10 Huge Songs That Bands Refused To Play Live
4. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M.
If you only knew this one R.E.M. song, you'd be forgiven for thinking they were some sort of '60s pastiche band specialising in soppy pop numbers.
Oh, how wrong you'd be.
The Godfathers of indie rock helped shape the alternative scene with tracks like Orange Crush, Losing My Religion, Nightswimming, and It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).
And then there's this curiosity - a song extolling the virtues of being nice to each other with one of the B-52s on backing vocals. What the hell happened?
Well, in true R.E.M. fashion, lead single Michael Stipe got the phrase from a Chinese propaganda poster.
Brilliant.
Also in true R.E.M. fashion, Stipe absolutely hates this song.
"If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be 'Shiny Happy People'."
The song has been played a grand total of twice live, and those performances were both in the year it came out.
For context, they have played a cover of ABBA's Does Your Mother Know more times than they've played this.