[mp3] I'm NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT

R.E.M. - "Academy Fight Song" (mp3)

Despite cultivating an air of mystery in their early days, R.E.M. rarely hesitated to lay their influences on the table with a cover. I discovered Gang Of Four when Stipe used one of their songs as intro to "World Leader Pretend" on Tourfilm, and I've always felt grateful for that.

In fact, when it came to covering their immediate predecessors in the world of post-punk, I think R.E.M. usually improved on the originals. That Gang Of Four song ("We Live As We Dream, Alone") sounds much better as an a cappella interlude than as rock music; Wire's "Strange" went, in R.E.M.'s hands, from an awkward slow song bogging down side 2 of Pink Flag to a brightly-lit tension party. This song is originally by Mission Of Burma, covered by R.E.M. on a fanclub 7".