I gotta say the time I enjoyed EH the most was when I had a decent amp and speakers and I cranked it to apocalyptic levels - the drama of the strings and the crescendos of sound really took it to a new dimension.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 00:07 (five years ago) link
The music is fine. It's the lyricism.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 00:10 (five years ago) link
The time I enjoyed EH the most was riding with a friend who had lost too much at the Indian casino and felt rotten about it, and we sang along with “Don’t throw your hand!”
― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 00:21 (five years ago) link
I like that when making EH they approached it like an old Stax ballad
Still never want to hear it again
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 00:43 (five years ago) link
It’s also an impressive vocal performance (if you care for Stipe’s vocals; I know many don’t).
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 00:44 (five years ago) link
I was 23 and celebrating my first wedding anniversary when ATFP came out so it had a little different context for me than for anyone a bit younger. (My R.E.M. high school angst album was Life's Rich Pageant. ) But I'm also the weirdo whose favorite song on the album is Ignoreland, so.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 18:05 (five years ago) link
Both songs are great but NTUA for me. Even love that cheesy Tall Paul coffee table remix. Didn't realize there was so much hate for Stipe round these parts.
― groovypanda, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
i thought people adore Stipe but just hate this one song. xpost About the STAX vocals, I almost said he was trying for a "take us to church" moment and it was just flabby.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 19:31 (five years ago) link
Well, one person called him a whiny bitch and another called him a personality-less sucking void and well-poisoner.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 19:52 (five years ago) link
Ha, i just went back to find these posts. I am very good at ignoring people because I had no recollection of these.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 19:55 (five years ago) link
R.E.M. threads tend to get frothy, for some reason.
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 21:53 (five years ago) link
Poll: "Everybody Hurts" video vs. Van Halen "Right Now" video.
― I was working as a waitress in an oxygen bar (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 22:13 (five years ago) link
^^^ key questions of, well, hm, "our time" doesn't seem quite right
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 22:33 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 4 January 2019 00:01 (five years ago) link
Maybe P Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" vs. "Everybody Hurts" would've been more of a competition.
― Yerac, Friday, 4 January 2019 00:07 (five years ago) link
I love NTUA and hate EH. I hated Everybody Hurts when I was a wallowing teenager, which I was when it came out and I still hate it now. Dunno just grates on me, always has.
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 4 January 2019 00:17 (five years ago) link
I'm also the weirdo whose favorite song on the album is Ignoreland, so.
ban eliza d
― mookieproof, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:23 (five years ago) link
I also like Ignoreland and not sure why it's so bad and hated but I don't really like that album much at all so
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:27 (five years ago) link
Ignoreland is a needed respite/counterpoint in AFTP
― rip van wanko, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:35 (five years ago) link
otm
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 January 2019 01:38 (five years ago) link
fwiw songs I like off AFTP:
DriveIgnoreland
songs I think are OK
The Sidewinder Sleeps ToniteMan On The MoonMonty Got A Raw Deal
songs I don't like
everything else
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
I'm conflicted about 'Drive' because it lied to me. The rest of the album just isn't as good.
― pomenitul, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:48 (five years ago) link
I've said this before, but I started reposting on ilx again because I was so confused about the glowing reviews/remembrances about ATFP on its anniversary. That album is so meh bleh. I was trying make sense of this stupid reality I was living in.
― Yerac, Friday, 4 January 2019 01:52 (five years ago) link
ts: ignoreland vs electioneering
anyway, nightswimming is grebt, man on the moon and find the river are good, sidewinder and drive are okay, the rest are whatevs and occasionally worse
― mookieproof, Friday, 4 January 2019 02:03 (five years ago) link
Is "Ignoreland" hated? I always liked it.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 4 January 2019 02:06 (five years ago) link
xp Glad you made it to this thread, mookieproof! It owes its existence to you
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Friday, 4 January 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link
Anyway, I’d place “Man on the Moon” far higher on the “never need to hear again” scale than “Everybody Hurts.”
