pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

the quietus, RA, foxy digitalis, unperson’s columns, ILM

i also have a filter for bandcamp emails, and i go through those every two weeks or so

the concept of a rapper saying "you like my music, well here are my new artists, you'll like them too" still carries a lot of currency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIV5tkdk64c

I just hallucinate new music, in that you are all a subset of my shifting reality.

i exclusively listen to music ned buys on bandcamp

i have 1 billion songs to go

I just hallucinate new music, in that you are all a subset of my shifting reality.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, November 7, 2023 1:31 PM

i. . . am grateful to be here? in that case. thanks for thinking of me.

With hindsight, it’s clear that Up was a transitional record, the pivot point between R.E.M.’s reign as the biggest band in the college-rock underground and their subsequent act packing arenas.

I might be misreading this but isn't he like 3-5 albums too late with this observation?

otherwise, I'm shocked a reissue of a 2nd or 3rd tier REM album is getting lead review placement on pfork in 2023. As an REM fan I'd be pleased but can't help but feel it's a direct reflection of the decreasing prominence of reviews in their brand

Yeah that’s a weird sentence… Erlewine must know his R.E.M. timeline, so I assume it’s some kind of glitch in phrasing.

I like the review a lot, btw… he makes some nice observations.

I did like the review but noticed that sentence as being a bizarre statement

maybe an editing thing? STE definitely seems like a writer who knows his REM

In other words, he's old.

do older millennials like REM? what's the cutoff?

as a mid millennial I don't dislike them they were just never on my radar for some reason (unlike many of their contemporaries). despite all the talk of generational niche partitioning in the era of streaming it's still relatively rare for a single artist to be *this* much of a generational shibboleth. I don't know what the equivalent for my age group would be - do any kids still listen to neutral milk hotel?

xpost ha I mean I didn't mean that as an insult he just covers a lot of "classic alternative"

The review does a great job of analyzing the album’s artistic deficits (IMO), putting them in the context of its creation.

I was hoping the reissue would get an 8.0 - I mean I'd go higher personally but Up feels like an album whose stature has risen (at least a bit) over the years.

Left, I was born in 84 and I was absolutely fucking obsessed with REM in like 99-2000. I didn’t know any other kids who were, mind you, but alas.

R.E.M's American cultural cachet in 1999-2000 remained considerable.

Oh for sure, but not among many 15 year olds

Reminds me of watching the video of "All the Way To Reno" with a friend when it was new. It shows the band playing in a high school, and my friend said all the kids must be going, "who are these guys?"

this baldy is way less funny than fred durst

Cuter.

hmmm

https://prabook.com/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2743019

https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/67446_v9_bb.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1271530504827875331/3Ka8BTK6_400x400.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/29/02/46026027-9837449-A_new_look_Fred_Durst_looked_nearly_unrecognizable_in_a_selfie_t-m-137_1627522319616.jpg

I have to admit he is pretty gorgeous maybe I should check out his band

Pretty funky iirc

Gotta admit, Durst is aging well

#dadvibes

https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/391678937_637184325259633_4281669757391491422_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=hkQrkd2fNU4AX8FJlx3&_nc_ht=scontent-den4-1.xx&oh=00_AfBEvkDTe7dtoofWu1sU3vvIbMTgm0-KVcDMkJPUaBvH_A&oe=65560893

yeah i mean part of Stipe’s appeal for me from the beginning was that he was an obviously queer, good-looking weirdo poet.

that was billie joe for me (well not sure about "poet") - I feel like I missed the boat on this one

what's the one everyone likes? murmur?

yeah that or reckoning

I like them all in varying degrees through NAIHF.

yeah i mean part of Stipe’s appeal for me from the beginning was that he was an obviously queer, good-looking weirdo poet.

I remember in high school, when there were rumors about Stipe being queer, a friend of mine reacted (in all seriousness): “Michael Stipe? No way!” …As if he was, like, the last celebrity you’d possibly expect, lol

this is pretty good shit would have loved it when I was 15

it's like if the byrds could actually write songs

When he remarked in a Details interview, "I'm an equal opportunity lech" it was as if Jesus had said he enjoyed Henry James.

Alfred always boils things down to their essences.

I have never listened to early R.E.M and this thread has finally convinced me. All I really have to add to the conversation is 'oh this* is really good innit?' but there we are. Happy Sunday.

*Reckoning.

do older millennials like REM? what's the cutoff?

I'm Oregon Trail Generation so I guess as old as millennials get, REM had a very sharp peak with my peers. The first radio hits were kind of there in the cultural background but Monster was absolutely huge in my junior high, fuck yeah that "Losing My Religion" band can rawk. "Crush With Eyeliner" was a necessary cover for every band whose shitty solid state practice amp had tremolo included.

I don't recall New Adventures making an impact but then Up was beloved by the kids who didn't gel with the butt rock turn of late '90s radio.

That’s cool to hear…

Old millennials were probably the last micro generation to be radicalized/partially radicalized by R.E.M. because I don’t think ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ and ‘ Up’ were bringing in new recruits.

Is the perception/reality that REM's rep has fallen with younger generations who "weren't there"?

As opposed to Pavement who I think have maybe grown in stature with people who "weren't there"?

Radicalized by REM? They were the coffee table band of my teenage listening experience but tell me more

Interestingly, “Leave” from Hi-Fi might’ve been some manner of formative experience, but I’m not sure; amazing album tho

for me the song from Hi-Fi was "New Test Leper," I just remember listening to that song over and over again

sorry to break topic here but in today's archive review of the ace of bass album, they say the group's success was "preposterous." fan-tastic use of the word. i'm not even joking, what an absolutely perfect summary of how it went.

anyway, it made me chuckle. as you were.

Boygenius and Timothée Chalamet Play Troye Sivan in SNL Sketch: Watch

This is like one of those competitions to see how many words I’m not interested in can fit into a single headline

a generational shibboleth

this is a good way of putting it. i was born in early '90s, REM was an adult contemporary band that my parents liked; didn't realize they had "cred" among e.g. record collector folks and music obsessives until i was an adult and started having friends 10+ years older than me

Is the perception/reality that REM's rep has fallen with younger generations who "weren't there"?

i'd say so. i really don't think anybody under 30 gives a fuck about REM or even knows who they are.

fwiw i can't stand REM. to me they just sound like the most boring possible band. their appeal only makes sense in the context of the austerity of 1980s midwest when there probably just wasn't a lot of interesting "rock" music available besides the dinosaurs

Yes, but when midwesterners heard R.E.M. back then the often burst into flames.