As I’m sure you have heard, R.E.M. decided to break up. They did this without any acrimony, ill will, or any of the other typical band-calling-it-quits cliches. They simply just decided that their time was up. I’m sure there were business decisions or record label bullshit, but I’ll take their word for it because frankly Mike Mills and Michael Stipe seem like nice guys (I bet Peter Buck is kinda a dick). I admire that a band can still do this. By ‘this’ I don’t mean break up or call it quits because bands will do that till the end of time, or until robots replace all our real bands and we only listen to pop hits produced by computers (I actually don’t think this is to far off).
I understand that everyone does not like R.E.M. they didn’t always “rock” or hit all the perfect notes and they had some embarrasingly bad songs, but I think that they were an awesome, important band. I have friends that can’t stand R.E.M and I think this is only because of their 90’s output. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all great or good and sometimes it’s plain bad, but I am someone who believes that you cannot judge a band by one album or even two albums. In their opening stretch that spanned from the early 80’s till 1990 or so, it could be debated that they were the best, most consistent band in the world. Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life’s Rich Pageant, and Document is a span of 5 albums that most artists in their career could not replicate. Not to mention that what many people feel is their best album, Automatic for the People, is not even included there. Murmur is one of my top ten albums, a desert island disc if you would. I have never heard anything else like it. The way the guitars sound, the hooks, the melodies, the intricacies. It’s jangly, but it’s not, at times it is dissonant or jarring, but all the notes seem to fit right into place. Michael Stipe is a frontman in the truest sense. So much has been made over the years that you can’t understand his lyrics or they don’t make sense, but who cares? He has an excellent voice and a keen sense of melody. The chorus in ‘The One I Love’ off Document is enough to sell that point. The lyrics? So what? Without Michael Stipe there may be no Stephen Malkmus, or any other lyricist who approaches words as sounds rather than meaning. Say whatever words you want, just make it sound good.
Sure R.E.M’s recent output might not have been great, but it was not even close to being bad. Comparably, it was nice to hear a singer with a great voice, tight musicianship, and quality studio production. R.E.M was never going to be one of those bands to run off to Williamsburg, douse everything in reverb, and have African inspired rhythms. I didn’t want them to be this band. I don’t want any band to do this actually. I want bands to make inspired, good sounding music and hold onto their ethos and convictions, and I feel that R.E.M. always did this. A lot of things can be said about them but you could never view their art as bullshit. R.E.M. was a critically important and vital American rock band and we are fortunate for their 31 years of music.
