10 Most Underrated Rock Ballads Of All Time
2. Nightswimming - R.E.M.
One of the greatest elements of R.E.M.'s music was just how different they seemed from most of their contemporaries. It's easy to chalk that up to no one knowing what Michael Stipe was saying, but there's a lot more attention to detail that went into some of the most inarticulate songs in their catalog. And once they actually hit the big time, they managed to hit on an open wound with Nightswimming.
Although a song like Losing My Religion is an easy candidate for the best song that the band have ever made, Nightswimming is one of the perfect tracks of the entire '90s, with only a piano and a string section anchoring everything down beneath Stipe's vocals. Though the title itself refers to nothing more than Stipe getting into trouble going swimming at night when he was a teen, the real gut punch is in just how much things can change in such a short amount of time.
An act like swimming at night might not have been that big a deal back in the day, but as you start to move on with life, you start to realize just how important those experiences are to making you the person you are today. It's always fun to reminisce on these things, but as your hair starts to go gray, you can never really go back to that place.