The R.E.M. song that Michael Stipe was “embarrassed” by
R.E.M. had the kind of career trajectory that most indie artists dream about. After becoming critical darlings of the success of their debut Murmur, they enjoyed a slow ascent until becoming one of the biggest acts in the world. By the time the alt-rock overhaul of the 1990s had come in, Michael Stipe had already written his fair share of classics, but one of their biggest hits was not a song that Stipe was ever proud of.
As the new decade was dawning, Stipe had started to toy with different approaches to lyrics on the album Out Of Time, even featuring rapper KRS-One on the opening cut ‘Radio Song’. Of all the tunes on the record, Stipe remains the most proud of ‘Losing My Religion’, capturing the uncomfortable nature of being separated from the one he loves.
Right after combing through some of the deepest corners of his soul, though, the album goes into a saccharine territory with the song ‘Shiny Happy People’. Mainly a duet with bassist Mike Mills and The B-52’s Kate Pierson, who was already riding off of the success of ‘Love Shack’, this is about as clean-cut, bubblegum-pop as R.E.M. would ever get.
Drawing inspiration from some of the sugary pop acts of the ‘60s, Stipe wrote this song as a way to challenge himself, stringing together some of the most accessible melodies of his entire career. While they were never meant to be the heaviest band in the world, this song feels like it should be running over the credits of a children’s show rather than attributed to alt-rock royalty.
Although the tune might have been a bit shallow musically, the lyrics were a lot more direct than expected. Despite ‘Shiny Happy People’ sounding like the perfect soundtrack to a daytime variety special, Stipe took the title from Chinese propaganda posters, specifically the uprising in Tiananmen Square.
Since the song needed a bit of honey to be accepted, Stipe’s melody paints a smiley face on a bad situation. The message quickly flew over the average listener’s head, though, turning the catchy song into a major hit. Over time, Stipe has started to become a little more resentful of ‘People’, telling Mojo (via Songfacts), “The guys threw me the stupidest song that sounded so buoyant and weird, and I was like, OK, I accept the challenge. So it was bubblegum music made for kids. Don’t hate it. But I don’t want to sing it”.
Despite Stipe’s bad taste for the song, drummer Bill Berry remained proud of the song because of how challenging it was, even incorporating different time signatures by shifting from a waltz feel to a standard 4/4 beat. The band even got their bubble-gum credentials validated when they played the song on Sesame Street, only changing the words to ‘Furry Happy Monsters’ instead.
During their final tour before their breakup, Stipe did seem to soften on the song, telling The Quietus, “I was always at peace with it. It’s just a little bit embarrassing that it became as big a hit as it did!”. Even though the song appears on some of the group’s future compilation albums, it speaks volumes that said compilation is named Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage.
