R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Great band. I have never bought an album, but the elevator stuff is magnificent.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Michael always seemed like such a decent guy in interviews. I really respect the hell out of him.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
hokahey wrote:WTF is going on in this thread? Michael Stipe is a genius. REM is amazing. I thought anyone with half way decent taste at least respected REM. Most overrated band ever is Radiohead. I saw them open for REM and was bored half to tears until REM came on.
I agree. Except for Radiohead. I like Radiohead.
They sort of lost me around Out of time. But the lastest release Collapse into now was solid and I liked the single Mine Smell Like Honey, which was like early REM.
To be honest, I never got into the Beatles either and they are sometimes just white noise to me.
- Pandemonium
- Posts: 5725
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:18 pm
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Never a big fan of R.E.M., never saw them live or really had a desire to. Still, they put out some good albums and singles and I own Murmur, Out of Time, Automatic for the People and Monster. For me, the biggest hurdle enjoying much of their music was Stipe's vocals - his voice totally put me off most of the time. A similar complaint I used to hear when I'd hear a Jane's tune with someone who wasn't a fan.
I'd take Radiohead over R.E.M if someone gave me a choice.
I'd take Radiohead over R.E.M if someone gave me a choice.
- Pandemonium
- Posts: 5725
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:18 pm
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
It took me a long time to get into The Beatles in any sort of serious way (but I always loved Lennon's solo stuff). I was instantly a Rolling Stones fan from day one, but I initially hated a lot of the more "pop" lightweight stuff from The Beatles mostly around the Sgt Peppers/Yellow Submarine era.Romeo wrote:To be honest, I never got into the Beatles either and they are sometimes just white noise to me.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
The first time I ever saw REM they were the opening band to the opening band for the Police at Shea Stadium. NO ONE knew who they were and Radio Free Europe was the single out at the time & only played on WLIR. I knew who they were since I owned Murmur & was excited to see them. So that had to be around the summer of 83?
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
my first concert was REM and billy idol in '89
/cool story bro
/cool story bro
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
wally wrote:my first concert was REM and billy idol in '89
/cool story bro
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
How long have you been waiting to use that pic?kv wrote:wally wrote:
/cool story bro
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
kv wrote:wally wrote:my first concert was REM and billy idol in '89
/cool story bro
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
I had a friend in high school who was obsessed with this band and slowly got me into them. This film, "Road Movie", made me a fan.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
One with Patti Smith
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
OK last one I swear
- cursed male
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:34 am
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
A great track from Green (1988).
- cursed male
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:34 am
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Exclusive: Mike Mills on Why R.E.M. Are Calling It Quits
26 September 2011, Rolling Stone
"There is a great deal of sadness, but it's really celebratory," R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills says, describing his conflicting emotions the day after he, guitarist Peter Buck and singer Michael Stipe announced they were disbanding after 31 years together. "There is sadness because I will never play on the same stage as Peter and Michael again." Yet, Mills insists, "We're doing this for good reasons, and we end up looking back at all the fun, the joy and the incredible opportunities we had."
So why is America's biggest alternative-rock band breaking up now? "It's not because we have to or we can't stand each other or we suck," Mills contends. "We're happy. But we're done."
Mills, Buck and Stipe issued the news of their split without warning on September 21st, in a statement posted on R.E.M.'s website. "A wise man once said, 'The skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave,' " Stipe wrote. "We built something extraordinary together. . . . Now we're going to walk away from it."
"It was very unexpected," says Rob Cavallo, the chairman of Warner Bros. Records, the band's label. He found out "the same morning that the press release went on their website," in a phone call from R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs. "I can't believe they're breaking up, but I understand," Cavallo says. "They're too pure, too respectful of their own thing."
R.E.M. actually made their decision a few months ago, before they met in Athens, Georgia, this summer to record three new songs for a two-CD greatest-hits package, R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982- 2011, out November 15th. The band delayed the announcement because "a lot of people are affected by this decision in a serious way," Mills says, referring to R.E.M.'s staff and crew. "We wanted everything set up the way it should be.
