I was fortunate enough to get all the studio albums for 2 of the most influential 80's bands of all-time in R.E.M. and U2 (well I don't have U2's latest that came out this year). Both bands were able to adapt to the changing trends in music throughout the years which helped sustain their longevity. At first, I thought about asking who you thought was the greater band or more important but let's go with who did you like more? For me, it is almost a toss-up but I will go with U2 by a hair.
I voted for U2, but honestly I don't really know enough REM songs to say whether or not I would like them.
Definitely REM. I never did get into U2 and always thought Bono was a tool, even when I was a little kid.
Bono is a great man, done a lot of amazing philantropic and humanitarian work. I just dont like U2. They obviously have a few good tracks, but biggest band in the world? That's taking it too far, and I personally prefer REM. For the record, Pearl Jam have always been my favorite band. Cant wait for their new album to come out (Sep 22)
At first I thought this was an extremely tough question for me, but when I do a rundown of their discographies like I did below, the answer becomes a pretty emphatic R.E.M. It even took all I had not to categorize albums like Life's Rich Pageant, Green, and Out of Time as classics. In fact I'd say at least three of the R.E.M. albums I classified as "Great" are better than every U2 album I classified as "Great." Plus, I think R.E.M. started out with Murmur in 1983, and were consistently solid until Up in 1998. U2 was a little more inconsistent through their lifetime (even in the early years). So yeah, R.E.M. in a landslide. Although when U2 was at their best they were just as good if not better. U2 Classic Albums (3): War, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby Great Albums: (3): Boy, Zooropa, All That You Can't Leave Behind The Rest (5): October, Unforgettable Fire, Pop, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, No Line on the Horizon Total albums: 11 R.E.M. Classic Albums (4): Murmur, Reckoning, Document, Automatic for the People Great Albums (6): Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, Green, Out of Time, Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi The Rest (4): Up, Reveal, Around the Sun, Accelerate Total Albums:14
I voted mainly the same reason... I never bought a REM album, so I have to go with U2 of which I own many.
REM. I think "South Central Rain" alone answers that question for me. I love old U2, but old REM is even better.
[snobby response]For the record (pun intended), I was listening to both of these bands in the early 80's before anyone else had ever heard of them. [/snobby response] It's funny, I really liked both of these bands in high school. REM's first 5 albums were a fixture on my turntable. When Green came out, I was in college and I'd moved past my high school musical taste. So I never really got into anything after Document. And when The One I Love blasted them into the mainstream, I had long since moved on. Same thing with U2, actually. I LOVED everything up to Rattle and Hum. The Unforgettable Fire might be one of my favorite rock albums of all time. Just pure perfection from start to finish. Once Rattle and Hum came out (with the movie), I got turned off because I thought they were taking themselves too seriously. Especially Bono. He seems to have mellowed out the last few years though. To tell you the truth, I still like both band's music, it's just that when I went to college, I discovered other kinds of music and phased out of what I listened to in high school (The Police, Rush, REM, U2, RHCP). Well, I never phased out of The Police, but you get the idea. Oddly enough, I'm kind of phasing back into all the bands I loved in high school nowadays. Maybe I'll go to my storage place this weekend and get my old REM albums out and play them.
Lol. You picked THE two bands I was famous for saying I hated in high school and college. What are the odds?
Ask anyone who grew up in the '80s which 2 bands would go on to have enormous influence on future bands AND still be releasing albums today and these would be, more than likely, the 2 groups that would be named. The Smiths were also influential but they aren't together anymore. Depeche Mode is stretching it and you could make a strong case for RHCP but I think they fall short, overall for impact, influence, and longevity, to R.E.M. and U2. Yet, I am not surprised by your response, thus sayeth the AC/DC sidelining country music man.
"There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can’t think of one at the moment."
I had a friend going to UGA who turned me on to REM before they became famous. Because of that and because they had more influence on my college-era music tastes, I pick them. I really like U2 but I didn't discover them until my mid-20's.
