R.E.M.

Any fans?

I've been meaning to start picking up their albums again. I loved everything up through Monster, but then sold everything in the Air Force and never checked out anything after. How are the newer albums?

I just heard a song on the latest episode of Hawaii 5.0 and it sounded a lot like the stuff on Automatic for the People, which is an absolute classic, in my opinion. Such a brilliant album.

So it got me interested again. Anyone got any opinions on the stuff after Monster?

I'm a casual fan. Automatic... was a classic, packed full of ideas, and I have Out of Time and the best of. I've been meaning to check out some of their other albums but never got around to it.

Sutekh wrote:

I'm a casual fan. Automatic... was a classic, packed full of ideas, and I have Out of Time and the best of. I've been meaning to check out some of their other albums but never got around to it.

I've just been going through some newer vids on YouTube. Liking what I'm hearing. The trailer for the latest album showcased some great stuff.

I think I'm sold. Haha. But man, that's a lot of albums to re-buy. And now there are deluxe editions and stuff. Sigh...

I like their post Monster material, 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' got scathing reviews but I liked the album's mellower vibe.

I also liked 'Up' and 'Around the Sun' which IMO are great albums

It is funny you mention R.E.M. I have been listening to a few of their albums this past week, among them:

Automatic for the People
Out of Time
Murmur

I've been meaning to re-buy them for so long. Pretty sure we discussed them here before, probably years ago, and I said the same thing then. Not sure why I haven't at least bought one album since then.

Not much of a fan.

Some of the earlier, punkier stuff is OK but once they caught on with the "mainstream", I found Michael Stipe to be just another annoying, angst-filled alterna-whiner.

I like REM havent gotten anything new by them in a long while but i do dig them

I would say check out (2004's) "Around the Sun". If you don't like this offering, then you probably won't like anything post "Monster" (1994). Many R.E.M. fans felt that after Berry left the band that the group was never the same. I hated R.E.M. as a teen and a man in my 20's. It wasn't until I discovered the music beyond the "Hits" when my impression of this band changed. Once I was able to discover more of their back catalog of music, I went on a a R.E.M. buying spree ten years ago. I have all of their C.D's, except their newest effort. I suppose it's easier for me to not judge this band like those who've been there from the beginning. I don't have the emotional investment, so that alone means this fan will allow R.E.M. to venture into questionable territory, though I do understand the sentiments that older fans have regarding the direction they have taken.

Favorites in order post "Monster":

1 Around the Sun (2004)
2 Reveal (2001)
3 Up (1998)
4 Accelerate (2008)
5 New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)

Just go to your local library, as I'm guessing most libraries have a good R.E.M. selection...mine does.

Never cared for these guys except for that 'Leonard Bernstein' song. You know that one I'm talking about.

When I was in college, REM and most of their alternative cohorts were seen as the enemy to us metalheads. Their fans were the artsy, snooty, pretentious a-holes and we were the lunkhead, juvenille, dimwitted bags of douche.

Silly, but I still harbor that resentment.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Never cared for these guys except for that 'Leonard Bernstein' song. You know that one I'm talking about.

When I was in college, REM and most of their alternative cohorts were seen as the enemy to us metalheads. Their fans were the artsy, snooty, pretentious a-holes and we were the lunkhead, juvenille, dimwitted bags of douche.

Silly, but I still harbor that resentment.

I would say those comments are pretty much dead on! Even though I discovered that I really liked this band years later, I would say that I have maybe one friend who is into the band, and that probably has much to do with what you just stated above. The thing I hated about this group from 1988-1994 was all the Stipe glory hounding garbage which went along with being a rock star. I think he's an articulate "ga-hey" man, and because of that I think he felt he needed to do all the silly stuff, like rip off t-shirt after t-shirt with various injustices written on them of which were going on in the world, and other weird things like this, as his other band mates stood to his side at various MTV gatherings . By the way, the reason I emphasized "ga-hey" man in the previous sentence was, I think Stipe felt (at least at this point in his career) that he was "ga-hey" first, and a human being second. In other words, I think Stipe defining himself as "ga-hey" was his sole identity. I tend to befriend or take interest in those who see themselves in more than just one light (and that includes those who are black/white; straight/ga-hey; religious/non-religious; scholarly/less than scholarly; etc...). For instance, I am straight, but I don't bang the drum all day that I'm this proud heterosexual man. There is MUCH more to me beyond that fact....

