REM: Classic or dud?

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They're definitely one of those bands where little flaws have become so crippling that it taints previous albums because I can see how little mistakes would evolve into tragedies. Stuff that would be forgivable if that's as far as they'd take it are now offensive.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 30 April 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i've argued with matt perpetua elsewhere about this, but i agree with anthony here - i can't listen to automatic anymore because i think it's so poorly paced. i know there are folks who'd disagree, and i love "side 2" but it's just such a jarring side 1.

having missed the monster tour - which would've been awesome as a high schooler - i was equally thrilled to see them on the UP tour as a college senior. they were ecstatic and did their best to include some older stuff...that the crowd booed!

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 30 April 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

The warner bros. four-piece years are so tied up with my youth that I find it really hard to judge them critically - the idea of explaining what makes them 'good' is fucked because the appeal was so much less concrete at the time I memorized every melody (if not lyric). If I try to imagine how these albums come off to the unfamiliar I have to assume they're all patchwork nonsense. I'd probably throw Chronic thru Fables at an arty newbie as the early stuff has dance beats and Gehman-Litt haven't brought in the whole awkward arena element.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 30 April 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

PC Zeppelin really. Should have broke up when the drummer died.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 30 April 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

PC Zeppelin really

once they moved from dance clubs to theatres

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 30 April 2005 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

It's as impossible to explain REM's allure to neophytes as it is to explain the Beatles. ("But they wrote really GOOD songs!")

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 30 April 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

There are ways to explain them but they're zeitgeist-related and not necessarily flattering to the fan or enticing to the skeptical. Klosterman hit the nail on the head for me in Fargo Rock City when he said that REM was the kind of band that made you feel like part of a secret society of nice, beauty-appreciating PC people - you aren't a loser, you're BETTER than your high school for feeling like an outcast. Their commercial rise was a triumph for the good-intentioned who still wanted 'rock.' 'The acceptable edge of unacceptable stuff' as Buck put it. Milquetoast wafflage for people who had no need for melodic middle ground.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 30 April 2005 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd only qualify it by adding that for the mainstream audience that got Out of Time, Automatic, and Monster the milquetoast wafflage was just enough; while for a lot of us REM was an effective gateway drug to Husker Du, the Mats, Wire, etc.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 30 April 2005 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

CLASSIC!!! - i sang 'how the west was won and what it got us' at karaoke the other night, NAILED it

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 30 April 2005 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Just made their best album in over a decade. (OK, I've said it before.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 30 April 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"Milquetoast wafflage for people who had no need for melodic middle ground."

Middle ground between what and what?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 30 April 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Klosterman hit the nail on the head for me in Fargo Rock City when he said that REM was the kind of band that made you feel like part of a secret society of nice, beauty-appreciating PC people - you aren't a loser, you're BETTER than your high school for feeling like an outcast. Their commercial rise was a triumph for the good-intentioned who still wanted 'rock.'"

May I say that this is just an utterly DIRE portrait of the people that like their music?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 30 April 2005 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Hard to make them any more than classic. However, their late 80s output is heavily overrated, while their late 90s/early 00s output is heavily underrated.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 30 April 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread inspired this thread: REM Post-1990: POX

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 30 April 2005 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

You people made me download Harbourcoat and I was so impressed I bought the first two albums (admitedlly Murmur was 49p and on cassette but thats not the point) but I really think that's enough for me now...

― elwisty (elwisty), Saturday, 30 April 2005 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

throw in 'chronic town' and you might be right

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 30 April 2005 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I think they actually took things up a notch with Fables of the Reconstruction, but the album sequence might not have been as good as the sequencing on the first two albums and the production wasn't as good.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 1 May 2005 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

The categorisation of their early stuff as a nice safe return to Byrdsian jangle as opposed to for real noisy punk is wrong-headed. There's a definite post-punk/art rock thing going on there, from the Pylon/G04 influence beats and Buck's often ingenious guitar lines, where he made the most of his limitations. Bland, straightforward college rock or 60s throwback stuff it ain't.

The Klosterman thing is patronising, but it is true that REM had a certain arty liberal outsider appeal. They were a great band to be into when you're first discovering music. They and Nirvana were the first bands not in my parents' record collections I got into. Both were non-macho, arty rock bands and a great gateway drug into more esoteric pleasures.

So Classic! Despite the undeniable dudness of Reveal and Around the Bum.
(That said, Reveal had Beat A Drum, which is terrible on the album, but beautiful in its spare piano demo form).

― stew!, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

C and D similtaneously. This is a bit like the Dylan issue, on a lesser scale. He just keeps churning out them albums regardless of whether it even approaches the greatness of his early stuff. REM probably peaked around Fables (xxpost), but to be honest I stopped buying their stuff in the early 90s.

― dr xo'skeleton, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

OH MY GOD i'M GOING TO ABANDON MY FAVOURITE INTERNET RADIO STATION JUST SO i CAN PUT THE OLD VINYL ON. STARTING WITH "WOLVES, LOWER"

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Sunday, 28 January 2007 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

In which I graduate from You Tube to my own vinyl. Thanks. Love you.

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Sunday, 28 January 2007 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

I miss Kris' posts.

― Sundar (sundar), Sunday, 28 January 2007 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

By the way, why did people make a point of the lyrics being buried or inaudible in the 80s? Even on Murmur, Stipe's voice is pretty dominant and clear in the mix. How hard is it to make out "Talk About the Passion" or "Laughing?"

