he was saying during New Adventures he was kind of

in and out a little bit mentally and he was saying like he hoped that was the last record he ever produced oh because he was saying during New Adventures he was kind of in and out a little bit mentally, and he was saying he hoped that was the last record he ever produced. Oh, because he was starting a record company. He was starting a record company because he wanted to do what Jimmy Iovine had done with Interscope. Right, right. And he wanted to start his own record company, which would make him hugely rich. Right.

Now, the record company that he started was Outpost Recordings, which had Veruca Salt's second record.'s second record, not the popular one, and two records by The Crystal Method. And then that was it? I think it was around for a couple of years. Those were the two biggest records they had, I believe. Wasn't it just – it was part of a bigger record company? Probably because it was a tinier record.

It was like Interscope that started tiny and they wanted it to be huge. Oh, I see. Okay. But I don't think that it ever got there. And honestly, look up Scott Litt. He hasn't been up to anything. I bet. Yeah.

Since then. Yeah. Like literally since 2000, I can't tell what he's been up to. Oh, weird. I know he was involved in the anniversary of Automatic. So they're probably still on good terms. Seems like it. He was like in the studio with Mike Mills for an interview or something.

So it seems like – So yeah, they're still on good terms. But I think they parted ways with him not for – Creatively. Acrimonious reasons or creative reasons even. But he just wanted to become a businessman, I think. Yeah. But Scott, if you're listening, and who knows, he may be.

He should come on the show is what he should do. Scott, Scott, and Scott. Oh, my God. That would be amazing. Triple Scott. Triple Scott effect. He did such incredible work with Hariam. Hariam, it would be great to talk to him.

Sure would. And Pat McCarthy then be great to talk to him. Sure would. And Pat McCarthy then becomes their producer for a while. Pat McCarthy who worked on Radiohead Records

I believe. He did some U2 stuff and then he was an engineer with R.E.M. for a while and then just kind of stepped up to producer

for a while. Man, can you imagine that call? We're calling you up to the majors, kid. The big leagues. The big league chew. Yeah,

get that weight on the end of the bat. Yeah. Take a couple swings. Get that donut on. Yeah. Then crack of the bat, ground rule double, my friend. Oh. Put me in, coach.

I'm ready to play today. Today. Put me in, coach. Do you like that song? Yeah. You love that. Your eyes lit up. I like that song a Yeah. You love that. Your eyes lit up. I like that song a lot.

You like that song a lot? Yeah. This is something else I wanted to ask you about. We talked in a previous – I can get sick of that song. Sure. But I like it. Yeah.

I don't own it, but maybe I'll go buy it for $1.20. Does anyone own anything these days? They're just vibrations. You know what I mean? Songs are just vibrations. How do you own the air? Exactly. See, this is what I've been trying to say

for the last like 10, 15 seconds. When people try to sell you music, it's like, what are you going to sell me this cloud next? Exactly. You're going to sell me the hair on your head

because I'm not interested. Really? Because I'd like to sell you the hair on my head. I'll buy it. But this is what I want to ask you. In one of the previous, I think the last episode, we talked about how you don't like any other band other than R.E.M. or U2.

That's not true. Well, you said it. No, I didn't. I said, do you like any other band in the same way that you like U2 or R.E.M. where you got all their B-sides and you know this much about them? Radiohead was that way for a while. Vampire Weekend, I would say I'm like a big fan.

Do you have all the B-sides and everything? Yes. Okay. Interesting. I think they're great. Okay, this is the challenge I wanted to ask you about.

Sure. Because I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah. Could you compile your top 10 albums of the 21st century? Is that something

that you think you could do? I could do that. Okay. I could do it too. Okay. Do you want to do that for next step? We could do it for the next step or we could do it for a future up down the line or something Oh, like that's a full app right there.

Maybe. Yeah. Okay. But I think that would be fun. I wondered if you could do it just like if you had connection to music from the 2000s. Because I don't listen to anything else. I don't know your life. Yes, I could definitely do that. Okay. I think it would be fun. I think don't listen to anything else. I don't know your life! Yes, I could

definitely do that. Okay, I think it would be fun. I think it would be fun to do. Because people get sick of us talking about these antiquated dinosaurs. It's so depressing that these bands are antiquated. Because they're still,

I think, listening to them, they're still, like, rock and roll music hasn't progressed so much. You know how when you listen to a song from the 1950s, it's like, it's so fucking basic. And you know how if you even listen to hip hop that's five years old, it's like, oh, that sound where everyone's going, hey, hey, hey, in the back, you know, like on Iggy Azalea's Fancy, how that was in vogue for a while. Like certain sounds are like, you know, how trap beats are popular now. But a year from now, everyone will be like, oh, all those. It just sounds dated. The Migos style will sound dated.