Eyesore:

Here's my favorite tune off New Adventures in HI-FI, called "Departure". I think this song resembles something that the band would have written in the first few years of the band's existence. I couldn't find anything on Youtube regarding a studio effort, but here is a good live version.



This is my favorite song off the "Up" album, called "At My Most Beautiful". It's polar opposite from "Departure", but it's what makes this band great.



Favorite off the album "Reveal", called "The Lifting".

I like Its The End of the World as We Know It but other than not much else...

Swan Swan H is a really cool tune.

I like them enough to own both of their hits CDs...

You guys really need Automatic for the People. The whole album is awesome. Very dark, too.

This thread got me thinking about the "alternative" music I still really like. I created an "Alternative" folder on my flash drive and dumped a bunch of obscure 70s & 80s stuff in it. For instance:

Shriekback
The Movies
Tuff Darts
The Primitons
Swimming Pool Qs
The Del-Lords
Del Fuegos
Hoodoo Gurus
Rank N File
Guadacanal Diary
Webb Wilder


It's like a stroll down memory lane for me. I became familiar with many of these bands while working night shift and listening to Vanderbilt's college radio station the whole time.

unfortunately the period of time they were huge was also the same time I was a major die-hard thrash and death metal fan from '87 to about 1993. I hated REM back then. They werent metal so I thought they had nothing to offer me. I dont feel the same way now as much, I dont mind some of their music now and then but I still dont own anything by them. I'm not a Michael Stipe fan at all, but the band isnt that bad.

At the time I was into Document, Green, and Out Of Time. Secretly of course. Outside of the songs Radio Free Europe and Fall On Me I could've cared less for the older stuff. As time wore on I became less of a fan of those albums and much more into what came before. I don't think there is an album I used to love that today I can barely listen to than Green. I actually find it annoying.

My favorite these days is the often overlooked Fables Of Reconstruction. I picked up the deluxe edition on the cheap and was shocked how much I liked it (and kept playing it).

One of my biggest purchase disappointments was finally finding a copy of their MTV acoustic performance from the early nineties only to realize I no longer cared much for the setlist. And the performance wasn't anywhere near what I remembered it being.

Quote :

This thread got me thinking about the "alternative" music I still really like

The Connells and Feelies would be two of my all time favorites in the genre. I'll never understand how the Connells didn't sell millions of records.

jstate wrote:

Quote :

This thread got me thinking about the "alternative" music I still really like

The Connells and Feelies would be two of my all time favorites in the genre. I'll never understand how the Connells didn't sell millions of records.

Love the Connells! Especially Ring and Fun & Games. They got a little too weird for me after that.

tohostudios wrote:

Hoodoo Gurus

These guys are legendary in the Australian pub rock scene. I have a double best of, with hits, covers and lots of obscure tracks. It's great!!

My Favorie REM songs:

1.Welcome to the Occupation
2.Odd Fellows Local 151
3.I Remember California
4.Shiny Happy People
5.Stand
6.End of the World
7.I am Superman
8.The One I Love

Eyesore wrote:

You guys really need Automatic for the People. The whole album is awesome. Very dark, too.

+1

I also like New Adventures in HiFi but Automatic for the people is a very good album

Some of my favs

I Remember California (definitly agree on that troublemagnet)
Stand
Orange Crush
Wake Up Bomb
Radio Free Europe
The One I Love
Drive
Man on The Moon
Bang and Blame
Losing my Religeon
Daysleeper
Revolution