Tag Archives: r.e.m.

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Song of the Day #680: ‘Welcome to the Occupation’ – R.E.M.

These R.E.M. theme weeks break down pretty conveniently into three sets of five albums each, with each of those sets representing a different stage in the band’s career.

The first week, spanning Chronic Town through Lifes Rich Pageant, captured the college years, when R.E.M. first broke onto the scene and popularized a new sort of cerebral alternative music. If I had to pick a favorite span it would be that one… something about that sound just hits me in the gut. But this second week’s batch of albums would be a close second.

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Song of the Day #677: ‘These Days’ – R.E.M.

In doing these theme weeks (including the Bob Dylan Weekends) I’m frequently surprised by how prolific these artists were in their early years. It’s pretty much the norm to see albums released every year, sometimes two per year, for the first decade or so of these storied careers.

And then at some point a weariness must set in, or perhaps it’s a comfort level that comes with a certain degree of fame. And the albums slow down to one every three or four years, if that. Does the creative energy dissipate? Do record labels start pressuring established artists to build up anticipation between releases? Or is it something else?

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Song of the Day #676: ‘Driver 8’ – R.E.M.

I generally have two important entry points to the music of my favorite bands… the album that first introduced me to them, and the album that I bought upon release and discovered along with all the other fans.

Sometimes that’s the same album. In R.E.M.’s case, those albums came a few years apart. My first introduction to the band was 1985’s Fables of the Reconstruction, which I probably heard for the first time in late ’87 or early ’88.

As is often the case, this entry point album remains my favorite to this day. That spark of first love certainly counts for a lot.

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Song of the Day #675: ‘(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville’ – R.E.M.

A year after Murmur, R.E.M. released their first truly great album, 1984’s Reckoning.

This collection of songs was a little less experimental and a little more full-bodied than the tracks on their debut, and while Stipe’s lyrics continued to confound, he managed to slip in some words of real substance.

Reckoning‘s songs were darker than anything the band had recorded before, several inspired by the recent death of a friend.

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Song of the Day #674: ‘Shaking Through’ – R.E.M.

R.E.M.’s real coming out party came with their full-length debut, 1983’s Murmur. Music fans who missed the low-profile Chronic Town would have a hard time escaping the critical orgasms over Murmur.

Rolling Stone named the album the best of 1983, ranking it ahead of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and it was hailed as the introduction of a new sort of alternative rock… too soft to be punk, too subversive to be pop, music made for college radio — for kids who wanted songs that spoke to their hearts and minds more than their stomachs and feet.

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