As years have passed, I’ve increasingly looked at R.E.M. as a band that broke up in 1997, with Bill Berry’s departure. The band put out ten albums before that point and five after, but those five never quite felt like “real” R.E.M. albums.
I found something to love in each of them when they were released (even Around the Sun, by far their weakest record) but looking back on R.E.M.’s career in total, it definitely splits into two eras.
Today’s track comes from the lesser era. ‘Supernatural Superserious’ is one of the best songs on Accelerate, a grungy comeback record that found the band at their most energized in awhile. It’s a good song, but it just doesn’t stack up well against the earlier work.
Comes from somewhere
But they would just as soon forget
and disguise
At the summer camp where you volunteered
No one saw your face, no one saw your fear
If that apparition had just appeared
Took you up and away from this place and sheer humiliation
Of your teenage station
Nobody cares no one remembers and nobody cares
Yeah you cried and you cried
He’s alive he’s alive
Ah, you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried
If you call out safe then I’ll stop right away
If the premise buckles and the ropes starts to shake
For the details mark
With the stories the same
You don’t have to explain
You don’t have to explain
Humiliation
Of your teenage station
Yeah you cried and you cried
He’s alive he’s alive
Ah, you cried and you cried and you cried
And you realized your fantasies are
Dressed up in travesties
Enjoy yourself with no regrets
Everybody here comes from somewhere
If they would just as soon forget,
And disguise
Yeah you cried and you cried
He’s alive he’s alive
Yeah, you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried
(Oh you cried and you cried)
(Oh you cried and you cried)
Now there’s nothing dark and there’s nothing weird
Don’t be afraid I’ll hold you near
From the séance where you first betrayed
An open heart on a darkened stage’s celebration
Of your teenage station
Zen experience sweet delirious
Supernatural superserious
Inexperience sweet delirious
Supernatural superserious
(Wow)
Meet Me In Montauk 
I think I reached that same conclusion years ago, though I didn’t really know why the music changed or why I lost interest. This isn’t a bad song, but it’s not special like their work in the 80s and early 90s.