Monday, October 2
I'm a total NPR addict. It's one of the reasons I've become middle-aged before my time. NPR's normal target audience seems to be the older end of the boomer range. So imagine my shock when the 'local' sponsor of Morning Edition last week on my public radio station was 'And I Feel Fine: Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987'.

While I love REM, and am happy that there is a newer (older) version of Eponymous, I'm a little weirded out that REM has anything to do with NPR, MarketPlace's bad-ass music selections notwithstanding. Even stranger, the way they said it, the album itself was the sponsor - not the band, not IRS records, but the album. I can't get my head around an album being the local sponsor of a radio station, especially since albums are now more conceptual than tangible in the age of IPOD. It's kind of like the War On Terra, except benign.

3 comments:

fraud, in denim said...

REM was on Sesame Street a few years back. It seems they're doing what they can to support public media outlets.

I don't own an ipod, but I'll bet that even people who do, who'd like to support public radio and who like REM, would consider buying the CD. I'm sure they've investigated it as a marketing strategy.

Interesting...

fraud, in denim said...

Here's a link to the video for those who haven't seen it.

thistle said...

Furry Happy Monsters was waaayyy better than the original, which was never my fav REM song anyway. Thanks for the link, Fraud!!