Anti-Climacus

Fluxtumblr posted about this one this morning, and it seemed like an appropriate choice. "You Are the Everything" has been either my favorite R.E.M. song or on the short list of favorites since I first discovered it. (Green was the first CD I ever bought, so that'd make this 7th grade). I think Matty Fluxblog also gets the reasons for its excellence right: it's the concentrated form of the musical sound that will be expressed in more detail, with variations, and at greater length on the next two R.E.M. albums, and benefits, as pop songs can, from having just a bit too much going on in them. The lyrics, which were unusual at the time for Michael Stipe lyrics in being direct, emotional and not a little romantic, also mark a distinctive turning point from the more political Stipe of the mid-80s. But the very best part of the lyrics is not that but the very specific image of sitting in the backseat of a car while it's being driven somewhere. All in all, lovely.

Also, check out the rat-tail on Michael Stipe. The late 80s were really weird.