So, but rock music itself, like you can listen to OK Computer and it's not that different than rock music now as far as i'm concerned yeah some of the bleeps and bloops are are a little more sophisticated but just in general the actual style of how songs are put together has not progressed like it did from 1950 to 1960 yeah yeah a basic song structure is very similar god why way it was. God, why do I fucking bother? Well, I mean, that was a... As far as banal observations go, that was one of them. But yeah, I mean, I think that I was looking for this one... What do you do? You're on your phone and checking your computer,

and you have the temerity to say my observation is banal because you're not even listening to it. No, I was looking for a particular song that I was going to ask you about and see if you liked. Ice Age. Do you hear that new album? No, here. Do you want to play some? Here. Oh wait, let me give you this.

Oh, I can't plug it into this fucking phone. No, I got this. Oh, yeah. Here you go. Alright, Ice Age is the band, is that right? I gotcha. I wasn't on mic for that but uh you just did the thing did the old ways do ox cord pull scotty ox cord is what they call me all right this is the band ice age what's the album called is it also called beyond list it just came out actually oh wow adam's teaching me about new music. Pretty boring so far but hey.

Yeah I think this first song takes a minute. They're from Iceland. Huh. I like the guitars. Waiting for whomever to start singing. One for the money, two for the show.

See? Song structure has to change. I like it. It's good, right? Yeah, yeah. You guys are good. Will you... Turn it down. Will you buy that for me, Daddy?

Yeah, sure. Thank you, Daddy. You're welcome, sweetheart. Okay, so I am fully engaged again. I was looking for that. I like it. I like it. So that's going to be a good episode down the line.

So meanwhile, while in the wake of New Adventures in High Filets, there's a couple of things to cover. Michael Stripe is out there making the film Velvet Goldmine. Oh, yeah. Producing that. Woo. Did you like that film? Yeah. Yeah, it was good. I, yeah. Producing that. Woo. Did you like that film? Yeah.

Yeah, it was good. I walked out after approximately 25 minutes. I saw it on TV a long time later. Oh, okay. For some reason, I loved the soundtrack, and I went and saw it and just couldn't get into the storytelling of it. But interesting that he became a film producer around this time. And then Peter Dollar Bill is working with a band, Tuatara.

Is that how you pronounce it? Oh, yeah, Tuatara. And produced one of my, not one of my favorite records of all time, but one of my favorite records that year, Mark Eitzel's West. Oh, yeah, that's a good album. That's a really great album. In fact, I want to play a little bit of that if you don't mind, because that is such a, Mark Eitzel, of course,

is the lead singer and songwriter of American Music Club and then he went solo in the mid 90s and put out a great record

right before this one he's had some good albums he's really really good but I can't remember what that one was called but that's one of my favorites and then

this is a little bit of – And you're forced to listen. You're forced to listen. That you have nothing left in your life. You had it in your life You had it In your life You threw away Your life

Throw it to me Yeah, this is a good album. It's really good. I made Paul F. Tompkins and Mark Itzel mixtape once, and I really hyped him up. I was like, oh, I think he's like the modern day Dean Martin, I think is how I, how I described him, you know, singing about booze and about, you know, you know, like sort of pub crawling and stuff like that.

And I made him a mixtape and I'd never heard back of what he thought. I was like, well, he must've hated that. He had another record that I really loved. Maybe it's the next, the one after the next – there was another one somewhere. Was it the covers record or was it the Invisible Man or We're Caught in a Trap and We Can't – Is Music for Courage and Confidence covers? Yes, it is. No, it wasn't that one.

But that's a great record. The one right before the Something What – what was it called? Something What. That's a great record. The one right before the Something What, what was it called? Something What, that's a great record. I love that one. But it's not on iTunes. Looks like he has a new record here. No, thanks. Or like last year.

Not interested. Okay. He's great, though. I love him. So that's what Peter Dollar Bill is working on. So this is all what they were doing between records? This is all, yeah. And then Peter Dollar Bill goes on a tour with Mark Itzel and some of the members of Tuatara.

I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Barrett Martin, was he one of the Tuatara guys? He may have been. That's not ringing a bell, but I also don't memorize names. Yeah, me neither. So then they decide to reconvene, and they're like, all right, here we go. Let's put out our next album. Peter Dollar Bill had been writing a lot of demos.

I think he mentioned 80 demos or something like this or 40. He has a lot of songs that he's really excited about. Apparently, he is writing songs with a lot of drum loops and atmospheric sounds that were a little more like his work with tuatara which is like very um influenced by other cultures and have drum loops so he's writing a lot of electronic bass stuff exactly he's writing a lot of stuff that basically the rhythm section is kind of cut out of them. And Stripe gets it, and he's like, oh, wow, this sounds really cool. This sounds like my favorite recent Hariem songs, which are the more experimental ones.

Yeah. So I think I can work with this. So they all decide to gather in Seattle. And by the way, are you impressed by how much I'm retaining of all of this knowledge? I'm not looking down at notes or anything. And I think because I literally – But don't they get together in Hawaii?

