R.E.M.'s secret weapon

is not, in fact, Mike Mills. (Nor, for that matter, is it Mick Mills.) Because a secret weapon isn't a secret weapon if everyone knows about it, and certainly by the time of Monster, at least, if not long before, everyone who was anything like an R.E.M. fan knew just how great Mills was (and is!) and how vital his contributions were to the band. Which meant it was no secret.

But you and I, we've been through that. And since if you're on this site, you know just who R.E.M.'s real secret weapon was.

(What an odd, odd choice of song, incidentally, for their induction, given how large and varied their catalog was. Iconoclasts to the end.)

((Also too: he wrote the music to and played the piano on the original recording of this.))

I mean, come on.