REM - Monster 25th anniversary

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

Is there a more universally loved band than REM? I'm a very casual fan at the most but there's very little to dislike.

Band doesn't have a whole lot of haters i don't think.

my mother was an IRS-era R.E.M. fan and hates everything from Document on, I'd call her a hater. But she's a moron so

[Joey Goldberg]

Originally Posted by ninsp

Out of Time is a miserable album I think. Radio Song is absolute bottom tier REM

on the other hand it also has s-tier classics like Country Feedback, Texarkana & LMR

possibly their most divisive/uneven though, which is even more bizarre when you consider they kept some of their all-time greatest songs off the thing in lieue of stuff like "Low" & "Endgame"

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by ninsp

my mother was an IRS-era R.E.M. fan and hates everything from Document on, I'd call her a hater. But she's a moron so

well but then still she is, or used to be a fan of the early work and is only a hater now because she held the albums before a certain point in such high regard. I'm a Smashing Pumpkins "hater" that same way yet here I am

[smashingjj]

but that's besides the point, I just claim without any evidence whatsoever that I believe that rem might be the world's most beloved- or better, least hated band

[Raskolnikov]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

but that's besides the point, I just claim without any evidence whatsoever that I believe that rem might be the world's most beloved- or better, least hated band

Interesting thought for sure - those guys were HUGE and widely loved - and yet get very little chatter nowadays.

Unrelated, but also related - great Eddie speech here:

https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/rem

[Joey Goldberg]

it is pretty weird, is there anyone else who's been so blatantly snubbed by the HoF? i mean Liam Gallagher is literally saying "Fuck the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" and Oasis are already in the running

what happened behind the SCENES

[Joey Goldberg]

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov

Interesting thought for sure - those guys were HUGE and widely loved - and yet get very little chatter nowadays.

Unrelated, but also related - great Eddie speech here:

https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/rem

that performance was pretty sweet as well

last known "show" w/ Bill Berry as far as I know

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

it is pretty weird, is there anyone else who's been so blatantly snubbed by the HoF?

[Joey Goldberg]

[Andy /]

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

but it definitely ain't the utter "shite train" people (including members of the band!) made it out to be

it absolutely is. it is the sound of a band that has completely lost its way.

[mpp]

yeah have to concur

it's real bad

[mpp]

FWIW, new adventures in hi-fi is one of the best albums to drive to at night

it's the sound of the tour bus; magical experience -- 14 tracks, 14 bangers and the last 3 arguably the best

[Joey Goldberg]

So Fast So Numb is a live banger, to be sure, but how could anyone put Low Desert above something like Leave - you out yo mind?

[Baffler_Meal]

Automatic for the People was my first, and I think only, DVD-Audio purchase. It sounded fucking amazing in 5.1 - or at least that is what I remember.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi was in regular rotation. Leave just blew me away.

[Joey Goldberg]

night jams of Hi-Fi with a couple spicy Baffler Meals with the Small Soldiers toy?

forget about it

simply one of the highest heights a young man can hope to ascend to

[Baffler_Meal]

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

night jams of Hi-Fi with a couple spicy Baffler Meals with the Small Soldiers toy?

forget about it

simply one of the highest heights a young man can hope to ascend to

God bless you, Joey Goldberg.

[Raskolnikov]

"Oh My Heart" showing up in that episode of The Bear was radical.

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by Baffler_Meal

Automatic for the People was my first, and I think only, DVD-Audio purchase. It sounded fucking amazing in 5.1 - or at least that is what I remember.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi was in regular rotation. Leave just blew me away.

New Adventures is pretty much perfect.

