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R.E.M.: "Crazy"
I hadn’t really intended to turn R.E.M.’s breakup on Wednesday into a 3-day thing here, but it’s just sort of worked out that way. Yesterday I posted about Television, one of their big influences, and today, since it’s Cover Friday, I’m kind of tying it all together by going with R.E.M.’s cover of the song “Crazy,” by fellow Athens, Georgia, underground cult faves, Pylon. (And if Television influenced R.E.M., they influenced Pylon to an even greater extent, making the last 3 days quite a neat little package, if I do say so myself.) Preceding R.E.M. by a couple of years, Pylon helped to put Athens on the national music map with the release of their debut album, Gyrate, in 1980, following just a year after The B-52s set things in motion with their debut. Gyrate was a major influence on the guys soon to become R.E.M. In 1982, Pylon released a single, “Crazy,” that became their most well-known song (in a very relative sense), and which ended up on their second album, Chomp, a year later. Around the same time as the album’s release, they broke up, having become disheartened about how things were going for them during a stint opening for U2 (on their first American tour).
In 1985, R.E.M. paid tribute to Pylon’s influence by releasing a cover of “Crazy” on the B-side (remember those?) of their “Driver 8” single. They captured the atmospherics of the original beautifully, and tightened the song up into an even poppier, more streamlined version, without ever straying far from the original. Where Pylon’s singer, Vanessa Briscoe, punctuated the song with slightly crazed shrieks, Michael Stipe’s vocals were smoother and more haunting, which is probably what ends up making their version go down a bit easier. The cover version gained even more exposure when R.E.M. placed it as the leadoff track on their 1987 compilation album, Dead Letter Office, which featured an assortment of B-sides and outtakes.
I figured it might be of interest to feature the original Pylon version here in addition to R.E.M.’s cover — in fact, I think I might make that standard practice for the Friday cover songs. In any case, I hope you enjoy the comparison — they’re really quite similar, and although familiarity often wins out, try to hear Pylon’s original with fresh ears, and you may come away with an appreciation for what made Pylon unique and so inspiring to R.E.M.
Original post date: September 23, 2011