10 Perfect Rock Songs That Musicians Hate
3. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M.
Just like their album title would suggest, R.E.M. truly does feel like band out of time. As much as their signature brand of college rock fit right in during the indie scene of the '80s, it wasn't until almost a decade later that they became global superstars, all while reinventing themselves in whatever way they wanted to along the way. Just because you experiment doesn't always mean that it comes as a success.
On the album Out of Time, the band went for some of the most eclectic sounding songs of their career, and even managed to bring in KRS One for a verse on the opener Radio Song. And while a song like Shiny Happy People saw them working with the B-52s, Michael Stipe has gone on record saying that this is his least favorite song that he's ever been a part of.
It's not that hard to see why either, considering the song itself and the accompanying music video sound more like something that should come out of a kids' show rather than the band who wrote Everybody Hurts. It's also pretty stark when you think about the fact that this song is on the same record as Losing My Religion. It may have given the band an entirely new audience, but if Michael Stipe sent one song into space to represent him, Shiny Happy People would be in the bottom 5.