easmann wrote:

Apocalypse Now

We were on Kibbutz in late 1987 when Q Magazine issued their famous cover asking whether R.E.M. were the greatest band in the world or somesuch. I had never heard of them. Someone bought the album and this was the first track of theirs I ever heard. Game changing.

tinypriest wrote:
Public Service Announcement: Please pay for RP. Send them $5 a month or MORE. I give and we should all do so. Nothing stays free. Support Radio Paradise. (I'm not paid to say this, just a fan, who pays for you to enjoy).


 bam23 wrote:
I've been listening to RP for over 17 years and happily contribute $15.00  a month. Well wortb it and as bam23 mentioned "a good deal" 

Word is that Michael Stipe wrote this song as homage to his father being in Vietnam and witnessing agent orange being dumped  by the US.

Not a bad song, but marked the end of my love affair with that once gritty ethereal manic jam that was REM

quite the lyrical masterpiece

weird, just finished playing Green on my record player and then switched to RP.

first bought this in 1988 on mini CD single! remember those?

Incredible song and no room on here for homophobic slurs.

decent song but not good enough to get into my Favorites.

Not a single day without R.E.M.
Had that too much in my life.
Skip.

Captures the national and personal trauma, chaos, and moral paradox of that divisive war very well I think.

 Stetsonman wrote:

What age are you? 12 maybe?

 Stetsonman wrote:

What? You're not making any sense.
Talk about exhaust. Gas passing?
Close your mouth.

Good tune! ...When it first came out, I thought the lyrics were: I got my SPRITE, I've got my ORANGE CRUSH! ...I used to call it the soft drink song!

 Stetsonman wrote:


And, YOU are an expert on this subject? ...eh?

 Stetsonman wrote:

Like your father.

Michael Stipe like it up his exhaust pipe

 tinypriest wrote:

Thank you for the reminder. I just joined last month and I need to make it a habit of donating and supporting great music. Thank you RP for keeping me company in my bedroom and sounding great on a repurposed Denon AVR X4000 that a friend just about gave me and some KEF Reference speakers. I love discovering new artists and being reminded about some great bands from my 50+ listening career.

 tinypriest wrote:
 
I've been in for $10/month for some years, which I consider a good deal.

Calling the emperor on his nakedness.

Gibberish. 

Would have been a great song with an actual really good lyric if they sat down together to write it instead of this silly word salad written by one of them on a plane after a 7th Baileys.

My favourite band for a good while in my life. Don't think they ever approached these heights again.

Public Service Announcement: Please pay for RP. Send them $5 a month or MORE. I give and we should all do so. Nothing stays free. Support Radio Paradise. (I'm not paid to say this, just a fan, who pays for you to enjoy).

Saw them first and only time on the Green tour - this song had Stipe with his megaphone and 'playing' percussion on an old metal school chair 

At least I think was both on this song -it was 30+ years ago so maybe not both after all 

that's barbaric ! what sick twisted mind would drink Crush from a can??                              danmc wrote:
 

So do I!

Right before they "sold out" LOL.  

I always debate amongst myself whether this is their best album.  Or Document.  Or Reckoning. Dang it.

REM, how I miss thee. And this tune is one of my top faves. 

 Mikey wrote:
 
Not entirely...M*A*S*H wasn't really about Korea and the original movie was a lot
more cynical than the TV show ever was...

Tony in NJ
W.A.S.T.E. 

This song rocks. Love it! When REM was on, they were as good as any rock band out there.

Call me a witch (just don't burn me, bro) but doing a lot of ASTS this morning. This one then Idiot Wind. Like, 2 of the most whiner-dude songs ever. Mr. Bill's in quite the mood. Not going along for this ride. 

 rdo wrote:
 
We certainly gave them a lot of Agent Orange at the expense of "Our"
boys (and theirs). Hence the song... which you seem to have missed the
point of.

1988. Man, I was newly licensed to drive, and would pick up my buddy Kim, and she had this brand new on cassette. Driving around listening to this and Led Zeppelin II, what a time it was.   OK, I'll stop with the old man reminiscing.  

Bellissima....  

Loved so much REM since first album !!!! Thanks for all superb album !!!

