~ REM appreciation thread ~

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Comments

  • zircona1
    zircona1 Posts: 293
    R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite.

    They have such an incredible catalog of work - going all the way back to the IRS stuff with Murmur and Chronic Town.

    If you had asked me what my favorite album was by them several years ago, I would've said Monster; however, that's not the case anymore. I still really like the album, but there's not a whole lot of depth to it - just 12 really good songs. Automatic For the People or New Adventures in Hi-Fi might be my favorite.

    I'm also in the minority on Reveal, I think it's 3/4 of a great record. Around the Sun was disappointing, but Accelerate is a solid return to form (I wouldn't put it up there with their best stuff, but it's on the higher end of their output).

    I've seen them 7 times in concert over the years, going back to the Monster '95 tour. They do not disappoint. I'll see them again if them come back around here, but I won't travel outside the state.
    "As long as the music's loud enough, we won't hear the world falling apart."—Jubilee

    "I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions." - George Carlin
  • digster
    digster Posts: 1,293
    My favorite rock band, without a doubt. I'm happy to say that there are probably "better" ones, or ones with more influence, etc. (U2, Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin), but no one for me has made more beautiful music than R.E.M. I can't fathom how a band came up with songs like Losing My Religion, Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Cuyahoga, etc....they sound like they've been there forever.

    Michael Stipe is, in my opinion, rock's best lyricist. He's got such a way with words, and his worldview is completely unique. They've got a lot of staying power; it's hard to be in a band for almost thirty years and make an album as good as Accelerate is.
  • electronblue
    electronblue Posts: 3,502
    Rem!!

    <3<3<3...~
    ********************************
    "Forgive every being,
    the bad feelings 
    it's just me"


  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    a great thread :)


    growing up in la in the 80's i listened to kroq constantly.....back then, radio actually played good music....especially kroq.....so i heard a lot of rem and liked it.....but the first rem album i ever bought was document.....i was hooked from there.....although, imo, they sort of got off track starting with monster (which i liked) but have come back strong with accelerate.....i'll being seeing them for the first time next week!! :D:D
  • electronblue
    electronblue Posts: 3,502
    'some' that i have saved in my favorites...~



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGMXo6_gtRA :)



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59_9xii2nqY&mode=related&search=



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Hs2adFC4Y&mode=related&search=




    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLOHLh-FCkM&mode=related&search=



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PBd844YfA



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXjf7scZtJY&NR=1


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrb6adm20UY&feature=related


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHheIBhceow



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciDcRZovP4&mode=related&search=
    ********************************
    "Forgive every being,
    the bad feelings 
    it's just me"


  • Pearls&Stones
    Pearls&Stones Posts: 585
    I've been a huge R.E.M. fan since I was 14 (1992). Basically I have been a fan of them since I have been listening to music. Somehow, I have never seen them live, but I have tickets to the June 8 Toronto show. This has led me into a bit of an R.E.M. binge (translate---I have essentially listened to nothing else for a few months).

    Basically, I love every album but Up, which has a few songs I like but that is it. I've recently gained a new appreciation for Around the Sun--I think Boy in the Well should be remembered as classic. My favorite R.E.M. songs...

    Electrolite, Begin the Begin, Perfect Circle, Pretty Persuasion, Driver 8, Feeling Gravity's Pull, Maps and Legends, Finest Work Song, Welcome to the Occupation, Fall on Me, Pop Song 89, Losing My Religion, Half a World Away, Drive, Try Not to Breathe, Man on the Moon, Ignoreland, What's the Frequency Kenneth, Bang and Blame, Leave, Low Desert, So Fast So Numb, At My Most Beautiful, The Lifting, Parakeet, All the Way to Reno, Imitation of Life, Leaving New York, Boy in the Well, The Ascent of Man, I Wanted to Be Wrong, and a few from the new album.

