Song 571: This week the playlist features Welcome To The Occupation by R.E.M., written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the spring of 1983, R.E.M. hit the road just after the release of their second LP Murmur, and my band Victims of Technology had the honor of being the opening act for them (and another group called The Lloyds) at The Stone in San Francisco one night in late June. I liked what I heard from the quartet that evening, and also the tracks of theirs that rode the radio waves during that era, but when Document arrived 4 years later, I felt even more impressed, and that disc got plenty of spins on my turntable. A couple of decades down the line, not long after I had my iPod in hand, the album would soon grace my mp3 player as well. This cut follows the opener Finest Worksong (Song 419), and it keeps things moving quite well. These days, it seems truly ironic to listen to lyrics about The Occupation that appeared nearly a decade and a half before a certain guy nicknamed Dubyah began the military occupation of Afghanistan that still has not ended. Here we stand and here we fight in a country where all of their fallen heroes got held and dyed and skinned alive while we propagate confusion by claiming that freedom reigns supreme.
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