Five times R.E.M. covered The Velvet Underground
Hero worship didn’t exactly seem like it was in the wheelhouse of R.E.M. Unique from the very beginning, the Georgia alternative rock pioneers had a singular sound that was widely imitated but hardly ever duplicated. They had some initial covers within their repertoire, but those songs were quickly cast to the side when the band began honing in on their classic minor-key chime.
That doesn’t mean that there weren’t some interesting covers floating around. For whatever reason, R.E.M. loved playing Aerosmith’s ‘Toys in the Attic’ throughout their early years, giving a strange cock-rock energy to their concerts. The band also paid homage to fellow Athens alt-rock icons Pylon by putting their cover of Pylon’s ‘Crazy’ on the B-side of the ‘Driver 8’ single.
In 1987, fans got to hear most of the band’s bountiful list of covers on the compilation album Dead Letter Office. That LP contained outtakes, instrumentals, and even a drunken rendition of Roger Miller’s ‘King of the Road’ that Peter Buck claimed was bad enough to get sued over. Something else popped out to fans who first heard the album: R.E.M. really loved The Velvet Underground.
No less than three different Velvet Underground covers appear on Dead Letter Office. That should come as no surprise: Buck and Michael Stipe first bonded over Lou Reed’s music at the record store that Buck worked in during his time at the University of Georgia. The Velvets were a uniting force that helped give R.E.M. direction in their earliest days, and the band would perform covers of the band’s songs frequently.
Here are five notable covers that the boys in R.E.M. took on over the years.
Five R.E.M. covers of The Velvet Underground:
‘Pale Blue Eyes’
Crowds that flocked to see R.E.M. open for powerhouse bands like The Police in the early 1980s might have been in for a surprise when the emerging alt-rock heroes opened their set with a cover. Specifically, they went with the delicate tones of ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ from The Velvet Underground’s self-titled third studio album.
It takes quite a bit of gall to open up your professional shows with a cover. It takes even more to open with a delicate love song. But R.E.M. were great at subverting expectations, and it’s hard to argue with their choice in covers: they play ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ beautifully.
‘After Hours’
The final track on The Velvet Underground’s self-titled third studio album is ‘After Hours’, the sweet nursery rhyme-like song that was far too twee and sweet for any of the men in the band to sing. Instead, drummer Moe Tucker was called from behind her drums to sing the song. Her childlike delivery and innocence were just what the song needed, and it became one of the band’s most requested songs in their live set.
When R.E.M. had fully transitioned out of their initial sound and into their folk-heavy 1990s period, the band needed some additional material to ease the transition. During their Green tour in 1988, the band occasionally broke out a live version of ‘After Hours’ toward the end of shows. One live version found its way onto the ending credits of the band’s live video Tourfilm and subsequently appeared on the CD version of the ‘Losing My Religion’ single.
‘Femme Fatale’
R.E.M. had plenty of other covers in their setlists besides Velvet Underground tunes. In fact, even after the band were writing all of their own material consistently, good covers still occasionally filtered in. While recording Lifes Rich Pageant in 1986, the group were messing around with an old song by Texas power pop forerunners The Clique.
R.E.M.’s version of ‘Superman’ was technically a hidden track that closed out Lifes Rich Pageant, but the band didn’t keep the song under wraps for very long. They decided to release ‘Superman’ as a single in 1987, and for the 12-inch version of the single released in the UK, a cover of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Femme Fatale’ was included as well.
‘There She Goes Again’
If there’s one thing that R.E.M. loved to do, it was putting Velvet Underground songs on the B-sides of their singles. These songs were likely some of the first material that the band ever jammed on during their earliest days, so instead of wasting valuable originals for B-sides, it made sense that their favourite Velvet Underground covers would take on that role instead.
When it came time for the band to re-record their very first single, ‘Radio Free Europe’, for I.R.S. records, the group opted to put a cover of ‘There She Goes Again’ from The Velvet Underground and Nico on the flip side. It just goes to show that R.E.M. were picking up Velvet Underground songs from the very beginning.
‘Sunday Morning’
This one is a bit of a cheat, but we’re including it because it brings R.E.M.’s obsession with The Velvet Underground full circle. By 2021, R.E.M. had been broken up for a full decade. The split was amicable but definitive: there were to be no new reunions, music, or much of anything other than deluxe reissues and occasional retrospectives.
But when Michael Stipe was asked to contribute to the album I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground and Nico, he tapped back into his love of the Velvets that was most clear during his time with his old band. This time around, Stipe opted to go for the crystalline opening track ‘Sunday Morning’, bringing all of his previous Velvet covers to a final resting place.
