R.E.M.

musicismylife78

One of the most influential bands of all time. Wouldnt have been a Nirvana or pearl Jam without Michael Stipe and the guys.

REM are great, but its interesting how calm and peaceful alot of the REM tunes are, and contrast that with the early Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Very different styles of music, but as I said, Kurt and Ed were and in the case of Ed still are huge fans of REM.

What do you think of them. Favorite songs? Favorite Albums?

Ed talked about the band at the Hall of Fame inductions

"such wisdom in the feelings in these songs that, I think, they helped us find things that we knew were inside us, and I think they helped us find things that we didn’t know we had inside us. And I can say, there are things that I hold and feel very deeply about inside here that Michael Stipe put in there himself."

Do you agree with Ed. With a statement like that its clear he doesnt view the music as merely good, or something to tap your toe along to...

They are a band alot like Pearl Jam I think. Both very ethical, very conscious bands, who could give a damn about the mainstream music scene. Both bands have spent their careers railing against certain things that are important to them. Both bands play uncompromising music, its music they feel is good, not what some stuffy record label cd feels is the "flavor of the month" From what I understand, Aerosmith and REM were the only two bands to publicly support Pearl Jam's battle against Ticketmaster.

And the interesting thing is they seem to be having a resurgence, Accelerate, their newest album was one of the most critically acclaimed records of their catalogue, at least in terms of the last 13-14 years.

Sian-of-the-dead

I'm a huge REM fan... but only since early 2008. I knew the singles but that was it until I met my boyfriend who is a huge fan. He showed me that REM aren't necessarily what people think.

Favourite song is 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' and has been since even before I really got into the band. I just love it's energy Favourite album has to be either Up or New Adventures in Hi-Fi, however, I LOVE Accelerate.

I saw them for the first time last year at Twickenham and they were incredible... Other favourite's of mine such as Exhuming McCarthy, Let Me In and Country Feedback were so, sooooooooo good. I recommend anyone to see them.

dasvidana

I think what REM and PJ share is that they were an "alternative," not to overuse the word, to the popular music of their time.

When REM started out in the early 80's, popular music was the tail end of disco, easy listening and corporate rock (Foreigner, Kansas, etc). REM were the opposite of that-very poetic, sometimes quite moody, oblique and open to interpretation, and down to earth.

When PJ started out, popular rock was the hair band metal of the late 80's and early 90's-Motley Crue and Poison come to mind. PJ was clearly not that, and again reverted to songs with more depth and introspection. That's my take on it at least.

tcaporale

Obligatory album rankings!

1. Automatic for the People
2. Murmur
3. Reckoning
4. Lifes Rich Pageant
5. Document
6. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
8. Fables of the Reconstruction
9. Green
10. Out of Time
11. Monster
12. Accelerate
13. Up
14. Reveal
15. Around the Sun

Zoso

Oddfellows, driver 8, strange, begin the begin... aww so many great songs from a great great band.

Brisk.

Have only really got into them the past 2/3 years. Murmur, Green, Automatic for the Peeple are great albums. I was so annoyed i missed them in 07 i thnk where they played perfect circle :(

PJGARDEN

Love REM! Favorite song, probably the Great Beyond. I could listen to that song for hours....

mookeywrench

tcaporale wrote:

Obligatory album rankings!

1. Automatic for the People
2. Murmur
3. Reckoning
4. Lifes Rich Pageant
5. Document
6. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
8. Fables of the Reconstruction
9. Green
10. Out of Time
11. Monster
12. Accelerate
13. Up
14. Reveal
15. Around the Sun

i think the fact that my album rankings would look nothing like this is a sign that these guys are artists and don't limit themselves to appeal towards one specific audience.

dimitrispearljam

..thats me in the corner.....what a great band..

aspoonfulweighsaton

Had I been born 5-10 years earlier, they would probably be my all-time #1. I give PJ the edge only because I have literally been with them every step of the way and I think that goes a long way in trying to "rank" bands if you feel the need to do those types of things.

Having said that my favorite album of theirs is New Adventures in Hi-Fi and I'll make an attempt at my five favorite songs:

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Country Feedback
Find the River
Talk About the Passion
Leave

ledvedderman

It's too hard to rank all of their albums, so I'll do a top 5

Lifes Rich Pageant
New Adventures in HiFi
Automatic For The People
Document
Up

Songs:
Nightswimming
Country Feedback
These Days
Bad Day
Leaving New York

pretext

REM was the first band to really take hold of me, make me want to own every album, be at the record store on release dates despite not being old enough to drive there - I missed school in the AM, and got my now 90-year old grandfather to drive me to the video store that also sold cds to buy Monster as soon as it opened. I used to watch MTV for hours hoping, mostly in vain, they would play the "Drive" video. I skipped a marching band/football game (a HUGE no-no) to see them play the Spectrum on 10/13/95, a Friday night. One evening, after the XPN festival, my now very good friend turned off all the lights so she could play me Time After Time/Red Rain/So. Central Rain. I've never been so transfixed by one listening. Like PJ, they change over time, without compromise. I love REM, even when I don't love the albums. Guess that leads into my ranking:
1. Hi-Fi
2. Life's Rich Pageant
3. Automatic for the People
4. Murmur
5. Out of Time
6. Fables of the Reconstruction
7. Reckoning
8. Green
9. Monster
10. Document
11. Accelerate
12. Dead Letter Office
13. Around the Sun
14. Reveal
15. Up

I couldn't figure where to put Chronic Town, as I think of it as an adjunct to Murmur, though it's tacked on the end of Dead Letter Office.

