“Losing My Religion” by R.E.M., Monday, October 24, 2022 (partial repost)
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Listening to Michael Stripe and Peter Buck talk, I couldn't place R.E.M. as southerners from Georgia. The NetflixSong Exploder's episode on "Losing My Religion" wasn't the first time I had heard R.E.M. talk about their music; however, I was both intrigued and put off by Michael Stripe in the extended interview. He is perhaps one of the most articulate rock stars I've ever heard speak; however, I picked up on an underlying arrogance when he talked about this song. According to most accounts, the band recorded Out of Time using the mandolin as kind of a throw-away record before they returned to more conventional writing approaches. The band chose "Losing My Religion" as the lead single, thinking that it wouldn't chart or that it would just be a minor hit. The band would quickly record more material and go on charting in the lower regions of the Rock Charts. However, "Losing My Religion," despite its unconventionality became a number 4 Hot 100 hit, a number 1 rock chart hit, and it went to number one in several countries. Michael Stripe seems smug when he talks about the band's underdog success. Occasionally, the music charts reflect effort and poetry and musical effort. Occasionally, the band who all the bands are drawing inspiration from also becomes popular. And that time was 1991.
I'M CHOOSING MY CONFESSIONS. Michael Stripe was raised in a religious background in the Methodist tradition. Borrowing a Southern cliché, "Losing My Religion," brilliantly dances around the actually meaning in the lyrics. Stripe said that it's about the awkwardness one feels around someone they love. However, the imagery in the music video and some of the lyrics in the song evoke existential meanings, often bating the devout as the lyrics pick apart problems with devotion. One of the reasons that the song was so successful internationally was the response to the sex scandals in the Catholic church around the world. In some contexts, the song is a protest against religion. In a somewhat of counter-argument, the alternative Christian rock culture in the 2000s also "lost their religion." The mantra many bands and radio stations said was, "It's not about religion, it's about a relationship." Multi-platinum CCM crossover artist Lauren Daigle blithely touted this new cliché on her 2018 album Look Up Child, titling a track "Losing My Religion." This song was not a cover of R.E.M.'s hit, but rather a song about "losing [her] religion, in order to find you." The listener can fill in the blank, but it's pretty obvious from Daigle's context that it's about God.
THAT'S ME IN THE CORNER, THAT'S ME ON THE STAGE. But "Losing My Religion" also has served as a rejection of faith or a reshaping of it. In the last decade, a trend emerged in Christianity in which once prominent leaders and followers, mostly in evangelical persuasions, began to ask questions about what faith meant in the 21st century. When confronted with certain questions, especially regarding gender roles, politics, race, homosexuality, gender identity, and whether or not the scriptures were meant to be taken literally today. The deconstructionists, as they are called, didn't find the traditional answers in mainstream Christianity satisfactory. Of course mainstream Christianity pushes back and often proves itself the culprit the deconstructionists rail against. For me, growing up being taught that I belonged to only true religion and that all the other religions lied to manipulate their followers, "losing my religion" was a scary notion. It was 2014 in the middle of my missionary days when I decided to finish watching Ryan Murphy's Glee. The show often tackled religion, mainly Christianity. Religion is one point of identity for the characters in the small Ohio town. One episode in Season 2, "Grilled Cheesus," dealt with religious idolatry, the prosperity gospel, atheism, and crisis. Finn (Cory Monteith) sings the song "Losing My Religion," and this is the episode's catharsis. It was campy, and I thought it was sacrilegious, but it raised a question that was too often ignored in my religion: how should we deal with homosexuality? The show depicts real gay people in ways I'd never seen them on TV or in real life, and it bothered me that Christianity had made gay people seem like imaginary, sinful beings that could easily "pray away the gay" and change. It wasn't just a theoretical English major debate from university, though. There was something more to this question.
Spoken formed in 1996 and signed to CCM singer-songwriter Crystal Lewis 's Metro 1 label the following year. The band's early music was influenced by Rage Against the Machine and P.O.D., mostly consisting of rap-core and nu metal. After releasing three studio records and a greatest hits compilation through Metro 1, the band signed to Tooth & Nail Records in 2003 and released their fourth studio record, A Moment of Imperfect Clarity . A CHANCE TO CHANGE THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Spoken's fourth record, A Moment of Imperfect Clarity developed the band's sound from a rap-rock, nu metal band to a melodic post-hardcore band. With the Tooth & Nail years during the explosion of the record label and the mass-marketability of Christian Rock, Spoken gained a greater audience. Also with the backing of the record company, the production on their Tooth & Nail albums increased significantly. On the first Tooth & Nail record for spoken, the band worked with Garth ...
East West was a Christian hard rock band that released two albums in the early 2000s. The most successful single from their debut album The Light in Guinevere's Garden was the guitar ballad " She Cries ," in which the band didn't scream the lyrics. East West's two releases are between two very important releases in Hard Christian Rock: P.O.D. 's Satellite and Underoath 's They're Only Chasing Safety . The band's follow up, Hope in Anguish was produced much better than TLiGG. The grungy sounds of slow songs and the gut-punching screams of the heavy songs met the drums, effects petals, and truly depressing lyrics--dealing with addiction, child abuse, and the music business. Four of the songs--three of the non-screaming tracks--made their way to Christian Rock radio. East West was a band that showed that they could write a hit and have a heavy album. I COULD NEVER REALLY FIND THE ANSWERS. Three years ...
TWS (pronounced two-us or in hangeul 투어스) debuted earlier this year on Pledis Entertainment , an independently-operated sub-label of Hybe Corporation . Today all successful K-pop group members promote their group on social media, but the concept of Pledis’s latest boy band was to release “boyhood pop,” or pop music that “captures the daily stories of boys.” Furthering this concept, the group uses the tagline: “twenty-four seven with us.” The group is well-marketed as the cool boyfriends of voyeuristic K-pop fans. With members ranging from 16 to 20, TWS serves as a fifth (or fifth?)-generation K-pop group, marketed to middle school and high school students, which can be seen in their highly-stylized music video “ Plot Twist .” The video features the group living in dormitory-style quarters and attending a co-educational high school. FIRST ENCOUNTERS ARE ALWAYS HARD. Lyrically, "Plot Twist" by TWS is about the awkwardness and nervousness of first encounters. The lyrics de...
Listening to Michael Stripe and Peter Buck talk, I couldn't place R.E.M. as southerners from Georgia. The Netflix Song Exploder's episode on "Losing My Religion" wasn't the first time I had heard R.E.M. talk about their music; however, I was both intrigued and put off by Michael Stripe in the extended interview. He is perhaps one of the most articulate rock stars I've ever heard speak; however, I picked up on an underlying arrogance when he talked about this song. According to most accounts, the band recorded Out of Time using the mandolin as kind of a throw-away record before they returned to more conventional writing approaches. The band chose "Losing My Religion" as the lead single, thinking that it wouldn't chart or that it would just be a minor hit. The band would quickly record more material and go on charting in the lower regions of the Rock Charts. However, "Losing My Religion," despite its unconventionality became a number 4 Hot 100 hit, a number 1 rock chart hit, and it went to number one in several countries. Michael Stripe seems smug when he talks about the band's underdog success. Occasionally, the music charts reflect effort and poetry and musical effort. Occasionally, the band who all the bands are drawing inspiration from also becomes popular. And that time was 1991. 
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