Radio Free Europe
by R.E.M.
- 152
- BPM
- A major
- Key
- 11B
- Camelot
- 39
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
The Hib-Tone single of "Radio Free Europe" did what a first record rarely does. Released in 1981 on that short-lived independent label, it earned R.E.M. a record deal with I.R.S. Records. The band re-recorded it for Murmur in 1983, and that version became their first charting single, at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2009 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
The band was not happy with the original. Peter Buck called the recording muddy and hi-end, and he broke a copy of the finished single and nailed it to his wall. Jonny Hibbert, the Atlanta law student who put it out, had overseen a remix and insisted on his preferred mix over Buck's wishes. Mitch Easter, who produced the sessions at Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had made a second mix. The cover art was designed by Michael Stipe, who insisted on a photograph that was a blur.
Mike Mills wrote the verse after improvising on an unplugged electric guitar in an Athens record store. Buck wrote the chorus and bridge, and Stipe supplied the melody and lyrics. He mumbled them. He had not finished writing them.
Radio Free Europe runs at 152 BPM, the tempo of hard techno, punk and fast rock. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.58 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 395 ms. It is in A major, Camelot 11B, which shares its notes with F# minor and mixes cleanly with D major and E major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.