REM are @#!!!e

B

Billy Budd

Guest
Why the are so highly rated is beyond me, and there lead singer is a nut, they are about as meaningful as that black slag of Hollyoaks.
 
Re: REM are @#!!! e

YES i think R.E.M are @#!!!e

A poor mans crap american version of the smiths.

Very over rated if they were english they would have been put in the same box as big country and wet,wet,wet ;0P

I hate them and would love to smash that bald @#!!!s head in and I WOULD KILL the ginger prick if i ever got my hands on him.

> Why the are so highly rated is beyond me, and there lead singer
> is a nut, they are about as meaningful as that black slag of
> Hollyoaks.
 
hey!

> Why the are so highly rated is beyond me, and there lead singer
> is a nut, they are about as meaningful as that black slag of
> Hollyoaks.

wait a minute. REM is one of my favorite bands. Micheal Stipe never ceases to be creative and inventive and it is clear that their music has continued to progress. They have also managed to hold it together for a long time and still come out with good stuff. I would suggest possibly listening to the albums though because the singles they put out are usually more appealing to the masses and personally less appealing to me.

I for one am looking forward to the May 15th release of their new album.

Kirstie
 
Re: hey!

> wait a minute. REM is one of my favorite bands. Micheal Stipe
> never ceases to be creative and inventive and it is clear that
> their music has continued to progress. They have also managed to
> hold it together for a long time and still come out with good
> stuff. I would suggest possibly listening to the albums though
> because the singles they put out are usually more appealing to
> the masses and personally less appealing to me.

> I for one am looking forward to the May 15th release of their
> new album.

I don't know how I feel.

I liked this band between Green and Automatic for the People, but their latest comes off sounding like a lazy version of themselves. but again, this could be their Red Hot Chilipeppers moment of "OK, let's make our one radio friendly song, and then we fill the rest of the album with our style of music."

But hey, I'm breaking out the beer hat with the rum and coke! I was not proven wrong!
 
REM Are An American Treasure

OK, maybe not quite.

But to have such contempt for such a talented pop band that actually makes wonderful music...well, it sounds to me like you just don't like Michael Stipe.

What's not to like?

Jangly guitars?
compassionate vocals?
Eclecticness? (if that's even a word?)
Unpretentiousness? (the music, not Michael - we all know he's a Tortured Artist®)

And whomever tries to compare REM to the Smiths is a total moron, because they're NOT America's answer to them (anyway, they were around long before Moz and Marr met up at the Morrissey residence, oh so many years ago).
 
Re: REM are Wonderful!!!

> Why the are so highly rated is beyond me, and there lead singer
> is a nut, they are about as meaningful as that black slag of
> Hollyoaks.

Are you ever *wrong*!!
 
Re: REM are @#!!! e

> Why the are so highly rated is beyond me, and there lead singer
> is a nut, they are about as meaningful as that black slag of
> Hollyoaks.

I wouldn't have put it that way myself. But I have to agree. REM has never touched my soul in any real way. I blame it on Michael Stipe's cockeyed lyrics to begin with, but what I really can't forgive them for is taking one song (and not a very good one at that) and slowing it down, speeding it up, adding guest vocalists, changing lyrics slightly and regurgitating that SAME song repeatedly for the last twelve years. All of their songs sound the same because they aren't SONGS they are all the SAME SONG! New REM album? No such thing. Just the same old @#!!! in new packaging.

Slag me off if you like, it will not change the facts, it will not change my mind. REM sucks.
 
Re: REM Over-rated now, but not then..

I argue with people at work over this.. REM were at their best on 'Green' (Orange Crush is EXCELLENT) and 'Lifes Rich Pageant' (Driver 8, I believe etc).. Then they got popular.. and apart from 'New Adventures in Hifi' ('E-Bow The Letter' is also EXCELLENT).. I think they became too nice.. and radio friendy and stipe became celebrity.. And then I lost interest... and then they wasn't excellent anymore..

..which was a shame..
 
Re: REM Over-rated now, but not then..

