Strange Currencies
"Strange Currencies" | ||||
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File:R.E.M. - Strange Currencies.jpg | ||||
Single by R.E.M. | ||||
from the album Monster | ||||
B-side | "Strange Currencies" (instrumental version) | |||
Released | April 3, 1995[1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:52 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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"Strange Currencies" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. It was included on their ninth studio album, Monster (1994), and was released as the album's third single on April 18, 1995. The single reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 47 in the United States. Like "Everybody Hurts" on R.E.M.'s previous album, it has a time signature of 6
8.
Contents
Composition
Stipe has said that the song is about "when somebody actually thinks that, through words, they're going to be able to convince somebody that they are their one and only."[4]
The song almost did not make it on the album due to its rhythmic similarities to "Everybody Hurts." Yet Michael Stipe's melody, the band felt, was too good to pass over, so the original rhythm was slightly reworked.
Critical reception
Steve Baltin from Cash Box declared "Strange Currencies" as "maybe the sweetest song" from the Monster album. He explained, "There's a simple longing, mixed with reassuring, in the way Michael Stipe sings “I tripped and fell/did I fall/what I want to feel I want to feel it now.” A sparse but lovely melody accompanies Stipe's tour de force. [...] Of course it will be a smash at the usual outlets, it's R.E.M.; but look for this one to break out at Top 40 and maybe even at Adult/Contemporary."[5] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel said it's the song "with perhaps the most enduring appeal" on the album, declaring it as "a languid track on which Stipe explores the enigma of a would-be lover with alternating fits of determination and vulnerability."[6] Howard Hampton from Spin felt it's better than its "tearjerking predecessor", "Everybody Hurts", describing it as a "tremulous, pledging-my-soul" track.[7]
Music video
The accompanying music video for "Strange Currencies", directed by Mark Romanek, was shot on the first anniversary of the death of Michael Stipe's close friend River Phoenix and features Phoenix's last girlfriend, actress Samantha Mathis.[citation needed] It also features an early performance by actor and model Norman Reedus. It is in black and white, and shows the band playing in an industrial area. The images of the band are interspersed with other shots, some of which, such as a child playing with a dead bird, suggest urban decay.
A second music video for a remix that incorporates live footage from Road Movie and the second season of The Bear was released on June 27, 2023.[8] A lyric video for the Monster 25th anniversary remix was published on July 20, 2023.[9]
Live performances
"Strange Currencies" was played live frequently throughout the Monster tour but was not performed live again until 2003, when the song would then only appear on and off throughout various set lists until their final tour in 2008.
Track listings
- "Strange Currencies" (album version) – 3:52
- "Strange Currencies" (instrumental version) – 3:52
- "Strange Currencies" – 3:52
- "Drive" (live) – 4:17 (4:10 in UK)
- "Funtime" (live) – 2:16 (2:20 in UK)
- "Radio Free Europe" (live) – 4:43
Note: All live tracks were recorded at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, on November 19, 1992. The performance, a benefit for Greenpeace, was recorded on a solar-powered mobile studio.
- "Strange Currencies" (25th anniversay remix by Scott Litt) – 3:52
- "Strange Currencies" – 3:52
- "Strange Currencies" (Live version from Road Movie) – 4:13
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Release history
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | April 3, 1995 |
|
Warner Bros. | [1] |
United States | April 11, 1995 | Contemporary hit radio | [34] | |
Japan | May 25, 1995 | CD | [35] | |
Worldwide | June 24, 2023 | Music streaming | [17] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://remhq.com/albums.php[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Campbell, Chuck (October 7, 1994). "R.E.M. Rocks Anew On Heady 'Monster'". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9220." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Strange Currencies". Irish Singles Chart.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – R.E.M. – Strange Currencies" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ↑ "Archive Chart: 199504". Scottish Singles Top 40.
- ↑ "R.E.M.: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.
- ↑ "R.E.M. – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for R.E.M..
- ↑ "R.E.M. – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for R.E.M..
- ↑ "R.E.M. – Chart history" Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for R.E.M..
- ↑ "R.E.M. – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for R.E.M..
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
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- Articles with dead external links from February 2022
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- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2010
- Singlechart usages for Canadatopsingles
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- Singlechart usages for Ireland2
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- 1995 singles
- American soul songs
- Music videos directed by Mark Romanek
- R.E.M. songs
- Songs written by Bill Berry
- Songs written by Peter Buck
- Songs written by Mike Mills
- Songs written by Michael Stipe
- Warner Records singles
- 1994 songs
- Song recordings produced by Scott Litt
- Song recordings produced by Michael Stipe
- Song recordings produced by Peter Buck
- Song recordings produced by Bill Berry
- Song recordings produced by Mike Mills