#Losing my religion unplugged driver
#Losing my religion unplugged series

'All it needed was Stipe in front of a window with a band,' Singh noted, referencing the most straightforward scene from his video.

#Losing my religion unplugged series

Singh surrounded it all with a series of iconoclastic set pieces – though, over the years, he came to prefer the more stripped-down aesthetics of R.E.M.'s subsequent performance on MTV's Unplugged. There was no set choreography instead, Stipe moved with unconscious abandon, mashing up David Byrne's jerky gyrations from Talking Heads' famous 'Once in a Lifetime' video with Sinead O'Connor's in her ' The Emperor's New Clothes' clip. I saw him dance and I thought, 'That's the missing element!'' I spent a day with him in the evening, we went clubbing. 'Something was missing from the idea, one little piece. All I wanted to see was where he stays, where he lives and what he does,' Singh told Rolling Stone in 2016. 'I went and saw Stipe and the guys for probably a day and a half. But he had an intriguing, if only half-drawn, idea based on 'A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings,' a Gabriel Garcia Marquez story about an angel who falls from heaven only to be relegated to freak-show status. Singh arrived in R.E.M.'s hometown of Athens, Ga., having previously directed just two earlier clips, including 'Tired of Sleeping' by Suzanne Vega. Prior to 'Losing My Religion,' he steadfastly refused.

Next, they paired the song with another new era-signaling element: a music video from director Tarsem Singh in which Michael Stipe actually lip-synced the words. The last mix on that song was 'drums boosted,' and that became the track.' He's even doubling the mandolin figure at the beginning. 'The strings and the vocals are maybe more memorable, but the drums are really important. 'I had Bill nudging up to me and saying, 'You know, I think the drums could be louder,' and he was spot on,' Litt later told Mojo. Producer Scott Litt said 'Losing My Religion' was completed after a key suggestion from Berry. Watch R.E.M.'s Video for 'Losing My Religion' 'I also got really hot because I was all worked up,' Stripe recalled in 2017, 'so I took my clothes off and recorded the song almost naked.' Ultimately, that helped him achieve a deeper vulnerability: 'It's this really tearful, heartfelt thing that found its way into one of the best pieces of music the band ever gave me,' Stipe added. It just had a really magical feel.'Īlong the way, Stipe had somehow stripped down to his underwear. 'And Bill and Mike would be out there in the other room going at it. 'It was really cool: Peter and I would be in our little booth, sweating away,' Buck noted. 'He played live acoustic guitar on this one,' confirmed Buck, who also added his entire mandolin part in one take – despite a notable muff. as a touring guitarist and keyboardist on the preceding Green tour. To bolster the track, Buck brought in Peter Holsapple, who rose to college-radio fame with the dB's before sitting in with R.E.M. 'There's absolutely no midrange on it, just low end and high end, because Mike usually stayed pretty low on the bass.'

That meant the resulting demo 'had a hollow feel to it,' Buck said in the In Time liner notes.

#Losing my religion unplugged driver

songs like ' Driver 8.' The difference was Buck had traded in his electric guitar for the high, lonesome-sounding mandolin. Joined by Mike Mills on electric bass and Berry on drums, Buck began working out a minor chord progression in keeping with earlier R.E.M. The session, on the other hand, was a meticulous affair. 'To me, 'Losing My Religion' feels like some kind archetype that was floating around in space that we managed to lasso. 'While playing the song for the third or fourth time, I found my self incredibly moved to hear the vocals in conjunction with the music,' Buck remembered. It's obsessive attraction, that stammering, self-conscious urge to reveal and yet hide feelings that you know are not shared.'Īn hour later, Buck said Stipe had completed the lyrics. 'The song was a romantic expression and is about someone who pines for someone else. Stipe reached back to his Southern roots for 'Losing My Religion,' building the song around an expression 'meaning to lose one's temper or being at the end of your tether,' he told The New York Times. 'Now, some people still think that it's a song about religion it's not,' he countered. 'The first time the band played it,' he added, 'it fell into place perfectly.' It just happened – and it's one of those freak things, and we're really proud of it.'Ĭomposing took a matter of minutes, Buck said in the liner notes for 2003's In Time compilation. 'This song is beloved around the world – it is,' Stipe later enthused. A decade in, these alt-rock darlings were suddenly actual pop stars.