What does REM stand for?

sprinkles

REM : is it "Rather's Electronic Minstrels"?

I've heard that "What's the frequency Kenneth" is about an incident involving Dan Rather, so this is possible.

Anyone else know, or at least have ideas?

Optikus

AFAIK it means Rapid Eye Movement

aidan_walsh

Google would tell you that its Rapid Eye Movement

beer enigma

Rapid Eye Movement as far as I know - its a sleep disorder, which probably explains their music !!

fletch

rapid eye movement

Mr E

It stands for "Rapid Eye Movement", named after REM sleep (where your eyelids flutter as you begin to dream).

quarryman

that's the most simultaneous answers i've seen in a while.

ixoy

Andip wrote:

Rapid Eye Movement as far as I know - its a sleep disorder, which probably explains their music !!

It's not a disorder. It's a regular stage of sleeping.

Sleipnir

Rapid..oh..

Ro: maaan!

Not only is it not a disorder, without it (according to Star Trek) we'd all go quite mad.

sprinkles

I know REM stands for rapid eye movement in the medical circle, I'm just not convinced that they chose this disorder (or not disorder..whatever) for the name of their band. I found alot of debate about it on the net.


Answers on a postcard...............

Optikus

ixoy wrote:

It's not a disorder. It's a regular stage of sleeping.

isn't it some sort of physical reation to your dreams???

beer enigma

ixoy wrote:

It's not a disorder. It's a regular stage of sleeping.

pologies,pologies...bow to your greater knowledge

Anyhoo....found this one the MTV site:

In April of 1980, the band formed to play a party for their friend, rehearsing a number of garage, psycedelic bubblegum and punk covers in an converted Episcopalian church. At the time, the group was played under the name the Twisted Kites. By the summer, the band had settled on the name R.E.M. after flipping randonmly through the dictionary, and had met Jefferson Holt, who became their manager after witnessing the group's first out-of-state concert in North Carolina.

http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/rem/bio.jhtml

quarryman

i always thought it meant you were dreaming. no rem -> no dreaming -> no deep sleep

i love sleep

Sleipnir

Andip wrote:

By the summer, the band had settled on the name R.E.M. after flipping randonmly through the dictionary,
QUOTE]


Well then maybe they meant it to mean the amount of ionizing radiation required to produce the same biological effect as one rad of high-penetration x-rays and not Rapid Eye Movement.

Makes you think.........

sprinkles

Sleipnir wrote:

Well then maybe they meant it to mean the amount of ionizing radiation required to produce the same biological effect as one rad of high-penetration x-rays and not Rapid Eye Movement.

Ooooh, someone has a dictionary

fizzynicenice

now nobody really knows why but some time in the 80's news honcho Dan rather was beaten up by some lunatic who screamed the question 'whats the frequency, kenneth?' at him while kicking his ass.
thats the story,

sprinkles

yeah I heard that too, then Dan Rather was the 1st to have them on tv singing the song "whats the frequency Kenneth?" Its a nice snippet to know. Just wondering if there's a similar story behind their name?

nutkase

You are all wrong oh so wrong, do your research
Radioactive Embryonic Milk (it looks like chocolate milk but there's a bite to it)

sceptre

sprinkles wrote:

I've heard that "What's the frequency Kenneth" is about an incident involving Dan Rather, so this is possible.

That happened in 1986, when Rather was assulted by William Tager. Apparently Tager thought the media were beaming hostile messages to his brain and decided that if he knew the frequency they were using he coyuld block the signals. Why he called Rather "Kenneth" is another day's work entirely as no-one seems to know. Either way REM used it as the title of that song on Monster. These days Tager is serving a 25 year sentence for killing an NBC stagehand. Rather only identified the guy in 1997ish when he was shown pictures of the chap.

Far too late to be an influence on the band name.

rabbitinlights

When you go into REM sleep, your entire body is paralyzed except your eyes, its also the main time in the night when you dream. People who sleep walk are people who can break this paralsis (sp?) and can be very dangerous. I just read a great report in focus magazine all about sleep.

Stark

Maybe R.E.M. is a cooler way of saying "Dreamers". Would be in keeping with Michael Stipe's way of thinking in my opinion anyway.