I remember this defense…
I remember when I was about 10 years old playing this video (from Tourfilm) on VHS over and over again. Everything about this clip was amazing: the Gang of Four a cappella at the beginning, the chair, the compiling of clips from other nights, Jim McKay’s direction. The weariness in Stipe’s eyes (this was recorded at the end of a year long tour) and the imitation/tribute to John King (from Gang of Four).
It was a mystery on every level. I remember summer nights, window open to the sounds of coyotes in the neighborhood and everyone but me sleeping as I watched this.
Every person I know in the music business has a story like this though. Mine is not unique. And I’d wager everyone in any business that involves some sort of passion (gaming, movies, startups, etc) has a story like this. In a year or two, it’ll be seeing the Social Network. Maybe people were inspired by Microserfs, or a video game, or something else.
What drives us is trying to achieve the promise of the mystery.
As much as I’ve done, I’ve not achieved that. Nor do I ever want to.
And that is my thought on another summer night.
Hi Ethan,
It was a warm afternoon after classes in a university video production classroom in Kona, Hawaii, in 1993. Tourfilm on VHS. This performance spoke to me so powerfully that it remains my favorite R.E.M. moment of all time. And you’re right, it was the mystery of it — I didn’t know about the Gang of Four or know that R.E.M. had been touring heavily, but I knew that there were things going on in this performance that I could *feel*, even if I didn’t understand them.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories.