My Gen X Playlist: What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? – REM

During my time off, I tried a number of new endeavors that I never had the time nor the energy to check out. I picked up a guitar and gave that a shot. Fortunately, Linger by the Cranberries consists of only a few simple chords and my attempt, while not great, made me feel good. That is one of my favorite nostalgia songs. I never get tired of it.

I went to the art store and picked out some brushes and watercolors and gave that a spin. Nothing good enough to be frameable, mind you. You won’t be seeing any of them hanging from my walls, but it was fun working with colors. The world can never have too many colors.

I searched other creative outlets. Some seemed interesting, others not. Some made the try it on for size list. I may come back to them someday. One day a spark will light under my ass and I’ll comb through that list to see what grabs me.

The only one that seemed to stick was this blog. I’ve been off about a week and it already feels like something is missing. When I received an email to renew my annual subscription, well, I took it as a sign and said, Why not.

Daily writing may not be in the cards. That may be difficult to maintain, especially when I’m walking on a tightrope without a daily prompt net below. So, you’ll see me here occasionally with a post and a song. I’m not sure with what frequency yet, I’ll just let that unfold as I go.

After I put the pen down, I always scratch my head for a corresponding song. I hope a thought, a phrase or idea sparks something. Today’s song is REM’s What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? I’ve always loved the guitar on this one. The backstory turned out to be a weird surprise.

The title is a reference to an incident that occurred in 1986 when CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather was walking to his apartment in Manhattan one night when he was attacked by two men on Park Avenue, with one of the men repeating, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”

Rather, at the time noted, “I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn’t and I don’t now. I didn’t make a lot of it at the time and I don’t now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea.”

It was such a weird story that people doubted Rather’s account (it wouldn’t have been the first or last time a celebrity invented an attack for publicity or to disguise the real reason for an attack), but in this instance, a doorman and a building supervisor at a nearby building who ran to Rather’s aid confirmed the newsman’s story, so it just became this weird piece of pop culture, leading to R.E.M using it as the song title.

Rather even performed the song with the band for a comedy bit for David Letterman’s The Late Show.

However, things got a whole lot darker when a man named William Tager was arrested in 1994 for killing a The Today Show stagehand named Campbell Montgomery as part of an attempt to discover what the frequency that NBC was using to beam signals into his brain, which apparently was also his motivation for attacking Rather.

Tager was never charged with Rather’s attack (and he was paroled in 2010 from his killing of Montgomery), but New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said “William Tager’s identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my office.”

Crazy stuff.

– popculturereference

OK. This is a great reminder why I’ve enjoyed blogging. This Dan Rather story is some weird shit. How else would I even know this if I didn’t start this blog?

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine, uh-huh
I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed
I thought I'd pegged you an idiot's dream
Tunnel vision from the outsider's screen
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh
You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh

I'd studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines
Richard said, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"
A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine, uh-huh
Butterfly decal, rear-view mirror, dogging the scene
You smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You said that irony was the shackles of youth, uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I couldn't understand
I never understood, don't fuck with me, uh-huh