# REM video "Losing My Religion"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 19, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505 "2009-02-19T03:45:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/21 "2009-02-19T16:16:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> I will see your REM - Losing My Religeon. And I raise you one [Live - Lightning Crashes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAMnjzU-6UQ).
While that’s very bad, it surely has to be topped by Live’s “Dolphin’s Cry.” I’ve never seen the video and I don’t need to. Just the title - “Dolphin’s Cry.” That’s hilarious; you’d expect to see that airbrushed onto a cheap black sweatshirt.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/22 "2009-02-19T17:23:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Who are the Pussycat Dolls? No, don’t answer that. I have a feeling I’m happier not knowing.
I’ll answer anyway. They were a group of burlesque dancers who decided to recruit a lead singer (Nicole Scherzinger) and remake themselves as a pop band.
“[Don’t Cha](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCI1cLiVzEM)” was their first video.
---
### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/23 "2009-02-19T18:22:55Z")
IMO, “Losing My Religion” was a masterwork of droll minimalist subtly in comparison to that self-indulgent wankdoodlefest that was the [One I Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMmTn0IOwH4) video.
Having grown up in the “age of REM” (late 80s), nothing was ever funnier than the nerdy artschool hipsters who thought REM were ‘postmodern geniuses.’
---
### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/24 "2009-02-19T18:56:13Z")
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Huh. All I remembered about this video was the White Guy With No Rhythm Dance - completely forgot all the weird religious iconography.
My brain had done just the reverse, I had forgotten the flailing white guy and remembered only the very old man with wings. I really liked the video, but perhaps that is because I had just read GGM’s _[The old man with enormous wings](http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/garciamarquezoldman.html)_.
---
### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/25 "2009-02-19T18:58:38Z")
Wasn’t it the first video that they, REM, actually appeared in?
I didn’t think it was that bad then. Decent song too.
---
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/26 "2009-02-19T19:03:49Z")
> [@Lochdale](#):
>
> Wasn’t it the first video that they, REM, actually appeared in?
Michael Stipe, at least, was in “Stand.”
---
### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/27 "2009-02-19T19:37:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Going by the lyrics it could also mean the narrator has lost a love, or a chance at his love, and has put him/her up on such a pedestal that he doesn’t know what to do without having this person to worship - e.g. he’s lost his religion. Inasmuch as they meant anything by the lyrics, it reads to me as if it may be a double entendre.
>
> But Stipe is certainly being straightforward when he says it’s not actually about religion: what it definitely ISN’T about is actually losing religious faith. There’s just nothing in the lyrics that suggest that. But then, people don’t listen very closely to the lyrics before assigning political meaning - look how many people think “Born in the USA” is a proud patriotic song.
yeah the song is about some girl he hope/thought he had a chance with and all the confusion that comes from not just asking her. great song, the video is strange in that the director evidently took all the religious bits seriously and no one told him it wasnt a religious song.
---
### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/28 "2009-02-19T19:49:16Z")
I always thought that “losing my religion” meant barfing. I could be wrong. In fact, upon a yahoo search it appears I am.
The video is odd but certainly not the most laughable of music videos. Being an 80’s gal, I love Journey, but their music videos were cringeworthy from the day they were released. In one video, “Separate Ways” the band, for inexplicable reasons, all play air instruments. Oookay. And then there’s Neal Schon and Steve Perry duking it out over a… mannequin. Not that she’s isn’t lovely, but still.
---
### Author:  [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/29 "2009-02-19T19:55:28Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> While that’s very bad, it surely has to be topped by Live’s “Dolphin’s Cry.” I’ve never seen the video and I don’t need to. Just the title - “Dolphin’s Cry.” That’s hilarious; you’d expect to see that airbrushed onto a cheap black sweatshirt.
And you’re dead on with that. It’s mostly just Ed Kowalcyk standing around in an alley in the Jesus pose with a bunch of teenagers running past him, until an ocean wave overcomes them.
---
### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/30 "2009-02-19T19:57:25Z")
> [@Critical1](#):
>
> yeah the song is about some girl he hope/thought he had a chance with and all the confusion that comes from not just asking her. great song, the video is strange in that the director evidently took all the religious bits seriously and no one told him it wasnt a religious song.
“Girl”?? I thought that Stipe had finally (after a loooooong time of hemming & hawing) came out as gay a few years ago.
---
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/31 "2009-02-19T20:06:49Z")
There’s an old adage: Shut up - better that some people think you’re a fool than you open your mouth and remove all doubt.
I always thought this applied to R.E.M. I _loved_ their unintelligible stuff - “Radio Free Europe” which calls all in transit but we don’t know why, “Pilgrimage” with its references to a “two-headed calf” or seven Chinese brothers swallowing the ocean (yes I know it is a reference to an old Asian story, but Stipe just liked the sound of the words). The music was great and the random-but-cool-sounding lyrics added an air of mystery and hipper-than-thou.
