Could it be that one small voice doesn't count anyway?

There is some sort of symmetry in the fact that I was at band practice when I found out REM had called it quits. Hearing that they had broken up was sort of like hearing about an old friend passing away after a long illness: I had not listened to them much in recent years and knew nothing of their most recent material. My only reference is - like old snapshots - based on when I knew them best: the 1980s.

REM was a great friend to me for a long time but we lost touch. The phone calls became less frequent, REM stopped asking about my job, Bill Berry left in 1997 and I didn't even send a card. I don't mean to be flippant or disrespectful of losing a friend or loved one - I am just pointing out the similarities.

REM was for me the embodiment of college rock - even before I was in college. The local college radio station played them and to me they were the coolest of cool. While I devoted a lot of time and money to other bands in that same period, it was REM that really defined my listening habits from 1985-1989. At one time I can honestly say I knew how to play every REM song from their albums. I probably own my Rickenbacker because of Pete Buck as much as Paul Weller.

They consistently put out relevant records year after year while they were on IRS. Green was really the turning point for me - the first record they put out on Warner Bros. While the material was written in that idyllic IRS period, the band seemed to change with their newfound exposure to the mainstream. The were no longer the critical darlings of college rock and were now making videos and records that appealed to the masses. They had always made videos but they were always of the Howard Finster and Michael Stipe sort of productions - not MTV ready. Now they had budgets and treatments and lights and effects. Same with their shows. It all started to get too much for me and I listened less and less. Automatic for the People was a great EP but the rest of the songs that went on it seemed like filler to me. Call me jaded.

When Bill Berry left in 1997 (thanks Rick), he took not only the backbeat of the group but he took part of their soul too. He was 1/4 of the band and although some people may not know it - Bill did a lot of background vocals. To get a sense of how much a loss he was, listen to Fall On Me closely. The band was never the same after that to me. I would have killed to see them perform at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ten favorite REM songs/recordings (in no particular order):
  1. So. Central Rain
  2. (untitled) from Green
  3. All the Right Friends
  4. Gardening at Night (Chronic Town version)
  5. Bandwagon
  6. Life and How To Live It
  7. Driver 8
  8. I Believe
  9. Talk About the Passion
  10. Time After Time - Red Rain - So. Central Rain
That last one is a recording from the B-side of the Finest Worksong single - it was recorded in Holland in 1987 or so and is spectacular. Michael sings Time After Time  (based on a callout from the audience) a capella and then does a little Peter Gabriel before Pete joins him for a duet on So. Central Rain.

All good things must come to an end.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The threshold of recognition

I play in a cover band . We play live less than 6 times a year. That makes for a lot of fun at gigs because they occur so far apart. For us, one of the pinnacles in performing is that exquisite moment when someone in the audience recognizes what you are playing. Usually this moment is punctuated by a "yeah!" or on occasion "dude! That's [______] (insert artist/song name)." Whenever it happens we all get a little jolt of pride in our playing and a little bit of confirmation that we are playing to "our crowd." I call that moment the threshold of recognition . I also listen to a lot of music - sometimes live music. On quality live recordings I often enjoy hearing that moment on a macro level: the crowdsourcing version. One in particular that I like is from Underworld's Everything, Everything Live album . Underworld is a group that has been around since the 1980s and for the past 16 or 17 has been making excellent music that sits somewhere between ind...
Read more

Classic Rock V. I

I live in suburban NY - which means I have little or no access to radio stations. I get WNYC which gives me NPR and there is a year-old station called The Peak 107.1 which plays 50% good music in my opinion. They play a decent mix of music aimed at my demographic. i will leave it at that. Classic rock drives me crazy in two ways: it is so predictable that you can almost pick the next three songs and it is occasionally so enticing because it can catch you in the perfect mood. Most of the time, the three classic rock stations in my area play the standards: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Who, Allman Brothers you get the idea. The problem is that most of the time they play the exact same songs: "Wish You Were Here," "Another Brick In the Wall," "Rock & Roll," "Stairway to Heaven," "Kashmir," "Jessica," "Melissa" etc. When they throw a random song at you like "Going Mobile" or "That's the Way" i...
Read more

More lists of five

Five Drummers Who Rock 1. Mark Brzezicki (the Cult & Big Country) 2. Phill Rudd (AC/DC) 3. Charlie Watts 4. Reni (The Stone Roses) 5. Rick Buckler (The Jam) Five Songs You Will Never Hear At My House 1. (anything) - by Billy Joel 2. The Chicken Dance 3. Brown-Eyed Girl - Van is the Man but I have to draw the line 4. Celebration - Kool & the Gang 5. American Pie - Don McLean (or anyone else) Five Songs You Might Be Surprised to Hear at My House 1. Groove Is In the Heart - Deelite 2. Gimme Gimme Gimme - ABBA 3. Photograph - Def Leppard 4. Last Train To Trancentral - The KLF 5. Rubber Band Man - the Spinners The Last Five Songs Played At My Last Party (New Year's Eve) 1. Train In Vain - The Clash 2. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC 3. Jane Says - Jane's Addiction 4. Panama - Van Halen 5. Photograph - Def Leppard Long live the list...
Read more