This is the Thread Where You Bash REM's Monster

The two of them work together, Litt producer and Norrell engineer - so I'd presume the aesthetic decisions were made by Litt and Norrell created the corresponding mixes.

That’s funny, he’s like — “Clif, turn that knob a little... a little more.... wait, too much”

My guess is Litt would handle the "why" and Norrell the "how" - there are lots of nuances in mixing beyond turning things up and down and panning them left or right, not that I am any kind of expert.
I still think the new mixes are a troll and am disappointed I wasn't lauded for my penetrating insight.

The new mix of "Bang and Blame" somehow brings into focus how much that song is a revisit of "Orange Crush" (but I like "Orange Crush" a lot better)

xp I like yr troll theory, but it sounds like Litt really wasn’t happy with the OG mix

The fact that the band is doing press for this, or that Stipe neatened his retirement beard and apparently took out the septum piercing, are further indicators that a reunion could be in the works.

But it’s only Michael & Mike doing all the things!

It is interesting how heavily this one’s been promoted, though. I’m surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed getting back into it

Did they promote all those other reissues? Did Stipe participate? I can't remember.

I don’t know, but Peter & Bill didn’t even show up for the liner-notes booklet interview.

I’m surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed getting back into it

Yep, same here!

The album has imo always been exceptionally good and the odd production is both the point of the exercise and one advantage it has over a lot of other ‘90s stabs at making some kind of future rock (vs modern rock).

I’ve really grown to like the remix... with the alternate takes, etc., it makes for a looser, scrappier album; maybe more “musical,” in some ways (insofar as it brings out some of the individual parts). As a complement (not a replacement!), I think it’s a success.

The live "What's the Frequency" on this is really fun; I think Mills's goofy harmonies on it probably don't belong on the record but they sound great live, just remind me of REM's history as a band blowing away college parties with dynamite ramshackle classic rock covers

re:the promotion, I remember a bunch of interviews & things for the Automatic reissue a couple years ago similarly just with Mills & Stipe, but it definitely seems like theyre doing more promo for this for whatever reason.

I really like the "doddering old married couple" dynamic that the two of them seem to have developed. Theres a really funny unboxing video with the two of them going through the monster set and showing almost none of it to the camera, just leafing through the pages and muttering "oh that looks cool, oh look at that, how neat" to each other.

Yeah, I find myself liking these guys all over again.

Btw- it hit me today that pieces of the vocal melody of "You" are sort of tweaked/recycled from "Fretless" (another great song)

I’ve mentioned this release to a few friends (R.E.M. fans) irl... they haven’t heard/bought it yet, but both mentioned that it’s covered in a recent episode of that Scott Aukerman/Adam Scott podcast. Sounds like those guys like the remix, fwiw.

Haha, that unboxing video is rather amusing.

Elsewhere on the Artist 100, R.E.M. debuts at No. 91, thanks to a 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of the band's classic album Monster. The set, which generated the Alternative Songs No. 1s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Bang and Blame," originally spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 beginning upon its debut on Oct. 15, 1994, and re-enters the latest ranking at No. 115 with 7,000 units earned, up 1,237%. The set also starts at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart.

Monster became R.E.M.'s second of two Billboard 200 No. 1s, following 1991's Out of Time. The group disbanded in 2011.

Interesting that Automatic stalled around #2 (and sold 3,520,000); while Monster hit #1 (but only sold 2,900,000).

Or maybe not that interesting, I dunno. Automatic was probably kept out of the top spot by some huge album.

my guess was it was released in the middle of a Garth Brooks run of chart dominance and i was half right; it was released smack-dab around the moment Billy Ray Cyrus' album Some Gave All ended its 17(!) weeks at #1 and gave way to Brooks' The Chase six-week run at the top.

Ha ha, Garth Brooks was also my stab-in-the-dark guess

Monster hit #1 (but only sold 2,900,000)

It's a mystery to me how thousands of Monster cd's ended up in the $1 bins in the US. Perhaps here in Europe ppl were too ashamed to return their cd, idk? I'm not saying Monster wasn't rejected by some, but nowhere near on the scale like it was in the US. Regardless, this album still steams and rocks. One of those rare albums that will only gain praise and climb higher as time passes.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, November 5, 2019 10:49 PM (one week ago)

I come across "Monster" in a lot of bargain bins here too. I think the bad reviews turned a lot of people against it. I never bought the album at the time but I heard some of it on the radio and I thought it sucked and REM were doing a big dumb rock move. I did like "Tongue" and "Whats the Frequency" at the time though. I love the album now though (after picking up a copy of it up in a bargain bin a few years ago!)

Didn't like it much then (and god knows I tried). Given the tenor of most recent posts here, I was surprised to find how strongly I still dislike it today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbI0ry9bebE

I doubt there's anybody except Geir who doesn't wish Bill Berry was still in the group.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, November 9, 2003 7:24 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Except maybe Bill.
― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Sunday, November 9, 2003 7:28 PM

lol

I sold my vinyl of this because $$$ but I really should get a CD rip, I was TOTALLY into this when it came out and still prefer both this and New Adventures to Automatic

I actually still have my vinyl of this -- it's possibly my fave along with Life's Rich Pageant and the early-ish live albums that include the Jacques Cousteau show song and the duet with Natalie Merchant

^^^ gets it

Photograph? I think my wife had it on the Born to Choose comp

I have a cassette in the attic of some live thing where they called themselves Bingo Handjob and covered Tom's Diner

I recently discovered there’s a super high-quality remaster of Photograph on a Natalie Merchant compilation.

this was a live thing where Natalie was singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and Michael was singing a different cover song as a duet and then he starts singing "I've got the music in me! I've got the music in me!" -- I have confidence that someone reading this knows about this and that it isn't a rare thing at all actually.

The guitar thing where it goes "what's the frequency Kenneth, is your Benzedrine uh uh" WOKKAWOKKAWOKKAWOKKA is one of the best sounds ever

otm

that tremelo effect was hot in the 90s

omg michael's outfit in the video was like the platonic ideal of what to wear in high school for me. a few years after the fact, as almost everything was in utah (96-2000)

that effect blew my mind when i was 11

that solo is also still hot shit imo

years later i finally hear all the 70s power pop / jangle / light psychedelia in r.e.m.'s sound. quite an achievement that they took it to the bank in the 80s and 90s. that sort of thing seemed really out of fashion esp in the 90s? at the time i don't think i really understood what i was hearing, too young.

Which bands in particular are you thinking of?

"Star 69" is a jam!

this was a live thing where Natalie was singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and Michael was singing a different cover song as a duet and then he starts singing "I've got the music in me! I've got the music in me!" -- I have confidence that someone reading this knows about this and that it isn't a rare thing at all actually.

― sarahell, Wednesday, October 20, 2021 9:26 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPvMub2JXI

Wow I had a LOT of REM boot cassettes back in the day and I assumed this was something I had but this one's new to me -- love loopy Stipe (same goes for the Tom's Diner Bingo Handjob tape)

Anyway I'm glad the forces of good have reclaimed this thread and made it into the Monster appreciation thread this record deserves

Star 69 forever

is bashing one's monster a euphemism

Which bands in particular are you thinking of?

― juristic person (morrisp), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 5:15 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

big star, the byrds

wonder if there's a timeline where r.e.m. relaunches the byrds like pearl jam relaunched neil young

i'm just shitposting, anyway monster is a cool album