2020 supposed to be vision 20/20, clear start of a new decade.
That was what many people all over the world were optimistic about while celebrating the new year. Within one month, everybody’s wish started collapsing with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and today, so many people are forced to stay indoors including here in New York City. This is the tragedy that the majority of us have not experienced.
Before starting, to those people who experienced unfortunate results, you’re with my prayers. To those who are in the struggle situation, please allow me to send you sincere encouragement. A better day will come. Please stay strong and healthy.
*****
As a natural human behavior to give themselves temporary entertainment and comfort during this inexperienced event, some old songs rose again as the “anthems” of this year’s widespread disaster. This is the digital era. Search is easy, and search engines give us wherever interesting directions. The most notable song many people landed as the result was obviously R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” from Document album in 1987. The song surfaced to the Billboard 100 again after 33 years. Its official video on YouTube has 22,835 comments as of April 7 including many applauds to experience the time machine to the hidden old masterpiece led by the coronavirus.
“Coronavirus brought me here…. Plus, I just like the song.”
“I came here expecting to read coronavirus comments and was not disappointed”
“I don’t care what anybody says. This is the official anthem of 2020”
“This song is strangely comforting at this crazy time we’re all living in now.”
So irony for me. “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” is one of my most favorite R.E.M.’s songs since 1987 (I love R.E.M.). Should I be happy this R.E.M.’s wonderful song received another spotlight again or weep because the reason was the pandemic? No matter what, this trend proved that music is eternal and powerful.
But even “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” is popular again after more than 3 decades, not many people talked about the album containing the song. This is the reason I decided to write about Document album, R.E.M.’s fifth album. The album was very important in R.E.M.’s history because, since this album, the band started shifting into a new direction.
Document was R.E.M.’s last album being a college/garage band.
Formed in Athens, GA in 1980, R.E.M. was among the pioneers of alternative rock…meaning not mainstream. Their original rock music including post-punk and some folk, intellectual lyrics, Michael Stipe’s unique vocal style like chanting messages to inner himself first then to the sky, and Peter Buck’s Rickenbacker was highly praised since their debut with Murmur album, but they remained semi-underground until their 4th though R.E.M. always reached at top 40 of Billboard 200.
R.E.M.’s new style of rock and progressive attitude gained supports particularly from college students who were always seeking something new, different, and addictive. R.E.M.’s was formed in the University of Georgia and the same generations with college students when they debuted. The band and students shared similarities in their musical tastes and thoughts. R.E.M. was a synonym of college rock including both college radio and college concert scenes.
Document album, released at the end of summer in 1987, brought R.E.M. into their new era. Commercial success. Its first single, “The One I Love” became R.E.M’s first top 10 hits, reaching at #9 of Billboard 100 the highest.
The highest chart performance of the following single, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was #69 but wasn’t disappointing for a former underground band. The success of “The One I Love” caught fire with Document and pushed the album into the top 10 of Billiard 200 for their first time (the peak was #10). That became R.E.M.’s first platinum album.
The notable things about those chart performances are, first, “The One I Love” that boosted R.E.M.’s popularity was neither pop, catchy, nor ballad. The song was actually among R.E.M.’s heaviest songs featured edgy and doomy Rickenbacker’s guitar riffs. In that era, if a rock band succeeded in entering into a hit chart, the song was typically either catchy rock or sentimental ballad. R.E.M. archived their commercial success without being “commercial”. It was remarkable for R.E.M. to break the norm with the song’s edgy and passionate rock melodies. The melodies are not catchy but unfaded and unforgettable even after 33 years. The song was hot that felt fire just like the lyric.
