"Pop Song 89" was the third single released from R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

's sixth studio album Green. It peaked at #86 on the Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, and in the UK "Stand" was re-released instead.

MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 asked band member Michael Stipe, who directed the video, to censor the three topless women with whom he was dancing in the video. Instead, Stipe superimposed black bars on the chests of all four dancers, himself included, and stated, "a nipple is a nipple."

The acoustic version that was used as the single's B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 was also included on the bonus disc of the limited two-disc edition of In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 is the second official compilation album released by R.E.M. Issued in 2003, it includes tracks from their Warner Bros. Records era, from 1988's Green to 2001's Reveal, as well as two new recordings and two songs from movie soundtracks...

in 2003.

"Pop Song 89" was covered by Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. The band consists of founding members Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain , along with keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, and drummer, percussionist and...

 for Punk Goes 80's

Punk Goes 80's

Punk Goes 80s is part of the Punk Goes... compilation series created by Fearless Records, featuring cover versions of songs from the 1980s. It was released on June 7, 2005.-Track listing:...

and by Rockfour

Rockfour

Rockfour is a Psychedelic rock band, formed in 1988 in Holon, Israel. Most of their catalog is in English, and they regularly tour the United States.-Early years:...

 for their record For Fans Only!.

Charts

Chart (1989)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...	94
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	86
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	14
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	16

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry

Bill Berry

William "Bill" Thomas Berry is a retired American musician, multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other instruments including guitar, bass guitar, and piano, both for songwriting and on R.E.M....

, Peter Buck

Peter Buck

Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

, Mike Mills

Mike Mills

Michael Edward "Mike" Mills is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock group R.E.M.. Though known primarily as a bass guitarist, backing vocalist, and pianist, his musical repertoire includes also keyboards, guitar, and percussion instruments...

 and Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe

John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...

.

1. "Pop Song 89" – 3:03
2. "Pop Song 89" (acoustic) – 2:58