You Wore Your ExPOLLtations Like An Armored Suit: REM's "Monster"

the flaming lips released a version of clouds taste metallic at one point that was just ronald jones' isolated guitar tracks, they shouldve done something like that

putting stipes vocals upfront doesnt make them any clearer bc its not the mix that makes them difficult to understand, its always his weird cadences and delivery.

Yeah, what I was trying to allude to re his weird scansion. I had no idea he was singing "Richard said 'withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy'" until I read it, not because of the mix but because the lexical stress was so odd. Similarly, I think he accents the first syllable in "expectations" in the line this poll was named after.

(Obv, the fact that the lyrics are stuff like "what's the frequency, Kenneth? Is your benzedrine? Uh-huh" doesn't help with ease of comprehension.)

Always and forever will love Monster. Whenever I think about how I’d rank REM albums (seems to be an annual activity), I always surprise myself with the realization that Monster is a personal Top 5, maybe Top 3.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, September 6, 2019 12:26 PM

Not quite that high for me, but, yes, and their sexiest album.

i like this album but every song feels too long - i always enjoy the openings but eventually i’m ready for them to end and surprised to see like still 2 minutes to go

― Screamin' Jay Gould (The Yellow Kid), Friday, September 6, 2019 11:13 AM bookmarkflaglink

This was a fun album to use the "preview" button with.

And the promo video at the link, how many different ways do you think skinny white dudes grabbed the mic stand at the "Michael Stipe" audition?

The remix does sound more "contemporary" and less nineties, though. Which may have been what they were looking for with this lame thing they delivered.

I suppose the remix for "Crush with eyeliner" will be 4 minutes of silence.

i know it's not but i always heard it as "your Benson dream"

their sexiest album

And I think it was the first time they ever sang directly about sex? Some of the results were a little, er, dorky ("I've got my telescope head in the haystack"); but it worked overall.

"fuck me, kitten" and all that key-lock stuff wasn't about sex?

No. About kittens, duh

I've got my telescope head in the haystack
I'm getting tired of your dodgeball circus act
Put pepper in my coffee, I forgot to bark on command

I never thought of this as a direct song about sex at all?

(Admittedly, I also never knew what most of those words were until now. Always thought of it as a hate/jealousy song, though, and that still mostly seems to work, looking over them.)

yeah i'm with sund4r there... "telescope head in the haystack" like being on paranoid lookout, alert to everything, but also sifting through irrelevant info (needle in a haystack), or... something

lol, I always thought it was a cringey sex metaphor, but maybe that’s on me

(Also, mea culpa on “Star Me Kitten” – forgot about that one)