Yesterday, September 21, 2011, legendary rock band REM announced they were calling it quits. As a result, I was asked to write a reflection about REM. Being a fan, I was more than willing to do so.
The first song I heard by REM was “Radio Free Europe” back in the spring of 1983. I was living in what’s referred to as the University District in North Seattle, or more familiarly, The U-District as it’s the neighborhood surrounding the University of Washington’s main campus. I was also courting Joe who is now my husband of twenty-seven years. So “Radio Free Europe” is not only a great song, but has sentimental value for me as well. Although I could never understand half of what Michael Stipe sang, the music was powerful and unique back in 1983. Back then I was hearing it on the University of Washington’s lab radio station KCMU (now owned by Paul Allen and called KEXP and not playing much in the way of punk any more). I miss those days.
So 1983 was when I first heard REM. I loved “Radio Free Europe.” Subsequent REM songs I fell in love with at first listen were “South Central Rain” — informally known as “I’m sorry.” Michael Stipe sings soulfully while intermittently singing, “I’m sorry.” Songs like “Losing My Religion” in which guitarist Peter Buck uses a mandolin as well as guitar, was so striking. Nothing like that had ever been done before, but REM defied what was expected and not only used an instrument not typically used in rock music, but sang a song with no chorus. Yet “Losing My Religion” was a massive hit. In my opinion, it’s one of their best songs. On a personal note, I’ll always remember watching my best friend performing karaoke on several occasions and there was always this same girl who would sing to that song. She couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but was oblivious to this fact as week after week, she would sing way off key and totally ruin a wonderful song.
I continued listening to REM throughout the eighties and into the early nineties. I loved “The One I Love.” I loved “Losing My Religion” and “South Central Rain” and so many others. My friends and I would always talk about the latest REM song and what we thought it meant and also what we thought the lyrics really were. Back then there was no internet that you could go to to look up lyrics, so speculation was the key.
I remember also working a night shift at Children’s Hospital entering payroll data. Some guy who worked with me loved the same kind of music I did. We listened to KNDD The End when they were still alternative. This was 1990. We somehow got on the subject of bands who didn’t want their lyrics published because it somehow detracted from the integrity of the music. This guy told me Michael Stipe was one of those artists, but that he had no right to be because hardly anyone could understand what he was singing. I strongly concurred.
In 1992, REM released “Automatic For the People.” This album is one of the best not only to come out of the nineties, but one of the best albums of all time. It’s up there with Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” It’s on a par with Neil Young’s “Harvest” or Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.” It was one of the first CDs I bought when I joined the BMG Club and could order so many CDs for a few bucks with the promise of buying so many more at regular price. I remember buying that and Blur’s “Park Life” and listening to them over and over again. I got my first CD player in the spring of 1993. A friend gave me his old one when he bought a new one. By September of that year I had my second baby and was pretty much house bound and therefore had music on all the time. I remember listening to “Automatic for the People” a lot and hearing songs from it on KNDD, which as I mentioned before, was still alternative then.
I never got to see REM live. They always charged more than the average price for their tickets and I could never afford to go. After “Automatic for the People” came out, though, REM couldn’t come close to matching the intensity and beauty of that album. While some songs were good (“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth, for example), they didn’t come close to the songs off “Automatic.” “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight,” “Night Swimming,” “Find the River,” “Everybody Hurts,” Man On the Moon” are all brilliant works of art which have withstood the test of time.
REM will go down in rock and roll history as one of the best bands of all time. They never pretended to be anyone. They were always honest, not doing something because it was popular. They always took chances, did things no one else would have dared do, and by doing so, opened the door for other bands to take such bold chances. REM also never shied away from controversial political action. They actively supported left wing political and social causes. They never shied away from anything they felt strongly about even when it was unpopular to do so (remember those who backed off after being branded ‘unpatriotic’ by Bush supporters when we went into two wars?) REM stood their ground and stood by their beliefs both politically and musically.
In all honesty, I agree that it’s time for REM to call it quits. They haven’t produced anything since the brilliance of “Automatic for the People.” They have become a legend and deservedly so. They have local (Seattle) connections in that Peter Buck and his (now ex) wife owned The Crocodile Night Club in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood — a club I frequented in the late eighties and early nineties. They hired Scott McCaughey as an extra guitarist. I used to go see the band McCaughey fronted called The Young Fresh Fellows often through the mid to late eighties. They are no longer college radio fodder, having passed into the mainstream years ago, but REM never sold out. They remained unique. Granted, their music has lost luster since “Automatic,” but that album and their previous releases are permanent selections in my CD collection and hold coveted spots on my iPod. They will always be one of the greatest bands of all time. Besides, any band who performs with the Muppets holds clout with me.
