Inspiration can come from the strangest, saddest, and scariest locations, together with this odd conspiracy concept that impressed Michael Stipe to write down the traditional R.E.M. track, “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” The chart-topping hit single from 1994 performed right into a cultural phenomenon that was already operating rampant, because of a violent and seemingly random assault on CBS Night Information anchor Dan Slightly years earlier in 1986.
The incident rapidly swirled right into a conspiracy of its personal, with some press retailers questioning Slightly’s sanity and credibility. It wasn’t till 1997, three years after R.E.M. launched their lead single from Monster, that legislation enforcement was in a position to remedy the thriller of Slightly’s harrowing assault.
Dan Slightly Was Attacked Strolling Dwelling From Dinner at a Pal’s
On the night of October 5, 1986, CBS information anchor Dan Slightly was strolling alone down Park Avenue after having dinner at a good friend and colleague’s home. Abruptly, two males in enterprise apparel approached Slightly and asked, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” When Slightly instructed them they “had the flawed man,” one of many males responded by punching Slightly within the jaw. The lads continued to assault Slightly whilst he fell to the bottom and rapidly bumped into a close-by condo foyer. The residential constructing’s superintendent finally broke up the combat and saved Slightly, who had suffered accidents to his face, jaw, and again.
Information of the assault unfold rapidly. Slightly addressed it on air, saying, “Why and precisely by whom [I was attacked] stays unclear, and it could by no means be decided.” The anchor referred to as the assault “one other a type of weird and scary incidents that appear to occur once in a while in our nation and elsewhere.” Slightly’s account appeared easy and lucid sufficient, however after weeks, months, and finally years glided by, individuals began speculating as as to if Slightly made the entire thing up or was misremembering the incident. The press questioned Slightly’s credibility, which might probably be a dying knell for a information journalist’s profession.
R.E.M. immortalized the query Slightly claimed his attackers requested him, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth,” with a track of the identical identify. “When someone first instructed me that R.E.M. had written a track about it, I mentioned, “Rattling. Right here we go once more,’” Slightly later recalled. “However then I listened to the track and received it in some perspective.”
The Conspiracy That Impressed This R.E.M. Traditional, Defined
Years after unknown assailants attacked Dan Slightly on the street, the journalist was in a position to sit down with R.E.M. and ask them why they selected to write down a track utilizing a quote from the incident. As Michael Stipe explained in 2023, the query—and track itself—represented “inscrutability.” Stipe described “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth” as a track about “a personality who’s desperately attempting to know a youthful era’s perspective and failing miserably at it. Within the early 90s…there was a world-weary, sort of f***-it-all feeling popping out of grunge and that era. This track was about somebody who was actually attempting to faucet into that.”
Just a few years after R.E.M. launched their track referencing Slightly’s assault, legislation enforcement officers tracked down the perpetrators, placing an finish to the conspiracy as soon as and for all. Police arrested William Tager for the dying of an NBC technician, whom Tager shot outdoors of At the moment’s New York studios in 1994. Tager believed the information channels—on this case, NBC—have been transmitting indicators (or frequencies) to his mind that have been disrupting and ruining his life. After police apprehended Tager, they cross-referenced Slightly’s account of his 1986 assault with Tager’s and decided that the identical man who shot the NBC technician was the one who began assaulting Slightly on Park Avenue. Tager went to jail, and the conclusion of the thriller restored Slightly’s credibility.
“I used to be very fortunate and blessed that he didn’t kill me that evening,” Slightly mentioned.
Photograph by CBS through Getty Photos
