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!