[Joey Goldberg]

thank god this is a New Adventures "safe space"

last REM community I was in there were legit people acting like it was bottom 3

i just about went completely BONKERS

but that time is over

i can once again be among like-minded people, and jam "Undertow" at max volume

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

thank god this is a New Adventures "safe space"

last REM community I was in there were legit people acting like it was bottom 3

i just about went completely BONKERS

but that time is over

i can once again be among like-minded people, and jam "Undertow" at max volume

Wow that’s a spicy horrible take by anyone, HiFi is usually regarded as a best…it’s easily a top 5 road trip album ever for me

[VoxUpDoc]

Never listened to New Adventures in Hi Fi. Let me do that whilst renewing my car insurance. Which is like going on a road trip.

[Joey Goldberg]

anyone seeing 'em on their reunion tour this year?

[Raskolnikov]

Great watch here - there's also a 41 minute version, but I haven't checked it out yet and therefore can't stake my reputation to it, but this 9 minute job is amazing.

Bill is so damn touching - if I didn't already think that dude was about as cool as it gets, then, well... yeah.



Also - what a weird lookin' group of dudes.

[Joey Goldberg]

[LoveIsSuicide42]

Such an amazing band and one of the very first I ever got super into, right around the same time I was first getting into the Pumpkins. I always thought that if you melded the two somehow, you'd get my dream band. The Pumpkins strike deeper emotional chords and do more for me musically, but REM has this sweet humility to them that Billy can't even begin to touch. But I digress.

Always thought of REM as having three eras (indie, mainstream, and everything after Bill Berry left). The first two are amazing and it's hard for me to pick which I like more. The third is respectable and certainly better than what most other major bands pull off at that stage.

I never got to see them live, and if I could go back in time to see any band, it would be them, probably sometime in the mid-90s.

Murmur, Reckoning, Document, Automatic, and New Adventures are the ones I listen to the most. Everything else is at least okay, and at least good but I don't revisit them much. Accelerate is a damn good record and I remember being so enthused by it when it came out. Was such a nice change of pace late in their career. The last one is good, too.

I never really clicked with Monster all that much, even though on paper it should be exactly the type of album I like. Not sure why that is.

If I have a real criticism of REM, it's that they have some moments that feel a bit cringe/cheesy on most albums. But I also think their willingness to be kind of silly was a really key trait to them as a whole, so I wouldn't really change anything about them, even if I usually skip songs like Stand or Shiny Happy People.

[Raskolnikov]

Originally Posted by LoveIsSuicide42

Always thought of REM as having three eras (indie, mainstream, and everything after Bill Berry left). The first two are amazing and it's hard for me to pick which I like more. The third is respectable and certainly better than what most other major bands pull off at that stage.

Interesting take here - I always just chop it down the middle into IRS and Warner - but still, you're right - there really are three eras there that could be more clearly keyed into.

I saw them on the Up tour (got free tickets from the water park that I worked at) and was sold. From there, I sought out my buddy from church who was way into them and started borrowing CDs - then because they were all like $5 each used at the time and there were bins full of them, I just started buying them up as fast as I could find them.

I wonder what the most universally disliked REM album is? Surely it's a toss-up between Around the Sun, Reveal and Up? That said, I'm a big Up fan.

Of the IRS years, my least favorite by a chunk would need to be Reconstruction.

[Joey Goldberg]

Fables is actually kinda my favorite from that period these days

& I really like Reveal, some of the songs are absolutely better live ("I've Been High" being the biggest offender) but there are a handful of SCCs on that thing

Up is beautiful

Around the Sun is kind of their indisputable worst moment - and I say that as someone who actually kind of half-defended it earlier in this thread. it's not outright bad but I can't imagine ranking anything lower than this, aside from I guess your stray Monster hater or whatev

second least favorite REM for me might honestly be Out of Time
even though it has like 3 of my all-time favs, it also just plays like an outtakes record - and in that regard, it's no Pisces Iscariot

[Joey Goldberg]

incidentally two of the actual outtakes from that record trump most of what's actually on there, too

[Rocket Launcher]

Undertow is such a badass song!! Damn, gets under your skin...Love the harmonics/guitar fx there too

[Rocket Launcher]

we're breathing ourselves...