This list is intended to collect information on what the band has done in the sometimes infamous video medium in collaboration with the C-00 Film Corp and various other directors. I've organzied it according to the video collections' groupings -- which is to say roughly chronologically. Uncollected videos can be found listed at the end.
Even a quick perusal of this list will, I hope, make clearer some of the ways in which there have developed common themes and stylistic concerns running through R.E.M.'s visual work -- themes that comment upon, and make tribute to, the tradition of independent ("art") films, as well as making self-conscious commentary upon the show-business cliches of the music video itself -- only natural from a band who were resistant to enter the video arena in the first place.
1. Collected on Succumbs (released 1987)
Radio Free Europe (Arthur Pierson; 1983)
The band walking about Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens sculptures with
a mysterious box, interspersed with set shots of Mills as a schoolboy under the tutilage
of Jefferson Holt as the master; ends with a shot of Finster and the band watching a
little figurine, which was taken from the box, tumble down a slanted plank. Esp. notable
for Bill's white buckskin boots.
So. Central Rain (Howard Libov; 1984)
In-studio performance video with a scruffy Stipe singing in the foreground
while the other band members mime their parts behind him, backlit through gauzy screens.
Left of Reckoning (James Herbert; 1984)
Extended footage of the band at the Gainsville, Ga., Whirligig Farm and
various other rural Athens area locales with experimental effects of jump-cuts, changing
speeds, and odd coloring, to the soundtrack of the first (LP) side of Reckoning.
"It probably blew a lot of people's minds in Omaha," Marcus Gray quotes
Peter Buck as saying with satisfaction.
Can't Get There from Here (Michael Stipe, Rick
Aguar; 1985)
Michael and Jefferson goofing around on a farm, and at a rural roadside stand;
the band at a pretend drive-in movie throwing popcorn at each other between the cars while
giant insects stomp around on the screen. Cut to the band doing an odd dance routine with
horns and fake animal heads. Some of the lyrics are superimposed (handwritten) across the
bottom of the screen as they are sung.
Driver 8 (James Herbert, Michael Stipe; 1985)
Footage of trains interspersed with the band sitting around in a room with the
train footage projected on them. Pretty low key. Prefaced by a rustic Stipean
anecdote about a lantern he can no longer buy batteries for.
Life and How to Live It/Feeling Gravitys Pull
(Jackie Slayton, J. Herbert; film from 1983; edited 1985)
Footage of the band live in concert, with effects somewhat similar to Left of
Reckoning, to the soundtrack of these two songs (note: footage *not* in synch with what
they are performing -- in fact Marcus Gray thinks the footage is probably from before
these songs were even written).
Fall on Me (Michael Stipe; 1986)
Upside-down shots of an industrial yard, with the camera lazily and dizzyingly
wandering across the black and white rubble and debris; the picture is box-framed like an
art-film, and lyrics and some other odd phrases ("Let's gather together,"
"Bury magnets, swallow the rapture,") are superimposed over the picture in
bright print.
2. Collected on Pop Screen (released 1990)
The One I Love (Robert Longo; 1986)
Creative, impressionistic imagery of various people and superimposed scenes
including folks lazing in summer heat by fans, fireworks going off, Michael's friends
(including the Caroline of "Auctioneer" and concert-anecdote fame), flowers
blooming in fast-motion, angst-filled lovers, and brief cuts to the band playing at a club
or party. (Note: Robert Longo also directed the film "Arena Brains" which
starred Stipe, and recently the feature film of William Gibson's "Johnny
Mnemonic.")
It's the End of the World... (James Herbert; 1986)
A hip young skater kid (named Noah Ray) messing around with piles of
junk in an old tumble-down shack by a cowfield, accompied by a curious hound dog.
Among the debris he uncovers and displays to the camera are a dented globe and a handbill
for an R.E.M. show.
Finest Worksong (Michael Stipe; 1987)
Men and women working at industrial furnaces and working various large
machines, inspired by the WPA Depression-era murals also seen in the Document
liner. At one point a globe is smashed into the hot coals with shovels. Ends with 1950's
documentary footage of children in awe visiting Hoover Dam, which when accompanied by the
coda of the song (harmonic chords and slapped bass notes) seems apocalyptic.
Talk About the Passion (Jem A. Cohen; 1988)
Stipe's hand, writing endless numbers on a chalkboard (costs of war, numbers
of homeless people); footage of homeless people in the city and warships at anchor in the
harbor. Ends with a caption citing the exorbitant cost of a Navy destroyer ("In
1987... 910 million dollars"). This video was the first official project of C-00
Films.
Orange Crush (Matt Mahurin; 1988)
A disjointed visual narrative cutting between a shirtless soldier, obviously
anguished, smearing mud on his face (on drugs?) interspersed with shots of a child (the
soldier as a boy?) taking something from a dresser drawer and hiding it his pocket, going
out into the woods and putting together wood and wire and various objects in the form of a
gun, and finally revealing the pocketed object from the dresser to be a bullet. (This
video won MTV's 1989 Post-Modern video award.)