I've heard these early R.E.M songs countless times but I still don't know the lyrics (which I suppose was part of their mystique). But those spoken lyrics in the middle break (2:20 in) are a little off here. Someone listened to an isolated track (from the "Rock Band" video game) and transcribed it much more closely, which I found pretty interesting:

"We would circle, and we circled and circled the shopping center, centering on the pavement’s jacked up, all the trucks jacked up, and our wheels slush and orange crush and cock of the walk...in this here county. Hell in three counties in the tri county area and I was a legend. I was the king of the county. All these girls...sit. Whirlybirds. I had it whooped. I had this life whooped. I knew it all! I knew every back road and every Friday night we would ... down ... path."

 healyf52 wrote: 
I recall that the corporate owners of the Nehi - Orange Crush trade mark squashed the use of "Orange Crush" referring to the Broncos defense.
The soda never seemed as popular to me as the Orange Crush Defense. 
Seems they would have benefited from co-branding rather than blocking usage of the trade mark.

Green will always have a special place in my record collection.

 coloradojohn wrote: 
But you gotta make your voice so low and gravelly it hurts...

I just love R.E.M.'s chiming guitars, edgy vocals, and obscure lyrics. For me, hearing this will always remind me of jamming to it LOUD in my place in Yoshida-cho, Shizuoka, Japan, where I lived '88-90. I lived next to ponds where unagi were raised. I had biwa and ichijiku in front, ichigo and mikan in back, and if I climbed up onto the roof, I could see Suruga-wan and Fuji-san...

I love this because it's almost possible to sing along to without sounding like a lunatic.

 Stephen_Phillips wrote: 

REM will never go out of fashion on my stereo!

I saw R.E.M. live a few years ago in the Belfast Giants Ice Hockey arena and they played this song.  We were lucky in that the tickets we got were seats close to and just to the right of the stage.  

We had a great close up view of the band and Michael Stipe had a real charismatic presence.

The show was near the end of their career but you could tell straight away that they were the 'real deal' - a properly professional performance with mastery of their music.

The set they played, sounded to my ears anyway, very close to the recorded versions I had known by heart on their CD's.

I know that R.E.M. are no longer considered fashionable but some of their songs, including this one, stand the test of time.

This follows R.E.M. - World Leader Pretend on Radio Paradise. Can't say I've ever heard Bill play original work by the same artist back to back! 

That's Fun - I don't hear many Double-Shots on RP

had to make another cup of coffee so i dont fall asleep...

 Skydog wrote: 
Maybe without temporal reference your opinion would stand. We are so glad you are clued in.

I really get a kick out of hearing songs I haven't heard in a long time

 markybx wrote: 
REM is to alt-rock as the Eagles are to counrty-rock, so please don't wonder because I am clued in, I don't need to read other comments, I can hear the song just fine, boring ahhs, lame chourus, elementay school drums, studio changes/tricks that try to cover up the lack of muscial content, flat vocals, an over-all blandness, like I said made for TV

 

 Skydog wrote: 
Far from it, it's a song about something very personal to Michael Stipe and he sing it with real passion, sorry you can't detect that. For more info, if you care to please read some of the previous posts. This leaves me wondering who is clueless here.

sounds like they either don't care or are just clueless, boring, rigid, sounds like a made for TV band

I can't believe I gave this only 8  -> 9

Just hit me in listening to it, how good REM could be.

 slandering wrote: 
Bill is playing this because he is a BRONCOS fan and knows that the Orange Crush defense has been reborn in 2015!

the song is so good very powerful!
the lyrics are very confusing to me as a non
american. Isn`t it about the horrible chemicals
you spread over vietnam?

This was a pretty good album, this song sucks.

This song still gives me goosebumps
 

Epic
10 all the way

Anyone remember Ghost Riders on the E.P?

Everybody in my alien space craft thinks this song is hot hot hot...

R.E.M. - Orange Crush
Beatles - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
J.J. Cale - Crazy Mama
Mazzy Star - I'm Sailin'

Great set.

Shame we lost to those commie murderers...Our boys gave it their all..

This doesn't sound half as good as it did way back when it was released ... omg, 25 years ago! 
Still, it's a reasonable ditty. 

I have always loved how this track sounds--the melody, that awesome lead guitar--but the lyrics......(cringes).

3/5/13—PRESS RELEASE: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Of The Band’s Major-Label Breakthrough Includes Original Album Remastered And Live Disc Spotlighting The Penultimate Show Of 1989 World Tour; Available May 14 From Rhino
Green Remastered Will Also Be Available On 180-Gram Vinyl The Same Day
Five Song Live In Greensboro EP Will Be Released On CD As Record Store Day Exclusive On April 20

R.E.M. achieved global success with the 1988 release of GREEN, the Athens, Georgia, quartet’s sixth studio album and first for Warner Bros. Records, which would be the band’s label home for the rest of their recording career. While R.E.M. was fast becoming one of the most acclaimed and revered acts in the U.S., GREEN was their first album to gain the attention of a worldwide audience. Packed with tracks destined to be definitive additions to the band’s canon, including “Orange Crush,” “Pop Song 89,” and “Stand,” GREEN was certified double platinum by the RIAA and doubled the domestic sales of the band’s previous release. GREEN continued R.E.M.’s dedication to the message of social consciousness, as evidenced by the album’s title, which would go on to became a ubiquitous buzzword for environmentally friendly initiatives.