Document album was also bolder and more solid than R.E.M.’s previous albums that had relatively laid back sounds. More alternative rock with sharper sounds, less folk. The sound shapes were clearer than before. The first song, “Finest Worksong” was like a needle over a drill machine. “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was the most catchy pop song of the album (and probably the catchiness was the reason the song regained the popularity after more than 30 years as well as the lyric sounded like the prediction to the current world’s circumstance). The reason for making changes was quite simple, the band changed the producer. The producer of their 4th Lifes Rich Pageant album, Don Gehman who worked with John Mellencamp, wouldn’t be able to produce the 5th so Gehman recommended R.E.M. an unknown producer, Scott Litt, who mainly produced alternative rock musicians. That idea was a good match with R.E.M., they continued to work together with another 4 albums after Document…meaning R.E.M.’s biggest hit albums Green (1988), Out of Time (1991), and Automatic for The People (1992). If R.E.M. didn’t meet Litt, their success story might not exist. Litt contributed a lot to shape up R.E.M.’s music and career without changing their originality. Document was the starting point to the mainstream.
R.E.M. ended being underground after Document. Musically, R.E.M. started having pop songs after the next Green album in 1988 while keeping their spirit as an alternative rock band (the opening song of Green is “Pop Song 89″…a great song though). Careerwise, to pursue the road of the mainstream, R.E.M. changed their record company after Document that became their last release from a semi-indie label, I.R.S. Records. They concluded the deal with Warner Bros. to seek better distribution. Being in a major label is not always promising, but the major’s effect was massive with R.E.M.. Green sold more than 2 million copies, and Out Of Time was more than 4 million, both were in the U.S. alone. Twice and 4 times bigger sales than Document. R.E.M. also gained international success as they wished. As R.E.M.’s fame rose, their catchy promotional videos such as “Stand” and “Shiny Happy People” were heavily visible at MTV and VH1 (I recalled that MTV aired “Shiny Happy People” every an hour soon after its release). Both MTV and VH1 were also cooperative to broadcast “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and “The One I Love” (I think I saw the promo video of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” more than “The One I Love” during R.E.M.’s golden era).
Despite being a TV-friendly, R.E.M became more radical since Document (I first thought R.E.M.’s R stood for “radical”). “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was one of the radical songs, unlike the comical pop melodies. There were a lot of hidden messages pointing out the world issues behind the lyrics. Disasters, The Cold War and nuclear tensions between the U.S. and former the Soviet Union, another war (1987 still had Iran-Iraq War, a threat to the U.S.), pollution caused by human beings…And the U.S. was still struggling with economic downfall inside of the long dark tunnel under Ronald Regan’s presidency at that time. Those depressive elements were spread all over the many words of this song and warned us the end of the world if we didn’t act. R.E.M. famously became more critic against Regan’s conservativeness and clearly expressed their left stance more after this Document album such as “Welcome to the Occupation” and “Exhuming McCarthy”, but “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was also a take-off point that R.E.M., particularly Michael, the band’s main spokesperson, became more open to speaking about their opinions. Michael radiated his strong aura mixed with artistic attitude, intellectual attitude, and political attitude through his voice on music, live performances, and interviews. R.E.M.’s radical attitude was rather hardcore than the alternative.
R.E.M. closed their history in 2011 without losing charisma. Probably it was out of expectation for them to receive attention again by the history-making pandemic, but their legacy is greater than this pop-up fame. Just like any other historic great bands, there has not been any similar band like R.E.M. Always original. Always one and only. There was no imitation even during the alternative rock storm in the 1990s. Maybe this is a good opportunity for us to remember R.E.M. by listening to their incredible music.
OVERALL POINTS: 90/100
- Eternal dopeness: ★★★★★
- Overall integrity: ★★★★
- Songs: ★★★★+1/2
- Originality: ★★★★★
- Song orders: ★★★★
- Vocal: ★★★★+1/2
- Background: ★★★★+1/2
- Production: ★★★★+1/2
- Strong songs: “Finest Worksong”, “Exhuming McCarthy”, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, “The One I Love”, “The Lightnin’ Hopkins”
EXTRA (NOT COUNTED TOWARD THE OVERALL POINTS)
- Title: B
- Album cover: B
RELEASED DATE (U.S.): August 31, 1987
