What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

"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)