Volume 28, Track 13
Posted on | January 27, 2012 | No Comments
“Toys in the Attic” by R.E.M. (1987)
Monster took many people by surprise when it was released in 1994, what with its loud guitars and its overall let’s-be-rock-stars-now sound. And while it was easy to think that R.E.M. had embraced a new sound from out of nowhere (the previous albums Automatic for the People, Out of Time, and Green in particular didn’t possess a lot of straight-up rock numbers) the seeds for Monster were sown years previously with the band’s tinkering covers of Velvet Underground songs and Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic”—B-sides which were later compiled onto Dead Letter Office. I can understand if people find this cover to be blasphemous but I find it to be a fun re-working of a ’70s staple song. Michael Stipe’s lead vocals and Mike Mills’ backup vocals give this cover a refreshing garage band or two-take feel to it, and it’s also nice to hear Bill Berry and Peter Buck play like rock stars. R.E.M. weren’t always perfect when it came to playing loud rock (their wheelhouse really was with songs like those that appeared on Automatic and their first two albums) but “Toys in the Attic” provides a nice glimpse of the kind of who-gives-a-fuck energy that lived just below the surface of their initial southern indie sound.
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