    I guess you could call me a fan.
    I love my female wife...
    we sit around and wonder exactly why our marriage should feel threatened by gay marriage
  • Chris1401
    Chris1401 Posts: 354
    Gotta love R.E.M.

    Radio Free Europe is probably my favorite song to roll down the windows and cruise to. Strange Currencies, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, Country Feedback....so many good songs I didn't mention.
  • Zoso
    Zoso Posts: 6,425
    I love this band and are my favourite band or atleast the equal of pearl jam.

    fav album at the moment is accelerate but all time document, green. mumor, life rich pagent, monster and new adventures... I like out of time a lot also.

    fav songs:

    Man-Sized Wreath
    Exhuming McCarthy
    Begin The Begin
    Don't Go Back (To Rockville)
    Driver 8
    Superman
    New Test Leper
    Life and How To Live it
    Pop Song 89
    Boy In The Well
    Time After Time (AnnElise)

    Can't wait to see them in Philly in June :p
    I'm just flying around the other side of the world to say I love you

    Sha la la la i'm in love with a jersey girl

    I love you forever and forever :)

    Adel 03 Melb 1 03 LA 2 06 Santa Barbara 06 Gorge 1 06 Gorge 2 06 Adel 1 06 Adel 2 06 Camden 1 08 Camden 2 08 Washington DC 08 Hartford 08
  • seagoat2
    seagoat2 Posts: 241
    Didn't even read most of the thread, but Michael Stipe (& REM) is one of my favorite human beings on planet Earth. ;-)
  • rockpants
    rockpants BC Posts: 838
    Seeing them with a few friends tomorrow night. I quite like the new record and dig tunes from every album, although I'm sorely lacking in the REM albums department (that I actually own). I have Chronic Town (on tape), Document (vinyl), Monster, Accelerate, and Out of Time. Given REM's catalogue, this is a bit lacking! Hopefully I'll be able to fill it out soon enough.

    Tomorrow will be my 2nd time seeing them. The first time was at Groundwork in Seattle back in '01, so I only got a shortened set, but Ed Vedder came out and sang on "It's the End of the World ... " so that made up for it. The last time REM came here (to Vancouver) was in '03 - I think - and I wasn't able to go because I worked an evening shift. The next night, however, was the radiohead concert at the same venue, and Michael Stipe came out to sing Karma Police, which was an absolute treat to witness.

    Totally stoked for tomorrow.

    (Favourite REM song is "Try Not to Breathe".)
  • restlesssoul
    restlesssoul Posts: 6,952
    totally stoked for tomorrow here too!!! 2nd time seeing them. cant wait.

    also cant wait for the national. thats gonna be great.
    Van '98, Sea I+II '00, Sea '01, Sea II '02, Van '03, Gorge, Van, Cal, Edm '05, Bos I+II, Phi I+II, DC, SF II+III, Port, Gorge I+II '06, DC, NY I+II '08, Sea I+II, Van, Ridge , LA III+IV' 09, Indy '10, Cal, Van '11, Lond, Van, Sea '13, Memphis '14, RRHOF '17, Sea I+II '18, Van I+II, Vegas I+II, Sea I+II '24
  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    I really like R.E.M's 80s stuff and Automatic for the People but I'm not a huge fan of much they've done since, give or take a few songs.

    This is amazing.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnhthxTrlSE

    Favourite songs are probably:

    Nightswimming
    So, Central Rain
    Pretty Persuasion
    The One I Love
    Orange Crush
    Find The River
    Daysleeper
    The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

    Try the new album, it's amazing.

    or is that too mainstream for you, J? :p;)
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    I've narrowed down my favourite songs...

    I'll start with my top 5:

    * What's The Frequency, Kenneth? - My number 1... always has been, always will be. Can't WAIT to see it live! :D
    * So Fast, So Numb - AMAAAAAAZING song.
    * Mr Richards - I heard this and completely fell in love.
    * Lotus - Dave sent me the link for this on youtube. I was singing it for 5 days... it's what drove me to buy Up.
    * Leave - this song just simply blow me away.

