I was actually looking for the original Shiny Happy People but when I found this instead I couldn’t resist it. I defy you not to smile while you watch it. It certainly cheered me up after a less than wonderful day at work. If music can make the monsters happy, it can turn our frowns upside down.
Dancing now everyone!
8 Comments »
Best video Ive seen for ages!
Definitely needed a smile like that today Wendy!! : D
glad to be of service!
it is great…especially to see MIchael Stipe look like he’s enjoying himself!
In fact I’m going to watch it again now 🙂
But some of the other members of R.E.M. look much more uncertain about performing with Muppets . . .
yes peter buck doesn’t look so into it!
Is he the one with the guitar and the vaguely smug “Man, I am a rock star! I am so beyond Muppets!” expression? ‘Cause that’s the one I was looking at.
(Yes, it’s true: I only know the name of one member of R.E.M.)
yes that’s the one…he’s the mandolin man..signature sound..but it sort of looks like a banjo here which seemed strange…and the other one is mike mills…and the drummer that left was bill berry…he missed out on the muppets!
not that i’m a fan or anything 😉
but was thinking this afternoon that after automatic for the people it was all downhill from there. that was the peak for me
I’ve never been a huge fan, though I agree it was downhill for me after Automatic For The People, too.
But this song–well, the original “Shiny, Happy People,” which I gather from Wikipedia tends to polarise even the members of the band themselves in terms of his quality–anyway, this song reminds me of when I was in Year 10, which was the year after this album came out: a Year 12 student doing his major work for final assessment used to share the darkroom with us, and he’d always listen to R.E.M., especially this album. And then just two days before the assessment was due to be submitted, he broke down and chucked a bucket of turps over the oil painting he was doing for his major work.
It’s not the happiest story, but that’s what this song reminds me of.
Apparently it has something to do with the Tiananmen Square massacre, so maybe it shouldn’t inspire happy thoughts?
On a slightly unrelated note, is that Muppet designed to look like the B-52s singer? I know she did the female vocals, and the Muppet’s very similar . . .
yes i would think that she is – the muppet singer…imitating the hair etc of the b52s singer (Kate Pierson? that could be wrong) who did some vocals on that album. For me it was first year at uni…and slightly happier memories than the traumatic artistic meltdown you have described.
Tianneman square…really?…i wasn’t aware of that….i must check my wikipedia also!