Stand (Katherine Dieckmann; 1988)
Happy, bright footage of people of various ethnic and racial backgrounds
dancing together on compass-rose designs in choreographed patterns, with cuts to footage
of fields and homes and cows. Some shots of Ithaca, NY. Closes with Stipe grinning shyly
at the camera.
Turn You Inside Out (James Herbert; 1989)
The band performing (intentionally not in synch with music, Stipe with
megaphone) at the 40-Watt Club, set up on the floor, not on stage. Stipe turns the camera
(and hence the video picture) on its side at one point. Ends with a superimposed school of
fish used as a backdrop to this song on the subsequent Green tour.
Pop Song 89 (Michael Stipe; 1988)
Topless long-haired Stipe and three topless women (one his friend Caroline
from "The One I Love") all of them in harlequin pants, dancing as mock-topless
dancers, with ironic and often seemingly sullen expressions. Black and white, with
the chorus lyrics ("Should we talk...") super-imposed. An obvious commentary on
MTV's cliche video bimbos. Shown on MTV with censor bars over the women's *and* Stipe's
chests. ("A nipple's a nipple," quipped Stipe at the time, "so we got rid
of them all.")
Get Up (Eric Darnell, with Jim McKay; 1989)
Frenetic animated kaleidoscope of flowers and clocks and shapes and cows and
(briefly) band members.
3. Collected on This Film is On (released 1991)
Losing My Religion (Tarsem)
Renaissance imagery, begins with the band standing about in a weathered room
looking mournful and consoling each other, an injured angel falling from heaven being
examined by people who discover he's wearing a wig, some craftsmen trying to forge a pair
of mechanical wings, very pretty young men and boys in martyr poses, and some exotic Asian
women in costume. Imagery taken from Carvaggio, Soviet Reconstructionist art, Garcia
Marquez's "An Old Man with Enormous Wings," and Hindu ritual dance.
Shiny Happy People (Katherine Dieckmann)
Deliriously happy dance party (even Peter smiles finally) with handmade
backdrop provided by an elementary school class from Athens. An old man whose
bicycle-motor is being used to power the backdrop's false motion is offered a drink by one
of the children, then asked to join the celebration. B-52's Kate Pierson is among
the dancers (she sang on the song, after all).
Near Wild Heaven (Jeff Preiss)
The band sitting about in a cafe in (Spanish?) Harlem singing the song and
hanging out with the other people eating and drinking there. Stipe with a particularly
bohemian-looking hat and goatee. Black and white (or tan-and-white -- has a sepia tint to
most of the print, though it it bright blue-and-white for a couple shots.)
Radio Song (Peter Case)
R.E.M. members and KRS-One in an industrial junkyard set lip-synching the song
and holding up various flat objects onto which footage of themselves singing and clips
from the MTV Rocumentary are projected. Lots of odd angles and circling camera shots.
Love Is All Around (Beth McCarthy)
Taken directly from the MTV Unplugged live performance of the Troggs'
tune, with Mills on lead vocal and Stipe on self-conscious back-up.
Losing My Religion, live (BBC)
Live on stage on BBC2's The Late Show.
Low (James Herbert)
Creative film manipulation of several paintings to make them come alive:
mainly the two figures in Elizabeth Jane Gardner's La Confidence, but also
adaptions of imagery from John Frederik Kensett's Italian Scene and Thomas
Doughty's Echo Lake, New Hampshire. Reveals the note being passed from one figure
to the other in the Gardner falling to the ground, a butterfly emerging from clasped
hands, one figure loosening the other's blouse drawstring, and washing the other's feet.
Brief cuts to footage of some naked people (one of them Stipe?) and a dog in a stream at
night. Very compelling and ambitious video. (The paintings, I believe, are all in
the Univ. of Georgia art museum.)
Belong (Jem A. Cohen)
Soundtrack from live Tourfilm performace. Footage of a woman with her
child at a window, also travel footage including a shoreline seen from an airplane, and
murky car or train travel shots; superimposed images from the band performing live.
Half a World Away (Jim McKay)
Moody black and white footage of a lonely man wandering and hitch-hiking; the
actor is Stipe's friend Tom Gilroy. In retrospect seems like a pre-quel to the
beginning of the "Man on the Moon" video.
Country Feedback (Jem A. Cohen)
Fireworks being shot off in some city street in classic C-00 cut-up style,
glimpses in through the windows of a textile factory of colorful carousels of spools of
thread, and finally Stipe standing uncomfortably close to a passing train, then turning to
watch it fade into the distance and the night.
4. Collected on Parallel (released June 1995)
Drive (Peter Care)
Stipe crowd-surfs, held up by a packed concert audience, lit with the passing
strobes and spotlights, in slow motion. The other members of the band stand in the
audience and at some point the crowd begins to get sprayed with water (crowd-control
hoses?) The whole thing has a dreamy, surrealistic feel. Peter Buck's wet grin for
the camera is priceless.
