r.e.m.green.poll

<3

Stipe in counselor mode

Kudos for this otm-ness

i changed my mind -- i am voting for orange crush because that is why i bought the album in the first place
i kept hearing it on the radio and loving it. it was so different from everything else i heard on the radio + fun to sing to

great drums too

yeah I used to prefer “Turn You Inside Out” over “Orange Crush” but the latter is more fun to sing or better howl along with

also the Tourfilm version of Orange Crush is fab, with the “be all that you can be” lead into the drums ratating

'Orange Crush' is the one I voted for - I miraculously haven't burned out on that track yet.

I saw 'em a couple of times this tour, but the second time was hi-friggin'-larious b/c the person me and and my buddies gave money to for tix, left 'em at home three hours away from Alpine Valley, WI - he sucked it up and re-bought scalped tickets for everyone. Ended up being one of the better outdoor venue shows I've seen.

This is difficult. I got on the REM wagon with this record and possibly like it more than I should. Apart from "Turn You Inside Out" I could comfortably vote for just about everything. Maybe "I Remember California", "World Leader Pretend" or "The Wrong Child".

Let my machine talk to me.

Boy, they kicked ass on album openers these years, didn't they?

yo, turn to that station

Lol

I went to Sam Goody at the mall to buy Green and the guy at the register was like "don't buy this man, they're on a major label now" and I was like "but I walked all the way here and I want it". A few months later he had the same (ineffectual) advice about Disintegration. Later I would turn into him for a while.

Anyway, You Are The Everything.

I keep asking myself why does "The Wong Child" feel like it was the last song.

Because it was the last song on Side A!

I think each side of the record/tape had its own title, didn't it? Can't remember when they started (or stopped) that

yo, turn to that station

― mookieproof, Thursday, February 1, 2018

I liked that one too!

Stipe's haircut from that tour has held up better than anyone would have expected.

(haha i don't actually hate radio song but nor would i say it kicked ass)

Yeah this impossible. I love half these songs more than I love my children (which is a lot).

Pop Song 89 is pretty good, Stand is pretty great, World Leader Pretend is awesome. You Are the Everything is sublime. Orange Crush is slammin.

I am Sophie ergo this poll is a Nazi.

"Get Up" is solid kiddie pop

I think I voted for You Are the Everything because a month ago I drunkenly played it on mandolin at a New Year's Eve party, and a half-dozen drunk 40somethings sang along; it was a magical moment.

Air and Metal sides iirc

This is the only REM album I ever cared about. I think it was largely a matter of timing.

Orange Crush.

Yeah timing is pretty key. At this point I'd already heard some REM (mainly Fables), but didn't own anything. For me, Green and Out of Time together represent a rare situation, where a band's commercial peak coincides with a creative high point.

Note: not saying that was both their commercial AND creative peak - merely a fortuitous time when they were making great music that a large audience was ready to hear.

we are agents of the free

The lyrics of "stand" crack me up

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

You are the Everything or Untitled. I am so happy people made AftP comparisons above. Because I think Automatic is really overrated and the crazy accolades during the anniversary really surprised me because the album has serious duds.

Actually, on any given day I could vote for any of the first 4 songs.

dont understand too much about why this album is often maligned when compared to many of the others - It was my first REM album too and I like most of it -can't be bothered trying to figure out if thats nostalgia talking or objectivity

can't remember what i voted for first time we polled this. (putting quotation marks around the album titles made the polls invisible to the ILX search - oops.) i still don't like this album very much - the songwriting feels thinner, with more songs repeating whole sections or just not having very many lyrics, especially the singles. feels slight, despite the booming, loud production which i still struggle to hear as an "arena" take on their sound though i know that's what it is. voting "you are the everything" for having the nicest melody and a very well-chosen arrangement, setting the template for several of the best cuts on the next two LPs.

xpost It's maligned because it was the first Warner Bros. release.

I finally voted for Get Up, but I have no idea iuf that's right. There's too many good, but not amazing songs on this album.

Polls, they complicate mylife.

never 4get Luke Perry as Dylan, to the accompaniment of "You Are the Everything," curling up barefoot and cute-like on the couch as he remembered how his father used to splash him on the shoreline.

gah, and did they break up or do it to "losing my religion"?

Incredible album, it would be my favorite, but then Fables of the Reconstruction exists.

Could vote for 4 tracks but Get Up takes it, goosebumps the whole way thru.

Like many of the best albums, my favorite song changed every few months the longer I lived with it. Interestingly, it was "Tourfilm" that made me realize how good "Turn You Inside Out" and especially "World Leader Pretend" are.

gah, and did they break up or do it to "losing my religion"?

