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REM overrated / underrated from Magnet Magazine


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Do people like Stand enough for it to overrated? It's place as the theme of Chris Elliott's Get a Life gives it an eternal pass for me, but that seems a weird pick for the overrated list.

 

--Mike.

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That is the first time I've ever seen that one song's title spelled out as "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)". I think that's because it's not the title.

 

I've seen it this way many times. I think it's because people don't know the title so they add the (I'm sorry) just like they call Train in Vain Stand by Me when refering to the Clash song.

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A few points of contention:

 

"All you sad and lost apostles, hum my name and flare your nostrils"...

 

"Living well is the best revenge" is a fantastic song and there are other great ones on Accelerate.

 

Not sure "Driver 8" is under rated just because this person like it. Great song but also one of their bigger hits.

 

"Sitting Still" is one of their best songs, I will agree on that.

 

So. Central still kicks ass and fits just fine on Reckoning.

 

"It's the end of the world" is a far ass cry from "We didn't start the fire". He should be ashamed even comparing them.

 

So there.

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I mostly disagree with everything on this list..What do you expect...

 

My list

Underated:

Fables

Monster

 

Overated:

Document (Still love it but not their best album)

 

Accelerate is awesome. I really see nothing to complain about it. Living Well is an awesome opener and the first 4 songs have a really great flow. Im Gonna DJ is kind of silly but whatever.

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That is the first time I've ever seen that one song's title spelled out as "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)". I think that's because it's not the title.

I'm having a hard time believing that you'd never seen that before.

 

I see it that way far more than without the parenthetical.

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I could have written this...it's scary how similar this is to my experience (substitute Bruce Springsteen for Yes and it IS me)

 

I was 23 years old when I first heard 1982
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I agree with about everything, except I really like So. Central Rain and Everybody Hurts was INTENTIONALLY straight-forward from Stipe. He wanted young folks to get it and understand how tough it is sometimes to be young and feel lost. He was reaching out. Maybe the song still sucks, but I like Stipe's effort.

 

 

Accelarate IS mostly crap.

I Wanted To Be Wrong IS a gem of a song. Beautiful.

Imitation of Life is great R.E.M. pop....with a simple yet mesmerizing video to go with it.

I like the writer's comments on Sitting Still and Driver 8.

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These lists are stupid, because it's never clear who's been "rating" these songs, and why they have done so incorrectly. But I digress.

 

So. Central Rain is a terrific song that also happens to be a terrific pop song. This guy seems annoyed that R.E.M. actually made something that might have gotten played on the radio back at a time when they didn't get played on the radio. Screw him.

 

I agree (sort of) on Accelerate. It's okay, but pretty disposable. I do think it's better than their previous 2 records, which isn't saying much, but still. However, with the exception of Rolling Stone, who always overrates R.E.M. albums (and Springsteen albums, and U2 albums...), I don't get the sense that the critics fawned all over Accelerate quite as much as this guy suggests.

 

Imitation of Life is a crappy song. It does harken back to R.E.M.'s earlier form, in that it rips off Driver 8's chord changes and the lyrics don't make sense. But that doesn't make it a good song. If anything, it's one of their more overrated songs because for a while there they were playing it in almost every live show, and nobody (at least not in the U.S. ) wanted to hear it.

 

As for Leave, Sitting Still, and Driver 8, he's right that they're all great songs, but with the exception of Leave, there's widespread agreement that those are great songs. Where are the naysayers who think Driver 8 sucks? Show me these people, please. And as for Leave, I think most fans who stuck around through 1996, myself included, have always considered it the centerpiece to a terrific album. It's underrated amongst music fans in general, but not R.E.M. fans.

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Is this the same guy who did the Wilco Over/Under? I'll tell you, I got enjoyment out of that list and I enjoyed this one also. I like his style, it is off the cuff and reminds me of rants I would go on in college about Matchbox 20 or something like that worshipped by my roommates. His Trapezoid 11 band name is spot on (cmon admit it this guy if funny). All of that being said, wasn't on board in the early 80's (i was 5) and never really got into REM until mid 90's (at their height). I still think that UP is super undervalued. "At My Most Beautiful" is astonishing (even if it is blatant Brian Wilson rip).

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I still think that UP is super undervalued.

 

 

I'm also an ardent "Up" defender.

 

Bill Berry's departure clearly shook up Stipe. His very human and sometimes touching lyrics reveal that. And Buck and Mills re-think ways of making sounds, which many times results in something great.

 

Many songs off Up could be labled "under-rated".....Suspicion, Walk Unafraid, Why Not Smile, Diminished, Falls To Climb...

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maybe I'm misinterpreting the writer's point, but I've never heard a band who sounded remotely like early R.E.M.

 

Yeah, I agree. This is the same dude that did the Wilco over/under and my opinion of him hasn't changed much, he seems like a total hack, no wonder he's stuck on Magnet's website.

 

--Mike

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maybe I'm misinterpreting the writer's point, but I've never heard a band who sounded remotely like early R.E.M.

 

it's key to understand that the author is a big Guided By Voices fan, and that GBV's first record _Forever Since Breakfast_ sounds a LOT like early REM...

 

also, it sounds like you might not have heard any Miracle Legion or Winter Hours.

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Everything from Accelerate. Finally. Amen.

 

Amen, Amen, Amen. I couldn't agree with you or this entry any more. Fraud is the perfect description and so many were duped. Here are my comments from a post last year discussing the brilliant Murmur reissue and other assorted issues.

 

"While I have enjoyed this thread (and would add Chronic Town right along side Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, to any list of what they did best), we should be clear. Accelerate blows. Its fake rock by a band that has long since lost its way. They need to hang 'em up before they do any further damage to their ever dwindling reputation. I mean seriously, did anyone who managed to listen to Accelerate even once, ever listen to it a second time."

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Accelerate is no Murmur but hell, I like it. I don't know that I would call it fake rock. I would be quite proud to write a song like "Living well is the best revenge".

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Amen, Amen, Amen. I couldn't agree with you or this entry any more. Fraud is the perfect description and so many were duped. Here are my comments from a post last year discussing the brilliant Murmur reissue and other assorted issues.

 

"While I have enjoyed this thread (and would add Chronic Town right along side Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, to any list of what they did best), we should be clear. Accelerate blows. Its fake rock by a band that has long since lost its way. They need to hang 'em up before they do any further damage to their ever dwindling reputation. I mean seriously, did anyone who managed to listen to Accelerate even once, ever listen to it a second time."

 

 

Where is the fraud? Are you saying it doesn't sound like REM? I think it sounds very much like them. Accelerate is in the vein of Life's Rich Pagent so I don't see how people were duped. Also I have listened to Accelerate many, many times...

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"While I have enjoyed this thread (and would add Chronic Town right along side Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, to any list of what they did best), we should be clear. Accelerate blows. Its fake rock by a band that has long since lost its way. They need to hang 'em up before they do any further damage to their ever dwindling reputation. I mean seriously, did anyone who managed to listen to Accelerate even once, ever listen to it a second time."

 

 

This is bit harsher than how I'd describe it, but not by much.

 

Man-Sized Wreath, Supernatural Superserious and Mr. Richards are all decent rockers. But overall, it's just a bland record. The lyrics are horrendous at times....forced, literal and goofy.

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