Losing My Religion by R.E.M: Songs That Changed Music

Produced by: Warren Huart
Edited and Written by: Kieran Vaughn

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 "Overview and Meaning"
01:34 "Writing and Conception"
03:34 "Recording"
14:24 "Release"
15:41 "Tarsem Singh | Music Video"
16:31 "Comments from Warren"

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[Producelikeapro]

We love celebrating music from all decades, but if you had to choose one for us to dive into, what would it be? Comment below!

[jonnuanez]

We need to keep the legacy of REM alive. They were huge in my musical development. I followed them since the very beginning...Radio Free Europe, Murmur, etc. The remaining band members do not seem interested in reviving or keeping anything going; they've disappeared. So it'll have to be up to us fans to keep it going for them.

Thanks for your clip.

[kriss.]

One thing I notice about Michael Stipe's vocals is how he relies so much on the hard 'e' vowel sound. I think that's what makes it sound so American, especially very Georgia/American South. One of the most unique singers ever.

[djkramit]

This song punched through hair metal and grunge. 🥊

[giddyaunt]

Sorry - total REM geekery - but the Song Peter mentions is "Driver 8" - one of my favourities, and yes Em Am G G/F# from memory, so very similar. I'm sure that is a pic of Peter Buck you showed as you mentioned Holsapple's name, but I'm being picky. Lovely to hear the isolated sounds, especially the Vocal and Strings. Mills and Berry are a very under-rated rhythm section in my opinion. NIce to hear some appreciation

[Weissman]

The strings are like those in Comfortably Numb - they're not overly prominent but they add so much to the track.

[fuTuRo-Sonic]

Michael Stipe's pitching is spot on.

[brumd]

About mandolin in indie music: The Replacements recorded the song I Will Dare in 1984, featuring a mandoline. The guitar on that song was played by: Peter Buck. ;)

[jppagetoo]

R.E.M. was a band I ignored duing their heyday. It just wasn't what I was listening to at that time. Later I realized my mistake, R.E.M. is fantastic. I wish I had given them a chance earlier, I missed seeing them.

[SO-ymzs]

I'm glad you highlighted Mike Mills's contribution. For me, he's the real star of REM, hidden in plain sight. His bass lines are the perfect combination of rhythmic drive, melody, and elegant simplicity. They're doubly important for holding the songs together since Buck focuses on jangly, chordal playing over riffs and melodies. Nice tone, too. And then there are his wonderful backing (and sometimes lead) vocals on their songs...

[effyiew]

"Those 4 chords just write themselves" Oh God Bless the universe for dry, British humor.

[stevesandford]

Fantastic analyis once again, Warren...

A vocalist myself, I LOVE singing live to an audience... (The combination of nerves, adrenalin, excitement, audience feedback etc. gives you something extra...) Conversely, I HATE STUDIO RECORDING!!! Often The Singer will have been sitting around for hours with really not a great deal to do... THEN they put you into the booth and say, "Go for it!!!"


I remember once working with the Irish producer Gareth Mannix... We'd done a 'guide track' including vocal so Mannix knew I could sing. By day three, drums, guitars, bass had all been recorded. It was my turn...

ONE VERSE into my delivery Mannix stopped the recording. He CLEARED THE STUDIO of the band, a few hangers on and EVERYONE but me, him and the engineer. He told ME to go get a drink and come back in a half-hour... He said, "Come back alone..."

When I arrived back, he'd dimmed the studio lights and lit candles all around the booth. He'd sellotaped a photograph of a girl, (it was the singer Lisa Hannigan, I remember) to the window and he said, ignore us, "Sing to her..."

So I did... (I couldn't even see the producer or engineer in the dark... Just the candlelight and me and a picture of a girl I could project to...)


(I'd LOVE to say I smashed it on one take, but I think it took about three 'go arounds' of the full song? THEN he got me to do the chorus a few times more... Oh, the joys of 'Pro-Tools'!!!)

It's HARD to say what a producer actually does? But A GOOD PRODUCER is, in a weird way, not as 'into' the 'personal' as The Performer sometimes is??? (They CAN SEE 'The Wood AS Well As The Trees!!!')


And MANNIX was funny!!! "Steve, fantastic, much more you... Let's do it again just like that?"

(I thought, "If it was so good why do I have to do it again????" But, I did of course... Him TELLING ME it had been good gave me confidence? I became more relaxed, more okay with my vocal...COULD I do it better? I could TRY!!!")


I still hate recording though!!!


xx SF

[JohnLynagh]

Great band and incredible song. The reverb on the vocal is very strong, you’d never notice this in the general mix. As an aside, Night swimming literally brought me to tears.

[phillcc]

the song lyrics speak of mental anguish, the jingly jangle of the mandolin complemented by the muted nuance and sustain of the acoustic guitar while competing with the drum s complimented by the bass, the orchestral string section providing the smooth under layer that carries the other instruments like a foundation, the vocals ride like a raft on the underlayers of the instruments, the whole effect is "aural art " that makes you feel like a spectator, one of the true masterpieces of music !

[c.i.demann]

My greatest heartbreak happened in Feb '91. I was devastated and felt like a raw nerve. This song, plus Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game, " which also came out then, spoke to me so strongly. I can't hear either song without thinking of that time and what I was going through.

[legacyShredder]

I started playing the guitar when I was a really little kid. I clearly remember listening to this song at 5 years old knowing I was going to be a musician as an adult, because I wanted to write badass songs like this.

[RoyChartier]

This song IS REM for me...I have fond memories in uni of this track...it is the title track to that time for me.

[danandkiko]

I never understood how strong those drums were. They really helped the energy throughout the song. Every instrument is in its perfect place. Stipe's vulnerable, direct vocal track is not "artistic" or "pretty" but straight.

[kerrysterll]

It’s the Mandolin, it reminds me of the Harmonica in the Stranglers ( Golden Brown )
I love when the Violins kick in ❤

[polmorgan]

Thankyou to Warren and Strongbow for Inspiring so many coments....