My favorite part was those Wacky Headlines: "30 Die in Flood."

Is that Oscar calling?

I think it was one of the better eras for the show. Not on par with the late '70s or late '80s, but better than most.

Lawrence thread, baby! Wasn't there also an SNL sketch set at The Wheel a few years back? Was that the Sudeikis influence or maybe Riggle?

He did great work in Tootsie as both director and actor.

Jack Donaghy: "I remember when Bravo used to show operas."

Oh, snap. I need to rewatch this. I loved it when I saw it in the theaters way back when.

"Kenneth" is awesome. I mean, I can't even see how that's controversial.

He obviously just doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks at this point. He should have called the album "Air Rage."

F*ck that, "E-Bow" is great, as is Daysleeper. They just weren't good choices as singles. But I think also R.E.M. had reached the point where they'd been popular for too long (nearly a decade) and the public just wasn't that into it anymore. They were too idiosyncratic of a band to maintain massive popularity as long…

The generational differences are interesting. I take it you may be a bit older than me. I got into R.E.M. with Out of Time and Automatic, and was blown away by how good they were. Then I went back to the '80s stuff and didn't get it at first because it was so much different, but eventually came to appreciate those…

I've heard a lot of it. The bizarre thing is that Peter tries to shout/sing his way through some of it, but doesn't quite pull off the Iggy Pop effect that he's going for. He has Corin Tucker sing lead on one of the songs, which is pretty cool.

It's just odd to talk about art that "solely reflects back the ugliness of everyday life" in reference to a song that has a beautiful lilting arpeggio, and a soaring crescendo at the end with swelling strings and the repeated refrain to "hold on." It's just about the most uplifting damn thing I've ever heard in my…

Those who dismiss '90s R.E.M. because of the overplayed radio hits are missing out on some of the best songs of their career, and of the era.

Yeah, and it sure as hell isn't "whiny" or plaintive." I feel like I'm in bizarro world around here sometimes.

Other good examples of this would be Pilgrimage and Letter Never Sent.

That is a rather arbitrary theory of aesthetics, and a strange reading of Everybody Hurts, which is actually quite uplifting at the end.

I'm continually shocked at all the hate for Losing My Religion 'round these parts. It's plaintive, yes—not sure how you get a negative connotation out of that—but whiny and morose? No. It's about longing and obsession, not self-pity.

With Mills playing Cobain's guitar.

Ignoreland is not as simplistic as you suggest.