They get together in Hawaii, but the meeting that I'm talking about is Seattle where they're all going to have – they're going to work on the record. Yeah. And they're going to have a band meeting the next day, and Mike Myers calls up Peter Dollar Bill, and he says, by the way, Boo Berry, the man himself, is going to say something tomorrow that you're not going to want to hear. And I just want to warn you about it, but tomorrow Bill's going to say something you don't want to hear. He didn't say exactly what, but he gave Peter Buck a heads up. Wait, is this after Hawaii? I think it's after Hawaii. Okay, because in Hawaii – Because in Hawaii, Bill Barry's not into it.

They can tell he's distant. But they're all there working on demos. They're working on it, but Bill Barry is sort of distant, and he's not really into it. Yeah. And Peter Buck goes up to him and is like, hey, man, everything okay? He's getting a divorce. That's another part of it. He's like, do you want to maybe see a therapist

or see a marriage counselor or something like that? And Bill Barry's like, no, I'm not interested. So he's blue. He's just not there. He's blueberry. So he's not loving it. The other guys are like. It's not a McDonald's situation where he's da-da-da-da-da.

Not loving it. Yeah. So they go to Seattle and Bill Barry told his oldest friend, Mike Mills, that he was going to leave the band. Gave him a heads up and then Mike Mills called Peter Buck to say, hey, just a heads up. Something's going down tomorrow. I'd never heard that before. It's in this book that you gave me. Oh, wow.

And read it sometime. I did. Or read one book in your goddamn life. I know. I really should. Song of Solomon. It'll fucking get you so hard. So they go in for a band meeting, and Bill Barry says at the top,

Hey, guys. I quit. Yeah. The quit. Yeah. The end. Yeah. It sounds like it was not the greatest meeting in the world. Was that a direct quote?

Hey guys, I quit. That was a pitch perfect impersonation. And then he walked out and they never saw him again. He's like, check out my ass as I walk out the door. So, no, he quits the band.

He says, guys, I really am not into it. I'm a farmer now. I get up at the crack, the ass crack of dawn and I go to bed when the sun goes down.

These are not rock and roll hours. Yeah. Rock and roll hours, you know what those are tell me 24 hours yes hey scott's right it never stops a lot like squarespace's uh 24 7 customer support awards awards um they'll be thrilled because he had had a farm i remember in the old mcdonald you're thinking of old mcdonald Oh wait no Bill Berry What is Bill Berry Bill Berry Eventually had

Old McDonald's Had his farm He had a farm E-I-E-I-O E-I-E-I-O Sure For years Yeah

Bill Berry had I think recently got Because I remember In Automatic for the People days He talked about Being on his farm Or something So I think

He had been spending More and more time there And really Not been into touring And he had the aneurys more time there and really not been into touring. And he had the aneurysm. He's the guy who wanted to tour, by the way, for Monster. He's like, oh, I'm itching to get back out there and play rock and roll. Then he gets out there, has an aneurysm right away.

That's got to fuck with someone's head, literally. Yeah. Apparently that changed things, changed some priorities. I mean, who knows? And look, I'm just speculating. This has not been reported. It's not been confirmed. Sure.

I think the aneurysm maybe turned off the pleasure centers in his brain to where he— Is that possible? He doesn't enjoy things anymore. Oh, my God. That's just me. Except farming. Except farming. That's the one little synapse in his brain that still enjoys things.

No, he's just not into it. Apparently, as he's quoted as saying, like, all I could think about, I can't just record an album for six weeks and then leave it alone. Like, I got to think about, like, I have anxiety about the recording. And then I think about the touring. And I just, like, all I can think about is how much of a bummer it all is. Yeah. And even recording an album requires a ton of traveling because it's a band. Because they're doing it in Hawaii.

Like, look, guys, why do it in all these different states? Do it on his farm. We get it. You're all rich. You're all rich. $80 million. We get it. So he goes to them and he says, but I don't want to quit.

I don't want to quit if you guys are going to break up. Yeah. If you're going to break up, I will stay in the band. I will stay in the band. Now, Peter Buck says, this son of a bitch, he quit at the perfect time to make us stay together. Because he says if he would have quit at the end of the Monster Tour, they would have said, you know what? Let's just break up. Yeah.

If he would have quit when New Adventures in Hi-Fi had come out, they would have said, that's our last record. We're very proud of it. Yeah. Although we think maybe you could change the track listing a little bit later. Put Revolution on there, even though it's a couple years old. By the way, and I read this in the book, it was written around the time but recorded sooner. Recorded more around the hi-fi days. No, it was recorded for Monster.

It was actually on there. It was a Monster – never mind. Anyway, so – but he says – Peter Buck says, but the fact that I had written these 40 or 80 demos or whatever, he's like, I'm itching to record these demos. And they were all in Hawaii really excited by the new direction and these kind of more electronic sounds. And they were so excited to get it done that they're like, this guy gamed me out perfectly. Yeah. He figured out exactly when to quit the band to make us stay together. Yeah.

