The VANILLA SKY version of the song is indeed a new recording, made with Joey Waronker in the studio specifically for the soundtrack. At least three older versions exist on bootlegs and one cleaned-up in-studio (I think) version that appeared on the "IRS VINTAGE YEARS" re-release of DEAD LETTER OFFICE. (In addition to CHRONIC TOWN, the IRS VINTAGE YEARS disc has two or three bonus unreleased tracks.) Not sure when or where the DLO version was recorded, but it's got a distinctive Bill Berry drum sound. Now if only they'd re-record and release some other 1981-era songs. I'm dying to hear a cleaned-up, in-studio version of "Mystery to Me."

I am a big REM fan, especially of their early stuff, but this is just terrible. It was originally released as a bootleg? No wonder it didn't make Murmur. 

REM was big when I was in HS.  I consider PF to be before my time.  Still, I think PF has more talent and ability in their little fingers than REM does in their collective bodies.  After what year do you propose that "the next generation" will need to be born to believe REM to be superior to PF?  I predict in 100 years they will still be playing Another Brick in the Wall and nobody will remember that REM was a thing.

OMG.  Theme from "Friends".

Perfect song for a Tom Cruise movie......... Solid 4 all day long. Or maybe a 3.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. RP's users are mostly older folks who like Pink Floyd more than REM. But as time goes on, there will be fewer Pink Floyd fans around and REM will be the next generations Pink Floyd. It's kinda a sign that RP needs to start playing more new music and less crusty old classics.

Wow..... no one has commented yet on how part of this song is a complete ripoff of Cheap Trick's "Way Of The World" "I've been running, I've been hiding.... it's the way of the world!"

Thank you sir,I agree with what you say-except that R.E.M. were not even slightly overrated. Just on this forum,R.E.M.'s highest rated songs are only given 8.1s while Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in The Wall" is rated an 8.9. Seriously,I simply cannot comprehend how "Fall On Me" or "Find The River" or "Perfect Circle" do not rate as high as the above mentioned Pink Floyd song.

The measure of a band's greatness is how many haters come out of the woodwork to say how much they suck.

Was just thinking the same thang!!!

I agree that REM may be past their prime.. but to call them the "most over rated band in America" is a bit much. They wrote some gems other songwriters would have given their eye-teeth to have penned. As for the "most over rated band in America... please, I can recall when the american record buyer thought "Hootie and the Blowfish" were the messiahs... REM may have gotten more than their fair share of critical acclaim, but the playing field was littered with so much dross at the time it wasn't hard to single them out as exceptional... you want over rated? Try "Pearl Jam" or "Nirvana"... great bands, yes, but ultimately angry little post-pubescent snotty-faced kids that were convinced they invented dark teenage angst... they were the "Pink Floyd" of their time... 15 year olds wrote their lives according to some heroin induced rantings of Kurt Cobain... for God's sake Kurt Cobain had no idea what the heck he was saying... They were over rated... come to think of it grunge was the most over rated musical genre in long while... but I digress. So, all of this to say... sure REM may be somewhat over rated... and this only when it comes to their weaker albums... but to call them the "most" over rated band in America is simply thinly veiled "I just plain hate 'em no matter what they do" rhetoric. Michael Stipe can be obnoxious.. and bit of a poser, sure... but I can separate his college drama queen persona from the excellence of their music. Hey, in 1982 I had two routes to chose from... Van Halen and Foreigner, or U2, REM and Costello... I chose the latter... I never looked back. Cheers
Jacques Radio Paradise - What Radio Could Have Been...Edited By Jacques at 9:59 am on 4/03/2002

Wow..... no one has commented yet on how part of this song is a complete ripoff of Cheap Trick's "Way Of The World" "I've been running, I've been hiding.... it's the way of the world!"

end note: I miss Let's Active. Even though the founder helped produce Murmur, I still think Let's Active's Cypress(1984), was amply the best music that came from that era. REM was an instant success, and I've never quite understood why Let's Active didn't extract the same response.

for God's sake Kurt Cobain had no idea what the heck he was saying... They were over rated... come to think of it grunge was the most over rated musical genre in long while... but I digress.

Originally Posted by Johray63: I am using those two as examples of a genre... I've always disliked Foreigner and Van Halen (all the while never discounting Eddie Van Halen's talent as a solid songwriter and exceptional guitarist). To me this material was commercial and predictable, written to be hits and not particularly rife with musical integrity... U2 and Costello were trying to say something, not just get the first row of seats wet with "Teen Spirit" hoping to get some themselves... Foreigner and Van Halen were the last of the old school... the last of "arena rock dinosaurs" of the 1970's, and at the time, Costello and U2 offered a fresh approach and a new sound... so I chose the new sound being completely bored with the old one... I could have given dozens of other examples of what was to me dull and unimaginative arena rock dinosaurs and similarly, dozens of other artists I felt were also in the vanguard of new exciting voices in music... I chose these examples because they were instantly recognizable as icons of their respective genres. But, I appreciate the comment and the chance to clarify what I meant. I've read other comments by you Johray63, and even replied to a few (I defended your remarks in another where you questioned the logic of a commentor named "Orbit"), I think we generally see eye to eye musically... Cheers Jacques Radio Paradise: What Radio Could Have Been