Ignoreland

Ignoreland is a song from 1992's Automatic For The People, often considered one of the weaker tracks on the album and not a favourite of the bands. It was never performed live until 2008 when it secured a frequent place on their set list.

I'm never sure whether the reason the band disliked the song was because of the song itself or whether they felt self-conscious about the blatant political rant featured in the lyrics. Maybe Stipe's contribution to the song was motivated by a moment of anger or resentment in which he felt a little embarassed about in years to come, that's always been my take on the song.

It is one of those songs where you couldn't sit down and play any one of the instrumental parts and have someone recognise what song you are playing. It is what it is because of the sum of its parts.

Usually when I approach a cover I'm familiar with the music, I've been playing the song on guitar for years, but Ignoreland is a song I didn't even know the chords to. But I managed to get a rough approximation of what the guitar parts are although it's hard to know exactly because there is so much going on in this song.

I'm really pleased with the results given my knowledge limitations of the song, it may not be note perfect but I feel I've re-produced the sense of urgency that comes with the song pretty well.