22nd
R.I.P. R.E.M.
I’ve been enjoying reading all the R.E.M. tributes since they officially broke up yesterday. Though I came to R.E.M. relatively late in their career, the early 1990s, they were one of the defining bands of my adolesence. I remember being terrified at the Losing My Religion video and conflicted about the message of the song. Growing up in a religious household, I related to the lyrics on one level, but also thought it was anti-God in a way and was worried that my parents would catch me watching this video. It was such a haunting song as so many of them were and R.E.M. became this mythic and sort of creepy band to me. But then they could turn around and write such catchy pop songs at the same time. I was really excited when Monster came out, when I was becoming music-obsessed. I got really into the What’s The Frequency Kenneth video and Michael Stipe’s star t-shirt. I was probably 13 at the time and a friend of mine told me that his uncle could get us tickets to see R.E.M. play in Detroit. This would have been my first concert so I was thrilled at the thought of this. Sadly, we realized that we didn’t know anyone who’d be willing to drive us the 2 1/2 hours to get there so the tickets went to waste. I still don’t think I ever got over this, although I tried to make up for it when I went to see them in Berkeley a few years ago.
Even though most fans would agree that their early IRS years were the best, but I’m a second generation R.E.M. fan that couldn’t get enough of their major label years. Being in a nowhere town, I never would have gotten into them if not for MTV. Even to this day, I still think they did some of their best work in the nineties, but I love all of their early stuff now too. I’ve had a great time going back and listening to everything they ever did and can see what an influential band they’ve become.
Today I’ve been watching some of their videos and being reminded of how much of an impact they made on me. My favorite album of theirs will always be Automatic for the People and I was surprised that it still holds up pretty well. The song Everybody Hurts seems so emo when I think about it, but when actually listening to it, it has the power of a hymn. I was surprised watching the video today, that I got all teared up at the end when all the people get out of their cars. It still moves me today even though I’m a 30 year-old man instead of a 13 year-old adolsecent. What a great band to be able to pull off such a range of styles and somehow could go from jangly guitar riffs and mumbly abstract lyrics to simple two chord hymns. Me and millions of other people have been blessed by their music in so many ways so I just feel this huge sense of gratitude.
