R.E.M. have shared ‘We Are Hope Despite The Times’, a digital compilation of songs to mark National Voter Registration Day.
The compilation features 18 hand-picked R.E.M tracks by the band from their career-spanning discography, highlighting themes of activism and social responsibility. The songs include ‘World Leader Pretend’, ‘Fall On Me’, ‘Welcome To The Occupation’, ‘Drive’, ‘Finest Work Song’, ’Turn You Inside-Out’, ‘Pop Song ’89’, ‘Stand’ and ‘Its the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’.
Its title ‘We Are Hope Despite The Times’ is derived from the band’s song ‘These Days’ from their 1986 LP ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ which includes the lyric: “We are young despite the years / We are concern, we are hope despite the times.” The compilation aims to encourage fans to stay informed and to vote during this election season.
R.E.M are urging their fans to visit vote.gov or headcount.org in order to register to vote or update their voting information.
‘We Are Hope Despite The Times’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Turn You Inside-Out’
2. ‘Pop Song ’89’
3. ‘These Days’
4. ‘I Believe’
5. ‘Fall on Me’
6. ‘Welcome to the Occupation’
7. ‘World Leader Pretend’
8. ‘Drive’
9. ‘Begin The Begin’
10. ‘Finest Worksong’
11. ‘Exhuming McCarthy’
12. ‘Just a Touch’
13. ‘Cuyahoga’
14. ‘Disturbance At The Heron House’
15. ‘Swan Swan H’
16. ‘Ignoreland’
17. ‘Stand’
18. ‘Its the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’
The band have always been vocal about the importance of participating in elections. Back in 2016, R.E.M frontman Michael Stipe and Mike Mills spoke of their fear of Donald Trump’s presidency during a Q&S session at the London Borderline and added that they hoped that his election would “galvanise” disillusioned American voters.
In 2019, the group reacted to Trump’s use of their song ‘Everybody Hurts’ in a meme which positioned his State of the Union address against down-cast-looking politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.
The post has since been removed but at the time, the band tweeted: “World Leader PRETEND!!! Congress, Media–ghost this faker!!! Love, R.E.M.” The line “World Leader Pretend” is a reference to the band’s 1988 track of the same name, which included the lyrics, “I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down.”
It’s not the first example of the band coming up against the president. In 2015, Trump and other politicians used the band’s 1987 track, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” during rallies and the band’s frontman had more than a few words to say about it.
Stipe said: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
In 2020, Mills shared that the group considered pursuing legal action against the former president after he played two of their songs at a campaign rally.
The US band, who split up in 2011, said that they are “exploring all legal avenues” to stop Trump from using their music on his campaign trail at the time. Days after Trump used the songs at a rally in Milwaukee, Mills described the President as a “fraud” and “con man” and said the band does “not condone the use of our music” by him.
Elsewhere, Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator Finneas endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy today (September 17).
The ‘Birds Of A Feather’ singer and her brother took to their official Instagram account to encourage fans to vote, while specifically endorsing Harris. “We are asking you to please join us in going to Iwillvote.com to check your status and vote early like we do,” began Finneas in an Instagram clip, with Billie adding: “We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy.”
Last week, Taylor Swift shared her endorsement of Harris‘ presidential candidacy. The pop star shared an Instagram post in which she championed Harris as a “steady-handed, gifted leader”, saying she believes “we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos”. Swift also said Harris “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them”.
Swift also urged voters to do their own research to make an informed decision on who they should vote for and recommended first-time voters to register ahead of time. She also included a link to the registration site Vote.gov to her Instagram account.
The ‘Bejeweled’ singer’s push for fans to register to vote led to nearly half a million people visiting the site directly from the link she shared within 24 hours of her post – up from around 30,000 site visitors a day.
Following Swift’s footsteps, Stevie Nicks also shared her endorsement for Harris, saying: “Now is the time to research and choose the candidate that speaks to you and your beliefs. Only 54 days left until the election. Make sure you are registered to vote! Your vote in this election may be one of the most important things you ever do.”
Elsewhere, The White Stripes revealed that they are suing former president Donald Trump over his unauthorised use of ‘Seven Nation Army’ in a social media post.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan, the band “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks” (per Pitchfork).
Recently, Bright Eyes‘ frontman Conor Oberst spoke to NME about their new album and opened up about the upcoming election.
“I mean, knock on wood, but I think that Vice President Harris would make a great president. She’s incredibly smart. She seems empathetic and very, very qualified. I don’t want to say that it’s a done deal, people need to show up, and there are some hurdles as far as being the first woman of colour [to run for president],” he said.
He continued: “For progressive leaning friends of mine it felt that when Biden was still in the race, it was like everyone had resigned to the fact that he was probably going to lose, and that it was gonna be horrible. Now it feels like we might actually be able to pull this thing off, if everyone gets together and agrees that, sadly, we have a binary option, and given the two options, one is clearly much better than the other. I hope that carries us across the finish line.”
In other news, R.E.M recently explained why they will never reunite as a full-time band, saying that it would “never be as good” if they did.