Yeah I often wonder why this is. I guess those two bands still read as cool in a way that REM sort of lost somehow. Or remain a kind of secret for hip kids to turn each other onto. - ThreadSky

lukeoneil47.bsky.social • 39 days ago

Yeah I often wonder why this is. I guess those two bands still read as cool in a way that REM sort of lost somehow. Or remain a kind of secret for hip kids to turn each other onto.

Reposted from casersatz

The Cure and The Smiths seem to be perpetually rediscovered by kids, even (perhaps especially) in America. I'm surprised that REM does not experience the same kind of continual renaissance- especially in the US. It's mostly just memes about Losing My Religion.

Comments

danmcd.bsky.social•39 days ago

My own favorite band also starts with an R, and only near the end of their career did they get a much larger spotlight on them for their lifetime achievements.

80s me wouldn't have believed REM would need that sort of push from their fans, but if anyone else deserves it, they do. (1/2)

danmcd.bsky.social•39 days ago

My favorite songs from both Rush and REM were the first I heard from each properly, and are both permanently in my head as band-defining songs.

My favorite Rush song is The Spirit of Radio, which I heard in early 1980.

I read your top 30 REM songs. My favorite is in your top 10. Care to guess?

danmcd.bsky.social•39 days ago

One of my GenZ twins listens to a few bands who put me in mind of "spiritual descendants of REM", and I've told her about REM. Thanks to Spotify, and other modern-music-business crud, it's all far more atomized.

bostonjerry.bsky.social•39 days ago

Maybe it's because classic REM music is just so unabashedly earnest and reads as "cringe" to them now

dondechert.bsky.social•39 days ago

Maybe inversely linked to radio play? I discovered the Smith for myself through a song by Farin Urlaub, and the Cure pretty much the same way, but aside from some Cure songs (Boys don't cry, Friday I'm in Love), I don't remember the Cure being played often on radio and the Smiths never. 🤷‍♂️

joeovies.bsky.social•38 days ago

Took my now 16yo to see The Cure at MSG in '23. Might be an oversimplification, but Robert Smith presents *feelings* in a very approachable and understandable way. Whereas REM requires a little more life to be lived to understand?

stevemoniak.bsky.social•38 days ago

Robert Smith is most underrated performer among well-known bands

alex.fightins.online•39 days ago

i think the problem might be that people look up REM and they see a guy who looks kinda like Moby

to be clear i now love michael stipe but it took me a while to take REM seriously due to this

russbengtson.bsky.social•39 days ago

did they just sign to a major too early and stay with one too long? i feel like they get lumped in with U2 rather than, like, Superchunk. basically what I'm saying is I think it's Michael Azerrad's fault.

russbengtson.bsky.social•39 days ago

(it's also Bono's fault but what isn't)

russbengtson.bsky.social•39 days ago

(oh no I've said too much)

np-complete.bsky.social•38 days ago

*snort*

mds77.bsky.social•38 days ago

i think REM is like Pink Floyd in the sense that they had distinct mini-eras & even their most devoted fans just like the radio stuff (which is totally fine!) but like, anecdotally, i'm kind of amazed by how many fans don't know what Fables of The Reconstruction (or Piper at the Gates of Dawn) is.

terraistrying.bsky.social•39 days ago

I was a huge smiths and cure fan in my teens during the late 80s/90s. REM was always considered by my friends and I as too mainstream. I wonder if that reverberated and is still a bit of the issue. I started liking old REM in university though.

sydney-bauer.com•39 days ago

At every stage of my life (high school, college, right after, even later) I’ve had to introduce REM to all of my friends. It’s like there’s this glass box around them and people don’t get through.

marcnormandin.bsky.social•39 days ago

I'm the REM fan in my marriage, every time I put them on Kate is like "yeah I don't know this" unless it's a super hit. How!

sydney-bauer.com•39 days ago

I lived in fucking Atlanta for 15 years too!

joeyneverjoe.bsky.social•39 days ago

Rarely see an REM shirt worn either ironically or non-ironically. The most accessible songs by REM are the worst representations of their music too. I never knew they had a much different sound without digging into them.

kathotdog.bsky.social•38 days ago

The new Cure album is great.

And I just bought a ticket to go see Michael Shannon + Jason Narducy sing REMs Fables of the Reconstruction.

othiym23.bsky.social•38 days ago

My personal take is that if they'd either broken up or taken a really long break after Green, they'd still be in there with the Cure and Smiths. I'm not sure how much I really believe that, though, because who remembers 10,000 Maniacs or The Replacements now? I think being from the UK helps a lot.

drcornwater.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think what really kills REM as teenage angst music is that it all sounds so corny. The Cure and Smiths are eternally cool. REM are fuckin nerds in comparison. And neither of those bands have a Shiny Happy People in their discography either.

drcornwater.bsky.social•39 days ago

That said, Losing My Religion is an amazing and perfect song. Good god that song rips so hard. Idk why people hate it but man what a tune.

