…I got done with my work here at Black Hole early (I come in on Wednesdays to do my weekend preview for the Free Press) and I still have half a beer so I’m gonna ramble on REM…
First off let me say that, for me, REM really ended when Bill Berry left the drum kit still, that doesn’t lessen the impact. There is something sad about one of the most defining bands of my growing up calling it quits. When I was recently going over my university posters, I found no less than three REM posters (the highest poster to band ratio). So that right there should tell you something.
The funny thing is I remember when I first heard their music. Now as many of you know, there was a time back before the internet when you actually had to seek stuff. That meant reading zines and people sharing cassettes and usually looking in the import section of Sound Warehouse because, somehow, all the indie music ended up there. To my chagrin, REM was a band I’d been hearing about for a while but I’d never heard a note because their albums weren’t stocked down in the suburbs so my first exposure to them was, of all places, Nickelodeon. Yes, Nickelodeon had some show called Livewire and seeing REM on there made a huge impression on me. Thankfully someone uploaded it to Youtube.
A few months later I finally got a copy of Reckoning and after that I was pretty much an REM junkie. As you can imagine, the IRS years are the best likely because that’s what I grew up with. Murmur and Reckoning were records I learned backwards and forwards. I loved the messy charm of Fables of the Reconstruction and Life’s Rich Pageant and the fun feel of Document and (their first album for Warner Brothers) Green.
It all kind of started to go south for me with Out of Time. To begin with, the album contained “Shiny Happy People” which I found to be insufferable and their biggest hit ever, “Losing My Religion” came from that same record and I can’t stand it either – it always struck me as corny and overwrought. [What's funny about my hatred of that song is that "Everybody Hurts," from the next record, is likely just as corny and emo but I love that one. Go figure.] Something about Out of Time really seemed to lose what made the band great up until that point. The previous albums sounded like A BAND but, with that album, the production started to take over – the simplicity of those IRS albums was lost and while I’d seen them live a half dozen times (each time they put on a great show), after Out of Time, I never caught them live again. That’s not to say I totally dropped off; there were a few tracks off of Automatic for the People that I liked and, for all its flaws, Monster did recapture some of the sloppy charm the band used to have but, by and large, I kind of tuned out and Berry’s departure kind of sealed the deal.
A little side note, I actually got to briefly meet Peter Buck in Seattle at Terrastock years ago and, for me it was just this huge deal to shake his hand, exchange a few words, and thank him for being such a huge influence as a guitar player and he had this total “gee thanks” shrug that was very humble and human and that I think that is really the reason the band survived as long as it did – they pretty much never lost sight of just being people.
Anyhow, now with the band’s demise, I’m kind of curious about those post Berry records. I really didn’t give them much of a chance and maybe they are worth listening to. Maybe I’ll use my E-music credits this month to look into those but I doubt they will have the same impact though as being some kid watching them on Nickelodeon.
Thanks guys, for some great music.
‘preciate cha.
Hey Ramon, ever listen to New Adventures in Hi-Fi?
No not really. I posted a track from Monster because that was the last REM album I bought so it kind of bookends when I first heard them. But I’m downloading New Adventures in the background on E-music right now. I hope you meant that as a recommendation.
Yes. It’s tied with Lifes Rich Pageant as my favorite. Totally different from any of their other records. F’in Binky the Doormat dude!
I remember Stacey said something on this site a good long time ago about not liking the Smiths and REM back in the day. Then she said she that now she loves the Smiths and tolerates REM. I pretty much feel the same way except this meaningless break up leans me back towards not liking. I just think their music is pretty blah. Like it can’t get any cooler than the coolest dorm room.
Meh, yeah like anything else you either connected with it or not. I loved Buck’s guitar, Stipe had an great expressive voice, mills did great backing vocals, and Berry was the patron saint of bushy bushy eyebrows. I dunno. I just love the IRS records and Green but if you didn’t that’s cool. Everyone’s got their own thing.
Yeah, I had this little post on FB about this. I was even in a stupid high school cover band that did a couple of REM covers, and I owned Document on tape, but I could never really get into them. Wish I could, because with the outpouring of verbiage about this breakup online, it appears that REM was kind of a big deal to a lot of people my age or a little older/younger. I never liked the jangly guitar sound though. I have to admit, I still sort of like most of Document, and there are enough songs on Automatic for the People that I like that I considered buying that one just to finally give it a listen all the way through, beginning to end. Unfortunately that means listening to “Man on the Moon” which I absolutely hate, but there are other songs on there I really genuinely enjoy, like “Drive” and “Nightswimming”. I remember loving “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” because REM was actually rocking out, and I enjoyed that, but much of that album just seemed so distanced, like a big put-on, that I found it alienating, which was unfortunate. I wanted to hear REM rock out, and then when they FINALLY did, it was pretty unconvincing. I know they CAN do it, they just didn’t that time, or had to go so ironic it wasn’t fun anymore, a lot like what U2 started doing after Rattle & Hum bombed. Anyway, enough on REM for me.
Fables of the Reconstruction was basically the soundtrack of my life in high school and early college. That and Reckoning. I think I liked the sound, they were pretty original – and there were some great songs on those albums. REM can’t be blamed for all the bad habits of the many crappy bands that tried to emulate them, but they did have some weaknesses that are amplified when looking back 20 odd years later. Their records sound sparse and thin, almost barren, and there’s a lack of energy about them. The music seems overly linear, even mechanical. There’s an absence of thump and soul and humor. But somehow despite all that, they still were a pretty damn good band — mostly, though I hate to say it, because of Stipe. Even in their later career they had a few tolerable songs. But I think they were musically an evolutionary dead end, which is one reason why so many people are responding to their splitting up with a shrug.
I remember watching this episode of Livewire. I had bought Murmer that summer and watched intently.
Your description of the first five records is spot on, though I started to lose interest with Green. I also agree with you on the later works.
While influential, in the later years, they struggled to be relevant, especially after Berry retired. To which, the evolutionary dead end comment is also spot on.
I still remember first listening to Cronic town in 1985. Still love that EP, it is everything the next 5 albums became.
While sad to hear the band is not going to record any more, It is more of a realization that I too have become older and need to continue to seek relevance or else I too will be on a dead end.