Crucial Track for January 9, 2026

"What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? (Remastered)" by R.E.M.

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#365songs (9 / 365)

First song and IIRC lead single off R.E.M.'s most underrated and maligned album, one-time filler of used CD bins after a bunch of people fell in love with "Man on the Moon" or "Everybody Hurts" off Automatic for the People and were disappointed when they got Monster expecting more of the same.

Monster is the opposite of Automatic in almost every way: loud and scuzzy where Automatic was soft and pretty; alienated and ironic where Automatic was warm and sincere. Its signature sound, distorted guitar with heavy tremolo, shows up as a seasoning here before becoming the main flavor on "Crush With Eyeliner" and "I Took Your Name" and (I think) "You" and... the instrumental coda to "Bang and Blame?"

Anyway, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is probably not the best song on Monster but it does set the stage well for all that: as with most R.E.M. songs the lyrics are oblique at best but they do a good job of conveying the confusion and disconnection that characterize the rest of the album. The main difference (as I see it) (in the process of writing this post and not a moment earlier) is that where the protagonist of "WTF, K?" seems disconcerted by the front put up by whoever he's singing to, many of the other characters on Monster have some kind of artifice of their own going on, and know it, and lean into it, and love it. ("I Took Your Name.") Or at least indulge it. ("Crush With Eyeliner." "King of Comedy.") Or at least depend on it. (Practically every other song.)

Like all those people who sold Monster back to all those used CD stores, I liked Automatic first, but unlike presumably most of them I now actually prefer Monster, which feels like a much more cohesive album with more interesting things to say (and which has no skip songs for me, whereas I really can't stand "Everybody Hurts" at this point). So "WTF, K?" is kind of more interesting to me as a lead-in to Monster as a whole than a song in itself, but it's still pretty fun even if I wish it were about 15 or 20 percent faster.

2026-01-09 Karaoke Edition: I sang this song at karaoke on Jan 9, continuing with a general tendency to do an R.E.M. song in every sesh since they're in my comfort zone. Vibes in the room were "perplexed," appropriate for the song, though perhaps in the opposite direction generationally. Apparently R.E.M. songs outside the top tier of popularity ("Losing My Religion?" "Man on the Moon?" "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)?") have not entered the cultural lexicon.