With future lucrative reunion tours now very much an option, yesterday saw everyone making the pun of ‘it’s the end of REM as we know it’, as Michael Stipe & Co decided to call it a day. Most of you had kinda forgotten all about them hadn’t you?
Well, after 31 years of making music, the band have amicably called it a day.
In that time, REM have had some monstrous hits and cult classics. Everybody Hurts and Shiny Happy People are probably the big two you’ll remember most, but there’s more to this group than these two singles. And so, we plot their history in 15 songs.
Over the years, REM released 15 studio albums, and what better way of charting their rise and fall? by taking a track from each cut and prattling on about it?
In a statement, REM have said of the split:
“We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.
“To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.”
Stipe wrote:
“A wise man once said – ‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’
“We have to thank all the people who helped us be REM for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It’s been amazing.”
It hasn’t always been amazing for the listener mind you, but that said, REM do have one of the strongest backcats in rock and forged the sound of American college rock and swept up all their favourite influences of post-punk, country-rock and Byrdsian jingle-jangles and made a career that somehow sold a million records yet, never became too overblown and pompous like their contemporaries U2.
So let us take a track from each LP and look back at REM. See in you in a few years for that all big cash generating reunion tour.
Murmur (1983)
Let’s begin at the beginning (or begin the begin, if you will – a joke for REM fans there) with Radio Free Europe shall we? REM kicked things off in an America beset by stadium rock and bad Reagan Approved pop. REM, runts of the litter, encompassed the Paisley Underground and drew huge compliments from Britain, despite not having toured in Blighty. Rolling Stone magazine gave it their best of ’83, beating Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’.
Reckoning (1984)
Led by live fave Pretty Persuasion, REM ostensibly made the same LP again, pushing college rock out and cementing fans of cult indie rock. REM’s popularity grew… slowly, but definitely.
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Working with legendary producer Joe Boyd (who gave us Nick Drake et al), REM continued to try and work out what they were and continued to grow in popularity. It was around this time that career-makers MTV started to pay proper attention, with video Cant Get There From Here (intentionally misspelled) make a dent on the airwaves.
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
The LP title, taken from a line uttered by Inspector Clouseau, ‘…Pageant’ saw REM winning friends beyond their college radio buddies, scoring their highest chart to date.
Document (1987)
Scott Litt manned the desk for Document, a move that would start the beginning of a very successful period for REM. The LP cemented That REM Sound with tracks like the wonderful The One I Love, not to mention It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.
Green (1988)
Critics fave and first outing on a major, Green saw REM turning into veritable celebrities. It would be tracks like Orange Crush that would see the group winning fans in Europe on a huge scale. Unlikely superstars were being born.
Out of Time (1991)
And so, REM went from huge cult band to just plain huge. Shiny Happy People and Losing My Religion saw the group go into the stratosphere, winning Grammy Awards and scoring number ones left, right and centre. Near Wild Heaven showed the band’s love of The Stones at their most countrified.
Automatic for the People (1992)
The most successful REM recording. No question. Everybody Hurts, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight and Man On The Moon and live fave Nightswimming saw the band turning into bona-fide superstars. The video for Everybody Hurts is still, to date, one of the most memorable in pop history. Unfathomably, it managed to beat the Beastie Boy’s ‘Sabotage’ promo at the MTV VMAs.
Monster (1994)
What’s The Frequency Kenneth? is the obvious hit from this album (Crush With Eyeliner being a close-second) which was pretty well received, but in hindsight, a rather lazy LP which saw REM beefing up the sound with distortion pedals, seen in the UK with bands like Oasis. Selling very well, this saw REM slowly backing away as innovators.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Electrolite and E Bow The Letter (featuring with Patti Smith) saw REM recording while on the road. An enticing prospect for a band that was rather keen on pondering a little too hard. ‘…Hi-Fi’ saw REM being a little more immediate. This left some chiding the flat sound captured by recording in empty halls, while some thrilled at the layer it added. We still can’t decide.
Up (1998)
The first LP without Bill Berry, REM ditched Scott Litt after 10 years of making music with him and promptly went about making an album that polarised musos. Daysleeper featured, which has the melancholic lilt and acoustic feel that suggested a yearning to go back to an Automatic For The People sound. However, the LP broke with many REM traditions, incorporating electronics and such, which switched some listeners off completely.
Reveal (2001)
Released to positive reviews, Reveal won back some listeners after their foray into synthetic sounds. However, it’s obvious that boredom was setting into the records. Listen to All The Way To Reno and you can almost touch the complacency.
Around the Sun (2004)
Around The Sun saw the band completely at a loss. One track even featured a lethargic rap from Q Tip. Guitarist Peter Buck said he hated it, adding that the record “… just wasn’t really listenable, because it sounds like what it is, a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can’t stand it anymore.”
Accelerate (2008)
And so, bored and listless, REM went about making an album, quickly. With a feeling of do-or-die, REM sounded more aggressive. Still by no means a classic, the new material was harking back to a time when REM felt pretty vital or fun to have around.
Collapse into Now (2011)
With no intention of touring and perhaps knowing that things were about to come to an end, oddly, REM went back to doing what they always did best – jangly guitars, daft Stipe lyrics, mandolins and big choruses with Mike Mills on the backing vox. Acknowledging their past with a warmth that had eluded them, REM slipped on some comfortable shoes and remembered how fun the jingle and the jangle was.
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adey70 says
This is ace. Thanks. Good choices – don’t agree with all, but that’s the joy of this band. Swan Swan H just made me cry. Not for the first time.
Great band – one of the few to have made eight (count ’em) great albums in succession. Post-Automatic For The People they weren’t quite the same. What’s The Frequency Kenneth was a smash, but the rest of Monster largely sucked, New Adventures In Hi-Fi was a curate’s egg, and then, post-Bill Berry, they were phoning it in.
First band I loved.