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This is, of course, from R.E.M.'s classic album Green, made at a time when Michael Stipe still had hair – and very dubious hair, at that. It's a great album, but is rather spoiled by this double truck driver's gear change. Or is it? Perhaps we should give R.E.M. the benefit of the doubt, and allow that this might have been performed in the spirit of irony. The first time it happens, the gear change seems to take most of the band unawares as they all stop except for the keyboards, but then in a split second obviously think "well, in for a penny, in for a pound" and go for it. By the second gear change I can picture them egging each other on, as Bill Berry hammers away at the drums. Finally the song ends with Michael Stipe's ludicrous over-enunciation of the final "duh" of "Stand". Which leads me to wonder whether they took any of this song seriously to start with. You be the judge.

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There has been much speculation surrounding why the letter R was overlaid with the number 4 on the cover of Green, and why "Stand" is track R rather than track 4. The most plausible explanation I've come across is that it was originally a typo (the two being very near to each other on a typewriter) which the band then made deliberate because they liked the idea.