Kuuso on 22/9/2011 at 15:59
Well, I think most of their stuff is filler and once they had a hit or two under their belts, it got boring, since they haven't changed...at all. I like songs from all their records (maybe apart from the newest), but I they can't really put out albums - they're a singles band.
The Mogwai dude is a certified douche, since has said that kind of stuff a lot, but it's just funny if you don't "know any of their songs" and think they do not hold respect in the music world. Just shows that you don't follow stuff that much I guess.
Shayde on 22/9/2011 at 16:30
So this thread followed the route of civilized musical discourse and not the peen thing. Huh. I really have been away for a while.
Hewer on 22/9/2011 at 17:11
I had a ticket to see REM when they were touring for Monster, and my boss at the time went and scheduled me to work. I was putting myself through college at the time, and would have lost my job were I to have skipped out on him, so I sold my ticket to a friend and stood around straightening clothes in the JC Penney men's department instead.
Absolutely the biggest regret of my life.
demagogue on 22/9/2011 at 17:19
I liked REM. They had a good run.
I hope the members continue to make music. Stipe's voice is so signature, I can only hope he'll keep singing, and maybe in a new setting he can reinvent himself a la Sting. (Or was that already covered in the memo?)
Ulukai on 22/9/2011 at 17:42
It's always sad when a band you love, can identify with and have fond memories of good times with breaks up, but for me, they weren't quite one of those bands.
I don't dispute they'd made some great stuff, though - and I'd take R.E.M. over the current phalanx of auto-tuned chart nobbers any day.
SubJeff on 22/9/2011 at 19:41
Meh. In recent years I'd all but forgotten them and as I haven't heard anything new for years I always wondered why they even got in the news. I realise this is partly my fault for not seeking out the new music but yeah whatever.
I did love some of the tracks off Automatic though. It was popular at my school (in our Africa world, cut off from the mass of western music) amongst some of the cooler kids when I was doing A levels and brings back fond memories when I hear it (which is rare).
I'm not enough of a fan to find it sad. I wouldn't mind hearing Stipe's voice in another project though.
Aerothorn on 22/9/2011 at 19:49
Quote Posted by Syndy/3
Much like Oasis REM had one good album in the early nineties and then kept on strumming that same sound for two decades.
I'm honestly not prepared to "defend" R.E.M.'s musical quality, because musical taste is so subjective that such arguments are a waste of time outside of certain uber-educated music critic circles (and sometimes I question that, too).
That said, saying that they had the same sound is ridiculous. Listen to Automatic for the People. Then listen to Monster. How are these the "same sound?" The fact that Monster has such a grossly different sound is, I would argue, the key reason so many fans hated it.
And, of course, this is ignoring their marvelous '80s output (not sure why your timeline starts with Out of Time or Automatic).
But again, subjectively speaking: R.E.M. had ten great albums in a row. I can't say that for any other artist. Their failures in the last decade are almost beside the point when I consider that accomplishment.
Aerothorn on 22/9/2011 at 19:52
And I know some here will scoff at the sentimentality of this, but I'm quite taken with (
http://thankyourem.com/) Thank You R.E.M.
Muzman on 22/9/2011 at 21:21
Yeah, I'm not one to leap to their defense like it matters either. But comparing REM to Oasis? Man that's so wrong.
They're the godfathers of indie rock. Oasis are the rehashers of rock posturing and bullshit, lucky to have Noel pull out something fairly great every now and then to keep it going. It's a terrible comparison.
