The Record That Changed My Life: Thom Yorke on R.E.M.’s NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (1996)
It may surprise one or the other reader, but I am not the most confident musician when it comes to my own lyrics. I don’t consider myself a genius there. Michael Stipe from R.E.M. is a genius. A master when it comes to conveying impressions. His lyrics are like a car ride along a street full of traffic signs and billboards. A neon-colored trip, total cinema in your head, and endlessly inspiring. I assume that there is wisdom in all of his lines.
Before I discovered R.E.M. in the mid-eighties, I was listening to bands like Japan. Music to kill time with. Then I discovered R.E.M. and it turned my life upside down. Michael Stipe was singing about his flaws and weaknesses, and that it is okay to be weird. I was weird. And through his songs Stipe spoke to me, “It’s okay, you don’t have to justify yourself to anyone.” Shortly after that, I signed up for art school and started to take making music seriously.
Nonetheless my favorite R.E.M. record- New Adventures In Hi-Fi– was released years later. I remember that a while before its release, we were hanging out with R.E.M. in the Penthouse Suite of U2’s Hotel in Dublin, a bizarre place. Mike Mills sat down to the piano and played the melody of Electrolite to me. I said: “This is very simple, but also very beautiful.” A few months later, I heard what they had done with this melody- the best song of their career. “Your eyes are burning holes through me / I’m gasoline / I’m burnin’ clean”.
When you can write something like this, than you deserve to be heard by millions of people.
by Thom Yorke
(Read about other artists’ album choices and reviews here)
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I constantly go back between New Adventures and Life’s Rich Pageant as my favorite REM record. Then I re-listen to everything as they’re almost all tied for second place. Except for Around the Sun. Such a great extended career with a single bad album.
I’ve been revisiting their post-New Adventures output more these days and besides Around the Sun, they never stopped producing great music. Just less popular music.
Oh yes 👏. Both have built a very special friendship over the years. “OK Computer” is heavily inspired on R.E.M.’s style. Some of the lyrics of “How To Dissapear Completely” (one of my favorite Radiohead songs) were inspired by Michael Stipe. Stipe suggested Thom to deal with his issues by pulling the shutters down and saying, “I’m not here, this isn’t happening.”
Great choice, by far the best R.E.M. album. Electrolite is the perfect pop-song
Interesting choice. I wonder which electronic record it changed his life lately?
A surprisingly boring pick.
Well, he’s talking about his college years and that album is great nevertheless.