The Alternative Number Ones: R.E.M.’s “Stand”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for subscribers only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

At their very first show, R.E.M. covered the Monkees. The gig went down in April 1980 at the deconsecrated Episcopal Church where both Michael Stipe and Peter Buck were living. R.E.M. didn't even have a band name yet, but they already had a genuine love of the hooky nonsense pop anthems of the '60s, the songs that stood at the place where garage rock and bubblegum intersected. (The Monkees song in question was "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," the same Monkees song that every punk band covered, but the point still stands.)