One of the greatest alternative rock songs of the ’90s is the result of madness that, for once, the band had no hand in? R.E.M. had thoroughly reached its artistic and commercial zenith by the 1990s when it blended arena-ready riffs with characteristically obscure lyrics for the excellent “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”
But what do the lyrics mean, and why is one famous reporter afraid of ever hearing those words again? And how did this song, by one of rock’s greatest bands, come to be? This is a personal favourite song of mine, and I’ll do my best to reveal the truth about it.
R.E.M.’s Journey to Making “Monster” and “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”
I admire R.E.M. Everyone did. Even the people who couldn’t stand the music.
This little group from Georgia, U.S.A. did it all themselves and did everything their own way.
This meant that by 1987, through mostly indie efforts, they became an arena band in the States. There were a few compromises made as the band switched to the majors and attained global notoriety with songs like “Losing My Religion.”
By the mid-1990s, the genre of R.E.M. had helped to create alternative rock, which was the biggest musical style in the world, I reckon.
The Meaning of the Lyrics of “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”
It all sounds like a gigantic conspiracy theory. It sounds like something that the most powerful government on Earth would do to torment one single individual in particular.
That is, at least, from what I can make out, what the person who first uttered the phrase “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?” believed.
Dan Rather was one of the most esteemed U.S. reporters in the 1980s. On October 4, 1986, an incident occurred outside the CBS studios. Walking out of his offices, Rather was violently attacked by a man screaming the phrase and desperately wanting him to confess to a crime.
Rather claims, of course, that he had no knowledge of any hidden frequencies or of what William Tager, his attacker, wanted. He later claimed the special frequencies were used to beam maddening signals to his head.
Tager wouldn’t have much better luck convincing a judge that the government, through Rather, were sending secret broadcasts meant to brainwash the nation. He received 25 years in jail. Having just written the final phrase, I realise he was released from prison in 2010.
Doesn’t that sound like a great subject for a song? I do. So did Michael Stipe, singer and enigmatic rockstar. Stipe penned the lyrics while bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck launched into one of the band’s loudest rockers.
Stipe was especially attracted to the incident because the idea of hidden messages obscured through media was something he knew much about. A great deal had been made about the difficult-to-interpret R.E.M. lyrics on early albums like “Murmur.” For my part, I always thought that this aspect added to the band’s mystique.
And while a lyric sheet was included for 1997’s album “Monster,” many of the lyrics are still difficult to interpret. “Richard said, ‘Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy,'” was cleared up by Stipe as being a reference to movie director Richard Linklater. The rest waits for it’s own Enimga Machine, I suppose.
Want an interesting detail? Game Theory had a song of the same name that was recorded much earlier, in 1987, and was produced by Mitch Easter, who also worked with R.E.M. There you go!
The Music Video and Performance with Dan Rather
The song was promoted using a performance music video. That was directed by Peter Care, and, although simple in concept it’s a striking visual representation of the band. Stipe has his head shaven for the first time. Mills is wearing cowboy attire once owned by Gram Parsons. And Peter Buck is Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang
Dan Rather, for his part, proved to have a sense of humour about nearly being beaten to death and having R.E.M. write a song about it. I wouldn’t.
Rather appeared with the band on The David Letterman Show, performing the show and playing along with a long-running inside joke involving the phrase “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”
Peter Buck also wrote about the experience: “I like Dan Rather. He’s a fine newsman, an interesting person to talk to, and quite a bit nuttier than most of those media types (I consider that a good thing). That said, nothing in my rich and varied life prepared me for the experience of performing behind him as he ‘danced’ and ‘sang’ ‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?'”
The Legacy of R.E.M. and “Kenneth”
While I think of R.E.M. as a creative, wild band in its early days, it’s hard to argue against the fact that most of the band’s 1990s hits were slow-paced, calm, melancholy-filled.
On the other hand “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?” is loud, boisterous and gave the Seattle grunge crowds that the band had inspired a run for their money.
The song has been featured on an episode of “Friends.” It was shown on “Beavis and Butt-Head.” And, it makes a brief appearance on “Bringing Out the Dead,” Martin Scorsese’s underappreciated drama about ambulance drivers.
But, perhaps, its biggest legacy, apart from being one of my favourite songs from the band, is that it’s fondly recalled as one of the great 1990s songs by R.E.M., the band who, likely, did the most for alternative rock. What’s the frequency again?