> I argue with people at work over this.. REM were at their best
> on 'Green' (Orange Crush is EXCELLENT) and 'Lifes Rich Pageant'
> (Driver 8, I believe etc).. Then they got popular.. and apart
> from 'New Adventures in Hifi' ('E-Bow The Letter' is also
> EXCELLENT).. I think they became too nice.. and radio friendy
> and stipe became celebrity.. And then I lost interest... and
> then they wasn't excellent anymore..

I dont think Up was particularly radio friendly. I just think that when their song to the Man in the Moon soundtrack got some radio play, they figured out, "hey, we can do a radio friendly variation of our old selves and sell some records! Even if it is adult contemporary stations!"

Because I think they tried to do their usual thing of making new types of music, but soon discovered the radio stations didn't exactly want to follow them there.

And so, like the red hot chilipeppers, they wrote those couple of tracks that could fit next to David Gray's latest, and then kept pushing ahead.

I say this without even hearing the new album.
 
Re: REM Over-rated now, but not then..

> I argue with people at work over this.. REM were at their best
> on 'Green' (Orange Crush is EXCELLENT) and 'Lifes Rich Pageant'
> (Driver 8, I believe etc).. Then they got popular.. and apart
> from 'New Adventures in Hifi' ('E-Bow The Letter' is also
> EXCELLENT).. I think they became too nice.. and radio friendy
> and stipe became celebrity.. And then I lost interest... and
> then they wasn't excellent anymore..

> ..which was a shame..

but you know, have you sat down and had a couple good listens to Up? I own all of REM's stuff and I'd say that is their best. (And I am certainly not one to like the "radio friendly" stuff)

Kirstie
 
Re: REM Are An American Treasure

> OK, maybe not quite.

> But to have such contempt for such a talented pop band that
> actually makes wonderful music...well, it sounds to me like you
> just don't like Michael Stipe.

> What's not to like?

> Jangly guitars?
> compassionate vocals?
> Eclecticness? (if that's even a word?)
> Unpretentiousness? (the music, not Michael - we all know he's a
> Tortured Artist®)

> And whomever tries to compare REM to the Smiths is a total
> moron, because they're NOT America's answer to them (anyway,
> they were around long before Moz and Marr met up at the
> Morrissey residence, oh so many years ago).

thank you! I hate that comparison. It makes no sense to me at all.

BTW-is your email address referring to the band Looper (Stuart David's band?)

Kirstie
 
listen to Up

New REM album? No such thing. Just the same old @#!!! in
> new packaging.

Have you listened to Up? Seriously-I'm not trying to argue but have you actually sit down and had a listened to the whole thing vs. the stupid radio singles.

Kirstie
 
Re: REM Over-rated now, but not then..

> I dont think Up was particularly radio friendly. I just think
> that when their song to the Man in the Moon soundtrack got some
> radio play, they figured out, "hey, we can do a radio
> friendly variation of our old selves and sell some records! Even
> if it is adult contemporary stations!"

They have always put out radio friendly singles. Daysleeper was the same. So was Shiny Happy people, Stand, etc. They have a good strategy of appealing to the masses with their singles and then saving the better stuff for the inside.

> Because I think they tried to do their usual thing of making new
> types of music, but soon discovered the radio stations didn't
> exactly want to follow them there.

I think Up is a very good example of new type of music for REM. It wasn't very well received as you might remember because people wanted classic REM and this didn't meet their preconceived expectations (Much in the very same way people look down on Blur's 13 (their best album))

So all in all, just because of "The Great Beyond" I wouldn't slag off REM yet. If all of the new album sounds like radio friendly crap, then you will have a good point. However, seeing as how this radio single thing has always been a consistent tactic of theirs, I'm certainly not going to make judgements this early. Let's wait for another half a month before we decide.

Kirstie

> And so, like the red hot chilipeppers, they wrote those couple
> of tracks that could fit next to David Gray's latest, and then
> kept pushing ahead.

> I say this without even hearing the new album.
 
Re: R.E.M.'s "Kid"

> Have you listened to Up? Seriously-I'm not trying to argue but
> have you actually sit down and had a listened to the whole thing
> vs. the stupid radio singles.

With hindsight, after the release of Radiohead's "Kid A," I've regarded R.E.M.'s "Up" as their attempt to "do a Radiohead" (before Radiohead did it)--only Radiohead did it better and consequently captured all the acclaim and fanfare.

