Song of the Day: "Radio Song" by R.E.M. featuring KRS-ONE · Mar 1, 09:26 AM by Don
Yesterday’s post inspired me to give R.E.M.‘s “Radio Song” a listen. It’s the opening track on the band’s 1991 Out of Time. Even though Out of Time was the band’s biggest album to date (its sales of 4 million+ would later be matched by Automatic for the People and Monster), it is one of the weakest in the band’s discography. Four of its eleven songs dilute its overall impact. The wordless “Endgame” is pleasant enough, but it’s straight b-side material. “Belong” is better, but it’s spoken verses and moaning Mills choruses still scream b-side. “Shiny Happy People,” a Top 10 single, has been all but disavowed by the band, failing to make the cut for the 2003 best-of comp, In Time. I probably like the song more than, say, Peter Buck, who looked miserable in the video, but I can admit it has not aged well. Though I give the band points for having fun with it on a 1998 episode of Sesame Street (video below). Buck, gasp, even smiles. More than once! The final song that prevents Out of Time from being a classic is “Radio Song.” Like “Shiny Happy People,” it hasn’t aged well. It’s the kind of solid b-side you’d like to find backing up a killer single, but as a single itself, Out of Time‘s fourth, it falters.
mp3: R.E.M. featuring KRS-ONE – Radio Song :: from Out of Time (1991)
If, unlike me, you can’t hear the (modest) merits of “Radio Song,” give a listen to the “Tower of Luv Bug” remix of the song. I think you’ll find the original more palatable.
mp3: R.E.M. featuring KRS-ONE – Radio Song :: “Tower of Luv Bug” remix from the U.S. “Radio Song” compact disc maxi-single (1991)
R.E.M. appeared on KCRW on April 3, 1991, to promote Out of Time. KRS-ONE was not in tow, so Stipe was, lamentably, forced to do the rap intro and outro.
mp3: R.E.M. – Radio Song :: live on KCRW (April 3, 1991)
Stipe’s skills on the m-i-c had improved (marginally) by the time he played KRS-ONE to Neneh Cherry’s Stipe a year later.
mp3: Neneh Cherry featuring Michael Stipe of R.E.M. – Trout :: from Homebrew (1992)
Check out the lively debate about the song at Matthew Perpetua’s R.E.M.-themed Pop Songs 08 blog.
Here’s that Sesame Street footage:
In 2006, I did a post about “Shiny Happy People.” Read it here.
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Songs in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 format are offered for a limited time only. Songs that are no longer downloadable can be streamed at the Timedoor page at Hype Machine. Dead mp3 links take you to the top of page one.
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Sensing a Theme: When Singers Think They Can Rap Monday Morning Video: Board Master The Movie
You know, I thought the idea of “guest rapper on white band with no discernible funk/R&B influence” was a bit dated when this came out…so you can just imagine what I thought of the guest rap on that one song on Around the Sun. This song’s alright, though – even if it does seem as if KRS-ONE is on a different record…
— 2fs Mar 1, 09:02 PM #