So REM has officially called it quits. Meanwhile, Blondie is on a mega tour.
I remember the first time I heard "Radio Free Europe" -- knew it would be huge, had a much better sense of music then -- typical for a teenager I suppose. Was obsessed with the notion that the huge groups would all be acronyms of some sort -- REM, U2 and, well, XTC, which never quite happened as I'd thought of course.
REM front man Michael Stipe has said that the name for the group came from picking random letters out of the dictionary in 1980. I'd always been skeptical of this, it seemed like a too clever name, and recently realized that Blondie's 1977 song "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" has what we would now call something of an REM sound to it -- and has the word "REM" in it:
Floating pass the evidence of possibilitiesWe could navigate together psychic frequenciesComing into contact with outer entitiesWe could entertain each one with our theosophyStay awake at night and count your REM'sWhen you're talking with your super friendsLevitating lovers in the secret stratosphereI am still in touch with your presence dear
The song was actually written by Gary [Valentine] Lachman who as best as I can figure was forced out shortly thereafter. Deserving of those splendid lyrics, he's gone on to write several books on the occult. [personal page; vid of interview, "From Blondie to Jung"], His ouster could almost be predicted by his body language: You can see a bit of it in this video and I've seen it more clearly in others, he (the bassist with big curly hair) is bopping around instead of being all detached and just being backup for Debbie Harry, which is the obvious script. Harry rewrote, actually sanitized, the lyrics for another song of his about a sex offender, becoming "X-Offender," [vid of him really breaking script] which apparently is what got them their record contract. When the band was induced into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Harry wouldn't let him on stage.