Michael Stipe collaborates with Andrew Watt

There’s a new Michael Stipe song: the good news for REM fans is that it has guitars and sounds like his old band, not like recent solo releases that are closer to electronica. The bad news is that the song seems more like an impromptu release than a preview of the solo album that the singer has promised and which he has been working on for years, but of which traces have now been lost

The song is called “I Played the Fool” and is the theme song for the new HBO TV series “Rooster”, starring Steve Carell as a university professor who is also the author of paperback novels. The interesting thing is that it was co-signed and co-produced by Andrew Watt, who in recent years has worked with the Stones, Pearl Jam and Lady Gaga – in short, the elite of rock and pop. Watt plays guitar with Josh Klinghoffer, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and currently of Pearl Jam. Travis Barker of Blink-182 on drums

“I’m thrilled to lend my voice to Rooster, as a huge fan of everyone involved, it’s a real honor to be included with ‘I Played The Fool.’” While
Watt says, “Michael Stipe is a hero of mine. Getting the chance to write a song with him was like a dream. He’s one of the great songwriters of our time and he did what only he could do on this song. He takes Rooster to the moon and makes you laugh and cry at the same time, with the best handclap TV theme song since Friends.” A non-random quote, given the history of that theme song, which has to do (indirectly) with REM: “I’ll be there for you” was written by the creators of the series inspired by the group, which had not granted its “Shiny happy people”

Over the weekend Stipe returned to the stage in Brooklyn to sing two REM songs together with the actor Michael Shannon and the musician Jason Narducy, who for some time have been carrying out a sort of official tribute concert dedicated to the group’s albums (this year’s one is focused on “Life’s rich pageant”, which turns 40)

Michael Stipe’s previous solo song dates back to almost 3 years ago, “Give me a hand”, and was recorded by Earth Percent, an organization founded by Brian Eno to support environmental initiatives. Stipe’s first solo return was in 2019, when he released “Your capricious soul”, his first official single as a soloist, which was followed a few months later, in early 2022, with “Drive to the ocean”. During the lockdown he then published “No time for love like now”, recorded with Aaron Dessner of the National and translated and reinterpreted by Zucchero with the title “Love now!”. “Future, if future”, released in 2022 or instead featured the collaboration of Brian Eno. In 2021 he recorded a cover of “Sunday morning”
Rockol interviewed him in May 2021, and at the time he said:

I’m working on music. But my REM background is like a big mountain to climb. I want to create something that isn’t embarrassing and is on the same level as REM. And I’m a unique person, I’m not Michael Peter Mike or Bill. It’s not easy to deal with. But I have recorded music, yes; I haven’t posted it yet.