R.E.M succumbs

Fausto

Elite Member
Nov 29, 2000
26,521
2
0
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-music-scene/2011/09/21/r-e-m-breaks-up/

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. 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.” R.E.M.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, they were a groundbreaking band in their day, but they also went really stale after Bill Berry quit. I feel like this should have happened 10 years ago.
 
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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,053
10,541
126
I was never a fan, but I don't like seeing bands break up. They made quality music, just not to my taste.
 

blackdogdeek

Lifer
Mar 14, 2003
14,453
10
81
i saw them at UNH in 1989 for the Green tour. i think that was the last CD of theirs i really liked. everything after that sounded way too mainstream comparably.
 
Oct 27, 2007
17,009
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They have a large enough back catalog of really, really awesome music. No need for them to keep going. They had a great run. The only thing that makes me sad is I'll never get to see them perform live.
 

gaidensensei

Banned
May 31, 2003
2,851
2
81
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty one, checkers, and chess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mask. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in heaven if you make the list. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Times changing...
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
They were still a band?
They're not dead?
Who?

These thoughts crossed my mind in that order while reading the OP.
 

Fausto

Elite Member
Nov 29, 2000
26,521
2
0
They have a large enough back catalog of really, really awesome music. No need for them to keep going. They had a great run. The only thing that makes me sad is I'll never get to see them perform live.
I got to see them at the 40 Watt in Athens years and years ago. One of the better live shows I've seen. They were a great band before they signed the Warner deal and became insufferable.
 
Mar 16, 2005
13,856
109
106
That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world
serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feed
it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, the Ladder
start to clatter with fear fight down height. Wire
in a fire, representing seven games, and a government
for hire at a combat site. Left of west and coming in
a hurry with the furys breathing down your neck. Team
by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.
Look at that low playing. Fine, then. Uh oh,
overflow, population, common food, but it'll do to Save
yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs,
listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and
the revered and the right, right. You vitriolic,
patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty
psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign
towers. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself
churn. Lock it in, uniforming, book burning, blood
letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a motive. Step down, step down.
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no
fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear! A tournament,
tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions,
offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I dreamt of knives, continental
drift divide. Mountains sit in a line, Leonard
Bernstein. Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester
Bangs. Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You
symbiotic, patriotic, slam bug net, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel
fine...fine...
 

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
Now you're just being harsh. No one is anywhere near as terrible s Pearl Jam. I'd listen to an entire Bieber album before being subjected to a single Pearl Jam chorus.

My ex GF is a cousin of Eddie Vedder. Before I knew this, a fucking terrible (arnt they all?) Pearl Jam song came on the radio and I said something to the effect that I wish Pearl Jam would have died in a plane crash before they afflicted the planet with the unholy scourge they call music.

Yeah, that was awkward.
 

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
Wait, you mean they weren't the same band? They're totally different bands?

I know, they both sound the same with lead singers droning on and on and having every song sound the same. But I speak the truth, they are actually different bands
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
118
116
I like Pearl Jam. Never liked R.E.M.

/shrug

KT
 

thraashman

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
11,112
1,587
126
My ex GF is a cousin of Eddie Vedder. Before I knew this, a fucking terrible (arnt they all?) Pearl Jam song came on the radio and I said something to the effect that I wish Pearl Jam would have died in a plane crash before they afflicted the planet with the unholy scourge they call music.

Yeah, that was awkward.

I get the feeling awkward is a bit of an understatement there.

Pearl Jam's first album was great and had some great songs. Black, Jeremy, Evenflow, Alive. They even had an occasional great song on later albums, Daughter, Yellow Ledbetter, Better Man. Then they've had like 15 years of crap and trying to act like they don't want the fame they have.

REM also has some good music. I've never been a huge fan, but there's at least a few songs I like by them.

Both are miles above the crap that gets popular today. I seriously can't stand Lady Gaga and poppy crap like her. I'd bitch about Bieber too but I really don't think I've ever heard a song by him, so the only thing about him I've ever had a problem with is his stupid haircut.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Saw REM in Boston back in 2005. Got free tickets from work and had like fifth row seats. Good concert.

Listen to the Pearl Jam station on satellite radio in my car all the time.