Since Micheal Stipe is two years younger than me and everything repeats I have a question:
When will the youngsters rediscover the band?
They were big and important in the '90s. Do they stand the test of time? Do the kids today hear them sing? Maybe they just had the right frequency in the day.
I saw them in a tiny bar and also in a barn in the 80’s. The early part of the “Alternative” music movement was the best ever. Great, great music but almost no fan following.
I have a Michael Stipe story. I was in a record store in Athens, Georgia (the home town of the band; I was hanging out with a friend for a few months who was still at UGA) in 1993, and this friend (actually, still my best friend!) says, “Hey, that’s Michael Stipe.” I did not turn to look at him but still kept going about my shopping fun. That’s my general attitude toward celebs.
I owned one REM album: “Tales of the Reconstruction.” It had the song “Driver 8” on it, which got radio play (I guess it was a hit of some level) and motivated me to buy. I still think that’s a pretty good song, but I got rid of the album long ago. “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” is still a pretty good song to me.
I don’t really think their stuff holds up all that well. I think they face the curse of most bands: a lot of their stuff sounds the same, and the lead singer is good but you only need so much of his voice to feel it’s enough. I don’t think youth are going to rediscover REM. All in all, they are kindof a boring band.
All the songs mentioned here are after they jumped the shark, IMHO. Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life’s Rich Pageant were masterpieces of Americana.
A handful of songs that are remembered as the “songs of the time” (I’m not really into their major hits, but they were big and helped define the music of the age).
A few more songs that deserve attention but will be forgotten.
Lots and lots of songs that will just be forgotten (as they made lots and lots and LOTS of songs…).
Will they appear to the future as a “major band” worth digging into like the Beatles or Stones or P-Funk or whoever? I really doubt that. I actually am not sure how they managed to put out so much material. Perhaps they delivered just enough hits as they went to keep things in motion…
Fables of the Reconstruction.
R.E.M. was always one of my favorite bands. I still remember where I was the first time I heard “Radio Free Europe” when I was 14 in 1983. i grew up in a tiny town in rural Alabama and music was a big part of my identity, especially in high school. I went to a small school (70 people in my high school class) and I was the only person who was into any sort of “alternative” music at the time. Being an R.E.M. fan back them almost felt like being a part of an exclusive club, something other people didn’t know about.
There was also something distinctly “southern” about the band and that also was part of the attraction for a kid from rural Alabama.
I saw them 4 times (1986, 1989, 1995 and 2003.) I didn’t really keep up with them during the later years but they will always be one of my favorite bands and an important part of my life. I was saddened when they announced their retirement because it really felt like the end of something that had given me a lot of enjoyment over the years.
As far as younger generations “re-discovering” the band, I really don’t know. I think several of their songs will continue to be well known. For me, though, to really appreciate the band and what they did and meant is kind of a “you had to be there” type of thing.
This is a good documentary about the history of the band,
I know that feeling. I was into punk and alternative, but some bands had a big impact, and REM wasn’t one of them, although I did by “Fables” when it came out. I do remember first hearing about REM, and they did indeed seem special, whispered about as one of that different kind of band (before we, or at least I and my friends, had the concept of “alternative”–that really didn’t seem a “thing” to me until the early 90s).
R.E.M weren’t actually that much good, but in the wasteland that was popular music in the 80s, if you didn’t want synth-pop or hair-metal, it was them or The Violent Femmes. Basically they died out once music started getting good again and they weren’t needed. And “Everybody Hurts” should be punched in the throat.
Have to agree that in hindsight, there stuff is a bit ordinary overall. Plenty of good songs - their greatest hits album ‘in time’ is really solid, can listen to that no problem - but in relation to their elevated status their music is extremely over-rated. As people have said, the context of the time.
Actually feels a bit heretical to say they weren’t all that, as they were lauded over here as the absolute dons of US alternative rock in the late 80s - not just music journalist nonsense, either, a lot of affection and respect for them in general amongst music fans.
A point of comparison from a similar time would be The Smiths. Quite different music, but in terms of quality The Smiths will last forever and be constantly re-discovered by new generations. Don’t see this happening with REM.
With regard to Everybody Hurts, I used to have a friend who had manic depressive episodes and he told me he can’t listen to that song because it makes him want to kill himself.
Which is kind of ironic given that presumably the whole point of the song was to cheer depressed people up.
I think all the songs were well crafted at least. They were good at the craft of songwriting - songcraft? Good craftsmen. Hmm
I’m rather amazed to see this dismissive attitude at work here, by multiple posters. A lot of REM’s best stuff does indeed seem timeless to me. Not much more for me to say…