Songs - I'll pick 15, since that's the length of the list above, in no order:
1. Country Feedback
2. Leave
3. Cuyahoga
4. Talk About the Passion
5. Drive
6. So. Central Rain
7. Turn You Inside-Out
8. Welcome to the Occupation
9. Half a World Away
10. Wolves, Lower
11. World Leader Pretend
12. Find the River
13. Photograph
14. Begin the Begin
15. Driver 8

ledvedderman

pretext wrote:

REM was the first band to really take hold of me, make me want to own every album, be at the record store on release dates despite not being old enough to drive there - I missed school in the AM, and got my now 90-year old grandfather to drive me to the video store that also sold cds to buy Monster as soon as it opened. I used to watch MTV for hours hoping, mostly in vain, they would play the "Drive" video. I skipped a marching band/football game (a HUGE no-no) to see them play the Spectrum on 10/13/95, a Friday night. One evening, after the XPN festival, my now very good friend turned off all the lights so she could play me Time After Time/Red Rain/So. Central Rain. I've never been so transfixed by one listening. Like PJ, they change over time, without compromise. I love REM, even when I don't love the albums. Guess that leads into my ranking:
1. Hi-Fi
2. Life's Rich Pageant
3. Automatic for the People
4. Murmur
5. Out of Time
6. Fables of the Reconstruction
7. Reckoning
8. Green
9. Monster
10. Document
11. Accelerate
12. Dead Letter Office
13. Around the Sun
14. Reveal
15. Up

I couldn't figure where to put Chronic Town, as I think of it as an adjunct to Murmur, though it's tacked on the end of Dead Letter Office.

Songs - I'll pick 15, since that's the length of the list above, in no order:
1. Country Feedback
2. Leave
3. Cuyahoga
4. Talk About the Passion
5. Drive
6. So. Central Rain
7. Turn You Inside-Out
8. Welcome to the Occupation
9. Half a World Away
10. Wolves, Lower
11. World Leader Pretend
12. Find the River
13. Photograph
14. Begin the Begin
15. Driver 8

Up last? Man. I think that is one brilliant album.

pirlo21

I'm loving 'Up' at the moment too! Very different, but the more I listen, the more I enjoy.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi is probably my all time REM number one though. Closely follwed by their first 5 albums!

Awesome band.

The Rock

R.E.M are definitely in my top three bands, I think they're amazing. The strange thing is that there are sooooooo many songs that I just have no idea what they're about. Michael Stipe's lyrics can be so abstract and ambiguous, but also so beautiful and poetic.

I never bought into the whole 'resurgence' talk when Accelerate came out because I happen to love most of Reveal and Around the Sun. But, Accelerate is a fantastic album and goes to show that a short album can be just as powerful as a long, epic one.

Top 5 albums:

New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Accelerate
Around the Sun
Monster
Document

I've seen them live twice; once in 2005 and once in 2008. The more recent show was easily the better of the two, the setlist was amazing and the crowd was amazing too. Blew me away.

tcaporale

I think some of you guys need to relisten to their first three or four albums again, I think they far outshine their '00s input and most of their '90s input.

Stephen Flow

tcaporale wrote:

I think some of you guys need to relisten to their first three or four albums again, I think they far outshine their '00s input and most of their '90s input.

I completely agree.

tvismyfriend

This stuff always seems to pop up when I have no money.

http://store.easystreetonline.com/rel/v ... emsigned01

http://store.easystreetonline.com/rel/v ... emsigned02

Zoso

oh R.E.M.'s 1980's efforts so much better than anything from after 1990 by FAR! Their first 5 albums are flawless. I could listen to Life's Rich Pagent over & over again.

jammerfall

Alas, Automatic for the People, Monster & New Adventures in Hi-Fi are insanely good records, and there are some really great songs to be found on Up, Reveal & Around the Sun; one must just listen....

Lennon_Cobain

My favorite R.E.M. songs are probably "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," "Bang And Blame," "Me In Honey," and "Bad Day."

Lennon_Cobain

I think all of R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. albums (except "Accelerate") are available on DVD-Audio in 5.1 surround sound. "Document" is also available on DVD-Audio. These discs are AMAZING!!! Definitely worth purchasing.

FYI, they are getting harder to find.