"Kenneth" is pretty classic -- still sounds good on the radio.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 20:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I need to rescreen this one ;)
― The Magnificent Colin Firth (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 20:59 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGWW8KOQio
― da croupier, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 21:06 (fourteen years ago) link
god i hate REM for not breaking up after adventures
― da croupier, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 21:07 (fourteen years ago) link
group of adults in front of me were doing charades to song lyrics
this really cracks me up. it's like something out of catcher in the rye.
― Brio, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
My second favorite of their 90s output behind New Adventures.
totally agree with this
― sleeve, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 21:43 (fourteen years ago) link
this was easily my favorite r.e.m. album of 1994
― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Their worst album. But, as I said upthread, it is possible there may be some good songs there. But I can't hear them. I just hear guitar noise.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:31 (fourteen years ago) link
why are you still on geirbot v. 2.6 when everybody else has already installed geirbot 2010? i'm surprised that you can even play CDs on that thing.
― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:48 (fourteen years ago) link
god i hate REM for not breaking up after adventures automatic for the people
― El Poopo Loco (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:57 (fourteen years ago) link
But I can't hear them. I just hear guitar noise.
Geir manages to make the album sound ever more awesome to those who haven't heard it.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:59 (fourteen years ago) link
XP If R.E.M. were to break up after Adventures they might as well have broken up after "Automatic For The People", yes. "Monster" and "Adventures" were their two worst albums, after all. They got better again later.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:00 (fourteen years ago) link
some of the songs were AMAZING live though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60IBPy1wiBM&feature=player_embedded
― piscesx, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
agreed! i saw them live after my senior year in HS and all the songs they played off MONSTER were great
― nitzer ebbebe (gbx), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, yeah. I was at the Chicago show, too. It ruined the band for me. In retrospect, knowing how much of New Adventures in HiFi (which I came to love years later) came from that tour, I wonder whether I was in the wrong -- expecting "Superman" or whatever when they'd moved on. Wonder if there's a decent bootleg from that tour out there...
― john. a resident of chicago., Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:31 (fourteen years ago) link
This is R.E.M's best post-"Automatic For The People" moment:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKbBiR89KSo
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
man i hate that song. and i used to love r.e.m.
and i like melody, too.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I wonder how much, if any, of this was an unconscious nod to Achtung/Zooropa/Zoo TV U2 - it previewed REM's biggest tour to date and although I'd assume the band had given up/stopped caring about the 'biggest band in the world' mantle once Bono etc were back. For all the 'return to rock' it doesn't sound like Document or any of their other rockier albums although I think they admitted as such at the time. I like the way 'You' and 'Circus Envy' seem to follow that REM tradition ('I Remember California', 'Oddfellows') of discordant oddball songs, the kinda thing Peter Buck talked up before recording 'Document' but it was almost as if they couldn't help themselves and consciously dropped those songs towards the end.
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd be curious to know the order in which songs were recorded for Monster. I remember reading a Rolling Stone article around the time. The sessions were apparently difficult, with lots of stops and location changes. By the time the following year's tour commenced they were already playing a batch of new songs, some of which made it onto New Adventures. These songs were, for the most part, pretty bland and awful - "Revolution" (a crowd favorite, supposedly, which never made it onto New Adventures), "Departure", "Undertow"...terrible terrible songs. Maybe "Tongue", "I Don't Sleep", "You", "Circus Envy" were the first batch of new songs they had after Automatic for the People, as these were the bulk of the quality material. Maybe one day they started fooling around with "Crush With Eyeliner" and decided to take the album in the direction it went.
― johnnyo, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Sucked then. Sucks now.
― Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:50 (fourteen years ago) link
liking good music is boring.
― johnnyo, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Departure", "Undertow"...terrible terrible songs.
suggest ban
― The Magnificent Colin Firth (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:24 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^^^
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
what's so good about those songs?
― johnnyo, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:42 (fourteen years ago) link
"Departure" has a good riff and Stipe delivery; it goes on too long, maybe.
― The Magnificent Colin Firth (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:44 (fourteen years ago) link
i was never a fan of stipe's Dylan Phase, where he just rattles all stream-a-consciousness-like. "Undertow" is the best of that bunch. they're always the songs i skip on New Adventures though. i don't think they stack up to "How the West Was Won" and "Electrolyte".
― johnnyo, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:47 (fourteen years ago) link
of course, none of those songs are as bad as "Wake Up" bomb...maybe the worst REM song?
there are, from what i can remember, 5 - 6 really good songs on here. the attack may have been a bit miscalculated, but the tunes are still there.
but i'm the guy who's ok w/ Green so wtf do i know
― king willie style (will), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:49 (fourteen years ago) link
but i'm also the guy (tho i doubt 'm the only one) who would have been a-ok had they not done a single thing post-LRP
― king willie style (will), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:52 (fourteen years ago) link
i like Green. do people not like that?
― johnnyo, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 15:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Geir, kindly stop listening to Loveless and give Monster another shot.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
geir you have a vagina for a heart and a mellotron for a dick
― snorgfaced germans (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Reclaiming 'Monster': Reflecting on R.E.M.'s Most Misunderstood Album with Michael Stipe
― Welcome To (Turrican), Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:12 (nine years ago) link
Obv it was true of monster before most but basically any multi platinum cd is easy to find cheap now. Every rem cd is in the clearance bin at amoeba.
Monster rules.
― da croupier, Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:21 (nine years ago) link
Thanks for that interview link. Yeah, Monster is great.
― Dear Catastrophe Theory Waitress (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:22 (nine years ago) link
I'll take a youtube clip of the live version of Let Me In over everything on the cd.
― brotherlovesdub, Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:23 (nine years ago) link
great album
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:28 (nine years ago) link
Only REM record I listen to on a semi-regular basis.
― pplains, Saturday, 27 September 2014 01:46 (nine years ago) link
geir you have a vagina for a heart and a mellotron for a dick― snorgfaced germans (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:57 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― snorgfaced germans (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:57 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― You and Dad's Army? (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 27 September 2014 02:11 (nine years ago) link
Is it wrong to think of this album as REM's Zooropa?
― Dear Catastrophe Theory Waitress (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 September 2014 02:25 (nine years ago) link
Love it.
I'm gonna listen to "Circus Envy" now.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 27 September 2014 02:30 (nine years ago) link
xpost depends on what you make of zooropa right?
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Saturday, 27 September 2014 02:33 (nine years ago) link
Atypical album that is more arch and ironic and less earnest than the group's typical fare that if not quite a match for their early heights may end up with less burnout factor and more staying power.
― Dear Catastrophe Theory Waitress (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 September 2014 02:46 (nine years ago) link
Eh it's really an achtung move with new adventures the zooropa
― da croupier, Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:16 (nine years ago) link
Only "strange currencies" wasn't their "one"
― da croupier, Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:17 (nine years ago) link
zooropa was also partially recorded on tour iirc
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:17 (nine years ago) link
both albums = maybe get some traction from non-fans who want an album or two from each band, usually their taste is nothing like typical REM/U2
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:24 (nine years ago) link
REM has casual non-fans in 2014?
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:29 (nine years ago) link
In teh 90s
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:32 (nine years ago) link
REM casual non-fan in 2014 = Someone with just "The One I Love", "It's The End of...", and "Losing My Religion" on their iPod.
― You and Dad's Army? (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 27 September 2014 03:35 (nine years ago) link