"Pop Song 89" opens the great "Green" album by R. E. M. And it's one of their most successful hits of all time with their catchy sound and memorable
lyrics. It truly captures of a pure pop/rock song of a time when things were successful without an excessive appeal or some pretentious wording or sound.
It's a basic song that echoes many sentiments that you've probably felt or experienced before. As for the music video, we got a strangely humored one.
This one is composed with an one-setting scenario filmed in black-and-white, and a place where lead singer Michael Stipe and three female dancers
all appear dancing to the music (Stipe doesn't even sing here), at times there's some fragmented images and the lyrics pop on the screen. Nothing much
going around really except...for the fact this strange quartet are dancing all topless up to the extent some viewers will think Stipe is also a girl
due to his extensive long hair.
But the major factor that made this a popular video back in the day isn't available anymore, it's a sign of the times. Back in the MTV days, they
demanded the use of black bars on all the female's breasts, to which Stipe replied he was gonna use one too - that's the other factor people may confuse
him as a woman. That version is the one we all seen over the decades up until some years ago when the video was released without the bars, showing
everything. Normal. It's okay. But back in 1989 TV folks just wouldn't allow it.
However, after seeing both versions I dare to say that i prefer the censored one because
it's funny to see Stipe joining the dancing girls and having his nipple censored. It's kinda hysterical if you think about it. And for quite some time
I've always thought that the censorship wasn't because of a demand from the networks, I thought it was just a concept the group was working on since
at the time (or a little later) some video clips were showing nudity so...who knows.
So here's a curious view of the world back then when things were so strange yet so simple. "Should we talk about the weather?... Should we talk about
the government?". Do people try to do that while engaging in conversations? Cos it got so much worse. 9/10.