What is “Try Not to Breathe” about? The Studio 360 podcast interviews a listener who, remembering how her father died of a sudden illness, has a touching eureka moment about the message of the song on R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People: “I think it’s about somebody who has reached the end of their life. They have a level of acceptance that maybe the people around them don’t have. I felt like that was my dad talking to me.... It’s about facing the truth and accepting that life is ugly sometimes.” (Contains download link and embedded player of radio segment.)
posted by joeclark on Nov 3, 2009 - 44 comments

Pylon guitarist and co-founder Randall Bewley died yesterday of a heart attack at age 53. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Feb 26, 2009 - 31 comments

1 2 3 4: Feist visits Sesame Street, the latest artist to send up her work for an adoring audience of (what else?) furry happy monsters. [more inside]
posted by bicyclefish on Jul 16, 2008 - 41 comments

Sanding down the thorny edges of new wave and post-punk, adult alternative dominated the airwaves in the 1990s. You couldn't go half an hour without hearing "mature rock" artists like Crash Test Dummies, Goo Goo Dolls, Blind Melon, and Gin Blossoms. Although the one hit wonders stacked up like cordwood, established, one-time indie bands like Soul Asylum, R.E.M. and Butthole Surfers (often billed as the "Buttonhole Surfers" when they played conservative towns) bolstered their airplay and sales during this decade. Hover over links for extended descriptions.
posted by porn in the woods on May 24, 2008 - 114 comments

"Hey-ay pony, that's the wrong noise you're making..." A vintage MadTV performance of Corky and the Juice Pigs ^ parodying REM, back when they were ripe for it. Some prefer The Only Gay Eskimo. More on Corky. [more inside]
posted by tula on Apr 28, 2008 - 41 comments

Supernatural Superserious mosaic-loop, by Vincent Moon for R.E.M. [more inside]
posted by progosk on Feb 14, 2008 - 7 comments

Dreams: Night School Revonsuo puts it, "The primary function of negative dreams is rehearsal for similar real events, so that threat recognition and avoidance happens faster and more automatically in comparable real situations."
posted by drea on Jan 3, 2008 - 57 comments

Scary Stuff: Count Floyd's Scary Little Christmas Promo, Dr Cube's Posse, A Scarier Skeleton by Jack Handey [mp3], The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra Trailer [previously], Shining, Plan 9 From Outer Space - Best Lines, Re-Enactment - Pan's Labyrinth, [previously] Scream in 30 Seconds and Re-Enacted by Bunnies, Season of the Witch, The Thing in Lego, REM & Muppets - Furry Happy Monsters. Happy Halloween everyone!
posted by McLir on Oct 30, 2007 - 14 comments

Pop Songs 07 is a blog by Matthew Perpetua, founder of Fluxblog, in which he is attempting to write about every R.E.M. song eventually. With the recent release of Stereogum’s tribute to Automatic For The People, Drive XV, (free mp3s of covers of every track on the record by a range of indie rock acts) he was asked to write an essay about the album: Sweetness Followed: 15 Years After Automatic.
posted by ND¢ on Oct 16, 2007 - 53 comments

No one really knows exactly why we need so much sleep, but it seems obvious that many of us aren't getting enough. Tu veux coucher avec moi? I'm bushed.
posted by chuckdarwin on May 14, 2007 - 29 comments

A nice mixed bag of live mp3s.
posted by dobbs on May 9, 2006 - 18 comments

Johnny Cash implores Big Bird, "Don't Take Your Ones To Town." R.E.M. explore the spectrum of muppet emotion with Furry Happy Monsters. All the way back in 1972, Stevie Wonder offers the superlatively funky 1-2-3. The Pointer Sisters teach an entire generation about surreal terror with the classic Pinball Number Count. Ray Charles sings The Alphabet Song, with an inexplicable assist from Patrick Stewart, David Robinson and Lambchop. And, of course, who could forget the time The Beetles came to Sesame Street?
posted by Simon! on Apr 18, 2006 - 86 comments

Kingpins Bowl & Brew, in Athens, GA, is one of those "hipster- and family-friendly" small town places where locals of all ages get together. It's got a bar. It's got bowling. It's got an arcade. And on Saturday evening, it had Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe, the original members of REM, reunite and play a "impromptu" seven song set in the arcade. It was only the second time since Berry left the band in 1997 that the original members played together.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow on Oct 11, 2005 - 48 comments

More yoghurt, Mr. Buck? REM's Peter Buck cleared of air rage attacks. more...
posted by nylon on Apr 5, 2002 - 15 comments

Fall on Me? Just Fall Everywhere. "At one stage it was alleged that he managed to cover himself and the cabin services manager with a tub of yoghurt. " Gotta love those crazy midlife crisis/aging rockstar hijinks!
posted by nobody_knose on Nov 12, 2001 - 17 comments

Another question of journalistic integrity, however this time we were meant to notice. My question is, what was Michael Stipe's role in this ruse?
posted by Oddsea on May 25, 2001 - 8 comments