But I give R.E.M. credit for doing it first. Nobody seems to acknowledge this, but after I've brought it to friends' attention, they seem to agree. The two albums are very similar in many ways, although "Kid A" is far superior musically.

By the way, did you know that "Kid A" comes from a serendipitous malfunction of Thom Yorke's sequencer (or some other gadget)? He looked on his screen and it read "Kiddae," which is where he took the title of the album. I thought that was interesting.

Cili.


sizzles_03.jpg
 
Re: REM Are An American Treasure

> BTW-is your email address referring to the band Looper (Stuart
> David's band?)

Yes it is (it's also a play on my last name).
 
Re: listen to Up

> New REM album? No such thing. Just the same old @#!!! in

> Have you listened to Up? Seriously-I'm not trying to argue but
> have you actually sit down and had a listened to the whole thing
> vs. the stupid radio singles.

Some of my favorite REM songs are the singles!

To The One I Love
Texarcana
Near Wild Heaven
Nightswimming
etc.
 
looper

> Yes it is (it's also a play on my last name).

That's great-I was able to see Looper almost two years ago (before Stuart David officially broke from Belle and Sebastian) in Toronto and it was a fabulous show. If you haven't seen them, they are really worth it-they combined alot of different bits of multimedia and the show itself was wonderfully captivating. I'd never seen a band do it so well. I actually wrote to Stuart David too (sent an email) telling him it was a great show and apologizing because he seemed agitated with everyone taking pictures and he wrote me back a short email thanking me and saying he was glad I enjoyed it-really sweet.

Anyhow, I haven't been able to afford any new records lately but I have wanted to check out Geometric-is it good do you know?

Kirstie
 
Re: R.E.M.'s "Kid"

> With hindsight, after the release of Radiohead's "Kid
> A," I've regarded R.E.M.'s "Up" as their attempt
> to "do a Radiohead" (before Radiohead did it)--only
> Radiohead did it better and consequently captured all the
> acclaim and fanfare.

You know, I kind of see your point and as a fan of both I definitely have to think it out thoroughly. My knee jerk reaction is to disagree however. Although Up and Kid A have their similarities, they have a much different sound to me and were marketed alot differently. They are also different thematically. At times, they have the same sort of lonely feel but Up is still much more structured and conventional. I believe it shows progression within the band of REM but I don't think they ever set out to go for what Kid A was aiming at. Kid A is also much more raw. Micheal Stipe and Thom Yorke are two very different people though. The main difference is that Micheal Stipe is actually coherent most of the time. I heard they were dating around the time of Velvet Goldmine though. Always hoped they would put out an album together.

> But I give R.E.M. credit for doing it first. Nobody seems to
> acknowledge this, but after I've brought it to friends'
> attention, they seem to agree. The two albums are very similar
> in many ways, although "Kid A" is far superior
> musically.

what similarities do you see now that I have listed their differences?

> By the way, did you know that "Kid A" comes from a
> serendipitous malfunction of Thom Yorke's sequencer (or some
> other gadget)? He looked on his screen and it read
> "Kiddae," which is where he took the title of the
> album. I thought that was interesting.

That is interesting! Where did you hear that?

I read somewhere-maybe on the radiohead web page that it was based on the name of what he thinks the first human clone will be-that Kid A popped in his head. Who knows!

Kirstie
 
Re: listen to Up

> Some of my favorite REM songs are the singles!

> To The One I Love
> Texarcana
> Near Wild Heaven
> Nightswimming
> etc.

I'm more a fan of Everbody Hurts and Losing My Religion actually. I have to say that I wasn't listening to good radio when the singles you mentioned came out (besides Nightswimming) so my comments on them aren't as relevant. Near Wild Heaven is classic though in my book!

Kirstie
 
Re: listen to Up

> New REM album? No such thing. Just the same old @#!!! in

> Have you listened to Up? Seriously-I'm not trying to argue but
> have you actually sit down and had a listened to the whole thing
> vs. the stupid radio singles.

> Kirstie
R.E.M.'s my favorite band, but I'm not real fond of Up. It's pretty good, but the songs have a tendency to run together...I don't know, I get bored listening to it. It's one of those I have to really be in the mood for. I prefer pre-Green R.E.M.
 
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