WCSX Classic Cuts : Stand
WCSX Classic Cuts
R.E.M.: “Stand”
The Hook: Peter Buck says his guitar on it was “almost tongue-in-cheek, but not a parody.”
Album: Green
Year: 1988
Writers: R.E.M. (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)
Stats: Topped both Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks and Alternative charts and peaked at number-six on the Hot 100.
Background: Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck says the band’s 1988 album, Green, marked a huge departure from the style he created earlier in the decade — and the end of his reign as “the jangle king.” He says “Stand” is an example of him doing things he’d never done before.
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck on why “Stand” was such a departure for him. OC:…effects possible. :23
“‘Stand’ is almost tongue-in-cheek. I mean, it’s not a parody, but I think in 1988 if you’re kind of a sensible person, if you write big, heavy guitar songs and have the big heavy solos it’s a little absurd. And I thought as long as I have to have my first real kind of like rock guitar solo, I might as well use the wah-wah pedal, which is one of the most overused and most despicable effects possible.”