This guy, you know how we're all playing checkers? This guy is playing three-dimensional chess. Three-dimensional, much like Donald Trump and his political moves. You can't even say. Three-dimensional chess. So, and look, they had just, by the way, I read an interesting quote from Mike Myers, who just, I think, a month or two earlier had said something in the press about like, no, if any one of us quits, it's the end of our year.

They said that a lot in the years preceding one of them leaving. And then one of them leaves and they're liars. Yeah. Well, plus one of them, I forget which one said, plus we just got this contract. Yeah. This is the perfect time to still be in a band. That is the crazy thing to sign this huge deal

and then six months later quit but can i bring up something and who knows if this is right like the when i realized when i put two and two together and realized that they had gotten points on the earlier records oh yeah like why not quit yeah it's just smart it's like look who knows what's gonna happen for the next 15 years i'll just quit now i got i got you know several million dollars coming in from my earlier maybe he's a genius he's yeah i think he must be um but i remember hearing about the news that huey lewis yeah yeah i guess it was like 1983 wait minute, is this an episode of Huey Talking Huey 2E Me? Yes.

Hey everyone, welcome to Huey Talking Huey 2E Me. This is Scott. This is Scott. We're just talking about Huey Lewis and the news. Huey Lewis and the news. And the news. And one of our favorites great band

sports how about hip to be square Scott four you know what I mean look I feel like this is

too big of a topic we should go into it later I believe I think this deserves its own its own actual episode because yeah let's call it for now

and do a real episode about him. Okay. Thanks, bye. To be continued. Good ep. Yeah, great ep. What were they talking about?

As a teaser, it really hooked me. I feel like there could be something there. Could be something there. So when you read the news. Yes, I remember reading the news. It was in the LA Times, and it said the headline was losing their percussion. LA Times, you're crazy for this. I then saw that headline all over the place, wherever it was reported.

It was like the best pun of the year. By the way, did it have any other information to hook you into reading this? Or was it literally just losing their percussion and you're like why would i read an article about well i remember it said that and it had a picture of them i'd had a picture of them and it said rem drummer bill berry quits and i was like and rem drummer bill berry quits group will continue as a trio was the sub headline this by the way is when you would get that information from the paper the next day 30 hours later in the newspaper which is so crazy like like they should

it's almost like they should have texted you personally i know you're their biggest fan who's in one of their videos um by the way uh since we last recorded the show. The Automatic for the People episode. Sharp-eyed listeners have pointed you out in the video, and we want to thank everyone who did the research on that. A comedian, Adam Cousins, or Cousins, oh, God. Comedian Adam Cousins, it is Cousins, because I've asked him about this, because I introduced him on stage several times.

But I haven't seen him in a minute. But he sent it to me out of the blue because I used to book him on Death Ray back in the day. And I just haven't seen him in a long time. But I guess he listens to the show and is a big fan and sent it to me originally. So someone found me in there. But I think, yeah, it was like a group effort of fans of the show found and started passing the picture around. It's really great.

I figured if I was in there, someone would find it through the show. But I was convinced I was not in it. I looked through that over and over again right when the video came out. And the point in which I appear, I remember going through that. I guess even back then,

the definition wasn't high enough on TVs and videotape anyway. Exactly. So it just was like a blur. But it's pretty amazing to see that. Right. So thank you all. But yeah, how crazy that you would get that news so late.

And so when I saw that they're continuing as a trio, it was just like, wait, what? As a fan of the band, it was just, I couldn't believe it. And they did a press, they came out in a press conference right away with Bill Berry to make sure that, you know, what could have been read as an acrimonious split, they want to make sure everyone knew, like, no, no, he just is not into it anymore. But he gives us, you know, we still love him. Yeah. You know. Did you see that when it happened? I eventually saw that years later, but it wasn't like – or there were clips of it on MTV.

On the MTV, yeah. But you look at – there's a photo that they used like on the front page of the – yeah, could you do that again? Yeah, photo. Front page of the Athens paper or whatever. Extra, extra. And they all look so – Newspaper has photo. They look so sad in that photo.

It's crazy, the photo from that press conference. Look, I don't – and I haven't heard the next record. I haven't heard up. I don't know how they dealt with it. But, I mean, it's like a – I mean, with any relationship – look, has anyone ever broken up with you? Never. Okay. So, like, you know, if someone were to come to me and say hey

i want to break up yeah and i and i were to say no and force them to be in the relationship that's what the band could have that's a legitimate way to go too that is because if someone wants to break up you don't have you don't have to let them know you just say no yeah and then end of discussion end of discussion so End of discussion. And I know some people who should have done that recently. I'm gesturing at someone in the room. But they could have done that to him, and they could have said, no, we're not breaking up. You're still in the band.

