Little known facts and minor memories of R.E.M.’s GREEN released on Election Day 35 years ago, November 8, 1988:
It was almost called G4EEN (check out the typo on the vinyl album sleeve);
Releasing it on Election Day was directly inspired by Neil Young who a few years earlier had released Hawks and Doves just before the election of 1980;
The “Two things to do November 8” image was the back page of Billboard ad, some coveted auspice back in the olden days;
GREEN has four songs on Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, the definitive Best Of R.E.M. album (the only other album with four songs included is Automatic for the People). And there was not room for Turn You Inside-out or World Leader Pretend, arguably two of the band’s best songs of any era.
Here ends the morning meditation on a great and somehow still underrated R.E.M. album.
-Bertis