"Exhuming McCarthy" by R.E.M.

In my opinion, R.E.M. is a must-listen band if you’re into college/alternative rock. Even if you’re not, you could probably at least find a few songs of theirs that you'd enjoy, as they were extremely versatile. They were also mysterious, in a sense. Some of their earlier stuff has lyrics that are completely unintelligible. Even once lead singer Michael Stipe began to enunciate more, the lyrics were still often puzzling. At first glance, they might not make much sense, not only in their meaning but also in their grammar.

However, there was always something to uncover (well...almost always...I'm looking at you, "Stand"), and the messages were thoughtful and significant. One song even managed to help me on a history quiz. That song is “Exhuming McCarthy.”

“Exhuming McCarthy” was one of R.E.M.'s songs I originally disregarded in favor of material like “Orange Crush” and “Losing My Religion” when I was first getting into the band. Later on though, especially as I got more of their CDs, I would just let them play all the way through.

“Exhuming McCarthy” eventually caught my attention, mostly for the catchy bass line in the pre-chorus. Additionally, the chorus got stuck in my head and terms like “business acumen” and “landed gentry” piqued my interest. What really made me want to look into the song’s meaning, though, was the voice clip towards the end of the song. At the time, I figured it was something from an old movie or TV show, and it was definitely a unique addition.

Upon doing some research, I found out that the song was about Joseph McCarthy, a US senator in the 40s and 50s who accused hundreds of people of being communists and Soviet spies. He claimed to have a list of these people, though it is believed this list was mostly made up. McCarthy led a hunt for communists in what many claim was nothing more than a whirlwind of scapegoating, fear-mongering, and witch-hunting. I won’t give a whole history lesson here, but the audio clip in the song is actually from a Senate hearing and is considered the beginning of McCarthy’s downfall.

Anyway, I ended up forgetting about a history quiz I had in high school once, and I forgot to do the necessary reading. There was one question about the person who played a leading role in the hunt for communists in the 1950s and, thanks to R.E.M., I got that question right.

I really meant it when I said I think almost everyone can find at least one R.E.M. song that they like. They have some harder-hitting songs like “Driver 8” or “Crush With Eyeliner,” gentle love songs like “At My Most Beautiful” and “Be Mine,” pop-y stuff like “Shiny Happy People,” moody songs like “Low” and “Feeling Gravity’s Pull,” folk-rock songs like “Life and How to Live It” and “King of Birds,” and what I think is my favorite song by the group, “Hyena.”