R.E.M. – What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

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  General Comment:I always thought the lyrics weren't supposed to make sense because (as the title eludes to) were coming from a psychotic episode (the Dan Rather assault). After reading Snipes comments about the older generation trying to understand the younger (GenX the slacker generation) I can understand some of the references, like Richard Linlater's movie Slacker. As part of the GenX generation I used to watch the Vietnam war on tv, is that the violent green shirts he speaks of? (OD green, not camoflauge was the uniform in Nam) The butterfly decals in the rearview mirror could be referring to older people looking back and only remembering the happy moments (the good old days).

  Flag Lyrics2Deepon June 16, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Benzedrine has nothing to do with treating schizoprenia, it was used in inhalers to enlarge nasal and bronchial passages i.e. unclog stuffy noses. People started abusing it when they found out it had a stimulant effect.

  Flag GeneralPublicon April 11, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine" This line refers to what a schizo said to Dan Rather. The attacker asked his accomplice "Kenneth, what's the signal" as he was attacking Dan Rather. He believed that Dan rather was controlling his thoughts through a radio frequency and if he knew what that frequency was, then he could block it. Benzedrine is a drug used to treat schizophrenia. In the assailant's mind, the figuring out of the frequency would fix him. It's his Benzedrine to his problem. He doesn't believe he's schizo and needs Benzedrine, he believes his mind is being controlled and he needs to stop the frequency.
  
  "You said that irony was the shackles of youth" Irony by definition is to oppose and not listen. If the youth would listen to their elders and quit opposing, then they would learn that they're not as wise as they think. Why this saying is in the song, I'm not sure. Maybe it's something Dan Rather said that the schizoid guy heard and couldn't make sense of.

  Flag RobertWhitby10on March 01, 2011   Link

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    I meant to say> irony is opposing in a sarcastic manner.

    Flagged RobertWhitby10on March 01, 2011  
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  My Interpretation:Listening to this song up loud for the thousandth time right now; I love it. YtheLASTband comes very close to my interpretation. I always thought the lyric was a father speaking to his daughter recently lost to suicide. He recounts all the things he tried to do (and continues to do) to understand her and bring her closer while she continued to reject his world. He feels guilt at not having gotten through and not understanding the depth of her depression.
  
  I was "brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed" - the many things the daughter called her parents
  You wore our expectations like an armored suit - father speaking about daughter in past tense
  I never understood the frequency; I didn't understand - the Rather thing is just a meme; something the daughter said in rejecting her parents' attempts to connect
  I never understood "don't fuck with me" - Something she said near the end; near her limit.
  
  What I've not been able to reconcile with my interpretation is exactly what the parents did to cause the daughter to so violently reject them. This is particularly a puzzle given the father's great remorse and his efforts to understand her. (Maybe his interest came too late and that is the root of his regret.) I understand youth rejecting the values and expectations of their parents, but my guess is that the daughter was a manic-depressive and what happened was not within anyone's power to control.

  Flag Apesbrainon September 25, 2009   Link

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  Song Meaning:YtheLastBand definitely has it right. I think "irony is the shackles of youth" is just referring to how teens use irony so much. Play them a song they don't like. "That's awesome." Tell them they can't go out. "Great!" Youth constantly say the exact opposite of what they mean. That's what irony is. Constantly doing this though holds them back. Rather then really consider something, they just say something ironic.

  Flag clovuson May 05, 2009   Link

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  Song Meaning:"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine
  
  (The attack on Dan Rather has already been mentioned, this line is a clear reference to that event)
  
  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
  
  ("I wrote that protagonist as a guy who's desperately trying to understand what motivates the younger generation, who has gone to great lengths to try and figure them out, and at the end of the song it's completely fucking bogus. He got nowhere." - Michael Stipe.)
  
  You wore our expectations like an armored suit
  
  (This refers to the generational gap, specifically to the apathetic attitude of slacker youth toward the lofty expectations of their parents.)
  
  I'd studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines
  
  (Goes back to the middle aged man struggling to understand youth culture.)
  
  Richard said, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"
  
  (The Richard mentioned is Richard Linklater, who directed "Slackers" in which that line is featured.)
  
  A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
  You said that irony was the shackles of youth
  
  (Two of the best lines in the song. He compares the nonchalant faces of young responders with the cartoons in what can only be an over-analysis. Tied together, the lines imply that the youth get a bit of a kick out of reminding the middle-aged that their generation has lost its sense of irony. There was one more thing about the shackles of youth line, but I can't remember right now.)
  
  You wore a shirt of violent green
  I never understood the frequency
  
  (The admission of frustration with something as simple as the new generation's attire going over his head. It's been debated whether 'violet green' refers to the band of the same name, the inspiration for the band's name, or an actual color. I like it intentionally ambiguous and I get a kick out of people trying to figure it out just like the poor sap the song is describing.)
  
  Butterfly decal, rear-view mirror, dogging the scene
  
  (Don't know for sure about this one, but in the video for Strange Currencies, a butterfly decal can be seen on the window of the car Stipe is riding in as well as a couple of shots focusing on the rear-view mirror. As a side note, a photograph is on the dashboard...probably taken years ago. *wink wink*)
  

  Flag YtheLASTbandon November 17, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:An old man looking at teenagers/the youth growing up into a world where media becomes more and more considerable for the general life. How to fit in, when he don't understand? Well, don't "fuck with me" shows that he really doesn't care, perhaps. He just wanna go on being conservative and let the world go on with media, fashion and all of it's followings. The elderly shouldn't be kept for huge expectations, because they've never grown up in a world with the same values and interests. Maybe he has failed his kids during their childhood, and now they've grown up and continued to live in the presence of a time he no longer recognize. Why shouldn't he just keep on smiling, like the cartoons he was interested in back then, because now the youth is growing up to much more serious mediums.

  Flag Low Feedbackon January 10, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:I'm going to refute Gleemer, though I do recall Violent Green in Seattle.
  
  Ok, Richard Linklater's slacker was a major influence on this song. Hence 'Richard said "withdrawl in disgust is not the same as apathy"' comes from Slacker.
  
  But "Lady Slings the Blues" by Spider Robinson. The character in 'Lady' wears a shirt of violent green.
  
  As for "What's the Frequency", that is definitively the Dan Rather attacker and the saying has become mainstream.
  
  So I think this is an ode to Spider Robinson's work and it uses Slacker and the Rather attack to denote the delusional world Robinson wrote of and how it made Stipe feel (the reading on the fiction).

  Flag marcevanon January 03, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:Here we see even R.E.M. themselves were influenced by the grunge sound at the time. Monster sounds like nothing they have released before or since. Great song I wish they made more like it.

  Flag magoosh008on November 18, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:I've liked this song since I was about 4 :P
  And I'm still yet to meet a guy called Kenneth...

  Flag undeadcorpseon August 13, 2007   Link

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