    Special mentions should be given to the following:

    At My Most Beautiful, Country Feedback, Crush With Eyeliner, Strange Currencies, Walk Unafraid, So. Central Rain, Final Straw, Bad Day, The one I love, Sing For The Submarine, Electron Blue, Swan Swan H, Diminished, Living Well is The Best Revenge and Begin the Begin.

    :D
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    Woo! someone I work with just walked up to my desk and handed me the REM perfect square DVD!! Said he'd noticed me singing round the office and didn't know I was a fan, asked if I wanted to borrow it! :D

    That was a nice surprise :)
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • ||Release_Me||
    ||Release_Me|| Posts: 1,871
    Sian-of-the-dead wrote:
    Woo! someone I work with just walked up to my desk and handed me the REM perfect square DVD!! Said he'd noticed me singing round the office and didn't know I was a fan, asked if I wanted to borrow it! :D

    That was a nice surprise :)

    that was nice of her. it's a great dvd, easily one of my fave music dvds to watch. that performance of daysleeper is beautiful.
    "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them."

  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    ||Release_Me|| wrote:
    that was nice of her. it's a great dvd, easily one of my fave music dvds to watch. that performance of daysleeper is beautiful.

    Yeah, I don't normally talk to the guy but he's obviously heard my reditions of What's the Frequency, ...(insert name here)...? directed at people I work with :o
    I didn't realise he was a fan either!

    I know what i'm watching tonight with a bottle of wine ;)
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • Zoso
    Zoso Posts: 6,425
    Sian-of-the-dead wrote:
    I've narrowed down my favourite songs...

    I'll start with my top 5:

    * What's The Frequency, Kenneth? - My number 1... always has been, always will be. Can't WAIT to see it live! :D
    * So Fast, So Numb - AMAAAAAAZING song.
    * Mr Richards - I heard this and completely fell in love.
    * Lotus - Dave sent me the link for this on youtube. I was singing it for 5 days... it's what drove me to buy Up.
    * Leave - this song just simply blow me away.

    Special mentions should be given to the following:

    At My Most Beautiful, Country Feedback, Crush With Eyeliner, Strange Currencies, Walk Unafraid, So. Central Rain, Final Straw, Bad Day, The one I love, Sing For The Submarine, Electron Blue, Swan Swan H, Diminished, Living Well is The Best Revenge and Begin the Begin.

    :D

    I can't say I'm a fan of the lotus... one of a few songs that I don't like by R.E.M.
    I'm just flying around the other side of the world to say I love you

    Sha la la la i'm in love with a jersey girl

    I love you forever and forever :)

    Adel 03 Melb 1 03 LA 2 06 Santa Barbara 06 Gorge 1 06 Gorge 2 06 Adel 1 06 Adel 2 06 Camden 1 08 Camden 2 08 Washington DC 08 Hartford 08
  • ||Release_Me||
    ||Release_Me|| Posts: 1,871
    Sian-of-the-dead wrote:
    Yeah, I don't normally talk to the guy but he's obviously heard my reditions of What's the Frequency, ...(insert name here)...? directed at people I work with :o
    I didn't realise he was a fan either!

    I know what i'm watching tonight with a bottle of wine ;)

    i'm sure you'll enjoy it. i love that a lot of the concert takes place while the sun is still out. creates a really relaxed atmosphere.

    ahhh, the good old days when dave and i would be in bed watching this dvd :p (our own separate beds of course....well, me in bed and dave in a sleeping bag on the floor)
    "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them."

  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    ||Release_Me|| wrote:
    our own separate beds of course....well, me in bed and dave in a sleeping bag on the floor

    Yeah i'm sure! ;)
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • ||Release_Me||
    ||Release_Me|| Posts: 1,871
    Sian-of-the-dead wrote:
    Yeah i'm sure! ;)

    i don't like what i'm being excused of!
    anyways i'm letting myself get distracted! back to my corner to revise!
    "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them."

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