A commentary on the illusion of Hollywood, this was the first single from Reveal, which was R.E.M.'s 12th album. The band was going to leave this off the album, but so many of their friends and co-workers told them it was great, that they decided to include it and release it as the first single.
This is one of the more upbeat R.E.M. songs. They recorded the album in various locations where it rained a lot, and Michael Stipe feels this may have made them record a sunny sound to compensate for the weather.
If this sounds like vintage R.E.M., it's because the band really did imitate life when they accidentally took the verse chords from 1985's "Driver 8" and used them in this song.
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