― Yerac, Wednesday, April 18, 2018

break up!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wow, decisive.

Looks like a bit of love for most of the tracks - glad to see Untitled as not forgotten

teh corny lurker is real

The Wrong Child is on my short list for worst song of all time.

The songs are not as inspired as they are on Lifes Rich Pageant, but I think it's still very good and R.E.M. were just a fun band to follow. It was interesting to see how they evolved and how they made the transition to Warner Brothers on this one. I think the album has a very nice sound.

Sounded good on the original vinyl.

Surprised to not see this mentioned, but the team behind U Talkin U2 2 Me? have turned their attention to REM...

http://www.earwolf.com/episode/green-with-lance-bangs/

http://www.earwolf.com/episode/green-with-lance-bangs-2/

Not a U2 or REM fan, but, the U Talkin U2 2 Me? eps were probably my favorite entertainment of the decade (the one with Todd Glass is perfection). The REM ones have been dope too. They even actually talk about the music sometimes!

"You Are The Everything" is an interesting winner, a very pretty song that pointed in the direction they would go on subsequent albums, more personal and emotional, greater clarity. "World Leader Pretend" is one of my least favorite tracks on Green, it's a bit too heavy-handed for my taste.

Missed this but would’ve gone with the winner.

Every song got a vote!

Not a big fan of this album even though it's the only one I own on vinyl. I find it strange that people cite Out Of Time as a 'drop-off' album when really their careers were consistent with Green being the only real dip until after Up. World Leader Pretend is astonishing though. I'd put it on any best of mix.

did you never call?

looking at your watch, good time, standing in a station?

I made a short road trip once to Rockville when I was in college. It was super boring, we never got out of the car.

Don't go back there then.

(It does have the graves of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald tho)

Monster is underrated

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, April 20, 2018 1:15 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree, and I came around to it eventually - the LP's that came directly before and after it are stronger, though. Automatic For The People is a stronger collection of songs and a stone cold classic, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi benefits from more variety in the guitar sounds, not to mention it's a better document of R.E.M. in rock mode than Monster is during the moments it does rock.

I feel like Monster gets a bad lookback because we all have memories of it being a permanent resident in the used album bin.

A lot of people had jumped on board with Out of Time and Automatic for the People and were expecting more of the same for the follow-up. They weren't expecting Monster, or the change in image that went with it. Hardcore fans were probably more kinder to the record, though.

New Adventures is the one I've never been able to connect with. I'm mystified by the love it gets here.

I was a pretty hardcore fan, but I hated Monster then and can't imagine I'd have much love for it now (not that I've heard it in the last 20 years). Part of the turn-off was how the band talked it up - "this is our punk record" etc. I found the rock poses wholly unconvincing, either interpreted as genuine or "ironic". Most of the tunes didn't do much for me, and the production was off-putting too - there's something harsh and flat about it I can't bear.

With New Adventures my expectations were low and I was surprised how much I liked it.

Monster also had that huge arena tour. It was just a weird phase in general.

I was trying to pinpoint when exactly Stipe started appearing out with a shaved head but then I got distracted and started looking at eyeliner instead.

The Monster era was the first appearance of out-and-proud baldy Stipe. He started to go bald after Green and hid it under a hat during 1990-1993.

I Remember California is great and should have had more votes imo.

I would've put I Remember CA ahead of World Leader, Orange Crush and Turn You.

I was trying to pinpoint when exactly Stipe started appearing out with a shaved head but then I got distracted and started looking at eyeliner instead.

― Yerac, Friday, April 20, 2018 10:29 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf so did he

Part of the turn-off was how the band talked it up - "this is our punk record" etc.

well, it's a glam rock record, probably a generous reading of "punk"

I voted for "Get Up" because dreams, they complicate my life.

I Remember California is great and should have had more votes imo.

I hope I voted for it in the end. That endless churning guitar and bass plus the eerie synth (?) that creeps in, and then "the lowest ebb and highest tide"; it all makes for one their gloomiest constructions, no? That there California seems rather menacing.

That whole period between Green and Automatic I called The Gap (store)- StipeWear.

Gave this a fresh listen tonight. I still think it's one of their weakest records but there are some great songs. The untitled track is probably my favorite besides "You Are The Everything" - really pretty, loopy, gentle, vocals kind of dancing around in a circle. Berry's choices probably most crucial to its success, as with the similar kinds of songs on Out of Time.

New Adventures is the one I've never been able to connect with. I'm mystified by the love it gets here.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, April 20, 2018 5:21 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My favourite album of theirs without a doubt.