Where does R.E.M. rank in the pantheon of musical greats?

Well, they're either arguably the best band of the '80s, or the Billy Joel of indie rock. I can't decide.

 

Well, duh, Peter.

 

Though the lyrics are pretty cryptic I still like Chronic Town. Murmur is the last album of theirs I know.

 

The best band of the 80s and 90s. The best live American band of all time. Their middle five album run (the last 5 with Bill) is among the very best work of any artist any time. In the Top 20 of the most important Rock & Roll acts now and forever.

 

They rank IMO although I'm not sure where.

They are not in my personal top 10, even on a list of 80s and 90s artists but I do think they were important and certainly influential. I would say top tier for their era. Lots of good music came from those guys, especially the original lineup.

So, I definitely give them props and I'm not a superfan.

 

their legacy suffers from having no drama around their personal lives. There is no story with R.E.M - just amazing music, but that doesn't build a legend. For me, they are one of the top 5 bands of all time and probably have the most consistent run of albums overall.

 

Probably in my top ten. Nowhere near Dylan, Beatles.....

 

I give them credit for being hard working and putting in the effort early on that earned them their success, but I also agree that they are a second tier band in terms of music. When I think about all the amazing alternative rock bands of the 80s like The Replacements, Husker Du, The Pixies, Jane's Addiction, and lesser know acts like Camper Van Beethoven, The Meat Puppets, Black Flag, X, etc I don't see REM in the same league. But I think they earned the success they received, and while it may have overvalued their sense of worth and importance, in my book they deserved every minute of it.

 

Pretty high up there. They are easily my favorite band of the 80's and early 90's. I think that they were pretty well flawless, or as close as a rock band can get to that, through Automatic for the People. The only albums of theirs that I don't love the majority of are Monster and Around the Sun and even those have some great moments. I love that they finished up with two great albums in Accelerate and especially Collapse Into Now.

 

I don't know. Judging from interviews, Michael Stipe is a bitter, hateful man.

 

high, very high!

 

Best American band ever, for me. Namely the '81-'96 run.

 

I met them in 94. Stipe seemed shy but not unfriendly. I've never read any interviews, but they seemed very tight (I mean, they were hanging out in Tokyo together), and didn't seem to mind the fact that I was sitting in the middle, with Berry and Stipe on my left and Buck and Mills on my left, for an hour or so. Stipe did eventually slink away and he didn't say anything to me, but he smiled when I expressed shock that the four of them could be hanging out together without anyone bugging them.

 

Original four-man lineup had absolutely remarkable chemistry that quite possibly makes them one of the Top Ten American rock bands of all time...then there's the cultural import re alternative etc...

 

It's cool that we all have different ideas of what makes some music great, and it's also wonderful that we have a forum to express it. For my taste I don't hear REM as having songs as good as The Replacements or Husker Du or musically as innovative as The Pixies or Jane's Addiction, but as I said I don't want to take anything away from the hard work and effort they put into their success. Without question they took it upon themselves to champion other bands when they didn't need to. And I don't want my opinion to be taken as a slam on the band or it's fans. There are several bands I'm willing to slander unfairly but REM is not one of them.

BTW, my favorite REM record was Dead Letter Office, followed by Life's Rich Pageant then Chronic Town. I still have all my original vinyl of the 80s albums, although I traded my extensive bootleg collection for an Art Tatum boxset in the late 90s. I also saw them in concert several times, though not as many times as you. As my music taste changed through life they were a band I stopped enjoying while the other bands I mentioned have stayed strong in my listening rotation.

 

umm American bands start with E Street Band for me. Been around longer than anyone else, still going and simply the greatest live band.

just my opinion which is worth basically nothing but all this talk about best American band and have not seen The E Street Band mentioned which I find just silly.

oh and I love REM. I have no Idea where they rank and it doesn't much matter to me. I am just so glad they made all the music they did.

 

How do you rank bands? R.E.M. are great, one of my favorites. That's how I look at it. Sometimes I want to listen to them, sometimes I want to listen to somebody else.

 

In that time period you cited, the only artist I would place above them is Prince. And if it weren't for The Gold Ezperience, I think I'd go with R.E.M. (There may be one or two other artists I would consider, but they're not coming to mind.)

 

I struggled with whether E Street Band makes the list, but I ultimately consider them Bruce's backing band, similar to the Heartbreakers. It's an academic distinction and Bruce is certainly in the top tier.

 

Since the subject of the E Street Band has been brought up, I should clarify that when I call R.E.M. perhaps the best band of the '80s, I'm not considering artists like Springsteen and Prince. If I did, R.E.M. would be more like top five.

 

In the case of U2, it's more like post nineties' work (post-Pop), so it's 15 to 20 years of brilliant work imo.

 

REM was my favorite band after eagerly buying "Murmur" and the single "Radio Free Europe", way back when.
(They also ignited my passion for Velvet Underground and Big Star, amongst many other bands.)
For several years, in my book, they could do no wrong. I worshipped at their musical shrine and bought every snippet of music they released, imports, bootlegs, magazine appearances, joined the fan club, etc

However, at some point (circa "Monster"?) in my eyes their musical Midas Touch began to develop a dingy patina.
Perhaps my musical tastes changed as much as their style...

Using a rough baseball analogy:

REM had a career akin to Nolan Ryan. He played 27 seasons.
(They lasted 31 years, had some great amazing early records, and stretched out an impressive career.)

The Byrds had a career almost like Sandy Koufax. He played 12 seasons.
(They lasted 10 plus years, but did not leave on a high note.)