"And we were excited to find three really good songs to put out as a farewell," he adds. Two of the new tracks, "Hallelujah" and "A Month of Saturdays," came from demos for R.E.M.'s last studio album, Collapse Into Now, released in March. The third song, a Sixties-flavored treat with sunshine-pop brass, is called, aptly, "We All Go Back to Where We Belong." It comes out as a single October 18th.
Mills can't remember when he, Buck and Stipe began seriously talking about the end of the band. "But it was discussed on the 2008 tour," he says, and during the sessions for Collapse Into Now. The group was coming to the end of its Warner Bros. deal and chose not to tour behind that record. There are "indications" on the album, Mills notes, citing Stipe's "lyrical content" in "All the Best." "There are some straightforward see-you-laters on that one.
"It might have been talked about in more general terms before that," Mills suggests. "We'd say things like, 'We have X number of records in the contract. By the time we finish, we'll be X number of years old. Do we still want to be out there flogging it?' " Ironically, R.E.M.'s disappointing 2004 album, Around the Sun, made Mills, Stipe and Buck determined to stick around long enough to redeem themselves.
"We needed to prove, not only to our fans and critics but to ourselves, that we could still make great records," Mills says, "and we made two" – Accelerate, released in 2008, and Collapse Into Now. "We thought, 'We've done it. Now let's do something no other band has done: Shake hands and walk away as friends.' "
R.E.M. formed in Athens in 1980 with drummer Bill Berry and issued their debut single, "Radio Free Europe," in July 1981. Through heavy touring, growing airplay and a stunning creative evolution – from the jangling enigma of 1983's Murmur to the complex and commercial dynamics of 1987's Document and 1991's Out of Time – R.E.M. became American rock's biggest grass-roots-success story. The day after R.E.M. broke up, Cavallo was on the phone with Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong: "Billie said R.E.M. were the first underground band he saw that conquered the mainstream. He was 13 years old, and it changed his perception of what rock could be."
Berry quit in 1997, after suffering a brain aneurysm on tour two years earlier. The others continued while doing side projects, which they will now pursue full-time. Stipe is a film producer and active in visual arts. Buck has a long discography as a sideman for cult heroes such as Robyn Hitchcock and the Decemberists. R.E.M.'s 15 studio albums have sold more than 85 million copies worldwide, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. But Mills says R.E.M.'s greatest accomplishment was that "we conducted ourselves with as much integrity as possible. We showed people you can conduct your operation on your own terms and be successful.
"In fact," he adds, "you'll have a much better time and sleep better at night."
This story is from the October 13, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs ... s-20110926
26 September 2011, Rolling Stone
"There is a great deal of sadness, but it's really celebratory," R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills says, describing his conflicting emotions the day after he, guitarist Peter Buck and singer Michael Stipe announced they were disbanding after 31 years together. "There is sadness because I will never play on the same stage as Peter and Michael again." Yet, Mills insists, "We're doing this for good reasons, and we end up looking back at all the fun, the joy and the incredible opportunities we had."
So why is America's biggest alternative-rock band breaking up now? "It's not because we have to or we can't stand each other or we suck," Mills contends. "We're happy. But we're done."
Mills, Buck and Stipe issued the news of their split without warning on September 21st, in a statement posted on R.E.M.'s website. "A wise man once said, 'The skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave,' " Stipe wrote. "We built something extraordinary together. . . . Now we're going to walk away from it."
"It was very unexpected," says Rob Cavallo, the chairman of Warner Bros. Records, the band's label. He found out "the same morning that the press release went on their website," in a phone call from R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs. "I can't believe they're breaking up, but I understand," Cavallo says. "They're too pure, too respectful of their own thing."
R.E.M. actually made their decision a few months ago, before they met in Athens, Georgia, this summer to record three new songs for a two-CD greatest-hits package, R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982- 2011, out November 15th. The band delayed the announcement because "a lot of people are affected by this decision in a serious way," Mills says, referring to R.E.M.'s staff and crew. "We wanted everything set up the way it should be.