We just signed a giant record contract. But I wonder how it affected their mental state. Well, when you listen to Up, you'll find out. They're definitely working through it on that album. It's a really complicated album. All right. Don't tell me anything about it because I want to hear it fresh. But we need to go to a break. Okay.

When we come back, we're going to be discussing the fan club singles we'll go through them uh relatively quickly i would imagine uh we will be right back with more are you talking rem remy after this hey adam remember that um your nippies need covering? Yeah. Yeah, everyone's nippies need covering. Well, it's a law now in Trump's America. All nippies need to be covered. So that's obviously a problem.

There is probably not a solution for it. Oh, wait a minute. No. Wait, hold on. Are you saying there is a solution for it or there is not? I just thought of a solution for it. Okay. We have REM shirts in the store.

But are they REM shirts that would cover nippies? Oh, they cover nippies. No, it's not like a dickie where it just comes down to chest level. It's not just a neck cover? And it's not just like a midriff covering thing that doesn't go up to your neck. Not just something you tie around your midriff? No, no. It's a total neck-to-belly button covering.

Oh, one of the neck-to-belly button shirts. Yeah, and then half of the arm, and it covers nippies. Oh, like a short-sleeved shirt. Like a short-sleeved, I'm sorry, I should have just said that. Short-sleeved T-shirt. Short-sleeved T-shirt. Got it. A shirt that's in the shape of a T.

Got it. Exactly. So we have some of those in the shape of a T. Got it. Exactly. So we have some of those in the store right now, REM-themed. We have two styles. Yeah. We have the out-of-time style, and we have the – oh, God, I don't even want to say it. The frightening one style. The scary one.

The scary one. It's called the scary one. The frightening one. Yeah. We have those in the store right now. Go head on over to podswag.com slash REM. Is that where we are? Podswag.com slash REM.

And you can get those plus some of our U2 styles, everything. Yeah. These are terrific shirts. These are terrific. You wear them. I wear them. Other people wear them. I go clubbing in them.

Yeah. We go clubbing together. Baby seals. We should probably just, yeah. We go clubbing. All right. both we go clubbing together baby seals probably just yeah we go clubbing all right so buy them that's pod swag.com i mean all right bye i look good in the glass pack i look good in me welcome back that is of course wake up bomb from the previous record, New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

And we're going to go through the fan club records. And Adam, you were saying about the fan club that when did you join it? Sorry about that. Excuse me. Boy, that's a good question, Scott. Probably around the out of time. Do you have a good answer? Scott. Probably around the out of time. Do you have a good answer? Out of time era.

Out of time era. And you were in it to win it. You were in it the whole time. Are you still in it? I was in it. Yeah, I don't know if it still exists. Maybe not. I don't know.

I don't get things. But right up until the end, yeah, I was getting there. They used to send out a news they used to send out a newsletter like every couple months and then it kind of trailed off but they they were still sending stuff what if they still were like still broken up nothing going on a paper newsletter every month talking about how they're still not a band um so the the fan club records start in 1988 we're going to be talking about the ones from 1988 until 1998. The reason we're doing 1998 is because it features recordings that were done right before Up came out.

Right, right. So we're doing 11 years of Fan Club recordings. We're not going to do the Christmas ones because I figured maybe we'll do a holiday episode where we go through all of those. But aren't they all Christmas ones? No, they, primarily especially the first few years, they would do a Christmas song and then they would do a, like a cover of a band. Oh, you mean like side A? Oh, I see.

Literally, we're not going to go through the Christmas songs. Oh, okay, okay, okay. We'll save those for a future episode. So, this is 1998. This is See No Evil, which is a television cover. You mean 88? 88, yeah.

What did I say, 98? Yeah. Mr. Dietz. Keeping me honest. Mr. Dietz goes to Earwolf. Is that really? No, you put your fucking glasses on like a grandpa. This is prime picture-taking time, Kevin.

You're just sitting there laughing. Missed it. All right, this is 1988 Green Era. Yeah. This is See No Evil. Evil. So this came with a Christmas song? Yeah, the I'll look it up in a sec.

A little faster than the original. Yeah. It was always cool to get a record in the mail. It kind of turned into an early R.E.M. sounding song. Yeah. They would play this live a lot, I think. Sounds fun. I like it.

Yeah, it's awesome. I like it. It's different enough from the original that I think it's cool. Yeah. Yeah, that came with the A-side was Parade of the Wooden Soldiers. Yeah, the Christmas songs they did oftentimes were really obscure Christmas songs. Yeah. We'll talk about that in the future episodes.

Great. 1999. 89. Jesus Christ. 1989. I guess I'm not used to reading years that are that old. Yeah. It was quite a while ago.

