Whatever Happened to R.E.M.?

[csberry]

One aspect of music (or probably more precisely, "the music industry") that intrigues me is the career paths of artists/bands. There is the ever compelling need by fans for their idols to remain loyal to their sound and yet evolve so they maintain their relevance to the current climate of art and pop culture - BUT, as the artist, how do you deal with that when creating new material? My fascination is primarily focused on the artistic choices made; however, the behinds-the-scenes stuff is somewhat necessary to see the art in the context of its creation. In other words, it's not VH1's "Behind The Music" that interests me, it's how that experience inspires or destroys the artist(s) involved.

NBC replays an old episode of SNL (the complete 90 minutes) after the new one (coverage varies in each market). Recently, an episode from December 1999 was on and R.E.M. was the musical guest. The utter absence nowadays of R.E.M. in musical conversation sparked my curiosity.

Here is a band that became the epitome of the prevailing sound of a whole genre - college rock/alternative rock. They had intellectual and philosophical credibility from their DIY approach, extensive touring, and Stipe's enigmatic lyrics that hinted at brilliance when you could tell what he was saying. This sowing of a cult following is helpful in prolonging a band when the mainstream gets periodically distracted.

I think they broke into the mainstream and were going strong through Automatic for the People. Chided by critics for not "rocking" or whatever got them to shake up their sound with Monster. While I think the music was more like old-R.E.M.(with louder amps and more aggressive licks), the image was really silly. They seemed to be trying to look younger and hipper, but looked very old and sad to me. While I did like the shift in Adventures in Hi-Fi, I rarely listened to the CD while I had it. My interest had expired.

IMO, R.E.M. had already jumped the shark. But, hey, I said the same thing when U2 starting doing disco (Pop) and was rewarded with their music since.

Should they have just called it quits with Bill Barry's retirement?

Since I haven't heard any of R.E.M.'s stuff since Hi-Fi (other than seeing their videos on MTV/VH1), anyone out there believe they have any clarity on this?

Comments

lyrics to one of my favorite songs ever

[dudeitsawesome.livejournal.com]

Some bands I like to name check,
And one of them is REM,
Classic songs with a long history
Southern boys just like you and me.
R - E - M
Flashback to 1983,
Chronic Town was their first EP
Later on came Reckoning
Finster's art, and titles to match:
South Central Rain, Don't Go Back To Rockville,
Harbourcoat, Pretty Persuasion,
You were born to be a camera,
Time After Time was my least favourite song,
Time After Time was my least favourite song.
The singer, he had long hair
And the drummer he knew restrait.
And the bass man he had all the right moves
And the guitar player was no saint.
So lets go way back to the ancient times
When there were no 50 states,

And on a hill there stands Sherman
Sherman and his mates.
And they're marching through Georgia,
we're marching through Georgia,
we're marching through Georgia
G-G-G-G-Georgia
They're marching through Georgia,
we're marching through Georgia,
marching through Georgia
G-G-G-G-Georgia
and there stands REM

[wc-helmets.livejournal.com]

Shortly after 9/11, I saw them perform on The Tonight Show with a new song that I think was on a greatest hits collection. Aside from that, I hadn't thought about them for years either. I first heard them in 5th grade with Green, and Automatic for the People really picked up my interest.

One of the first nights I ever got the alcohol poisoning style drunk was being 16 out on a country road with 4 friends and a bottle of Snapps. I became so sick all I could do was lean my head against my steering wheel, and my friends were too drunk to drive anywhere, so we sat there from about 2:00am to 6:00am listening to Life's Rich Pageant over and over and over again on the tape deck. It's still my favorite album, but I can never listen to it.

[auronsgirl.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite post-Green albums of R.E.M.'s is Up. There's just something about the sounds and the lyrics that really speak to me. It's not a rocking album, it's more in line with Automatic for the People (which is another all time favorite), and I can and have listed to that album for hours on end.

I think my favorite album of all is Fables of the Reconstruction, though.

[peteydaddy.livejournal.com]

R.E.M. did a song with Q-Tip (my favorite hip-hop/rap artist of all time) called "The Outsiders" a couple years ago, and it's a great song.

[mia1983.livejournal.com]

It all went downhill when they switched to IRS



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