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Friday, 4 January 2019 02:39 (five years ago) link
I have recently come to like « Try not to breath » following a thread linking to an interview about how the song was built.Basically regarding AFTP, I like the beginning and the end but the middle drags a little.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 4 January 2019 02:42 (five years ago) link
Oh, "Man on the Moon" is very skippable.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Friday, 4 January 2019 02:45 (five years ago) link
there's a really good 25-minute AFTP documentary called Unearthed on YT for anybody interested
i'm more into the mumble & kudzu REM, but still think AFTP is stone cold classic start to finish
― rip van wanko, Friday, 4 January 2019 02:48 (five years ago) link
The R.E.M. guys looked so grizzled to me in those Anton Corbijn liner-note booklet photos, but they were probably like f’in 32 years old.
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Friday, 4 January 2019 03:11 (five years ago) link
This thread is beginning to bum me out. AFTP is REM’s best album, or at the very least the best of their albums that feature enunciation. I think it is one of the unassailable classics of the decade.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 4 January 2019 08:13 (five years ago) link
yes! AFTP is definitely a classic, their best album since their debut full-length imo, but their earliest "mumble & kudzu" records (Chronic Town EP, Murmur) are also classics and will always be my favorites because I heard them first
― Dan S, Friday, 4 January 2019 08:34 (five years ago) link
I'm going Never Tear Us Apart because of the whirl of memory it stirs up with me and Claire Eldridge at the centre of it, dancing at the swimming club disco.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Friday, 4 January 2019 11:30 (five years ago) link
I like Try Not to Breathe, Find the River and NIghtswimming. Drive is fine. Man on the Moon was overplayed and it wasn't good enough to withstand that. Plus, I hate Andy Kaufman. The rest of the album is completely meh.
― Yerac, Friday, 4 January 2019 11:35 (five years ago) link
Star Me Kitten gave 11-year-old-me the fear
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 4 January 2019 11:39 (five years ago) link
They should've gone full on Santo and Johnny on that song. Instead it bores the shit out of me.
― Yerac, Friday, 4 January 2019 11:47 (five years ago) link
I've never understood the "best album" thing. I may have thought about AFTP more than any other record over the years, so perplexing is this notion. I almost sold my copy early on. Previews on radio suggested a serious decline, but I was still pretty loyal in 1992 and bought it anyway. But the endless bars of thin, nothingy guitars going around in circles really bummed me out. The string arrangements were welcome but still insufficient to make certain tracks add up to much. I eventually took to programming a 25-minute album I did kinda like if I could avoid the rest. (I may have included "Man on the Moon" once, but it hasn't proved especially durable.)
Try Not to Breathe / The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite / New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 / Sweetness Follows / Nightswimming / Find the River
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Friday, 4 January 2019 13:54 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:01 (five years ago) link
*sad montage of frowning Buck/Berry/Mills/Stipe*
When your day is long... and the night... the night is yours alone...
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:03 (five years ago) link
Wow. Everybody Hurts pulled in a lot more than expected.
― Yerac, Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:22 (five years ago) link
^^^
I was expecting an even more brutal stomping.
― grawlix (unperson), Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:41 (five years ago) link
Sometimes you kick... sometimes you get kicked.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:42 (five years ago) link
"But if I hurt youI'd make wine from your tears"
my whole life i didn't know what he was singing there, just looked it up
― rip van wanko, Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:47 (five years ago) link
I also couldn't parse those lyrix for a long time (but eventually learned them somewhere).
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:54 (five years ago) link
terrible line lol
― rip van wanko, Saturday, 5 January 2019 00:57 (five years ago) link
https://66.media.tumblr.com/11c3aac1f638a12bb36635d5eba52177/tumblr_oh1vghbW3c1r4poono1_250.gif
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 January 2019 01:00 (five years ago) link
AH TOLD YOU
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 January 2019 01:01 (five years ago) link
(it's a great line obv in the context of this big dumb dramatic awesome song that isn't even sure what it's about)
― rip van wanko, Saturday, 5 January 2019 01:03 (five years ago) link
lol
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 5 January 2019 01:10 (five years ago) link