This is Academy Fight Song, which is a really good Mission of Burma song. It's a great song. used to reading years that are that old yeah it's quite a while ago um this is academy fight song which is a really good mission of burma song play this live a lot too Walk into my room Ask me jerky questions Tell me what you say Immaculate deception Way by the rules So close to the chest Show that I'm not lost

This is not a test Stay just as far from me as me from you Make sure that you are sure of everything I do Cause I'm not, not, not, not, not, not, not Your Academy I like it. I like the original. It's maybe very similar to the original, so I prefer the original. But you know what's cool about these is just hearing them have fun doing a song that they like.

Low stakes. That was coupled with Good King Wenceslas. And now we move to 1990 so this is between albums they've been off the road for a while and we don't know what they're up to this is the b-side of ghost reindeer in the sky this is summertime the gershwin song um a little bit uh more of a jazzy choice. Oh, I think I got this one. Maybe this is when I joined.

Summertime. What's your wedding anniversary, by the way? Are you comfortable saying that on the air? No. Is it in the summertime? No, it's not. So that's why it didn't get on the wedding CD. I guess not.

I want that track listing, by the way. I need to find it. I know some of the songs. Is it like an iTunes playlist that you made or something? It was, yeah. But did you delete it after the wedding or something? I think I... Please find it because I get a lot of requests to go through.

I mean, I labored over this thing. I know. I played it over and over again. I mean, the amount of CDs I burned with test runs of it. Oh, I know. It was before you could just have a playlist. Or no, it was... I had playlists. Well, you know what I

used to do for CDs when I would burn them is like you had to do it on an actual like CD recorder. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I would do test runs of that kind of stuff. And then just play it in the car around town. You're like, no, this doesn't work. No, the equalization of the too loud of the bass. I'll turn this

song down a little bit. Yeah, totally. But since I can't, you know, go to your wedding. Yeah. Unless you had a time machine, which you don't. Unless I were to invent one in the future and then go back in time to right now. True, all true. I thought you said RuPaul. RuPaul.

Since I can't be at your wedding, I would love to listen to this. I've got to find it. You've got to find it. Yeah, I've got to find it. You've got to find it. Yeah, I've got to find it. What do you think of Summertime? I like it. It's great. It's fine.

Yeah. It's all right. I mean, this is a free record you get in the mail. So it's all- It's $10. It's all winning. It's free. Hashtag winning.

Charlie Sheen. Winning. This is 1991. This is a Vibrators cover. Vibrators I've been getting into a lot over the past few months. I don't know Vibrators. They are like a punk, UK punk band from the 70s and early 80s. This is called Baby Baby.

I can also play you the original if you like. And Mike Mills sings this one. I like this. You would be a crime Let me put my arms around you Just wanna I like this. It's weird hearing all of these because I would usually just Baby, baby, baby Yeah, this is awesome.

I would usually just hear these a couple times because it's not like I had a record player at my disposal. Yeah, so you would like hear it right when you got it. I would get it

and bring it to my dad's house or something just to hear because I didn't have a record player, so. Here, let's hear a little bit you got it. I would get it and bring it to my dad's house or something just to hear. Because I didn't have a record player, so. Here, let's hear a little bit of the original because I think I have it, so why not? Different key. Yep. Seems about the same way? Buzzz.

Buzzz. Nope. Nope. Nope. Oh, it almost goes to a different key. Am I right about that? It goes into a different key for the chorus? I don't know. Like, it goes into a major.

Let me put my arms around you. Just want to use up a little of your time. And I'm going, baby, baby, baby. Great song. This is really good, yeah. Vibrators are a good band. And what was the A-side to that? The A-side to that was... Actually, that was the A-side, and the B-side is Christmas Griping,

which I heard a little bit of, but we'll talk more about that in the Christmas episode. Sure. Okay, this is 1992, which out of time has already come out. This is Automatic just came out. Automatic just came out, that's right. And this is one of my favorite punk songs of the era. This is Where's Captain Kirk?

Oh, yeah. A Spiz Energy cover. Let's hear a little bit of that. Got the Enterprise noises. Attention to detail, Harian. I love it. Dietz. Mr. Dietz himself gives it his full approval.

I've got some stuff for the tranquilizing active volcano. I love this. I love this. Captain Kirk. I love this song. The original is, like, great. It's so fun to hear them just, like, thrashing around on it. Yeah, it's more overtly punk than, like, anything R.E.M.'s done. It reminds me of, like, their Toys in the Attic, you know, thing. It's, like, fun to them uh do this kind of and

especially post like a month after automatic comes out that is not the type of song you expect from them oh exactly yeah really cool um okay this then uh 1993 they do two christmas songs so we're not going to play anything was babes in toyland the a side to Toyland is the B side Toyland That's really pretty Yeah 1993 we have Silver Bells and Christmas Time is here

so we are not going to play those and then we will go to 1994 which is Sex Bomb which is a cover by

the band Flipper Yep Sex Bomb do you want me to find the original of this sure What do you think of this? Not my favorite at this point. It's my favorite. It's my favorite song. I kind of want to hear the original to hear like why.