― Sundar (sundar), Sunday, 28 January 2007 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

he's no Ric Ocasek, that's for sure!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 January 2007 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno man, a lot of "Laughing" is pretty hard to make out, if the lyrics I just googled are correct. Many words are crystal clear but "Laocoon and her two sons" -- huh? Probably heard it 500 times but never picked up on "Laocoon", and I heard "sated view" but always figured it was actually something else. Maybe that was the problem.

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 28 January 2007 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

SUSPICION YOURSELF DONT get caught becaues I am an early REM junkie

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Sunday, 28 January 2007 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

IVE STILL GOT MY FUCKING VINYL YOU BASTATRDS EARLY REM VINYL I

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Sunday, 28 January 2007 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

gardenING aT NIGHT

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Sunday, 28 January 2007 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

By the way, why did people make a point of the lyrics being buried or inaudible in the 80s? Even on Murmur, Stipe's voice is pretty dominant and clear in the mix

i don't think people were saying the words were inaudible; just indecipherable. stipe didn't really start enunciating until lifes rich pageant, a rumored concession to their label.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Monday, 29 January 2007 00:00 (nineteen years ago)

i JUS TWANT TO DIE WHERE IS SOUTH CENTRAL RAIN ON YOU TUBE HAVE WE GOT ITYET?

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Monday, 29 January 2007 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

He's not Ocasek, no, but I guess it's that early REM doesn't really seem that exceptional to me among rock bands in terms of lyrics being indecipherable. (Maybe they're exceptional in terms of the words not making sense.) I don't think I really make out every word of most rock songs (didn't know what even the pre-choruses of Def Leppard's "Armageddon It" were until recently; don't think I'll ever make out Led Zeppelin's "Carouselambra.") Even in a vaguely comparable idiom, a lot of Joy Division lyrics (e.g. "They Walked In Line") seem pretty muffled. The old REM sounds pretty par for the course to me, with some lyrics and most key lines and choruses pretty clear and some harder to make out.

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 29 January 2007 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

I miss Kris' posts.

That rant above is kind of ridiculous, though. R.E.M. were a power pop band who liked Gang of Four and Fairport Convention. If other bands were influenced by them in crap ways, it was their own fault.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 29 January 2007 01:28 (nineteen years ago)

bAHAHAHAHAAH

― Lick The Strobelight Lollipops (Bimble...), Monday, 29 January 2007 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

eight months pass...

Tell me they don't look more kick-fucking-arse here than at any point since pre BINGO HAND JOB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRVxOmu87MA

― pisces, Monday, 15 October 2007 02:36 (eighteen years ago)

staring sideways at a laptop while singing pretty much removes all "kick-fucking-arse" from a performance

― da croupier, Monday, 15 October 2007 03:27 (eighteen years ago)

fuck is Stipe's problem? You don't see a goddamn music stand in front of Peter or Mike.

― da croupier, Monday, 15 October 2007 03:28 (eighteen years ago)

It is a good song, though.

― Davey D, Monday, 15 October 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

four months pass...

I would be 'anticipating' Accelerate in this thread if only I could listen to their watermarked promo on my computer or in my car. I may need to borrow a discman.

― fukasaku tollbooth, Sunday, 24 February 2008 21:59 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

L£ak£d.

― pisces, Sunday, 16 March 2008 18:17 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

So the weather in the UK has turned at last and out of the blue I have some strange and nostalgic feeling toward the first four or five REM albums. What gives?

― double shyamalan (MaresNest), Sunday, 23 May 2010 10:49 (sixteen years ago)

You can see yourself at 30?

― Euler, Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:07 (sixteen years ago)

Ha, well I'm 38

― double shyamalan (MaresNest), Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:20 (sixteen years ago)

I still haven't worked up the courage to listen to Accelerate, not to mention the two recent live albums either. Soon! I've been enjoying a lot of 80s-era REM bootlegs recently; "Baby I" is such a hot song.

― Euler, Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:24 (sixteen years ago)

yeah i'd say it's more "you can see youself at 40" for early REM nostalgia.

i get that feeling in early summer, too.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:26 (sixteen years ago)

you know what sounds especially good as summer really begins to swelter? fables of the reconstruction.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:27 (sixteen years ago)

Daniel, don't you live in Florida? It's always swelter there!

― Euler, Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:08 (sixteen years ago)

lol, yeah. we actually had a cool -- sometimes cold -- winter. but the swelter has returned now.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:13 (sixteen years ago)

i used to have about five rem bootlegs on cassette. they had some of my favorite rem songs. i can't find them, and if i could find them, i couldn't play them (it's all discs and mp3s now, sadly).

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:14 (sixteen years ago)

and by "favorites," i mean unreleased stuff.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:14 (sixteen years ago)

Lots of o/w unreleased material floats around out there, if you're inclined that way. The one I love the most is called So Much Younger Then, from 1981. Evidently there's a fuller version of that set, called Georgia Peaches—Ripe!, but I've never managed to track it down.

― Euler, Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:26 (sixteen years ago)

Skipping 2499 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Lol “My dad loves you”

― There’s a Monster in my Vance (President Keyes), Saturday, 12 October 2024 18:20 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ftacKGmn6Q

― timellison, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:04 (one year ago)

love it

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:13 (one year ago)

nine months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKiS7QYDV4M

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 14 August 2025 18:31 (ten months ago)

two months pass...

I'm enjoying the hell out of the new Peter Ames Carlin biography. Apart from its excellent reporting, the book documents (heh) the band's changing finances as they ascended, and to me I can never read enough about publishing, touring, merch, royalties, and so on.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 November 2025 16:54 (seven months ago)

I enjoyed it for the most part. Seems that he kind of runs out things to say as the book goes on. I still just love them so much.

― Blood On The Knobs, Friday, 7 November 2025 18:26 (seven months ago)

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