Michael Stipe still finds hard to listen to ‘Losing My Religion’: “It’s so naked”
Sometimes, it isn’t how technically gifted a vocalist is that makes them stand out; instead, it’s how distinctive and immediately recognisable their vocals are that generates their attention. From the likes of Lou Reed to Bob Dylan, the history of rock music is filled with vocalists who are far from trained or are lacking when compared to those with a veritable set of pipes on them, but their delivery has always been what draws people in to become enamoured with their music. A slightly more debatable member of this group would be REM’s Michael Stipe, a vocalist who could definitely hold a tune but may have lacked the same panache that the likes of Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding were blessed with.
REM’s songs are always instantly recognisable because of Stipe’s vocal cadence, and while his melodic intuition has always helped him along the way, it can be argued that there are many examples of songs where he warbles more than he sings. One of their most beloved songs, ‘Everybody Hurts’, sees Stipe belting out the vocals on the ballad with so much gumption, but a trained vocalist may consider the wobbling vibrato in the higher register to be a sign of vocal weakness.
Despite this, the ballad featured on their 1992 album Automatic For The People is still considered to be an incredible vocal performance, largely due to how his passion fits so well with the rest of the song. It wouldn’t be as impactful if he’d given a down-the-line vocal take which didn’t have the same imperfections and flaws, and besides, there’s the musical accompaniment of the rest of the band and the string section that distracts the listener from nitpicking about Stipe’s vocals.
Personally, I’ve always loved hearing Stipe’s voice on a track, and my feeling is that he packs every performance with so much emotion and fervour that it’s hard not to be smitten by the rawness of his vocals. However, one person who might not agree so much with that sentiment is Stipe himself, and when played an isolated vocal track on the Song Exploder podcast, his reaction was to recoil in horror at how he sounded without the rest of the band to cover up the blemishes in his performance.
When dissecting the elements of the band’s biggest hit, 1991’s ‘Losing My Religion’, Stipe was asked if he could listen to his isolated vocals for the track, and his initial reaction was to grimace at the idea. His first question for the host was to ask, “Is there reverb on it?” as a sudden look of fear washed over his face at the prospect of listening to his untreated vocals.
Listening to the recording, with his eyes shut tightly in concentration, Stipe remained unemotive while the opening lines of the song were played to him, and while it feels odd to hear them without the backing of Peter Buck’s mandolin in the background, they’re far from a horrifying performance when detached from the rest of the song.
However, once finished, Stipe breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to continue listening to the track before giving an unsettled look towards the host sitting off-camera. “It’s still hard to hear,” he said, “it’s still hard to listen to. It’s just so naked, you know, it’s just so raw and unsupported.” While hearing your part in isolation from the rest of a composition is probably any musician’s worst nightmare, and while having your work waved in your face in a way you wished you’d never be confronted with is enough to put the fear in you, there’s little for Stipe to truly be worried about here.
The song, for all its imperfections, remains one of their finest and all the more remarkable for the fact that this was the only vocal take he did.