To celebrate the landmark album’s 25-year anniversary, Rhino is releasing a two-disc deluxe edition that features the remastered original album accompanied by a disc of live performances taken from the penultimate show of R.E.M.’s 130-date Green World Tour. All 21 songs were recorded in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 10, 1989, just miles from where Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry had their very first recording session at Mitch Easter’s Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem.
The anniversary set is packaged in a hard clamshell box (similar to previous R.E.M. reissues) and comes with four postcards and a foldout poster, plus insightful liner notes by Uncut editor, Allan Jones. GREEN: 25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available on May 14 as a 2-disc set and digitally. The same day, the remastered album with original art and packaging will also be available on 180-gram vinyl.

In anticipation of the anniversary set, Rhino will release a limited edition, five-track EP as part of Record Store Day. This exclusive CD features a handful of performances from the Greensboro show that, due to space constraints, are not found on the Deluxe Edition, including the Green track “I Remember California” and classics like “So. Central Rain” and “Feeling Gravitys Pull.” Limited to just 2,500 copies, the disc comes with an original (non-reproduction) patch from the Green Tour. These patches were recently uncovered in the band’s vault. The LIVE IN GREENSBORO EP will be available for Record Store Day on April 20 for $7.98. For a list of participating stores, please visit wrecordstoreday.com.

The concert spread across the anniversary set and the Record Store Day EP captures a fiery set from R.E.M., which had been forged in the crucible of nearly one year of shows. R.E.M. performed most of GREEN (“Get Up” “World Leader Pretend” and “You Are The Everything”), while mixing in early favorites like “Fall On Me,” “Finest Worksong,” “The One I Love” and “Perfect Circle” from the band’s 1983 debut Murmur. The show also finds the band testing out new songs (“Low” and “Belong”) that would appear two years later on GREEN’s follow-up, Out Of Time.
For more information please visit: remhq.com and facebook.com/REMhq GREEN: 25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION Track Listing
Disc One – Original Album
1. “Pop Song 89”
2. “Get Up”
3. “You Are The Everything”
4. “Stand”
5. “World Leader Pretend”
6. “The Wrong Child”
7. “Orange Crush”
8. “Turn You Inside Out”
9. “Hairshirt”
10. “I Remember California”
11. “Untitled”

Disc Two – Live In Greensboro 1989
1. “Stand”
2. “The One I Love”
3. “Turn You Inside Out”
4. “Belong”
5. “Exhuming McCarthy”
6. “Good Advices” 
7. “Orange Crush”
8. “Cuyahoga”
9. “These Days”
10. “World Leader Pretend”
11. “I Believe”
12. “Get Up”
13. “Life And How To Live It”
14. “Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
15. “Pop Song 89”
16. “Fall On Me”
17. “You Are The Everything”
18. “Begin The Begin”
19. “Low”
20. “Finest Worksong”
21. “Perfect Circle”LIVE IN GREENSBORO EP – Record Store Day Exclusive
1. “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
2. “Feeling Gravitys Pull”
3. “Strange”
4. “King of Birds”
5. “I Remember California”

 scraig wrote: 

me too! I suppose a good start would be for me to stop reading the comments, and replying to them...

I like tunes like this that I've listened to a zillion times and haven't rated yet.  It makes me glad I never had to serve our country, I guess.

R.E.M - Green.  The first album I bought that was not a compilation.  This album marks the birth of my ongoing love affair with music.  I'd give it about 26/10 if I could and even more if it had been World Leader Pretend from the same album.

HOW GOOD TO HEAR THIS SONG AGAIN !

 romeotuma wrote: 

I AM TRYING TO WORK HERE!!! 10

Top#3 REM...

On orange vinyl...

 romeotuma wrote: 
. . . while we spray you with Agent Orange.

 huebdoo wrote: 
What planet do you live on?

 linden wrote: 
That would assume that anyone thought they were ever great. Few do.

 linden wrote: 

Ha! No.

 huebdoo wrote: 

Agreed, this was always one of my personal fav albums that most people forget.

 romeotuma wrote: 
Oh geez, and I thought they were singing about the carbonated beverage! 

