And the rabbit hole I fell down while reminiscing about this PERFECT song.

It’s the end of the world as we know it and are we feeling fine? 

If you were in college in the early to mid 80s R.E.M. was everything.  I was reminded recently that It’s The End of the World As We Know It  from the album Document was released in December 1987. I’ve been reminiscing a lot about the person I used to be, and how being a teen or early twenty something in the mid 80s was such a fantastic time to be young. And this PERFECT song encapsulated what was so glorious about those long ago days. In a New York Times article from October 1987, R.E.M.’s lyrics were characterized as asymmetrical and obscure.  Sounds just about perfect for a band revered mostly by GenX.  We loved things that were obscure and  out of the ordinary.

 R.E.M. was part of the fabric of life if you went to college in the 80s. College radio first played the band from Athens, Georgia and they gained popularity with Radio Free Europe in 1981. Western New Yorkers have a neat connection to R.E.M. via the 10,000 Maniacs.  Natalie Merchant met Michael Stipe of the fledgling band at a house party in Athens during one of the Maniacs’ early tours and she and Michael Stipe were rumored to have had a short lived romantic relationship. Both bands recorded albums for Joe Boyd’s Hannibal label in London, R.E.M. ‘s Fables of the Reconstruction and the Maniacs’ Wishing Chair. The Maniacs were a supporting act for R.E.M. on tours in 1985 and 1987.

It’s the End of the World reminds me of shenanigans in bars, dancing, drinking, flirting and this song was always, ALWAYS played close to the end of the evening.  Everyone would sing those stream of consciousness lyrics and then yell out Leonard Bernstein all together!  It was required! It was fun!  It was cathartic! Two songs popular on the college scene, at fraternity and dorm parties that preceded End of the World  were Superman, a particular favorite of mine, and Fall on Me. Two really huge songs at HWS in 1986.  I cannot hear them without being transported to a particular time and place.  Thus the absolute magic of music and why I love it so much.  It heals and soothes my soul.

I thought it was kind of an appropriate song for the last episode for 2025 of THE perfect song, which will probably be posted on my YouTube channel next week. I know many people experienced loss, and some pretty fucked up shit went down in 2025,  but for me personally, it was a pretty good year.  I reclaimed parts of myself I forgot about.  Listened to music more than ever and went to a shitload of concerts.  I connected with someone I really loved talking about music and other things with. I cannot get enough information about bands and singers.  I love learning new things and listening to new stuff even if it’s old, it’s still new to me. I think this connection might be over at this year’s end and that kind of makes me sad, but I am grateful for what that person provided and how they made me feel, even if it was only temporary. 

One thing that I’m trying to do is ride the waves of life, to not have expectations and to detach, to just go-with-the-flow.  I am not by nature a go-with-the-flow kind of person. I suck at practicing these things but I am getting better.  That is one of the things that made this year a period of real growth for me.  I gained some clarity and tried to put the past where it belongs, in the past, and forgive myself for not being perfect.  Forgiving myself for all the times I was a fucking asshole, and there were many, many, many times in my life where I was totally crappy as a human being.  Forgiving myself is really fucking hard.  And I am still a jerk when life doesn’t go the way I think it should. I have very high expectations of other people, which isn’t fair to them.  People are not here to be who I think they should be, they are just who they are.  I have a bad habit of projecting onto people.  The fact that I can now recognize this is at least some growth.  The other thing I’m trying to do is instead of being frustrated by people who aren’t who I wanted them to be, is to send them love and golden energy so they can be happy and fulfilled in their lives even if I am not a part of it. I want them to get whatever is their heart’s desire and I’m gonna send them love and thanks for being a part of my life.  I have read, watched and followed a lot of spiritual content this year and love the idea that friendships and situationships are an exchange of energy.  We are all energy.  And when electricity and energy merge, it creates magic.  People share magic with each other every time they interact whether it’s making love, listening to music, sharing stories, telling jokes, unloading pain and hurt, laughing at memes, whatever.  The thing I have to keep reminding myself is to protect my energy while sending out love.  Protect my energy and send out love.  That is the mantra that I say to myself every morning when I am sitting outside in my yard drinking coffee, regardless of the weather, and asking the universe for clarity for the day.

This is the kind of rabbit hole I go down when I hear a song and get the urge to write about it.  My mind goes all over the place. As if the end of the year isn’t already kind of a crazy time between looking back and trying to put the year in perspective, all while trying to stay sane from Thanksgiving to Christmas, AND hoping, wishing and planning for the New Year. 

If you’ve gotten to this point, thanks for reading my crazy ramblings.  Writing and music is my therapy.  I appreciate you bearing with me.  Hope the end of 2025 is good for you. Cheers!