The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I realise that there are probably way too many people under 30 here who are probably too young to have ever fully embraced them, but the news of REM splitting up after 31 years was quite a shock to me.

IMHO they are (or rather now, were) the greatest band ever. Period. Heck even my screen-name is an REM song title!

So it's the end of the road after 15 studio albums, admittedly of varying quality at times, but always with a few marks of genius here and there on even their weakest offerings. Hugely influential - probably way more than most casual listeners realise - and they always carved their own path irrespective of the prevailing trends of the music industry. Over the last three decades, they followed a true 'bell-curve' of success - starting with the hugely promising debut album "Murmur", and then steadily getting better and better through five more albums until they peaked (IMO) with the perfect "Out Of Time" in 1991. They followed that up with "Automatic For The People" a year later which I know is many people's choice as their finest album, although personally I'd argue it's just not quite as perfect as the truly brilliant "Out Of Time". After that, even I will admit that their records have been patchy at times, ranging from brilliant but under-appreciated (e.g. "New Adventures in Hi-Fi"), to slightly lacklustre on occasion (e.g. "Up" and "Accelerate"), but as I said above, even their worst stuff is a thousand times better than most bands produce in their entire careers.

I've seen quite a few bands live over the years, and I'm pleased to say that I had the honour of seeing REM play a couple of years ago on what has turned out to be their final tour, and I still maintain they were the finest live act I've ever seen. I saw Michael Jackson live back in '92 (before all the "allegations", when he was still an untouchable enigma), and I can safely say that Michael Stipe's performance on stage completely outshone MJ - not in a technical sense, but just with his pure passion and presence.

As far as I'm concerned REM could've carried on making music for ever and I'd always have bought it, but by the same token I think they may also have run their course. They were definitely "of" a particular time, and their relevance these days is probably confined to the real die-hard fans like myself. So in that respect, I agree that maybe they've hung up their guitars (and mandolins!) at just about the right time. I'm just gutted I won't ever get to see them on tour again......

So, to Michael, Mike, Peter (and Bill), if any of you are Breitling fans and are here as members of the 'Source , thanks for the music and the memories, and happy retirement!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I didn't even know they were still together. I do own several of their albums, but haven't listened to them in a few years.

Out Of Time - incredible!!!

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SHARKMAN

ahhhh, yes. Radio Free Europe was my first introduction into songs not heard on Top40 - REM opened up a whole new world to me musically in the 80's when I was at school and dove head first into the college music scene. Glad to see them leave on thier own terms.

as for favorite tunes: gotta go with Superman and Driver 8 as honorable mention.

Great songs Mike, but my personal all time favourite has got to be "Country Feedback" - can still give me goosebumps 20 years after I first heard it.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Orange Crush always brings back good memories of senior week down the beach.

My favourite too but so many greats. Out Of Time was a great album but Monster has to be my favourite. I remember the build up to the album coming out, probably one of the only albums I rushed out to buy!

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Currently:
Avenger Skyland(Black)
Super Avenger(White)

Moved on:
Montbrillant Legende(Silver)
Panerai 312
SOHC 125th Ann. LE(Silver)
Navitimer World(Pearl)
Panerai 441

Out of Time is a great album, but I have to admit that I also like Reveal quite a bit from the later stuff.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

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Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

Love that song.

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Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

Whilst they undoubtedly hit their peak in the early 90s, I really like Collapse Into Now and it gets regular rotation when I'm out on my bike.

My tribute is I'm doing a charity gig tonight so we spent last night quickly learning Man on the Moon as we figured it would be their best known song for a middle of the road audience.

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How did the gig go Sharky?

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Crap! Corporate crowd more interested in networking than listening to a band. Much more fun tonight playing in our home town pub.

What do you think of Collapse Into Now?

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Sorry to hear the suit-brigade weren't appreciative Sharky!


I like it quite a bit. I still think it's a way off being a true master-work, but it's probably their best album since New Adventures In HiFi. Perversely I can't help thinking that the fact that this album was something of a return to their 90's sound was part of the reason they called it a day. It seems almost like a realisation that they aren't moving forward with their sound as they once were, and that their sound from 10 to 20 years ago is what they do best. I've heard Michael Stipe say they constantly ask themselves, "What next?" and I think after this 'Collapse Into Now realisation', the answer to that question came up wanting.

Still, it was a pretty good way to go out IMO.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

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For more information on identifying Breitling replicas, please visit my web site
http://f4buz.com/watches/breitling/fakes/fakes.html