You have it on there? Yeah, I have it on. Why they would cover that song? Why they would cover it. It's weirdly, it's the only Flipper song i actually have on the ipads or ipod so it must be their their biggest one or something so let's hear this is flipper sex bomb parentheses generic okay that sounds pretty cool yeah why generic i don't know like i don't know enough about Flipper to know. Sounds kind of like, almost like Nirvana in a way.

I can't remember if Steve Albini had something to do with Flipper. I can't remember. Maybe. Sounds like it. It sounds cool. I like the original way better than the original. Sounds like Steve Albini was definitely in the room. Yeah, I like this a lot.

Ooh, listen to those horns. Wow! That's cool. I like it. I guess I haven't heard that in a long time, but it's on the iPod. But with 25,000 songs on the iPod, it doesn't come up in the shuffle as often. Yeah. You're bragging about the amount of songs you have on your iPod.

I guess so. The B-side of that one in 1994 is Christmas in Tunisia, which we'll get to another time. All right. In 1995, they have two, not originals, but two non-Christmas songs. The first one is Only in America,

which was written by Lieber and Stoller. It's a cover originally done by Jay and the Americans. Interesting lyrics to this one, which are sort of

relevant to today. Yeah, this is good. Only in America can a guy from anywhere Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire Only in America can a kid without a sin Sounds like they may have recorded this at the same session as Arms of Love. It also sounds like they just watched The Lion King or something. Yeah, I know.

Let's record something that sounds like it could be Hakuna Matata. Yeah, I like it. It's cool. It's definitely better than The B-Side. This is I Will Survive, the Gloria Gaynor classic. It's pretty slapdash as far as I remember. Yeah, it's like.

Yeah. First I was afraid. I was petrified. Yo. Love thinking I couldn't live without you by my side. Have you heard Cake's version of this? Yes. It's so good.

And now you did me wrong and I grew strong. And I learned how to get along. So you're back out of space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. Again, this is a free record you get in the mail. and that sad look upon your face. Again, this is a free record you get in the mail. This is like one of those Christmas gifts you get that is like for a sweater you would never wear.

Yeah, but the spirit in which it's given. This is the next year they did a split single with Pearl Jam. Oh, that's right. And this is live for today which is a uh rem original i guess live for today and it's both of them together no it's just literally pearl jam's fan club put it out and rem's fan club put it out rem doing one song pearl Jam doing their own song. Oh, I see. Okay. It's like an interesting instrumental.

Oh, so there's no vocals. I don't think so. But let's keep listening. Maybe it'll come in. Maybe at the very end of the song he goes, Live for today! How does it feel? Oh, wait.

Can we play How Does It Feel to be in R.E.M., by the way? Engineer Sam, do we have that needle palette cleanser? This is a song that means a huge amount to me because I wrote it when I came out of a very bad, a very dark period. How does it feel when you're in R.E.M.? Feels good. How does it feel when you're in R.E.L.? Feels good.

How does it feel when you're in R.E.L.? Feels good. Feels good. I love that part. And then this. Like the strumming from the bottom string up to the top. Feels good. Feels good to be in R.E.F.

How does it feel when you're in a regatta A little mandolin strumming. It's so... The attention to Dietz. Mr. Dietz is very pleased. I'm fucking stoked. All right, this is... The next year, 1998,

this is the last year we'll cover. This came out after Up, I would imagine, but we're playing it because it was recorded before Up, and this was a videotape. This was not a 45 record. This was a videotape that they sent, and it's two songs live from the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1998, earlier in the year before Up came out.

And the first one is Ebo the Letter, and this is REM with doing Patti Smith's part is Tom York from Radiohead. That's right. So let's hear that. Wait a minute. You too bad. Get out of here.

Skip survey. All right, here we go. This is Ebo the letter. And this was a video that they actually sent as well. It's a beautiful day. I remember this. This is your day. Make it what it is.

Okay. Cool. Please welcome Airsats Patty. Once again, Mr. Tom York. cool please welcome airsats patty once again mr tom york and tom york comes out on stage watch that documentary shakes his little butt what documentary oh i haven't seen it up to this yet i keep watching the documentary and stop it before I spoil too much of the next record. Oh, I see.

Yeah. And then when I listen to the record, I go back and watch that section of the documentary. So Tom's shaking his butt. His little pooter couture. He sure is. He's shaking it around. He's like, I know you're looking at my butt. Playing rock music during the

day is like a bummer although what do you do during the day i play rock music and it's a bummer but like a concert during the day it just looks yeah i thought the lighting and stuff it's just i saw radiohead at the k-rock weenieast in must have been 97 in the summer during the day. They played with, I think Blur was there and the Chemical Brothers and all these other bands got to play at night. And Radiohead was the second act at like 2 p.m. And they got to play six songs maybe. Like no one knew, at least they were my favorite band at the time yeah oh here's where he sings all right tom thanks for that but no one no one i guess at k-rock knew

they're going to be the hugest band in the world uh okay computer i'd come out that week maybe or something and so this so they played paranoid Android and a couple of the new ones. Wow. That must've been amazing. No one's there. And I mean, I had seen them, I think at the Wiltern or something the week before. So it was amazing.

