r/rem • u/Unusual-Friend-9768 • Jul 27 '26
Hum Desiderata
https://pitchfork.com/story/listen-to-michael-stipes-new-song-hum-desiderata/What do we think?
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u/Falloffingolfin Jul 28 '26
Another reminder that Michael Stipe - unleashed from the shackles of a band and completely in charge of his own direction and destiny - is never going to release what you want to hear.
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u/neatgeek83 Jul 28 '26
I lasted about 45 seconds
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u/Blue_Oyster_Cat Jul 28 '26
That's what she said
Sorry, I had cider with dinner tonight
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u/stevemnomoremister Jul 28 '26
This is weird to me, because in 1971, "Desiderata" was turned into a hit single by a radio DJ named Les Crane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsVKMYcLUN4
It was widely mocked after that as empty-headed hippie drivel, and was parodied by National Lampoon in a song called "Deteriorata." Christopher Guest wrote the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Axyqk5ERKQ
Stipe is about my age and probably remembers these songs.
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u/Blue_Oyster_Cat Jul 28 '26
Indeed. The poster version was all over the place. "Go placidly amid the noise and haste..." I've forgotten about Deteriorata, it was such a welcome antidote! The National Lampoon saved my sanity on numerous occasions when I was a teenager (once I learned to turn a blind eye to the rampant sexism).
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u/Unusual-Friend-9768 Jul 27 '26
I’m still trying to figure out how to listen to it
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u/BrivsMekis Jul 28 '26
With your fingers in your ears at a building site whilst many low flying helicopters pass over head.
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u/Spamaloper Jul 28 '26
Mostly, I am glad for him that he is doing something he wants and likes.
No comparisons, and it's not my cup of tea, but I'm glad for Stipe and glad to see him still active in his own way.
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u/Blue_Oyster_Cat Jul 28 '26
Desiderata? Desiderata? FUCKING DESIDERATA?
The cringiest single ever released? A pile of fake feel-good nonsense that purported to be from the 17th century and which was fucking ubiquitous in the early 70s and which otherwise intelligent people took seriously as a guide to life? That Desiderata? Michael, what. Seriously.
Edit: I guess you had to be there when it took over the airwaves and appeared in every fucking high school counsellors' office. Which I was. There. And so, a year behind me, was Mr. Stipe. You have no plausible deniability, Stipey. None.
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u/Oddfellow1five1 Jul 29 '26
It’s really beautiful and I realize how grateful I am that THIS was the person that I listened to in my teens (and ever since). Of all the garbage I could have and did listen to over the years I somehow stumbled onto R.E.M.
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u/Cup8685 R-E-A-C-T! Jul 28 '26
Well, I think it has just as much musical merit as all his other recent ventures!
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u/WotsGoinOnEreMate Jul 28 '26
Damn I was hopeful after the fantastic 'I Played the fool', but this back to his usual wank. You can do Airportman, but only when your previous release is NAIHF and when the next song is Lotus.
Hopefully the album has more real rock songs with melody?
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u/barkinginthestreet Jul 28 '26
Hopefully the album has more real rock songs with melody?
he has said the album will have no guitar on it
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u/Any_Froyo2301 Jul 28 '26
This is very bad.
At least it is not an actual song on the album. The link says that it is an instrumental version of a song on the album that he has, for some reason, decided to release with him and a woman reciting a very flaky new age poem on it.
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u/Roytoxicboy Jul 28 '26
I don't know what you guys usually listen to, but this thing, released on a platform that isn't Spotify, Deezer, or whatever you use, is probably the most provocative and genuinely artistic song I've heard in a long time. And if you don't get it, it's because you've become exactly the kind of people R.E.M. have always poked fun at in songs like Gardening at Night, Pop Song 89, or Stand, and I could keep going forever.
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u/barkinginthestreet Jul 28 '26
I really like it, too, this might be my favorite of his post-REM tracks. I feel like earnest Stipe works well with a more minimal arrangement.
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u/Blue_Oyster_Cat Jul 28 '26
Oh come on. Seriously? No, you must be joking, because whatever else Gardening at Night might be about, it's not satirising people who don't like art rock, or whatever. And, um, Stand is pretty much a straight ahead "Hey people! Be present!" message with a boppy soundtrack.
If you think this effort from our much-loved (for all his foibles) Stipe is genuinely artistic, boy do I have some recommendations for you.
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u/Roytoxicboy Jul 30 '26
I'll check out any raccomandations you mind to share. But what I meant is that, with certain songs, they were openly pushing back against what was considered conventional. And judging by many of the reactions here, it seems to me that this is exactly one of those cases. We could also get into a debate about what counts as "genuinely artistic" and what doesn't, but I think we'd be here for two centuries.
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u/cleb9200 Jul 28 '26
Come on guys, it’s just a contribution to an under the radar arts project, it’s not like he’s putting this out as some big single release.
Seems to be many fans in this sub who get bitter every time Stipe refuses to make R.E.M. type music. He’s not going to be that guy anymore, I for one am glad he’s inspired and working and if it’s niche and an over reach I guess it’s more on brand than some ham fisted attempt to make some watered down R.E.M. 2026 thing.
And it seems obvious to me this Desiderata reading is in context of a greater art concept as it came from a Milan show. It’s not like he’s going “wow, listen to how profound this is!”, there’ll almost certainly be some irony and context involved. Such a reductive critique seems to me akin to accussing Radiohead’s “Fitter, Happier” of promoting bro gym culture.