I also got my first R.E.M. album yesterday.

[coloradodem2005]

It was Document. I got it mainly for It's the end of the World as we know it, and The one I love. I listened to the album in its entirety, and I thought it was good. An album that came out in 1987 that sounds like it could have come out in 1997.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

1. Life's rich pagent

I have all of their stuff. That's my favorite. Anything they released in the mid eighties is fantastic and worth the money.

[pasadenaboy]

2. actually,

almost anything they released before "up" is worth getting. Even "up" has a few good songs on it.

[catzies]

5. IMO "Up" is their White album

n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Ah, one of the greatest sell out bands ever

Praise be to REM for truly selling their souls to the corporate behemoth in order to turn a quick dollar. There are many bands who sold out (and far, far, more who never had any integrity to begin with, such as 95% of the top 40 bands for the last 5 decades), but REM sold out so artistically - they had such potential, there were so good, and then, once the almighty dollar was waved in front of their eyes, they gave it all up and gave us "I have my orange crush", and thus a great band went from a collection of artists to a collection of corporatized sycophantic New Kids On the Block wannabes.

Very, very sad. I know others differ with me, but IMO, REM is the greatest sell out band in the history of music, becuase they actually have a lot of talent and were doing exciting things.

Sad.

[coloradodem2005]

4. I have hears some of the later R.E.M. stuff...

...and you can say that they have sold out, but comparing them to New Kids on the Block is downright insulting to them (R.E.M.). Many bands have sold out on some level.


I was pissed at Metallica for the whole Napster fiasco, but I would still never dream of comparing them to New Kids on the Block.

[populistmom]

7. In a way you're right

They're still one of my favorites though, but once they left IRS and Green came out, I wanted to puke (Jesus, I was only 17 at the time and calling them sellouts myself). "Shiny Happy People" and "Stand"? :puke: Those songs about made me lose hope, but I can't say I haven't disliked everything they did in their post-Green (or really post-Document) work. Automatic for the People and Monster I thought we're both pretty good. They're semi-sellouts, but you can't compare them to New Kids on the Block.

[Red_Storm]

12. "Shiny Happy People = Puke"

While that particular song is not among my all time favorites, the album that it's on certainly is.....IMO, Out Of Time is a great album and i'll base my judgement on the artistic merits of the music not on "sell out " factors such as the number of times the video for Shiny Happy People or Losing My Religion was played on MTV.......Same goes for Automatic For The People, another great album IMO.....So some of the groups songs finally got played on mainstream radio stations and a few of their videos were in heavy rotation on MTV for a brief period of time.......So what ?.....They've always followed their own artistic vision and kept their focus on that and not on record sales..... Kurt Cobain once said that besides the music, what he really admired the most about R.E.M. is that they've been able to keep their integrity intact even after all the years that they've been together as a group..........and as it was mentioned in the thread, R.E.M. have spent alot of their time and money thru the years supporting worthy causes, some of which i'm sure, are also supported by many members of DU .......i've been a fan of the group since Lifes Rich Pageant and still am today....these "sell outs" have never let me down .......as a fan I really can't ask for anything more........

[mitchum]

8. As a longtime listener, I actually prefer the later "sell out" material...

to the earlier jangle jangle work. Aesthetics aside, they also put their "sell out $$$$" to very good use.

[BigBen]

13. Agreed

I think "Automatic for the People" is one of the best (and most underrated) albums ever made. I love albums that can sustain a mood without having 12 songs that sound exactly the same.

And I really don't see the greatness in their earlier work. "Murmur" was pretty good, and they released some great songs afterward like "Fall on Me" and "So. Central Rain", but to me they didn't hit their stride as an album band until the 90's (New Adventures in HiFi is woefully underrated, as well).

[mitchum]

15. you have great taste...

and welcome to DU, BigBen

[NashVegas]

14. If R.E.M. Had Sold Out

the 1990s would have been "Out of Time" repeated over and over and over.

[mitchum]

6. I'm listening to their "Wichita Lineman" right now...

(and saw Mr Stipe yesterday)

[Character Assassin]

9. Albums 1-4: utter genius and inspiration. After that, noxious effluvia

I recall an interview from Musician magazine, I believe, from around 1985, saying that when he heard REM, it gave him hope for the future of music and believe in rock & roll, and otherwise basking them in the light of his rarely-earned praise.

After that, they became our version of U2 after the Joshua Tree.

In other words, poo.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Poo...is that a technical term?

:D

[Character Assassin]

11. In the music biz, it's shorthand for "Shut up, we're getting paid. A lot"