Funny story. My old band used to do this song, and during the long bridge I (on bass) would generally relax while the guitarists did their thing. Well, one night we're feeling pretty good and this one's cooking, so we let the bridge stretch out a little. The drummer's up on a riser and can't figure out when exactly we're going to come out of the bridge. So the three of us are standing in front just playing when we hear the drummer's very loud rat-a-tat-tat—he'd just decided to end the bridge, and the three of us run like maniacs to the microphones to pick up the next verse. After it ends, we just look at him, and he sez, "I didn't know what the fuck y'all were doing down there, so I decided it was time to move on."

I recall this song as a big breakthrough for these boys in the charts, especially in the UK, and the 'Green' tour was their last where you could still see them in a 3000 seater venue

This was my first introduction to R.E.M. after Q Magazine declared them the greatest band in the world circa 1988. What a great album.

This is when REM was good - and a band, we forget how fantastic they were after the sub-par music they have been recently putting out. Man this album was simply amazing to listen to.

 romeotuma wrote: 

Indeed. Cheers!

Love it.

This song really standst he test of time. It sounds just as fresh to my ears now as it did when it came out.

Been begging for some old REM for months. THIS is the real thing Baby. WOooooooo HOooooooo !!!!!

 DrLex wrote: 
This is a GREAT idea.  How do we implement it? 

And this song is way up on the volume level test. 

 Misterfixit wrote:



 

Oh yea, cranked this one!! Love the R.E.M. Well, the older REM. :)

who us?

Vibraslap!

pianocomposer wrote: "Coming in fast" seems to refer to the C123 and C130 aircraft which sprayed the shit at low levels. We usually saw them and pulled out our ponchos (rubberized rain cape) over us . unless, of course, there was somebody out there watching for us to pull the capes and then start their shit. The wop wop wop noise towards the end sounds like the unique sound of the UH1E Huey helicopter. That sound will give ANY Vietnam Vet flashbacks, to be sure. There's no equivalent all-encompassing fear, hate, loathing, terror, tragedy, delight, thankfulness, last living sound, to compare with the wop wop wop of the Huey. Sorry gang, I do go on. Suffice it to say that the lickspittle scum bureaucrats at the Veterans Administration have done their best to deny benefits to hundreds of thousands of us who were exposed and still have the after effects. Children, too, with various birth defects, spinal bifida and so forth. Damned if that song didn't get me cranked up ... Happy New Year Robert MacNamara and all of your little men, next time you can fight your OWN little war in Veetnam ....

parrothead wrote:I realized that OC is also the 2000 cannabis of the year award winner. Could factor in somehow.

Wizzuvv_oz wrote:I'm still alive, have not been shot or blown up and I can still smell the aroma of agent orange.

pianocomposer wrote: Well, that makes more sense and seems more likely than them singing about a soda.

Does anyone know what "got my spine I got my orange crush" means? Seems to return to the early REM days of completely unintelligable lyrics. I give it a 7 though even so.

toda una naranja aplastada,

Actually I could just connect the rating system to the volume control of my player, because I'll automatically crank up the volume on good songs and lower it on bad songs (and mute on sucko-barfo). This one gets cranked up quite a lot.

milehighYinzer wrote:
me2, but I gotta say I don't listen to REM much any more.

This is my favorite REM album. It is the only one that really ever ends up in my cd rotation.

This is REM at their best. Love that "machine gun" guitar playing.

kazuma wrote: I agree - it was a winner, thanks so much for the compliment.

boileymon wrote: Ahh yes, the ever-popular ad hominem approach. Always a winner. Kudos!

Love the driving rhythms, the chiming guitars, the hummable melodies, the suitably obscure lyrics -- great old REM, anytime, Bill, thanks...

kazuma wrote: I know a good audiologist...

Goes nowhere and stays there.

We had great time in the 90 at univertisy with REM !

So I've heard that background before, the army chanting. I know it was in a Type-O-Negative song too (which cracks me up that them and REM both used it). Is it from a movie too? I'm going to guess it's a Full Metal Jacket thing?

dmax wrote: Yes, the 5-album, $80 million-dollar contract from hell that killed the best band that ever was.

i was only aware of 4 different REM song types? indecipherable lyrics backed with jangly guitar, mandolin period pieces, hyper wake up the audience dazzlers (see : end of the world, what's the frequency) and hebtone inflected. please expound. driftersescape wrote:

Yes. Just for a simple example, nothing on UP sounds like anything on Green. driftersescape wrote:

Why can't I bring myself to rate this any higher than an 8? Can't......do.......it......there is nothing to grasp at.

w00t

Am I the only one who thinks that if you've heard, say, five R.E.M. songs, you've heard them all?