Was R.E.M. the greatest Gen X band?

Absolutely correct....I was born in the late 50s and was crazy about REM in 1982. REM are all late Boomers.
You may call Pre-X’ers if that suits you...we had that quality after all, at least in part.

 

But when did they become known to most mainstream fans? It was the late 80s. Sure some of you boomers loved them on college radio before some of us. But when you define a band by their generation, it is usually when they became more well known and those fans were more Gen X than boomer. If you went to an REM concert in the late 90s, the fans were more Genx than Boomer. If you went to a Def leppard concert in the late 80s or even 90s, it was a lot more boomer than Gen X. Age wise, the two bands werent that different. A lot of my older friends and cousins were into new wave or metal or rock. I dont doubt the early core fans were boomer. But those numbers were small then.

I went to a Pixies concert at Music Midtown in atlantain the 00s. I was one of the older fans there. Saw very very few boomers.

 

I was born ‘67 ... R.E.M. was my high school and college days and overall my favorite band of the 80s

 

I think U2 was the greatest Gen X band.

 

Radiohead.

Although if you mean greatest band to Gen-X'ers, my opinion is suspect -- I'm 65.

 

What's the exact cut off day for being born a Gen-Xer?

 

No.

 

Yes.

 

Perhaps because you are Gen X! Loosely defined, Gen X includes anyone who was in their mid 20's (say 23-26) at some point during the '90s.

 

nope..... next question....

 

"She doesn't need to have her Young Fresh Fellows tape back.."

 

Radiohead.

Also They’re still make great album.

 

Lol, certainly not REM

 

I'm not sure there's an "exact" timeframe. Wiki says that generally speaking, it's people born early-mid 1960's through the early 1980's. I was born in '65, but I don't feel like someone from the Baby Boom generation OR Generation X.

Generation X - Wikipedia

 

REM was a great band for numerous reasons. mainly work ethic. U2 absolutely is a contender. But I offer up Red Hot Chili Peppers maybe even INXS as the best.i'll add New Edition as well.
it all depends on your criteria. if its longevity with little or no quality lost... RHCP is champ all day long in my book, INXS a close second as they tried to keep it alive after Michael's death.even globally auditioned for a new lead to keep it alive. but GEN X is a strange box or genre and it doesn't always necessarily mean "rock" or an entire band.

I would argue that Chris Cornell is the Gen X god. may our good friend rest in peace .kept on working in many "bands". but id add some hip hop artists ,even some house goth into that.

I also mention New Edition as a contender group because of who they were and the solo's and groups that came from them ( Bobby Brown, Bell Biv Devoe, Ralph and Johnny Gil) along with their DIRECT influences on another great- Boyz II Men. Its unfortunate though as the majority of who I would name, death is the reason they didn't continue. Left Eye 's death from TLC ( along with Pebbles 100% ripping them off) put a halt to their dynasty. Doloroes O'riodan death too (Cranberries).Layne Staley( Alice in Chains). I could put a list as long as my arm in that regard... The Smiths-Morrisey's solo career was getting there... shame . good thread to discuss.

 

Yes!

 

The Smashing Pumpkins, for me, are the ultimate Gen X band, but I agree with the member who said putting a generational label on a band doesn’t really mean anything.

 

Yeh I’m not much into generations, and R.E.M. spanned several. Though I was a fairly early fan (1983) my favorite album is New Adventures (1996) ... go figure

 

that's the odd thing about "gen X". its not really clearly defined and the ones who consider themselves gen x 'ers will tell you that they would be listening to GnR, 2 Pac, De La Soul,The Smiths and INXS all within seconds of each other. that's what made the 90's so awesome. I should know im a Gen X'er born in 74

 

Yes

 

Yep, Automatic would have been the perfect last album...I agree with your perspective

 

I think REM is more of a Gen X band than Boomer band but I can agree with those that may not classify it as a the definitive Gen X band because it spoke more to the older GenXers and younger boomers. Olders Gen Xers like me could relate to peak of the new wave, 80s rock, and then college rock of the 80s that went mainstream in the 90s. The younger Gen Xers came of age when REM was already mainstream and you had bands like Weezer be a part of their pop rock experience and then Smashing Pumpkins(which I loved) be part of their growing up memories. I grew up with Talking HEads(a boomer band that we older gen Xers got to enjoy on MTV during their later phase) , Devo, Joan Jett, Petty, Depech Mode, PE, Beastie Boys, LL Run DMC, etc. Nirvana, Pearl Jam were more part of my later college experience. I think rap makes for an easier demarcation between older and younger Gen Xers. I am an older GenXer and was into the bands I mentioned, the younger GenXers werent into Run DMC and were more into Sabotage era Beastie Boys, PE was not a big presence in their set lists, LL Cool J was also on his way to being an actor. They related to NWA via Dre and Snoop's solo stuff. Or via Ice Cube's movies introducing himself to them.

Older GenXers the obvious bridge between the boomers and the younger GenXers. I actually consider my generation lucky that we were able to appreciate a lot of the older music while maintaining that youthful exuberance in having fun with the 90s indie scene and the onset of the internet which led us to explore all the names we heard of in more depth.

 

No way, Yes were way too early to be anything but a boomer band.

 

Regarding the boomer/X issue, I think they acted as a crossover.
My experience (41, born '77) mirrors the one of my friends. "Our" R.E.M. began with Out Of Time. MTV sculpted the singles in our head. Later came Automatic for the People. After that or a little later it was time to move on. I didn't feel any particular curiosity (as with other bands) to dig into their old catalogue, not once. It was the "nineties" R.E.M. that spoke to us.

Of course I'm speaking from an Italian POV. We didn't experience "indie" like Americans did.

 

No.