Song of the Day 3/7/10

The best 666 songs of alltime countdown continues every day, all the way to #1. Sunday’s song is #144:

REM – It’s the End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine

Like Subterranean Homesick Blues and other songs before it, the lyrics to this one became part of the public consciousness (something that used to happen a lot before corporate music completely took over commercial radio and everybody stopped listening). Not bad for a rapidfire apocalyptic indie rock song released at the nadir of the Reagan years, Mike Mills wailing plaintively in the background, “Can I get some time alone?” High point of the essentially one-sided Document album, 1986. The Suicide Machines’ snotty 1998 punk-pop cover isn’t bad either.

Song of the Day 1/18/10

As we do every day, the best 666 songs of alltime countdown continues all the way to #1. Monday’s song is #192:

REM – Cuyahoga

A darkly Wire-inspired tribute to the river that caught fire, arguably bassist Mike Mills’ most beautifully inspired moment in the band with all those chords. Will some good band please cover this and give it the wild intense treatment it screams out for? From the otherwise mediocre Life’s Rich Pageant album, 1987.