"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. from their 1994 album Monster. The song's title refers to an incident in New York City in 1986, when two then-unknown assailants attacked journalist Dan Rather, while repeating "Kenneth, what is the frequency?". The song was the first single taken from the album, which was released three weeks later. It peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 2 in Canada, number 4 in New Zealand and number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. In Iceland it peaked at number 1 for four weeks. It was the first song to debut at number one on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was placed on R.E.M.'s compilation albums in 2003 and Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 in 2011, the only track from Monster to feature on either. The song was one of the band's most-played songs at live gigs, and was played at every show on their 2008 Accelerate tour. A live version was released on R.E.M. Live in 2007.
History
Background and recording
R.E.M. began work on Monster in August 1993 and "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was realized about two months later in October. This song was written and recorded at Kingsway Studio, New Orleans, where the band also wrote and recorded "Tongue" and "Crush with Eyeliner". Lead singerMichael Stipe has said in interviews that the lyrics are about the Generation X phenomenon in contemporary mass media, sung in character as an older critic whose information consists exclusively of media products. Guitarist Peter Buck explained why the song slows towards its conclusion in an interview with Guitar World magazine:
Post-release
"What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" made its first live television debut on November 12, 1994, for Saturday Night Live, recorded at NBC Studios in New York City. The set on the show opened with "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and was followed by two other songs from the new album, Monster, "Bang and Blame" and "I Don't Sleep, I Dream". The following year, on June 22, 1995, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Dan Rather accompanied the band during a soundcheck performance of the song. The clip was shown prior to R.E.M.'s performance of "Crush with Eyeliner" on the Late Show with David Letterman the following night.
Music video
The music video was directed by Peter Care, who had previously worked with the band on music videos for "Drive" and "Man on the Moon" in 1992. It features the band playing along to the song under bright blue, red, yellow and green flashing lights. Michael Stipe appears timid behind the microphone until the first chorus, breaking into an energetic dance. Prominent in the guitar solo, Peter Buck uses Kurt Cobain's Jag-Stang that he received as a gift from Courtney Love after Cobain died; he plays it upside-down as Cobain was left-handed. Singer Stipe's newly shaven head and bassist Mike Mills's new look prominent on the 1995 Monsterworld tour, were given wide exposure in this video. The suit seen in the music video was owned by musician Gram Parsons. The DVD companion to ', entitled ' included the music video to "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?".
Track listings
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe. 12" and CD maxi-single
The live recordings of "Monty Got a Raw Deal", "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon" were recorded at the 40 Watt Club, Athens, Georgia on November 19, 1992. The performance—a benefit for Greenpeace—was recorded in a solar-powered mobile studio.
