Did anybody see this? Even if you take away the blue stripe he had painted across his eyes, the guy looks awful. He look incredibly unhealthy. Yeah, makes me wanna go vegan. That guy needs a steak and a baked potato in the worst way.
Ditto. They are a worn out shell of what they once used to be. They need to disband, pronto. The act is very very tired. Bill Berry is the Bill Wyman of his generation. He quit at precisely the right time.
Carson Daly sucks. Kilborn had the Price is Right wheel on his show last night. It was possibly the best Kilborn ever. I hate to say it, but he's getting better.
They are a disgrace to the name, now. I hate to say, but Michael Stipe looks either anoxeric or stricken with AIDS. He looks dreadfully skinny. I don't think a strict vegan diet will do that to you.
I didn't hear an announcement, but he looks too skinny to just simply chalk it up to eating bean sprouts and drinking soy milk too often.
i saw it last night. and i didnt have my contacts in so i got to get a closer look to see if i was seeing things right. anyways the guy looked really bad. very pale, gaunt, bald, splotches on his face. im thinking he has some kind of illness... maybe he just got over the flu or something
That's an old rumor that was dismissed a few years ago. Not that it still couldn't turn out to be true, of course. As for REM not having been great for 20 years, I'd say that's a pretty harsh cutoff. You're saying they only made one great album -- Murmur in 1983? I'd say they haven't been "great" for 10 years -- since Automatic for the People came out. Berry did get out just in time, but why should they disband? I don't know if you've ever sat down and actually listened to the last couple REM albums, but I think they each have 2-4 songs that stack up against anything they've ever done. Of course, the rest of the songs kinda suck. I mean, should the Stones disband? I personally wouldn't ever by a Stones album after say, 1981, but some people still think they put on a great show when they play their hits. I just saw REM on this "greatest hits" tour, and they were pretty damn good. Not the same without Bill Berry (he was awesome live), but I'd rather pay to see them than a lot of the bands out there.
No edit function ... One of the problems with REM the past few years is that their singles have all sucked (Imitation of Life, The Great Beyond, Bad Day basically rehashing End of The World As We Know It) which naturally leads people to assume all their current stuff sucks. But if you sit down and listen to the last few albums -- especially "Up" -- you'll find some pretty interesting tracks.
OK, 20 years may have been a bit rough. How about 17? The last REM album I really liked was Document. That one and every one before it.
Yeah, I figured you were exaggerating. I'll give you 17. I just happen to think that Green and Automatic are pretty damn good records, too. (Out of Time, which came after Document and between Green/Automatic, has major flaws.) But I agree the last REM album with strong track after strong track was Document ("Stand" prevents me from saying that Green was the last one.) So, you can go with 17, but I'm going to go with 10.
Come on! Stand was an awesome song! Besides, it was the theme song for one of the most underrated sitcoms of all time.
Actually, Bad Day is from 1986. It is actually older than ITEOTWAWKI, IIRCC. I watched Carson last night and they said that putting that song out was inspired by U2's the Sweetest Thing. A song that was not released, then rerecorded and updated for their best of album.
I agree with wrath_of_khan - the ratio of good stuff to filler in their recent albums is a lot lower than it used to be. But there are still a few great tracks on each one. If anyone had the patience to pick up a copy of "Reveal" and give them one more try, the first song on it, "The Lifting", is absolutely beautiful. One of my all-time favorites. On the rest of the album, though, you have "Imitation of Life" (mediocre through most of the song, but actually comes on strong at the end... at least that's how I feel listening to it), and "All the Way to Reno", which is almost bearable. The rest of the album just makes me feel like never listening to it again. It just drags. "Up" is the same way - were there really any singles from that? Oh yeah, "Daysleeper". Which is a nice slow song, but I think they should have released "Lotus" as a single first. A couple of other interesting ones on that album, then some you're supposed to like but I can't stand (e.g. "At My Most Beautiful"). And then there was the one I call "New Adventures in Drink Coasters", which is where the serious decline in quality started. (I liked "Monster" - go ahead and flame me. ) Funny - I was just listening to "Automatic for the People" this morning and thinking about how I've kept this album in my regular listening rotation for the past 11 years, and it only gets better. I prefer the early-90's stuff from REM (with the exception of certain parts of "Out of Time") to the mid-80's stuff. The late 80's stuff is OK (never even bought a copy of "Green", though - I hate "Stand" - silly little pop song - and if that's any indication of the rest of it...). Before that, their musical quality wasn't as good. Most bands seem to be a little better once they've had a few years to practice their singing and instruments, and to branch out artistically. The mystery is why, since they're still capable of great things, they don't do too many of them. I used to joke that Stipe was too happy with his boyfriend and had gotten complacent... never thought about the health issue, though. Hope it's not what people are speculating, though it's possible.
I knew that. My point was that, if you're only listening to REM singles the past few years and not picking up the albums, you're missing out on some good stuff. In other words, you might hear "Bad Day" and say, "Man, REM has sucked the past 20 years -- now they're just rehashing their old stuff" and then not buy any new albums. And then you'd miss out on some good stuff. Personally, I think it's kind of lame to release one of your old tunes (even if you're updating it) instead of showing you're able to come up with fresh original ones. (I thought the same thing about "Sweetest Thing.") Oski, I've pretty much written off Monster (although I love "Kenneth" and "Crush," but I'll give it another listen since I generally like your taste in music and your nickname is that of my alma mater's mascot. Isabel, "Stand" is not indicative of the rest of Green. Green is the perfect transitional album between the loud stuff in the 80s ("Orange Crush") and the melodic stuff of the 90s ("World Leader Pretend," "You Are the Everything") Run, don't walk, to your nearest record store and buy Green. All that said, I still think the 80s stuff is classic. Hell, it's what I grew up on -- I was in a garage band that covered probably 20 REM songs.
