R.E.M Rarities Available For Limited Time

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Last week, JAMTV reported that EMI-Capitol Entertainment Properties released a must-have collection of David Bowie songs. The record company has done the same thing with R.E.M.

Also released on Oct. 7, Essential - R.E.M In The Attic: Alternative Recordings 1985 - 1989, highlights songs from the Athens, Ga.,-based foursome's early career when they were darlings of college radio. Young R.E.M. fans who caught on when Monster hit in 1994 can now understand what older R.E.M. fans were raving about back when Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant and Document came out in the mid-'80s.

R.E.M. In The Attic is just one of the albums helping commemorate the 100th anniversary of EMI Records. The collection, which features songs like "Finest Worksong," "The One I Love" and "Gardening At Night," will only be available for six months from the date of release. This limited edition includes live tracks as well as never before heard alternative versions of some of the band's most popular songs.

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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