The Santa Cruz Sentinel is marking rock's 50-year anniversary by looking at some of the defining songs of the past half century. This week: "Everybody Hurts".

Me, as much as I'm an R.E.M., I've never really been a huge fan of this song; it's too pithy for me. (Though I can't deny that orchestral swell towards the end... in the video, the camera pulls back, everyone gets out of their cars... very nice.) And while I know this was an attempt for Michael Stipe to step out of his lyrical shell and address an issue simply and directly, I prefer his cryptic, more poetic lyrics. "Everybody Hurts" offers no real comfort beyond a blanket, pseudo-therapeutic, sappy half-thought. "Find the River," with its fable of finding comfort in dangerous times, using metaphors of cities, water, and childhood, is ten times the better song.

Any which way, the Sentinel's series is an interesting idea and the article's not a bad read.