For a band that released only two cover songs across its 15 studio albums, R.E.M. produced a wealth of great remakes over their 31-year career. Finding most of them requires a little digging through compilations, fan club singles, B-sides, and soundtrack albums, but it’s a worthy endeavor. There is plenty to explore beyond the five songs included here, but these covers are exemplary, even by R.E.M.’s standards, and provide a great jumping-off point.
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5. “Sponge”
This track was R.E.M.’s contribution to Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation (1996), the proceeds of which went to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which helps musicians with expenses related to medical care and health issues. The album consists of covers of Vic Chesnutt songs, and its subtitle comes from the title of a track from Chesnutt’s 1995 album, Is the Actor Happy?
R.E.M. maintains the song’s grim mood but offers a noisier electric version of the acoustic original. Michael Stipe’s gravelly vocals, which were typical of his singing style in the mid-’90s, suit “Sponge” perfectly.
This was not the first time Stipe’s work intersected with that of Chesnutt, the quadriplegic folk-country artist who died in 2009. Stipe sang backing vocals on Chesnutt’s “Guilty by Association,” which is a song about the difficulties Chesnutt faced living in Stipe’s shadow as an Athens, Georgia-based musician. “Guilty by Association” was also covered on Sweet Relief II by Joe Henry and his sister-in-law, Madonna.
4. “Superman”
This remake of a 1969 song by The Clique from Life’s Rich Pageant (1986) marked the first time R.E.M. put a cover song on one of their albums. (The second and final time they did that was when they put their version of “Strange” by Wire on Document in 1987.) R.E.M. stayed pretty faithful to the original, especially by having bassist Mike Mills sing lead vocals since he sounds more similar to The Clique’s Randy Shaw than Stipe. “Superman” was the second single R.E.M. released from Life’s Rich Pageant, and by peaking at No. 17 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, it became one of their biggest hits prior to issuing their breakthrough albums, Document and Green.
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3. “#9 Dream”
R.E.M. recorded this cover of John Lennon’s 1974 hit for the 2007 benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The double album contained 23 covers of Lennon songs, with U2, Aerosmith, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, and The Postal Service being among the other contributing artists. R.E.M.’s rendition of “#9 Dream” is fittingly ethereal, but has more of a rock feel. It sounds exactly how one would imagine an R.E.M. treatment of a John Lennon song to sound, capturing the inimitable elements of both artists’ style to great effect.
2. “First We Take Manhattan”
This cover of the leadoff track from Leonard Cohen’s 1988 album I’m Your Man appeared on the 1991 tribute album I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. R.E.M.’s guitar-heavy version veers significantly from Cohen’s more electronic rendition. It’s a tough assignment to match Cohen’s cold-blooded vocal delivery in this song about a villain’s plan for world domination, but Stipe achieves it by layering a deadpan spoken-word vocal underneath his singing. Bill Berry’s driving beat—similar to the one he provides in “Orange Crush”—helps to hammer home the song’s threatening message.
R.E.M.’s version is also quite different from Jennifer Warnes’, which was released three months before Cohen’s. Warnes’ smoother, more soulful version is a star-studded affair, featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robben Ford on guitar and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.
1. “Crazy”
Pylon’s original version of this song from their album Chomp (1983) is a jangle-rock masterpiece, so it was begging to be covered by R.E.M. It was also probably inevitable, given that the band has cited Pylon—a fellow Athens band—to be one of their influences. This is R.E.M.’s finest cover not because of the unique spin they put on it, like they did with “First We Take Manhattan.” Their version of “Crazy” is a little mellower than Pylon’s, but it’s such a fine example of the beautiful sonic blend they created in their early years. All of the elements of their pre-Life’s Rich Pageant sound are present: Buck’s chiming guitar, Mills’ melodic bass lines, Berry’s steady beat, and Stipe’s understated and inscrutable vocal delivery.
R.E.M.’s “Crazy” originally appeared as the B-side of the “Driver 8” and “Wendell Gee” singles and was subsequently included on their Dead Letter Office compilation.
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