Where do you get off the bus with R.E.M.?

New Adventures in Hi-Fi was their last interesting album for me. Somehow it seemed as if they had already given everything they got.

 

Never got off the bus. I at the very least like everything they did and love a lot of it. Looking forward to the 25th Anniversary release of Monster. Quite possibly my favorite band. Definitely in my top 3.

 

Still on it.

 

Same: Automatic for the People. And I think that one was a step down from Out of Time.

 

The last R.E.M. album I loved (and still love) is Reveal, which is also my favorite.

 

I know it's lame to wish things would never change but I never got over how different Document was to Life's Rich Pageant. It was the end of my fandom as I'd known it.

 

I got on the bus at a relatively late stop. For some reason the early stuff never resonated with me even though, on paper given my general listening habits, I should have lapped it up.

I got off at Reveal (not least because I reviewed it so had to listen to it quite a bit which was a complete chore other than Imitation of Life).

so, a nice not-overly long bus ride though I didn’t get to ride with the cool kids at the back

 

I bailed after Automatic, so for me they went out on a high note.

They had several good songs after that, but I've never been able to sit all the way through any of the post-Automatic albums.

 

I go one earlier though as I am not that crazy about New Adventures in Hi-Fi despite it being a far sight more tolerable than freakin' UP.

 

Out of Time was the last one I purchased on release but, truthfully I'd been going through the motions with REM since Fables. Naively thinking maybe they would go back to
Murmer type stuff instead of evolving.

 

Never got off the bus. Reveal was their last record that sort of grabbed me and stayed in my car/in my CD player for a good period of time after release. However, they were a "buy on the day of release" band for me up until they called it quits.

I've been on a bit of an REM kick since finishing the "Begin the Begin" book a few weeks ago. They are probably my 3rd or 4th all time favorite band.

 

That bus seems like it's from another world. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not so good. Things have changed.

 

Hindu Love Gods

 

Stayed until the end.

 

I think I sorta got off the bus around the time when Bill Berry quit. It just didn't feel the same. I'm just a fan, but the second big enormous Warner Brothers contract felt like a money grab to me.

 

After Monster, I guess . . . but I might not be done yet.

 

It's interesting how people see things differently. Two albums I've liked a lot for decades, but I've seen them as all that different to each other.

 

I was with them all the way to the bitter end, but the last really good album they made was Reveal. I hated Around the Sun so much I wanted them to split up. Accelerate was much better but Collapse Into Now was underwhelming and for me, going out with a whimper instead of a bang.

 

I don't understand the dislike I see quite often for Up. It's sad what happened with Bill Berry and I'm happy he's well all these years later, but I liked Up a lot when it was released and it holds up well now for me. Suspicion is one of favourite REM songs, but there's many of those!

 

Automatic For The People was the last one I bought. I’m gonna give Monster another chance when the anniversary edition comes out.

 

This is where I am, as well.

I have liked individual songs post-New Adventures. But, I was no longer a superfan after 1996.

 

I thought Document was a big step down, and was lukewarm on Green, and stopped buying after that.

 

After Up.

 

Last one I bought was Murmur.

 

In my mind, they are unique; I can't think of any other group from that era that maintained such quality for so long, became a truly huge commercial success, and then pressed forward with different sound after different sound on album after album as a follow up to their commercial peak.

They had the best run of any rock band in the 80's in my opinion and then continued to push boundaries, more than ever before, well into their second decade. I find much to love in all three stages of their time together, and then of course there is the impact they made for so many other formerly 'alternative' bands.

Michael is such a unique lyricist and vocalist, Buck is always so melodic and tasteful and also has a very quirky side that I love, Mike is just the best ever 'backup/harmony' singer in alternative rock as well as arguably the leading bassist of that era and I never tire of Bill's drumming, which was just so different to anything else in the 80's. The fact that the three of them were all such amazing songwriters, and that Michael could then always come up with a perfect vocal melody, led to them having such a strong catalogue with so much depth.

If I could take only one American band's music with me to a desert island, it would be them.