There is no question R.E.M. is a good band. But I absolutely hate this song from their 1988 album Green. I’m not even sure why. The silly lyrics? The repetitive piano chord? The unnecessary key change towards the end? The annoying-as-fuck chorus that burrows in your brain like a parasite? Take your pick. Just don’t make me listen to it again.

Click on the cover and check it out. Or better yet, don’t.

P.S. I listened to the song twice as I was writing this (yes, I’m a masochist). A half hour later I could hear my wife humming the chorus in the next room as she changed my two-year-old son. I asked her why she was humming it and she said “I don’t know, I don’t like this song.” See what I mean? It’s the Devil’s music!

Carlos I. Cuevas