MONSTER: WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?

  The first single and track on MONSTER was designed to alert the world and the band's fanbase that R.E.M. had returned to electric guitar driven rock.  It had been five years since GREEN, and OUT OF TIME and AUTOMATIC were solidly more Easy Listening than Alt-Rock.  Also, in those five years the grunge and alternative rock scene exploded and was decidedly loud.  The mix of metal style guitar tracks and avant garde, poetic, and enigmatic lyrics (I hope Lou Reed was proud) was something R.E.M. had done from the beginning and at this point, with countless bands following their blueprint, they felt it was time to step back into the rock genre.
  There were a number of alarming images and sounds from KENNETH that instantly grabbed the attention of fans of the band.  First, Michael Stipe was now bald.  He had given up on the recession and gone rogue in a very unexpected and shocking way, although to be fair from 1982 to 1992 he had more hairstyles than was perhaps healthy.  The cue ball look was enough to make it a huge selling point for the album by using the head in promotional posters and advertisements.  Second, what the hell is Mike Mills wearing?  Elvis called and he wants his jump suits back!  Plus, he now sported long and curly hair.  This is some kind of reinvention for the band, a definitive turning point.  Particularly when you hold up photos of the band from their inception to MONSTER ... one of these things is not like the other.  Third, Peter Buck has stolen Neil Young's chops and for that matter Kurt Cobain's guitar.  To be fair, the guitar was a gift from Courtney Love and for the video he plays it upside down as a tribute, but gone is the familiar Rickenbacker.  This is of huge significance.  MONSTER's sound is unlike any R.E.M. album primarily because Mr. Buck went to Guitar Center or something and bought the store ... or at least some pretty awesome guitar pedals.  There's not a song on MONSTER that doesn't utilize some new guitar effect, which instantly transformed R.E.M. into an arena rock powerhouse.  Buck goes from playing most of the songs on the Rick to needing to change guitars after every song.  Finally, Bill Berry.  Okay, he's the same.
  The lyrics are very Stipy with his signature snapshot view of the world, but the difference here is in the characters he is singing about.  These are dark people on MONSTER and KENNETH is no exception.  The phrase is taken from an assault on Dan Rather where he was pelted with the phrase and also physically pelted.  Stipe seems to have a little bit of an obsession with Rather, which also surfaces on Ignoreland, and uses him as a symbol of prime time news talking heads.  Also found are head scratching lyrics like "Is your Benzedrine?" that Stipe enjoys littering throughout the band's canon.
  In the MONSTER 25 Liner notes, Michael only has one line here that I'm at odds with: 'Dogging your scene.' I think an argument could be made, but if one were to mimic the line, singing 'doggin' a scene' would sound more correct. Again, Michael's interpretation is canon but as a speculative fan blog I'm more interested in what's audible. In the performance does he obscure the actual lyric, or has he gone back 25 years later and made a slight correction? For what it's worth, you can hear the Y sound in the live CD, so maybe it was clarified during the tour.

WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Is your Benzedrine?

uh-huh
I was brain dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed
I thought I'd pegged you an idiot's dream
Tunnel vision from the outsider's screen

I never understood the frequency

uh-huh
You wore our expectations like an armored suit

uh-huh

I'd studied your cartoons, radio, music, tv, movies, magazines
Richard said, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"
A smile like a cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth

You wore a shirt of violent green

uh-huh
I never understood the frequency

uh-huh

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Is your Benzedrine?

uh-huh
Butterfly decal, rearview mirror, doggin' a scene
You smile like a cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth

You wore a shirt of violent green

uh-huh
I never understood the frequency

uh-huh
You wore our expectations like an armored suit

uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You said that irony was the shackles of youth

uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You wore a shirt of violent green

uh-huh
I couldn't understand
I never understood

Don't fuck with me

uh-huh



  Peter's sound completely changes on this album and he uses a couple of fun things here, including the A chord during the chorus that repeats, which you CAN do with the tone switch on the guitar, but is cleaner to find the right effect.  For the lead he uses a backward effect, not actually backwards, and feedback.  He also hammers most of the notes to get rid of the pick sound processing in the effect, this also gives the notes a smoother transition into each other.  I have tabbed the lead with only a couple of hammers, but in reality you could almost do the whole thing without picking at all ... 

WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?

Intro

e|-2---3---2---0-3-----|

B|-3---3---3---2-3-----|

G|-2---0---2---2-0-----|

D|-0---0---0---2-0-----|

A|-----2-------0-2-----|

E|-----3-------0-3-----|

Verse

e|-0---2---2---3---0---2---0---3----|

B|-2---3---3---3---2---3---2---3----|

G|-2---2---4---0---2---2---2---0----|

D|-2---0---4---0---2---0---2---0----|

A|-0-------2---2---0-------0---2----|

E|-0-------2---3---0-------0---3----|

e|-0---2---2---3---0---2---2---0----|

B|-2---3---3---3---2---3---3---0----|

G|-2---2---4---0---2---2---4---1----|

D|-2---0---4---0---2---0---4---2----|

A|-0-------2---2---0-------2---2----|

E|-0-------2---3---0-------2---0----|

Bridge to Chorus

e|-3---0---3---0---|

B|-3---2---3---2---|

G|-0---2---0---2---|

D|-0---2---0---2---|

A|-2---0---2---0---|

E|-3---0---3---0---|

Chorus

e|-2---0---2---3---0------3---0---|

B|-3---2---3---3---2------3---2---|

G|-2---2---2---0---2------0---2---|

D|-0---2---0---0---2------0---2---|

A|-----0-------2---0------2---0---|

E|-----0-------3---0------3---0---|

Verse Fills

e|-2-0------------|

B|----------------|

G|----2---0-------|

D|---------4-2----|

A|----------------|

E|----------------|

Lead

e|--------------------------------|

B|-------------7------------------|

G|-7>10b<7-66-7----7-9b-7-7b------|

D|-----------9--9-7------9----9-7-|

A|--------------------------------|

E|--------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------|

B|---7--------7-8b---------------|

G|--7--7-6-7-9----7---------7hb--|

D|-9--9--------9---9-7-5-5-7-----|

A|-------------------------------|

E|-------------------------------|