R.E.M.

Make your money with a suit and tie

Make your money with shrewd denial

Make your money expert advice,

If you can wing it

Make your money with a power ply
Make your money with a buyout bribe

You can lie as long as you mean it

I'm not king of comedy,

Grease the pig, give a squeeze

~ King Of Comedy.

Hey Andy did you hear about this one?

Tell me, are you locked in the punch?

Hey Andy are you goofing on Elvis, hey baby, are we losing touch?

If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.

If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool

~ Man On The Moon.

If I were you I'd really run from me

I'd really really wish that I were you

When I get loose I'll climb a tree and drop a load on your head

This monster in me makes me retch, you messed it, messed it up

I've got my telescope head in the haystack

I am tired of your dodgeball circus act

Put pepper in my coffee, I forgot to bark on command

~ Circus Envy.

Their critically acclaimed earlier works sounded a tad "soft" for me. But there were some great ones like "A Perfect Circle", "Its The End Of The World (As We Know It)". I began to really tuned into R.E.M., albeit briefly, from "Green" right up to "New Adventure In Hi Fi" in the late 90s. And my favourite remained "Monster". To me, it epitomised what R.E.M. could have been if they were more into the noisy, semi-grungy fringe scene at that time. Liveshows, Michael Stipe, the now bald headed Martian like lead singer, had always been the consummate showman, with some weird paints on at one point, always with an eyeliner. Long time drummer Bill Berry retired shortly after New Adventure in Hi Fi, due to health related problems, and R.E.M., somehow, is just not the same anymore, maybe a shift in their musical direction as they had done after Automatic For The People to Monster...their last really enjoyable hit was the single "Imitation Of Life"...after that I tuned out entirely...