R.E.M have finally called it a day and are retiring after 30 years or so.
I guess it really is the end of the world as we know it.
R.E.M have finally called it a day and are retiring after 30 years or so.
I guess it really is the end of the world as we know it.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I confess to losing the thread on those guys around 1992, but they had a pretty amazing run, and they're one of the few college/alt rock bands from the pre-Nevermind era to successfully cross over to the post-era.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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I didn't realize they had been still together.
Yeah, I was fairly unaware of any of their stuff that came out after New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I guess I sort of vaguely knew they still existed.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
I'm a huge fan, seen them over half a dozen times, I even have their latest album (LOL). However, they probably should have broken up a decade ago. Their output since is inessential compared to most things prior to New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Around The Sun was their artistic nadir imho but even it has a few good songs if again inessential. Their latest was a return to form of sorts but imho mired by unimaginative production that made it sound beholden to their older songs. Every texture, even a lot of the riffs seem to harken back to former glories.
Do you ever find yourself humming a song, and suddenly realizing that the lyrics perfectly match what's going on in your life? If asked to consciously think of a song with fitting lyrics, you might not be able to, but the subconscious does a great job. (For example, I just got a slightly overzealous haircut, and found myself )
Anyway, End of the World has a lot of memories for me: When I locked up the apartment I had just moved out of in Somerville, Massachusetts for the very last time, so that I could move to Indonesia for the first time, I found myself singing "it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." It WAS the end of my world as I knew it, and I was right to feel fine.
On the other hand, I know that "for god's sake don't play these songs right now!!!" lists were quickly distributed to DJs in the wake of September 11, 2001. I am betting that R.E.M.'s "End of the World" was SO at the top of every single list that was generated.
Last edited by Hatshepsut; 22 Sep 2011 at 10:28 PM.
This calls for a Song Battle.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.