Michael Stipe might actually have written "Wolves, Lower" about hiring entertainment lawyers. But in 1982, when that song appeared, R.E.M. fans would never have guessed that Stipe's concerns could be so practical. Voracious for meaning, future semiotics majors found their religion in a text Stipe was enigmatic and smart enough to embody. In concert during those cryptic early years, he was known to sing fans' interpretations in place of his "real" lyrics. The incomprehensible sound poems weren't the point, this suggested—you were. Stipe, claiming that his muted utterances were sometimes critiques of foreign policy, gave voice to liberal inarticulateness in the Reagan era. And when he finally spoke up, he said what New South Democrats ought to have been saying: He growled at yuppies, criticized philanderers, and presaged doom. Automatically, the people elected him president... More >>>