Stand

"Stand" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released as the second single from the album Green in 1989. The song peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming R.E.M.'s second top 10 hit in the United States, and topped both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. The song reached number 48 on the UK Singles Chart and number 16 in Canada. It was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. Records "best of" album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 in 2003, as well as the 2011 compilation album Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage. The song is an example of phrase modulation, as the last two rounds of the chorus are each one whole step higher than the one previous. The song is meant to be a self-aware "tongue-in-cheek" 1960s-esque bubblegum pop song, meant to resemble the music of The Banana Splits, The Archies and The Monkees. "Stand" was used as the theme song for the 1990–1992 Fox sitcom Get a Life, starring Chris Elliott. It was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as the song "Spam" on the album UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff. Meaning Singer Michael Stipe has said of the song's meaning, "It's about making decisions and actually living your life rather than letting it happen." Stipe has said of the song's origin that he and the other band members were discussing The Banana Splits, The Archies, The Monkees, and similar 1960s’ pop groups. "They threw these super bubblegummy songs at me, and I said, 'I'll raise you and see you one.' And I wrote the most inane lyrics that I could possibly write. Now, it was a very intentional thing to do that. I really like most of those songs, in fact." Guitarist Peter Buck described "Stand" as "without a doubt, [...] the stupidest song we've ever written. That's not necessarily a bad thing though", comparing the song to "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen in terms of 'stupid' lyrical content.