When this record was released I loved it!
Granted, I hated the fact that “Losing My Religion” was becoming
one of those mega-hits that was everywhere, but there was some great R.E.M. music
here. This is one of those albums that will always remind me of the time of
year it came out too. When I hear songs of this album I think about the spring,
specifically the spring of 1991.
“Texarkana” remains my favorite song from this disc and I
love that Mike Mills sings it.
“Shiny Happy People” is beyond dumb. I couldn't hate it
more. Why borrow Kate Pierson from The B-52’s if you’re just going to record a
pile of shit! You can imagine my horror when it became a hit!
“Endgame” sounds more like something my Grandpa would listen
to on the radio and really didn't sound like R.E.M. at all.
I liked and simultaneously hated KRS-One on “Radio Song.”
Maybe I didn't like this record.
And then something weird happened.
It’s a moment you don’t dread, because you don’t know it’s
actually coming, but when it happens it will change you forever.
I was driving to some bullshit family summer gathering on a
Sunday afternoon in June of 1991. I was probably listening to Danzig or
something obnoxious when everything went into slow motion.
My mother, from the passenger side, turned
down “Twist Of Cain,” and said “turn that shit oooooffff.” Her voice and motions were slowing down almost in anticipation of what was coming. Her head
turned towards me and she said, “Play that that’s-me-in-the-corner song that I
like. Who sings that?”
“What?” was all I could get out. “No” was the only word in
my head and it was repeating. No. No. No. No. It echoed in my thoughts in a
rhythmic pattern.
You know when in the movies they have flashbacks? I swear to
God as I chanted “No” in my head I was transported to the winter of 1984. I
could see 13-year-old me sitting in my room listening to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It” over and over from a cassette that I
taped off the radio. My mother burst in. “Turn that shit down!” she exclaimed!
“Don’t you have anything else to listen to?”
Swoosh! Now it was the summer of 1986. Sixteen-year-old me
is lounging around the pool. The radio was playing David Lee Roth’s “Yankee Rose.” “Who is he talking to?” the old
lady yells from the house. “His guitar, ma!” “Well turn that shit down!”
Whoosh! I was now 18-years-old and at my high school graduation party. I was throwing a Smiths cassette
in and it lasted all of two minutes. “Not that girl in a coma song! Turn that
shit off!”
WHAM! I was now back in the present. At twenty years of age,
my mother and I liked the same band! WHAT THE FUCK! Not on my God damn watch!
This is a woman that hates The Beatles! She hates the fucking Beatles!
I have a very specific memory of her saying “It’s The End Of
The World As We Know It,” was “very annoying.” When I was going to see R.E.M.’s
Green Tour, she asked me if that’s the band that does that “Orange Crush song
that makes me wanna puke?” Now they’re her new favorite?
Up until this point my mother and I shared a love of two
things, Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow. Her affection for the two was genuine
while my interest may have been ironic or hip or something. I think we may have
bonded over The Human League once a long time ago. But that’s it! R.E.M.’s
superstar status had hit too close to home and they were now on my shitlist.
When my mother found out that R.E.M. was behind “Everybody
Hurts” she exclaimed with girlish glee, “Oh I like those guys! Don’t you like
those Remmy guys, Bunkie?” Yes, my mother calls me Bunkie and apparently she
calls R.E.M., Remmy.
I paid zero attention to Automatic For The People upon its
release. Not a small feat. The singles off this disc were all pretty big. I
will admit to really liking “Man On The Moon” and “The Sidewinder Sleeps
Tonight” is really interesting. What was up with chicks and “Nightswimming?” It
was like the nice girls’ naughty anthem or something. Fucking broads.
I found “Find the River” on this listen quite enjoyable. I
doubt I ever heard it before. “Ignorland” I remember somehow and didn’t hate.
Monster is the classic example of giving the people what
they want! A rockin’ R.E.M. album with songs about weird shit. “What’s The
Frequency Kenneth?” was the perfect first single! I was happy to be back in the
R.E.M. fold, if only for one more album.
“Star 69” is probably right up there with any of my all-time
favorite R.E.M. songs. The thing that really cemented it in my heart was how
quickly it became antiquated. Song comes out in 1994 and in less than ten years
it’s completely useless. Michael Stipe might as well have been singing about
8-track players.
“Bang And Blame,” “Strange Currencies,” and “Crush With
Eyeliner” are all jams I can hear and they still bring a smile to my face.
In retrospect, I’m so glad R.E.M. put out Monster, because
outside a couple songs, they’ll never capture my attention so grandly again.
Tomorrow I listen to The The Dusk, Rancid And Out Come The Wolves, and David Bowie The Next Day!
Check out the March Playlist!
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