"And we were excited to find three really good songs to put out as a farewell," he adds. Two of the new tracks, "Hallelujah" and "A Month of Saturdays," came from demos for R.E.M.'s last studio album, Collapse Into Now, released in March. The third song, a Sixties-flavored treat with sunshine-pop brass, is called, aptly, "We All Go Back to Where We Belong." It comes out as a single October 18th.
Mills can't remember when he, Buck and Stipe began seriously talking about the end of the band. "But it was discussed on the 2008 tour," he says, and during the sessions for Collapse Into Now. The group was coming to the end of its Warner Bros. deal and chose not to tour behind that record. There are "indications" on the album, Mills notes, citing Stipe's "lyrical content" in "All the Best." "There are some straightforward see-you-laters on that one.
"It might have been talked about in more general terms before that," Mills suggests. "We'd say things like, 'We have X number of records in the contract. By the time we finish, we'll be X number of years old. Do we still want to be out there flogging it?' " Ironically, R.E.M.'s disappointing 2004 album, Around the Sun, made Mills, Stipe and Buck determined to stick around long enough to redeem themselves.
"We needed to prove, not only to our fans and critics but to ourselves, that we could still make great records," Mills says, "and we made two" – Accelerate, released in 2008, and Collapse Into Now. "We thought, 'We've done it. Now let's do something no other band has done: Shake hands and walk away as friends.' "
R.E.M. formed in Athens in 1980 with drummer Bill Berry and issued their debut single, "Radio Free Europe," in July 1981. Through heavy touring, growing airplay and a stunning creative evolution – from the jangling enigma of 1983's Murmur to the complex and commercial dynamics of 1987's Document and 1991's Out of Time – R.E.M. became American rock's biggest grass-roots-success story. The day after R.E.M. broke up, Cavallo was on the phone with Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong: "Billie said R.E.M. were the first underground band he saw that conquered the mainstream. He was 13 years old, and it changed his perception of what rock could be."
Berry quit in 1997, after suffering a brain aneurysm on tour two years earlier. The others continued while doing side projects, which they will now pursue full-time. Stipe is a film producer and active in visual arts. Buck has a long discography as a sideman for cult heroes such as Robyn Hitchcock and the Decemberists. R.E.M.'s 15 studio albums have sold more than 85 million copies worldwide, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. But Mills says R.E.M.'s greatest accomplishment was that "we conducted ourselves with as much integrity as possible. We showed people you can conduct your operation on your own terms and be successful.
"In fact," he adds, "you'll have a much better time and sleep better at night."
This story is from the October 13, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs ... s-20110926
- nausearockpig
- Posts: 3911
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:03 pm
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
hmmm.. a couple of things about that live clip of What's The Frequency Kenneth:guysmiley wrote:
1) Michael Stipe's voice struck me for the first time as so very "American-sounding". Like he is the epitome of a USA-ian.. odd..
2) He looks cool with those sunnies on. Then he takes them off and he looks like a corpse.. A corpse wearing eyeliner. cool.
3) MS is wearing a skirt thingy over his jeans.. cool..
4) MS just stands there and stares at the guitar player while he plays the lead... Then goes back to singing. It kinda looked like he was just standing there thinking "oh go on the, play your little guitar solo - you can have this moment. you've finished? good, back to the singing. The important stuff..." gold
that is a cool song...
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Anyone who doesn't hear the beauty in this MASTERPIECE needs some serious psychotherapy.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
from 1999. I'd like to see anything since then that Jane's as done that even whimpers to this artistically.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
Yeah, "Lotus" is great. I enjoy of lot of post-Bill Berry R.E.M. To me, the third act of their career is very underrated.
"Electron Blue" is a fantastic song.
"Electron Blue" is a fantastic song.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
No.creep wrote:monster was easily their best album.
Re: R.E.M. (1980 - 2011)
This song is a frontrunner in my list of "most underrated R.E.M. songs of all time"guysmiley wrote:from 1999. I'd like to see anything since then that Jane's as done that even whimpers to this artistically.
I remember seeing the video for this at like 2 a.m. in late-1998, and it creeped me out big time. Blame insomnia or the fact that I originally thought Stipe had on a shirt drenched in blood.
One of my favourite songs of theirs post-New Adventures in Hi-Fi