I must admit, when I heard the news that my favorite band of all time, REM, had broken up the other day; I didn’t know what to think. That is, whenever I’d posited “will this be the last REM CD to ever come out?” I had always thought I would be totally broken up by the news. I thought my favorite band can not break up; I thought I would always want more from them. But I have to admit these last few REM records have just been okay and the news of their breakup isn’t that shocking.
I find myself listening to a lot of things I’d always favored; “Fables of the Reconstruction,” “Green,” and “New Adventures in Hi- Fi,” I guess is their most recent record I really liked. Some of their newer songs are okay; “UBerlin” on their latest record is really good. I don’t even have their record “Accelerate” on my iTunes just because I thought that record was so bad. I don’t like to remember that even the best bands can have their duds. But there are a few things I hope the new R.E.M.-less Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and Michael Stipe don’t do now that they have retired to the backroom of rock legend royalty. For all of our sakes.
1) Guest with Top 40 Artists: R.E.M. were huge in their day. I hate that Bono has sold out all his old catalog to whomever is hot for that moment. I heard him doing a duet with a certain someone in the grocery store the other day and all I could think was, “Really?” We don’t need R.E.M. doing guest roles on any artist’s albums; especially if these artists are just doing R.E.M. cover songs.
2) Act: I hate it when artists move across mediums. Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you’re a great actor. Someone should tell Eminem that.
3) Go On Reunion Tours: If you had wanted to not play arenas anymore you should have just scaled back your tours. Eddie Vedder did it. I saw him the other day in Manhattan at the Beacon Theatre on a solo show tour which seats just under 3000. It was a great show and while Pearl Jam sold out Madison Square Garden in 1995, I just don’t know if the interest in them is still such today. Anyway that wasn’t what that Vedder show was about. The Vedder show was an engaged and happy audience who loved the artist and loved the music. If R.E.M. come out and announce a ‘reunion tour’ in the spring, then they’ve never really broken up. And everyone; even their biggest fans like me; will make a mockery of them.
R.E.M. are not likely to do any of these things; Mike will probably be seen with his leggy-taller-than-him girlfriends, I could see Peter winding up playing on some other kind of musicians records; country, bluegrass, jazz; whatever. Michael? Who knows what he will find himself involved in. I could see him directing obscure films or producing and sort of taking a back-seat role. Or maybe he will just fade from our public consciousness altogether. Wouldn’t that be interesting? It would for R.E.M. fans like me, anyway.
Just do everyone a favor R.E.M. and don’t say you’re breaking up and then do an “All My Children.” Even though that tired show is over, they are still going to do an online web series in the hopes of keeping on the interest of the stay at home moms everywhere!