is how fucking GOOD they are.

I mean, I guess I've been a fan for what is now going on 20 years but "Shaking Through" just came on kexp and DAMN.

What a band.

they've never really clicked for me.
been trying off and on for about 15 years.

i do love the pavement cover of "camera"

(sorry to muck up your thread so early, but it's not a "hate" post, so i don't feel to bad.)

I love the early stuff (my definition of early stuff is anything pre-"Monster").

"Shaking Through" is a great song. And yeh, REM are undeniably awesome. One of the fortunate bands that just stayed true to their own sound and managed to make a pretty stellar career out of it.

one of a number of bands that i listen to in about 3 year cycles - its about 2 years since my last REM kick.

They're digable.

I miss the aneurysm guy though. He was a good drummer.

i don't own anything from after bill berry's departure from the band. i like them a lot, though.

I'm with you here. To me, their career kinda parallels U2's.

The B-Side of 'Murmur' = my favorite record of all time.

yup...two of my favorites that turned to shit around the same time.

Camera
Perfect Circle
Shaking Through
We Walk
West of the Fields
Pretty Persuasion
Talk About the Passion
Moral Kiosk
Second Guessing
Don't Go Back to Rockville

so many good songs just from those first two albums

One song that literally is funny: "Voice Of Harold"

"7 Chinese Bros" with lyrics changed to the liner notes from a Southern Gospel Quartet album.


Still cracks me up 20 years later.

Hearing them do "King of the Road" drunk is funny too.

their great songs are classics. but they have a ton of filler-esque blah material as well, i thinks!

You've got this almost annoying knack for lasering onto the real point to be made, and making it in one sentence. And you do it 4 posts into a thread.

I know this argument comes up time and time again on countless message board and bar conversations, but the loss of Bill Berry cannot be understated. His propulsion was the counterbalance to Stipe's maudlin tendencies. Buck may be Stipe's Johnny Marr, but Berry was the Byrdsian tractor-driver equivalent of Keith Moon or John Bonham.

I like a lot of the post berry material...except for Around the Sun...one of the worst albums ever made.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi is great though, I think that was berry's last album.

Yes, Reveal is their most unfairly maligned album, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi is their best. Well done, Dave!

i listen to new adventures in hi fi more than any of their albums w/ the exception of murmur. reveal - never heard it. up - sucks.

REM is awesome; I haven't spun any early albums in awhile. I'm going to load them all on right now for tomorrow.

I like a lot of their recent albums, too. But I think they lack Berry. And I'm one of those who think they didn't need to drop the jangle or the southern feel in favor of more urban experimental pop. Also think Stipe moved towards so much first-person material lyrically that the later songs lack the timeless and non-self absorbed quality that pre-Monster songs had. I respect a lot of post-Green work, but don't listen to it anywhere near as much as the pre-Warner albums.

My memories of Monster-and-beyond albums is of the album covers being posted in their office window, above my cafe in athens. I knew what album was out by looking up at the windows.

i want to pick up a copy of Monster, but i can't find it used.

i think it's cool that they had a few huge hits but for the most part acted like a small band (albiet with lots of fans)

I knew youd pop up eventually with Reveal this and Reveal that.