Not quite my favorite band, not quite really anything. R.E.M is one of those bands that just plays in the background of my life, not really as an active participant but something that is meaningful. My musical history start around 7th grade when I got some music as a birthday present (Quiet Riot and Def Leppard). Thankfully I didn't go down that road of head banging and what not. When I hit 9th grade I would take road trips with the track team and the older kids had certain musical interests. At the time, U2's Joshua Tree had just come out and R.E.M just happened to be a band from Athens, GA where most of the seniors on the track team were going to college. R.E.M at the time represented that "I can't wait to get to college" feel that most seniors have. Plus throw in the Inside/Out movie and R.E.M was one of those "bands"that every high school kid wanted to know about because it was a college "cool" thing. Once I got over calling them rem instead of R...E...M I got to know the band.
Didn't hurt that Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) and Document (1987) came out in my music formative years either. Either way Lifes Rich Pageant has become one of my top 5 albums. Just a simple album that when played takes me back to age 15-16 when the world was new and full of something to find. R.E.M was prolific in their albums and they kept me company through 8 years of school (HS and college) by releasing five albums in that time. Their last great album for me was New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996). Not for sure but at the time I was spending a lot of time in the car due to my work being far away and so I got to listen to a lot of music. This one kept me company and the album cover reminded me of where I lived!
So all in all a great band. Not a "must see" but solid. I did see them a few years ago in a small concert hall in Denver. Great to hear the music, not so good to see Stipe having to suck on oxygen for almost the whole second half of the show. Glad the band could go out on its own terms. I do think that when their drummer, Bill Berry, left; R.E.M lost a step or two. As another famous drummer, Larry Mullen, Jr said it best, "People say, 'Why don't you do interviews? What do you think about this? What do you think about that?' My job in the band is to play drums, to get up on stage and hold the band together. That's what I do. At the end of the day that's all that's important. Everything else is irrelevant." Drummers hold bands together, drummers are the spine of the band...and I think R.E.M lost something back in 1997.
Anyway top favorite albums:
1. Lifes Rich Pageant
2. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
3. Document
4. Green
5. Fables of Reconstruction
Favorite Songs:
1. Cuyahoga
2. Superman
3. So Fast, So Numb
4. E-Bow the Letter
5. Finest Worksong
6. Driver 8
7. The One I Love
8. Half a World Away
9. Let Me In
10. Crush with Eyeliner
11. Sweetness Follows
And finally one of the better websites ever on R.E.M and can be found here....
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