What do you guys think of R.E.M?

Precisely, Pearl Jam have been doing the same thing since Avacado too.

 

every single album and every single note.

i once owned them all, now i have the greatest hits and 'automatic" and i never listen to either one.

just a case of one man's trash is another man's treasure.

no one likes everyone.

 

I like them and own their entire discography, but I have never been fully dragged into them nor really fell in love. Every now and them I listen to any of their albums and enjoy almost all of them, but I always end up feeling somehow guilty and ashamed of not liking them more.

 

Great band! In 1981, "Radio Free Europe" dragged rock out of the doldrums. Reckoning, AFTP, and Monster are my favs.

 

The time of peak REM was after Reckoning. They were very melodic with nice lead lines and strong moods, when it was all new wave, punk, hardcore etc. They had a very important musical function then in the landscape, to bring back some melody to underground rock. And they had a lot of mystique. They were the first name in a list that kept getting used as shorthand for what was happening in rock: The Replacemnts, Husker Du, Dinosaur. They stood alongside those artists and were great, then. When they became a pop group it evaporated just like that for me. I never heard any tunes that drew me back in.

 

I liked them a lot at the beginning, started to lose interest with Document, haven’t bought anything since Green. Haven’t listened to them in 20 years.

 

Thanks -- did not know that. RECKONING does contain one of the best sounding drum kits I've ever heard on record.

I was crushed when FABLES came out and had a pinched, narrow sound to it. Really wish that one had been recorded like RECKONING.

 

Also Stipe’s vocals got noticeably rougher on the albums after Bill left which also eats onto my enjoyment of them.

 

Was a huge fan through "Document." Along with The Smiths and Dire Straits, they were my favorite band in the 80's. Since then, not so much...

 

It blows my mind when I hear early fans say they were turned off by Document. It's such a natural progression from Life's Rich Pageant, you'd think they came out with a techno album or something. The song quality is there 100%, I agree with Peter Buck that Side A is their best album side full-stop.

 

Side two gets the two best songs though, and the two worst.

Fireplace and Lightning Hopkins

King of Birds and Oddfellows Local 151 are easily some of best REM songs ever, for me, no question. The album is spotty for me, it's good but I thought Green ended up being much better is terms of consistency.

 

Great band.

 

In answer to the original question...I can't stand them! OK I'm outta here

 

Duh, they were awesome of course. So melodic, and always with a natural, earthy sound and a sense of humor.

Basically everything they released from 1981 to 1996 was great (i.e., with Bill Berry).

Everything after that was okay, but not very good. The chemistry that made them perfect was certainly ended with Berry's exit. All recordings after that sound overly-calculated and over-produced.

Their career closely parallels hockey star, Mark Messier's.

 

I think I can count the number of times I've played side two of Document in the last 20 years on one hand. Pretty burned out on "The One I Love" and the rest are totally forgettable to me. Especially a bummer coming after Pageant, IMO the strongest front-to-back record they ever made.

 

Very burned out with that track, and I only discovered it on an album within the last two years - it goes nowhere.

Still okay for the last two though, however... would probably be the single reason I'd add to my REM vinyl set honestly.

 

that is a really good point. it's like you are 'supposed' to like them because they are R.E.M. and they are cool, elvis costello fits that criteria too.

 

I have always been a fan of R.E.M. since college in the mid-80's, stronger at some times than others. Have only seen them once in concert, late '80's, but that was fantastic. The post-Berry stuff doesn't do much for me. My favorites will always be Chronic through Life's Rich Pageant, but I do love New Adventures in Hi-Fi in a much different way

 

Love.

 

Ha, I listened to it 3 times in a row on the drive in to work today. Whatever Peter Buck is doing during the "Simple prop" line is magic, pure and simple.

 

I really do enjoy the backing track - that makes the FIREEEEEEE a lot more tolerable for me, Mills is such a good vocalist in his own right.

 

I disagree. Only one song off of the last two albums sounds like they consciously referenced something from the past. That song was 'Blue' and it was the closer off of what they knew was going to be their last album. Other than that, it just sounds like R.E.M. being R.E.M..

 

Yes I have found it strange that people under 30 like a lot of 70's bands but when it comes to a certain era of the 80's: REM, 10,000 Maniacs, The Cure, The Smiths etc they either
A: Don't like them.
B: Are kind of indifferent
or C: Have no idea they even exist.

 

Feels to me like the first few songs on Accelerate were consciously modeled off the Life's Rich Pageant era. "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" may not be a "These Days" rewrite, but it's close.

"Imitation Of Life" was the first sign that they were willing to look backward for inspiration. Didn't Peter Buck object to its inclusion on Reveal (after realizing it used the same chord sequence as "Driver 8") but more or less bowed to label pressure?