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R.E.M. APPRECIATION

FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
edited August 2006 in Strut Central
Easily the best rock band of my generation (i'm 34). These records sound especially nice in the summertime. UNFUKWIDABLE string of perfect records.getting a little spotty... Out of Time YES!then...
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  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    don't forget chronic town

    (edit: nevermind the image didn't load at first)

    i wish "pretty persuasion" and catapult" were in karaoke songbooks
  • soulmarcosasoulmarcosa 4,296 Posts
    I grew up with these dudes and even saw them shortly before FABLES came out. Good live band and I like RECKONING quite a bit. But honestly, an REM Appreciation Thread is about as useful as Corn Flakes Appreciation Thread. They're both good, but we all know what they're about. And when it comes right down to it, what they're about isn't all that interesting.
  • DJ_NevilleCDJ_NevilleC 1,922 Posts
    As someone who lived in Athens from 1980-85 I have to say hell yeah! I saw them about 25-30 times and eventhough they weren't "on" every time when they did hit it they were amazing. I used to see Pete Buck at shows 3-4 nights a week drinking long neck Buds at the bar. I saw him get up and play with at least 10 different bands.
    After REM blew up they stuck around Athens (Buck moved to Seattle a few years ago) and supported the scence by buying and starting cafes, booking local bands to tour with them, being a silent partner in a friend of mine's hardware store, letting friends use their practice space when they were on tour, inviting me (who they knew peripherally) on their tour bus one night where we drank all their Bass and smoked out in the Mayflower Hotel, etc. etc.
    They were pretty consistent up until Bill Berry left.
    Thanks!
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I celebrate almost their entire catalog.
  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,632 Posts
    I used to beat people up that listened to REM.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts

    then...

    I dunno, I really liked New Adventures in Hi-Fi at the time, and I just recenetly realized how great Up was.
  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    i love murmur
    it was the soundtrack to my last year at uni
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts

    then...

    I dunno, I really liked New Adventures in Hi-Fi at the time, and I just recenetly realized how great Up was.

    I must concur. UP is underrated. Hi-Fi is a good album because it's r.e.m. UP is good because it's not.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    I liked them up until around Document, and saw them on the
    Murmur, Reckoning, Fables & Life's Rich tours - was really into
    them for the Murmur-Fables stretch, but was already getting
    wary of them after that, and can't bear to listen to much of
    anything they recorded since. "Reckoning" is their G.O.A.T.
    as far as I'm concerned. Incredible album from start to finish.

    As much as I liked them back then, I can't stand them now. Part
    of it may just be my personal problem with bands staying together
    too long, and part of it may be the way their sound changed over
    time, especially Stipe's vocal style.
  • slotbeggazzslotbeggazz 288 Posts
    everything up to GREEN is awesome, everything after that i couldnt care less for...
  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    haha, r.e.m. kinda sucks though.
  • LamontLamont 1,089 Posts
    I used to beat people up that listened to REM.

  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
    I used to beat people up that listened to REM.

    I'm sorry you had such an insecure and emotionally unstable adolescence. Since you said "used to", I'm glad to hear that therapy has worked for you. Keep up the good work.
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    R.E.M.???
  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
    R.E.M.???

    No, the Byrds. WTF?

  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    I saw Michael Stipe walking down the street in NYC a couple years ago - he was talking into a headset & wearing a skirt.

    what happened to that guy?

    I guess he was happy to finally be out of the closet or something.

  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts

    then...

    I dunno, I really liked New Adventures in Hi-Fi at the time, and I just recenetly realized how great Up was.

    I must concur. UP is underrated. Hi-Fi is a good album because it's r.e.m. UP is good because it's not.

    I had HI fi and sold it. There were a few good songs. I might revist.

    I was not feeling Up, with Buck's Brian Wilson steez and the wierd Leonard Cohen mash up thing.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I got into REM for the beyond-Becky girls at my high school who were already in to them. Ultimately it helped transition me from the jock-get-drunk-jock-get-in-fight set to the drop-acid-and-laugh-all-night-with-a-small-circle-of-friends set. Life's Rich Pageant especially holds a special place in my heart.
  • JLRJLR 3,835 Posts
    "Everybody hurts" will forever be a sad bastard hymn. I love it. It works either if your dog just died or you overcooked your pasta. You hear the first secs of that guitar and you know that life will be good after all.
  • JLRJLR 3,835 Posts
    When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
    When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
    Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

    Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
    When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
    If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
    When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on

    'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
    Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand
    If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone

    If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
    When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on

    Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
    Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
    And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
    Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
    Everybody hurts. You are not alone

  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    I hate R.E.M. and I'm kinda surprised that anybody likes them, as far as rock 'n roll I always thought they were a little week. All those Atlanta bands are a little too nancy for my tastes.