Then you get to South Central Rain (could he say he was sorry _more_?) and stuff like LMReligion - oh, so now that he found his lyrics, _this_ is the stuff he writes? Okay - never mind…I liked you better when I couldn’t understand you. And when the music throttled back and Bill Berry wasn’t able to bring the bounce - man, his drums were _great_ on the early stuff, but less necessary to the slow songs they were doing before he left…
And yeah, Tarsem is a whacky visual artist - I get that he is more about style than substance, but it was a visually interesting style so I didn’t give it more thought than that…
My $.02
---
### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/32 "2009-02-19T20:13:49Z")
> [@Prox](#):
>
> The video’s not any good, but I don’t recall anyone really loving it. Seems pretty standard for the time, really. The REM video I remember everyone taking about was “Everybody Hurts”, but I can’t seem to find it on YouTube to see if it holds up.
Everyone loved it. It won 87 awards at the VMAs that year. (Ok, according to wikipedia only 6 - but it was a lot, including “Video of the Year” against “Silent Lucidity,” “Wicked Game,” “Groove is in the Heart,” “Gonna Make You Sweat,” and “I Touch Myself.”)
It still looks good, the images are pretty, kind of weird, and go along with the song. It’s a bit pretentious, but I remember everyone knowing it was pretentious and over the top and being in on the not-seriousness of it.
It’s a good video. Plus, you saw it on MTV because they played videos then. Now, get off of my lawn.
---
### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/33 "2009-02-19T20:34:02Z")
Mt thoughts, roughly in order while viewing…
“Well, I guess I didn’t miss much not having MTV back then…”
“…never did like REM much…”
“…what the frack is going ON?”
“Icarus? DaVinci? Is this based off some old oil painting or something?”
“oooh pretty angel white hair flash gone…”
“Pretty. It’s definitely pretty, but what does it mean?”
“(That’s the beauty of it, it doesn’t MEAN anything…)”
So there you are. And then I googled and found internet scuttlebutt that the DoP for “Losing My Religion” was none other than Alton Brown. Can’t find an official confirmation of that though.
I did find, thanks to wikipedia, that it was a multiple award winning video when it came out, which would suggest that yeah, it \*was \*taken seriously at the time:
> [@](#):
>
> The music video was nominated in nine categories at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. The video won six awards, including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction, Best Direction, and Best Editing.[17] “Losing My Religion” also ranked first in the music video category of the 1991 Pazz & Jop poll.[12]
---
### Author:  [@Prox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prox)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/34 "2009-02-19T20:55:13Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Brown#Early_career), Alton Brown did “The One I Love”, not “Losing My Religion”.
“Everybody Hurts” still holds up. Great song with a great video.
---
### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/35 "2009-02-19T20:58:10Z")
> [@Prox](#):
>
> According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Brown#Early_career), Alton Brown did “The One I Love”, not “Losing My Religion”.
>
> “Everybody Hurts” still holds up. Great song with a great video.
Well, great video, anyway.
I’m at work, so I’m not going to get on Youtube, but wasn’t the “Everybody Hurts” video a rip-off of the opening scene in Fellini’s _8&1/2_?
---
### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/36 "2009-02-19T21:45:47Z")
Wow- I had never seen REM do “End of the World” live, but it’s [pretty damned good](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8).
---
### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/37 "2009-02-19T21:57:40Z")
> [@PetW](#):
>
> Was that guy digging his finger into that old man’s chest? That was disturbing.
[It’s based off of this painting.](http://moneyradio.org/images/thomas.jpg)
---
### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/38 "2009-02-19T22:01:01Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#):
>
> Wow- I had never seen REM do “End of the World” live, but it’s [pretty damned good](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8).
It’s actually one of the few songs I’ve never not seen them do live. I think Stipe liked that one.
_Superman_ is one that they refused to play live for a long time (maybe still).
---
### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/39 "2009-02-20T02:40:49Z")
Ok, all you haters, I love and always have loved this video. I admit it! Yes, of course it’s pretentious art crap, and yet amusing. So were we. So are you, just a different era. Take your Pink Floyd or Franz Ferdinand and eat it.
(I love the odd mixed oblique religious/ideological iconography/references, and the suggestion of tableaux vivants)
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505/40 "2009-02-20T02:41:19Z")
You know, I was going to say, (from memory), what’s the big deal-it’s just Michael Stipe pacing around, waving his arms and singing. But I forgot about the saints and the angels and the Hindu dancers and all that. I wouldn’t call it “hilariously funny,” more like, “it’s funny because it’s so fucking pretentious.”
I mean, I like R.E.M. and all, and I like their music-but Michael Stipe takes himself waaaaay too seriously.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rem-video-losing-my-religion/486505.md?page=3)