Hootie & the Blowfish Explains Influence, Importance of R.E.M
May 20, 2020
Hootie and the Blowfish spoke to American Songwriter about their newly released Amazon cover “Losing My Religion” and the importance of R.E.M. in their career.
Calling from his home in Charleston, South Carolina, Hootie guitarist Mark Bryan explains why covering an R.E.M. song was so important. “We came up at a time in the late ‘80s where R.E.M. was the band that was crossing alternative music over from college radio to rock radio,” he says. “There was a scene that was emerging, and R.E.M. was at the forefront of it. We were in college in the Southeast, and they were from Georgia. Everywhere you turned, people were listening to R.E.M. at that point. So it was while we were getting our chops, and we were huge fans. We were covering other people, too, but R.E.M. was one of the most important bands for us.”
Even after Hootie & the Blowfish started writing more and more original material, Bryan says “Losing My Religion” remained in their repertoire. “In an effort to make our set list all killer and no filler, that was the cover that we felt could make our own, but people would also know it.”
Listen to their Amazon Original Cover of “Losing My Religion” here, and click below to read the full article.