  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
    I hate R.E.M. and I'm kinda surprised that anybody likes them, as far as rock 'n roll I always thought they were a little week. All those Atlanta bands are a little too nancy for my tastes.



    Atlanta?
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    There is absolutely nothing weak about the Chronic Town EP.
  • JLRJLR 3,835 Posts
    I hate R.E.M. and I'm kinda surprised that anybody likes them, as far as rock 'n roll I always thought they were a little week. All those Atlanta bands are a little too nancy for my tastes.



    Atlanta?

    They are from Greece. Sabadababababada knows nothing.
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    my first exposure to REM was in High School and getting a ride home with a buddy's sister and her friends and "Superman" being blasted and them singing along...my Slayer-loving ass HATED it. But, a couple years down the line and my interest in hardcore, which led to my love of Husker Du, then the discovery of the Byrds, led to me checking out the rest of "Life's Rich Pageant" and really liking it and the band...but my interest wained with "Green", the hick left Stipe's voice and they got a little self-important a la U2...but still a great band that folks will still be talking about and listening to 25 years from now.
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    I prefer my rock and roll drunk, sloppy and well under three minutes.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    a lot of people are talking about hating the later stuff in here. that is like hating the beach boys because of 'kokomo'. the early rem stuff sounds wayyyyy different and by early i mean chronic town, murmur, and reckoning. up to '84, they sounded great. mills' bass is used as an instrument of melody instead of rhythm. wolves lower and a lot of their early songs is basically the same dancey drum beat as a lot of disco-y post-punk of the early 80s. it's not anywhere near 'losing my religion', you can actually move to it and people did.

    stop disrespectfillating if you don't know the true

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    I prefer my rock and roll drunk, sloppy and well under three minutes.

    Actually, so do I , and up til "Life's Rich Pagaent" REM fit this bill, albeit if you threw in the adjectives "jangly" and "arty". Live they were pretty sloppy until that "Life's Rich Pageant" tour, where they seemed to transform into a 'proffesional' band and Stipe started getting waaaaay too affected and stiff for my tastes. But I think 'Reckoning' is a great LP and will always keep it nearby.

    Much like Bowie and Pink Floyd, tmost he REM catalog is one that I overdid at the time and never need to hear again.
  • JLRJLR 3,835 Posts
    and how could I forget "At your most beautiful"? It was always a winner in my "Music that gets you laid" comps of the 90's:

    At My Most Beautiful

    I've found a way to make you smile
    I've found a way
    A way to make you smile

    I read bad poetry
    Into your machine.
    I save your messages
    Just to hear your voice.
    You always listen carefully
    To awkward rhymes.
    You always say your name,
    Like I wouldn't know it's you,
    At your most beautiful.

    I've found a way to make you smile
    I've found a way
    A way to make you smile

    At my most beautiful
    I count your eyelashes, secretly.
    With every one, whisper I love you.
    I let you sleep.
    I know you're closed eye watching me,
    Listening.
    I though I saw a smile.

    I've found a way to make you smile
    I've found a way
    A way to make you smile
  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    a lot of people are talking about hating the later stuff in here. that is like hating the beach boys because of 'kokomo'. the early rem stuff sounds wayyyyy different and by early i mean chronic town, murmur, and reckoning. up to '84, they sounded great. mills' bass is used as an instrument of melody instead of rhythm. wolves lower and a lot of their early songs is basically the same dancey drum beat as a lot of disco-y post-punk of the early 80s. it's not anywhere near 'losing my religion', you can actually move to it and people did.

    stop disrespectfillating if you don't know the true





    Yeah, Kokomo, theres a song! Best track off the whole cocktails soundtrack. Where the hell is kokomo anyway? Anyway, that shit is the move. My friends dad used to bang this and Highway to the danger zone in his 1980's lotus when he had his midlife crisis.
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