A collection of Michael Stipe’s favourite songs
Michael Stipe‘s emotional way of singing and his utterly vulnerable confrontation with the more sensitive side of the human experience has led him to be considered one of the most significant vocalists of the last 50 years. But what about the songs that the R.E.M. frontman admires personally?
Stipe notes that he was born in Georgia but not in the Southern state we expected. His father served in the Army in the European country, and his family moved to Germany when he was six years old. Stipe remembers his first experiences with music and his introduction to The Beatles.
“There was this German woman who cleaned our apartment and babysat us when my mother and father were off working,” he said. “I went to her house one afternoon, and she left me in the living room. She had an old-school radio on a tall shelf, and it was playing this song. I just stood there and stared up and wondered what on Earth I was listening to. The song was ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ by the Beatles, but sung in German. They actually recorded that song in German, and it was a big hit there.”
As for the song that made Stipe realise that he wanted to be a singer, it is, without doubt, ‘Birdland’ by Patti Smith, taken from her Horses album. Stipes notes that it was the song that “just completely lifted” him. He said, “I had this epiphany and realised that this is what I wanted to do with my life: learn how to sing and start a band. All the punk rockers were saying, ‘We’re not special people,’ and ‘Anyone can do this,’ and I took that very literally as a 15-year-old. Of everything on this list, this is the most significant moment for me.”
Concerning his own songs, Stipe admires the R.E.M. tracks, ‘I Believe’ and ‘These Days’. He tells of a particularly horrifying story in which he “lacerated” his eyeballs from using “dirty contact lenses”, accidentally blinding himself. “I had to wear bandages over my eyes for 10 days,” he said.
Stipe continued, “I’m an extremely visual person, and during that time, I had these crazy dreams. ‘I Believe’ and ‘These Days’ were basically written as a way for me to remember what those dreams were.” After Stipe was able to take the bandages off his eyes, he experienced something “deeply profound and important”. He said, “I took those bandages off my eyes and came out of the depression. I felt emboldened and strong enough to carry on. I was a different person from that day forward.”
The R.E.M. singer also claimed that he nearly provides the vocals for the iconic ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld. “Underworld called me at my hotel and said, ‘Let’s do something together. Come on in, and you can sing.’ I thought it would be fun,” he said. However, the group at that point didn’t have anything to work off, “so that particular moment passed by.” However, Stipe is still in great admiration of the song.
Check out the complete list of Michael Stipe’s favourite songs below.
Michael Stipe’s favourite songs:
- The Beatles – ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
- The Banana Splits – ‘I Enjoy Being a Boy (In Love With You)’
- Tammy Wynette – ‘D-I-V-O-R-C-E’
- Roger Miller – ‘King of the Road’
- Patti Smith – ‘Birdland’
- R.E.M. – ‘I Believe’
- R.E.M. – ‘These Days’
- Underworld – ‘Born Slippy’
- Madonna – ‘Hung Up’
- Madonna – ‘Ray of Light’
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