so long, R.E.M.

Also, REM never the same after the drummer Bill Berry brain aneurysm in mid-1990's, and his subsequent retirement.

This article is from 5 years back, but it's a nice take on the band and what their music meant to some people. I'm not a huge fan, but it's a good read for those of you wondering what the big deal is.

http://www.slate.com/id/2153184/

stuckwithmatch.com wrote:

One of the qualifiers for the RnR HOF is how many hits you have. Generally the more popular your music is the more hits you will have. The top 40 is a great indicator and one that the selection committee for the HOF look at. I'm not going to go through the entire list but I am guessing that REM is close to the bottom for number of Top 40 hits out all bands/members in the HOF. One of the reasons they got it was because they were so outspoken out their liberal views. That seems to be how many mediocre bands get in these days.

They likely are near the bottom in terms of Top 40 hits. So is Led Zeppelin. Not that I'm comparing the two.

Any support for your ideas about them getting in for outspoken liberal views?

Are you seriously calling R.E.M. mediocre? Do you totally disregard all the feedback of critics and solely base your opinions on the purchasing habits of teenage girls?

Jimi Hendrix only had one top 40 hit. I guess we should reconsider his legacy, too.

Agree. REM was one of my favorite bands in high school. The last time I saw them was in the fall of 95. I wasn't a big fan of Monster and then they came out with New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which I thought sucked. I haven't listened to their new stuff since, but I still listen to old REM all the time and love it.

cuyahoga wrote:

Check out REM's Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, and Document. It's good stuff.

do you feel the same about Queen

It's pretty obvious the HOF has become more about politics and less about music. Just look at who they have inducted. The HOF has become a joke and not a true test of musicianship. Using top 40 hits is actually a real number indicator of how popular you are. Those are facts, your argument is based on opinion. Therefore in their prime bands such as Styx, Foreigner and Journey were more popular than REM. According the RnR HOF these bands are mediocre because none of them have even been nominated. Thus REM is mediocre.

For me, Green and Automatic for the People stand as the two most timeless, classic albums R.E.M. has produced.

A nice but obscure feature of this band was their offering a good bit of material in high definition DVD-Audio format.

I was not a fan of the band's music growing up, but to say they're anything less than one of the five most.important bands of the 80s and 90s is just silly. As.others have said, they nearly single handedly created what we called college music and were the love/hate of every band playing during their time. Stipe et al have more character than Mick and the boys, but if.they.wanted, REM could take 5 years away and come back and.play giant.arena tours like the Stones and Aerosmith.

Rush invented prog rock and they had the best selling summer concert in 2010. Not bad for guys who have been around for 35 years. But they're not in the RnR HOF. Again more proof the RnR Hall of Fame is a joke and the REM is mediocre.

stuckwithmatch.com wrote:

It's pretty obvious the HOF has become more about politics and less about music. Just look at who they have inducted. The HOF has become a joke and not a true test of musicianship. Using top 40 hits is actually a real number indicator of how popular you are. Those are facts, your argument is based on opinion. Therefore in their prime bands such as Styx, Foreigner and Journey were more popular than REM. According the RnR HOF these bands are mediocre because none of them have even been nominated. Thus REM is mediocre.

Again, I disagree that your popularity = quality as a band as a direct correlation. My argument certainly relies on opinion, but it's the arts, that's the way it goes.

Your last two sentences don't follow any particular logic.

And I can spend all day rattling off great bands with few major hits, horrid musicians with many top-40 hits. What is the point? Have you looked at the top-40 on a typical week? Pick random weeks in the 1980's and tell me that the top-10 are great songs.

Here is 25 years ago:

Huey Lewis -Stuck With You

Lionel Richie -Dancing on the Ceiling

Carl Anderson -Friends and Lovers

Berlin -Take My Breath Away

Miami Sound Machine -Words Get in the Way

Run DMC -Walk This Way

Bananarama -Venus

Glass Tiger -Don't Forget Me

Daryl Hall -Dreamtime

Regina Baby -Love

You honestly think this is the way to measure great music?

Generally music is a subjective thing. What appeals to one person is just as likely to not appeal to another.

However, every now and then a band comes along and turns out an album that is simply a sheer masterpiece and sets the standard for what is available with good song writing. R.E.M. did that. Not all their albums, heck no. Collapse, Accelerate, Around The Sun, Reveal, Up - all of those you can take or leave. They're not a patch on R.E.M.'s other work. And it makes you realise what a difference one member of the team makes. (Even, yes even when that member is the drummer).

New Adventures, Monster, OOT, Automatic, Green, and ALL the IRS releases (Document back to Murmur, I'm getting tired of typing). Trainspotters can include Chronic Town if they like. All of these albums are true masterpieces. Works of art.

Country Feedback, Fall on Me, Monty got a raw deal, Let Me In. Let these tracks wash over you. They are fantastic.

Look, you don't have to like R.E.M.'s music. But if you don't like it then it means you are stone deaf (Fact). You could probably be pronounced clinically dead too.

Anyway the band called it a day. So what right? Sure it's sad to us geeko fans, but all the music is still there. And they haven't recaptured the 80's or 90's magic in any of their recent works, so either keep flogging mediocrity, or acknowledge that your best work has been created, and step back, pack up shop and let the music speak for itself.

Those that know, know. So long R.E.M.

Wendell Gee wrote:

Berlin -Take My Breath Away

Miami Sound Machine -Words Get in the Way

Run DMC -Walk This Way

These are both great songs. Not all top-40 hits are crap.

Yes, but calling it quits insinuates they won't do any of that any more, and I'm saying that yes they will, because there will be a time when they want some more money...they just won't create any more new stuff.Regarding calling you out in the future:1) Who ARE you?2) Not unless I know what I'm talking about? Guess I have a ticket to do it at any time then.

tooslow wrote:

And my point is that the new music they've been making in the last 10-15 years has been irrelevant and that they in fact have been touring and essentially "playing their hits to people from my generation who grew up with them in college".

For future reference, don't call me out unless you know what you're talking about.

Flagpole wrote:

What have they been doing 10-15 years? MAKING NEW MUSIC!

Albums:

Up (1998)

Reveal (2001)

Around the Sun (2004)

Accelerate (2008)

Collapse into Now (2011)

My point is that they won't be doing that anymore but will just do tours of their old stuff - they WILL do that at some point; Americans have proven that they will pay to see concerts given by the bands of their youth.

Now, for future reference, don't call me out unless you've got a good point.

Anyone miss me?

1. That's three songs.

2. Two of them are horrible.

3. I never said all top-40 hits are crap. I said not all top-40 songs are good and not all good songs are top-40.

REM changed the surface and depth of American music. There was no term Alternative before they murmured onto the scene.

Van wrote:

REM changed the surface and depth of American music. There was no term Alternative before they murmured onto the scene.

Indeed. Their first four albums are without equal in terms of U.S. music being made then.

Bigots are a sad class of reprobate all unto themselves.

I don't even like rem anymore....seriously, does anyone listen to them?