Synopsis

R.E.M. perform "The Wake-Up Bomb" in a high-energy television appearance from the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. Michael Stipe dominates the stage with restless movement and theatrical intensity while Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry drive the song's abrasive, glam-rock attack. Rather than presenting a scripted storyline, the clip captures the band introducing a then-new song to a large audience, emphasizing live urgency, attitude, and Stipe's unpredictable performance style.

Factoids & Trivia

• The performance took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York on September 7, 1995, several months before the release of *New Adventures in Hi-Fi*.

• "The Wake-Up Bomb" was one of the earliest opportunities for viewers to hear material from the forthcoming album. Its television debut helped present the record as a continuation of the harder-edged sound R.E.M. had explored on *Monster*.

• The same MTV ceremony saw R.E.M. receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Michael Stipe joked that the band had made "a whole lot of videos that don't suck" while accepting the honor.

• The song was not issued as a conventional standalone video built around a narrative concept. Its best-known video presentation is the filmed live performance, which accounts for its stark stage setting and concert-style camerawork.

• A different live recording of "The Wake-Up Bomb," captured in Atlanta on October 4, 1995, was later included in the expanded 25th-anniversary edition of *New Adventures in Hi-Fi*.