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It's All Relative

Hola kitties! Contrary to the post title this Music Monday post isn't gonna be song titles that include the words mom, dad, aunt and uncle. This week is a freebie meaning I can share whatever songs I darn well feel like. Truth be told, TW does most of the choosing cos I'm not an audiophile so she better have chosen a good theme that I approve of.

It's All Relative

Everyone has heard of R.E.M. and knows how much we love them. This post is dedicated to bands relating to R.E.M.—some which even include R.E.M. relatives!—who you may not be familiar with.



Here are the songs in the playlist.

Tanzplagen—Treason. Before R.E.M., Michael Stipe was in the band Tanzplagen, which means "dance mania" in German in which his sister Lynda provided background vocals.

Hetch Hetchy—Present. Lynda Stipe went on to form the band Oh-Ok which was just, um, OK at best. Her next project was Hetch Hetchy. Their 1st EP on the Texas Hotel label was produced by Michael Stipe and their 2nd by Stipe friends and Hugo Largo members Tim Sommer and Hahn Rowe.

3 Walls Down—Wooden Nails. 3 Walls Down features R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills' brother, Mitch, on guitar. He also sings harmonies and plays some keyboards and percussion in this band. Their record was produced by Mike. Mitch is a pawsome guy and a real gentleman.

Thirteen-One-Eleven—My Bible is the Latest TV Guide. Even country music fans should love this one. R.E.M.'s drummer, Bill Berry, and first manager, Jefferson Holt, collaborated on this little ditty.  "13111" is a translation of "Bill" into numerals. The flip side is a cover of the New Colony Six's "Things I'd Like to Say."

Filthy Friends—Last Chance Country. Filthy Friends is a rock "supergroup" founded by R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck  and Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney. "Last Chance" was their first single. They've since released a second CD and will be touring to promote it.

It Crawled From the South—Crazy. R.E.M. performed a surprise show at NYC's Peppermint Lounge on Halloween 1983 using the name It Crawled From the South. They opened the show for the Cramps and did a half hour of cover songs. The photo in the audience video isn't from that show cos Michael Stipe wore a bunny costume during the show. TW was there and wishes she could get photos or a real video.

Bingo Hand Job—Radio Song. The last song I'm going to share also is R.E.M. with Peter Holsapple (dBs) and Billy Bragg. In 1991 during the height of their success, they performed a few nights at the Borderline, a small club in London, under the name Bingo Hand Job. TW was lucky cos she got a t-shirt but her friend, Henry, was even luckier since he got into the shows. I included a video of one of the shows at the end of the playlist. It's an audience recording so it's not perfect quality.

I'm participating in this week's  4M Music Monday blog hop co-hosted by Curious as a Cathy. Michele from AngelsBark chose the prompts this month although this week is a freebie.

It's All Relative

Gratuitous cat photo.

Would you like to comment?

  1. You always have the coolest tunes DJ CK!

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  2. The only one of these groups Mom has ever heard of is REM. The music is good on the audio you provided, but Lynda’s vocals seem too weak for it. Thanks for our photo, C.K. We’d hate to drop by and not see your stunning self. XOCK, angel Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

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  3. Wow...you know your tunes. Like Kitties Blue, the only one we'd heard of was REM.

    The Florida Furkids

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  4. Love R.E.M. and I especially love the gratuitous cat photo.

    Have a fabulous day and week. ♥

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  5. Keisha,

    An audiophile sounds like a dirty word. I'm glad you're not one. Not that your human is but still...okay, okay, it's not a dirty word but I can't help but think of another word that ends with 'ophile' that's not a very good thing to be.

    Yikes, you know it's Monday when my brain gets all scrambly I know what brought me here and yet I get off track. I need onto the song tracks, right? It won't come as any surprised to the human who shares my name. She's gotta be a wonderful gal is all I can say. There I go again off topic, anywho, all of her audiophiles are totally new2me. R.E.M. is the only band I know by name. The others I'm unsure about but I definitely haven't heard any of today's song picks before now - so way to go! I love being introduced to new tunes. :) Thanks for sharing the 4M dance floor with me, my lovelies. Have a boogietastic week! Snuggles & pawkisses to you!

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  6. Now THAT is interesting! What a great idea for a post. Our mom loved R.E.M. back in the day.

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  7. Very nice but you forgot The Baseball Project which features Peter Buck and Mike Mills. The group was formed in 2007. All of the songs are baseball. I saw them in concert about five years ago in San Francisco.

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  8. Great choices, CK ! And thank you for letting us discover some cool bands ! Purrs

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  9. Interesting set! I especially the one that has "Things I'd Like To Say" as the flip side. The New Colony Six were a Chicago band...

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  10. CK; we dinna noe R.E.M hada hand in that manee mewsical werkz !!! way kewl ☺☺♥♥

    we will give a lsiten ta theez trax later when we can act shoo a lee heer em { on de werk pc }

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  11. I'm sad to say that I've never heard of any of those songs or bands. But at least I can say I know who R.E.M. is! Thanks for introducing me to the new tunes.

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  12. Amazing playlist, CK! R.E.M. is a great band. It looks like you are an expert in their music. :)
    -Purrs from your friends at www.PlayfulKitty.net

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  13. Haven't heard of a single one of them, but I love how you tie your choices in to your faves just like I do :) Which one did Pop think was Conway?

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  14. A musical family tree! So impressed! We're always amazed, but hey, I get amazed over dandruff..We like R.E.M., too. - Enjoy your week, CK! - Tom x

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  15. These are all new to me. I only had time to listen to 3, but they were good. TW has great taste in music. And I love the shot of you in the cube. XO

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  16. Gratuitous cat photo...yeah, that's the ticket!

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  17. Thanks for sharing your wonderful playlist. We really enjoyed the 3 walls down-- Wooden nails song. R.E.M. was one of our favorites in the 90's. Have a great rest of your day.
    World of Animals

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  18. Time for some music education because I didn't know any of these groups. Treason - very nice song, it has a nice "trippy" vibe to it. My favorite was Three Walls Down, because, to me, it sounded so much like REM. I run hot and cold on REM for some reason- some of their songs I absolutely love, others not so much. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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  19. Hey, what a cool theme, "It's all relative" -- I love it! That can go in so many directions. It always blows me away to learn about how the musicians move and integrate into different bands throughout their careers.

    Surprising to me especially, my favorite song on your playlist is from Thirteen-One-Eleven!

    Very interesting concept and post!
    Hope you're having a great weekend,

    Michele at Angels Bark

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  20. Ooh ooh ooh! I love R.E.M., so of course I love all your choices - thanks for the introduction to these bands relating to R.E.M.!! :) Hope you're having an amazing weekend! :)

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