R.E.M. have shared a brand new lyric video for his or her 1986 hit ‘I Imagine’, as a part of their ‘We Are Hope Regardless of The Occasions’ marketing campaign to encourage folks to vote.
Within the lead-up to the US election subsequent week (November 5), the band have been vocal concerning the significance of voting. Final month they launched ‘We Are Hope Regardless of The Occasions’, a digital compilation of songs to mark Nationwide Voter Registration Day.
Since then, frontman Michael Stipe has publicly endorsed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on a number of events. He lately carried out at a marketing campaign live performance for Harris, and spoke to Doug Emhoff – Harris’ husband and a former leisure lawyer – about his help for her alongside Jason Isbell.
Now, R.E.M. have shared a brand new lyric video for ‘I Imagine’, a observe from their 1986 album ‘Life’s Nice Pageant’, to additional persuade folks to move to the polls subsequent week.
In a social media assertion, Stipe mentioned, “I imagine the alternatives on this election couldn’t be extra stark or extra vital. Please vote and encourage everybody you understand to do the identical—that’s how we win in 2024 and I imagine we are able to do it!!!” Test the video out beneath.
The video was created by the band’s longtime artwork director Chris Billheimer, and attracts inspiration from handmade designs Stipe used to create for himself throughout R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction tour, in addition to the politically themed T-shirts he wore throughout 1991 MTV VMAs.
After they accepted the Finest Video award for ‘Shedding My Faith’, the band used their acceptance speech to attract consideration to causes like gun management, reproductive rights, voting rights and different vitality sources.
The band have all the time been vocal concerning the significance of taking part in elections. Again in 2016, Stipe and Mike Mills spoke of their concern of Donald Trump’s presidency throughout a Q&S session on 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 track ‘Everyone Hurts’ in a meme which positioned his State of the Union deal with in opposition to down-cast-looking politicians together with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.
The put up has since been eliminated however on the time, the band tweeted: “World Chief PRETEND!!! Congress, Media–ghost this faker!!! Love, R.E.M.” The road “World Chief Faux” is a reference to the band’s 1988 observe of the identical title, which included the lyrics, “I raised the wall and I would be the one to knock it down.”
It’s not the primary instance of the band developing in opposition to the president. In 2015, Trump and different politicians used the band’s 1987 observe, “It’s the Finish of the World As We Know It (And I Really feel Wonderful),” throughout rallies and the band’s frontman had quite a lot of phrases to say about it.
Stipe mentioned: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you — you unhappy, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little males. Don’t use our music or my voice on your moronic charade of a marketing campaign.”
In 2020, Mills shared that the group thought of pursuing authorized motion in opposition to the previous president after he performed two of their songs at a marketing campaign rally.
In different information, final December Stipe revealed he was nonetheless engaged on his debut solo album after being delayed for 12 months as a result of household emergencies, home strikes and a bout of Covid.
He additionally shared he had suffered “horrible” however added that after assembly along with his mom, he now feels stress to ship. “I’ve a deadline now,” he mentioned. “I may preserve engaged on this file for a decade and let my insecurities get the higher of me.”