And here I am like, yeah, radio and they're playing in the day and it was just terrible. All right. And this is the last one. This is from the same videotape. This is lucky. And this is radio head with Michael Stipe singing the whole song.

He's, by the way, he's wearing like a very flowy shirt. Uh-huh. Michael Stipe is. It's not like as tight as you, you know, remember in the 90s how shirts were just

boxy and bigger? Yeah. And they just sort of It's all coming back now. And everyone's wearing cargo shorts. Yep. And cargo pants. Cargo shorts and loose shirts.

Literally in Radiohead, they're all wearing cargo pants. I bet. How does it feel when you... Is he wearing big flowy pants too? They're a little baggier than I would like at this for styles that are current. Tom York, though, he's wearing cargo pants, but he's wearing a tight t-shirt. He still looks pretty good. Anyway, this is good.

Yeah, he sings this really, really well. I wish it were a little more professionally recorded but this is like off of a videotape yeah but it's cool i bet there's a good recording of it somewhere probably in um a vault up your butt in the disney vault um along with song of the south well Well, that was fun. That was fun going through those. I was just today going through the automatic box set and found a couple demos that we forgot to play that are really good. You want to play them? Yeah. All right, here we go.

Fuck off. Fuck off. These are, are they substantially different than the final versions? Well, there's the Find the River demo I find particularly pretty. I have about three minutes, by the way, before I wrap this up. Oh, my God. Really?

Do you really? I do. Great. Great. Great. I mean, you are the guy who spent approximately 35 minutes in the bathroom during the breaks. No, I did not. Well, it took me like seven minutes to find the key.

Okay, here's the Find the River demo, which is just interesting because the melody ended up changing just a bit. And this is before there were any lyrics. He's just finding the melody. Is he saying like happy birthday over it? Yep. He's just finding the melody.

Is he saying, like, happy birthday over it? Yep. Here, let me go forward a little bit. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- These chords are so good. I know. It's great. And that keyboard melody isn't in there yet. Either, and that's like the lead. The dee dee dee. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Still not something I would listen to all that much because he's literally just going, I know, but... Like a caveman. But it kind of transcends that here. Ooh. Okay, that's very pretty. But then there's this long-lost R.E.M. song that you would hear about,

and it was kind of debated if it ever existed or not, and then finally it comes out on this anniversary edition, and it's this really cool kind of song that was unfinished but should have been somewhere and should have been on the album. What's it called? It's called

Devil Rides Backwards. It's really cool. Oh. It is unfinished. Again, no lyrics yet, but the chorus does have lyrics. It's really great. Hmm. Adam, my patience is wearing thin. Here it comes. I am furious right now.

Wait a minute. See, that's cool. Isn't that cool? The devil rides backward on a mule named maybe. Is that maybe like Arrested Development? Yes.

Oh, and here's a cool little snippet of something that never turned into anything. You could put this over a montage in a movie with two friends driving a convertible through the desert. I'd like to star in that movie with you. Let's do it.

What's the plot? Give me the elevator pitch. Wait, how many floors on the elevator? Approximately, it's like the Empire Stable. You know, all of the... Fuck. I grabbed the empire stable stable you know all of the um fuck i grabbed the aux cord before you could all of the demos in the automatic box that are worth listening to they're all i did not listen to them i and we were sent them by uh that gentleman who worked at the uh

the record company and i want to uh explore them yeah um that's all we have time for. Yeah. Adam, I enjoyed this. Great to do this episode. Transitional episode. Transitional period for the band. Exactly. And that's what we wanted to replicate for everyone.

When we come back next, we will be talking about the album that came out in 1998 called Up. That's right. A record that I do not believe I've ever heard one song from. Yeah. Maybe one of them. Lotus? No.

Day Sleeper? I don't know. Yeah. So this is exciting for me. I've been itching to get to it, but I don't want to listen to it too early because sometimes it takes two weeks or so to schedule these things. But you should have two weeks for this album. Okay, but what I'm saying is sometimes I get all my info.

You know how I was able to rattle off all that info so well? You did that today. It's because I did it today. I'll forget stuff if I read about it too early. But this album is definitely a grower. You need some time with it. Okay, it's a lot like, unlike your penis, apparently. Exactly.

All right, that's going to be it for us. We are going to see you next time for Up. And until then, we certainly hope that you have found what you're looking for. Bye. Hey, Queeros, it's me, Cammie 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 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 changemakers 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.