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight (Jake Scott)
The band is sitting in a slowly-flooding, strangely-lit room.
Everybody Hurts (Jake Scott)
Framed by a faux traffic-copter newsreport; random shots of people stuck in a
freeway traffic jam, with poetically-phrased subtitles revealing their personal, often
tragic inner thoughts. The band get out of their car and the rest of the people gradually
follow, abandoning the stuck vehicles, to the bafflement of the airborne reporter in the
closing moments.
Man on the Moon (Peter Care)
Stipe in cowboy hat walking across a (b/w) desert alone, various images
superimposed on or near him (snakes, Andy Kaufman doing Elvis, books, etc.) He
hitches a ride with a truck to a roadside diner; inside, people are eating, playing pool
(including the rest of the band) and while he settles down with a beer and some fries,
random people in the diner lip-synch the words to the repeating chorus. End with Stipe
leaving into the night again.
Nightswimming (Jem Cohen)
Begins in a gas station, late at night. A man walks in and appears to be
buying something. A couple are swimming in what appears to be a lake. Both of them remove
their clothing. The video ends back at the gas station, the lights going out.
Find the River (Jodi Wille)
Features an old, bearded man and his dog, with shots of some rural coastline.
There are also shots of the band playing in a studio. The man meanders down a path,
followed by his dog. At the end of the video, he lies down on the ground and the
scene changes to a gently rising wave.
What's the Frequency Kenneth? (Peter Care; 1994)
The band performing the song live in an industrial warehouse with plenty of
jump-cuts, bizarre lighting, and seemingly apocalyptic glimpses out a large garage door
into a suburban neighborhood (R.E.M. as ultimate "garage band"?) The
footage during the "backwards solo" is also backwards, and at moments during the
video various of the band members seem to be missing momentarily from their places.
Crush With Eyeliner (Spike Jonze; 1995)
Performance lip-synched by a stand-in Japanese teenagers kareoke-style.
Bang and Blame (Randy Skinner; 1994)
Three side-by-side frames of different takes of the band performing the song
on a blank white set (black and white footage); interspersed with shots of the interior of
a house, and later speeded-up scenes taken driving along some back roads.
Star 69 (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; 1995)
Black and white hand-held video-cam footage of the band performing the song
live in concert in Singapore, taken at various angles with lot of jump-cuts.
Strange Currencies (Mark Romanek; 1995)
The band alternately performing the song in a grimy alley in some inner city,
and riding in a large late model car through the same bad back streets. Their car has a
police-style spotlight mounted by the driver's side and this light is used to illuminate
themselves performing, as well as various scenes of urban squalor, sadness, and
desperation (a poor mother with her infant behind a broken screen door, a child playing
inside a smashed tv set, a young man running for his life up the alley) which Stipe, from
inside the rain-spattered car window, looks out upon. A darker vision coming from a
similar idea as the "Everybody Hurts" video.
5. From New Adventures In Hi-Fi and Up, and "Tongue" [not yet compiled]
Tongue
(Declan Quinn, 1995)
From Monster but not included on Parallel. People watch the band on a tv set
in their living room with a sixties feel to the decor. Live "tv footage" with
mirrorball lighting effects from live performance in Albany, NY during the Monster Tour.
E-Bow the
Letter (?, 1997)
Dark, impressionistic imagery of the band with singer Patti Smith, filmed in
Prague.
Bittersweet
Me (?, 1997)
Filmed as if an Italian B-movie called "Stanco e nudo" (or,
"tired and naked", as from the line in the lyric).
Electrolite
(?,1997?)
Surreal, fun performance video featuring dunebuggies, the band performing and
being morphed by strange visual effects. Look out for the expanding Bill Berry!
How the West
Was Won and Where It Got Us (?, 1998?)
Performance video of the band in front of a sign that reads
"Available."
Daysleeper
(?, 1999)
Interesting stop-motion film of urban office building landscapes, Stipe as an
office worker, and Mills and Buck sleeping restlessly in their beds.
Lotus (?,
1999)
[Have not yet seen.]
At My Most
Beautiful (?,1999?)
[Have not yet seen, may not have been made yet]
6. Other, uncollected
Wolves, Lower
(?, 1982)
Very early stage performance footage. The band reluctantly allowed MTV to show
it when fans voted for it in a 1998 call-in request show.
Green Grow
the Rushes (Jim Herbert; 1985?)
Described as similar in style to Life and How to Live It/Feeling Gravitys
Pull.
Swan Swan H
(?; 1986)
All I Have to Do Is Dream
Both have the band performing live versions of these songs. From the film Athens,
Ga. Inside-Out.
Thanks to all the kind folks who have offered advice
and information on this text.
Further suggesions, comments, or questions to: Ron Henry ronhenry@clarityconnect.com.
Last revised: 31 Aug 1999.
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