Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Mid-Week Birthday Twin Spin
Today is the 60th birthday of Bill Berry, founding member and drummer for the iconic band R.E.M. Berry left the band in 1997, and was replaced by various other drummers for live and studio work. Generally retired from the music business, he's now a hay farmer in Georgia (!). We're featuring one song from the Berry era and one from several years after he left the band, because why just play one R.E.M. song when you can play two? "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" (the title a reference to an incident involving Dan Rather several years earlier) was released in 1994 and "Imitation of Life" in 2001, both reaching the top of the Alternative Rock charts. A little trivia: the suit bassist Mike Mills wears in "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" was once owned by Gram Parsons. Hope you enjoy.
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3 comments:
I have been a huge fan of REM forever. I have all of their albums in one form or another and I think they were a monumental influence on the music world.
I was teaching in Athens, their home town, the year they retired. One of my friends there took me on a tour of sites where some album photos were shot, and we got to go to Weaver D's restaurant, where the band used to hang out. The album title, Automatic for the People, came from the owner saying, “Automatic!” when your food was brought to the window.
When I mentioned the next day to another woman in the class that I had gotten a fun tour or REM land, she asked if Michael Stipe was in that band I said, yes, he's the lead singer. She said, “I go to church with his mother” and I swoonwd. I told her to tell his mom that I am one of his biggest fans and just love him.
A week after I got home, I got a package in the mail. It was an REM tour t-shirt, sent by Michael Stipe's mother.
How bout that!
I love REM too. What a neat story, thanks for sharing.
donnah - yes, thanks for sharing!
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