hatchback.bsky.social•38 days ago

Is “Friday I’m in Love” not a “Shiny Happy People”? I remember me and all my goth-lite teen friends turning our noses up at it as a “sellout song” when they released it — sounded too happy, too earnest, and like it’s sole purpose was to get on Top 40 radio

tomharrison.bsky.social•38 days ago

I hypothesize here that the combination of being a massive omnipresent band that slid quickly out of the mainstream without any huge catastrophe has left them in a weird cultural position--everyone knows the name but few remember specifics. They become "that one old band, I think?"

tomharrison.bsky.social•38 days ago

A smaller reach or a more dramatic flame-out would have prevented this but instead they just sort of quietly stopped showing up for people. Fans intuitively know that normies think of them as "that one band, oh they had a few songs, are they still around?" so it's hard to sell that they're great

pixiecasey.bsky.social•38 days ago

It’s super weird bc they all love Radiohead and Thom Yorke has basically said no REM, no Radiohead

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•38 days ago

Kurt Cobain said as much about REM as well if I recall

d-kavka.bsky.social•38 days ago

Early REM was a little too emotionally ambiguous for the goth kids. Mid period REM was too omnipresent. Late period REM isn't good enough for that kind of fandom.
I actually have a horse in this race as I LOVE them.

painunbound.bsky.social•38 days ago

I just think it's because no members are actively making music anymore.

alexprettygood.bsky.social•39 days ago

Reminds me of one of my favorite interviews ever

https://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/deerhunter-really-really-dislike-morrissey-and-the-smiths

bimblinghill.bsky.social•38 days ago

I feel like REM will have their day again. They still seem more recent in style than the other two so maybe need to age a bit more before rediscovery.

bullgooseparty.bsky.social•39 days ago

Goths are eternal

scratchbomb.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think it’s because REM’s hits are now in Lite FM territory, and because their other stuff doesn’t have as clear an entry point for a new/young listener whereas The Smiths & The Cure have the teen-magnet appeal of “sad music for sad people”

bradfordpearson.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think there's also something to be said for the fact that you can dance around to a lot of Cure and Smiths songs in a way that you can't with REM

kba26.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think the Cure in particular are visually interesting in a way that REM wasn't really? So you hook a certain kind of kid with the posters and t-shirts, and getting into the music comes second. REM is maybe lacking that initial in.

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM had a strong visual art component early on and in their videos though.

snakefeet.bsky.social•39 days ago

It’s probably more that the look of a fan of the cure or the smiths is not the look of dads in their 40s and 50s, while the look of an rem fan very much…is. (Guilty.)

brocktoon.bsky.social•39 days ago

Less overt ties to recognizable subcultures imo. The pull of that has dwindled as subculture and genre faded but if you're gothy you go listen to The Cure.

nocash.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah there’s not a subculture of jangly college rock guys, unfortunately

nostaticatall.bsky.social•39 days ago

I was at the Yo La Tengo show on New Year’s Eve; beg to differ

nocash.bsky.social•39 days ago

All those guys looked like me though

theultrasecret.bsky.social•39 days ago

Perhaps the ubiquity of "cheesier" songs like Shiny Happy People and Everybody Hurts (and as noted, even Losing My Religion) brings down the cool factor a notch.? Which is a shame.

casersatz.bsky.social•39 days ago

Sure, but on the other hand, The Smiths music has endured despite *gestures at Morrissey, generally*

theultrasecret.bsky.social•39 days ago

Can't argue with that. Perhaps most people aren't clued into his extracurriculars.

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

You would think younger people now would be even more sensitive to and turned off by the kind of shit he says though

casersatz.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think the myth that we've all agreed upon is that Morrissey only really became "Morrissey" until after the Smiths broke up.

theultrasecret.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yes, this too.

theultrasecret.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think so to, which leads me to think that they don't know, or they find out after getting into the music.

nealdusedau.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah, those songs are the opposite of gateway drugs. If those songs are your only exposure, you'd never know that the same band can deliver Fall on Me, Driver 8, These Days, or anything pre-Warners. (But if you hear It's the end of the World as We Know It, you think they're They Might Be Giants)

uncleicon.bsky.social•39 days ago

Visually, REM gives off those "mediocre white guy" vibes that social media builds up antibodies against.

uncleicon.bsky.social•39 days ago

(I love REM and also have no problem with "mediocre white guys" being taken down a peg, generally.)

jfeej.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM is my favorite of those three bands but they do seem short on vibes compared with the other two. More intellectual where the other two are emotional (though I can't discount that Robert Smith writes great pop songs)

aspookydaisy.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM doesn't feel as openly angsty I guess? I find myself listening to them a whole lot more now that I'm in my 30s than I did when I was younger.

moneyshredder.bsky.social•38 days ago

they were exponentially more popular than those bands, made way more money, and (probably for that reason) they currently don't license their music as aggressively... it's probably a lot more expensive to get the sync rights, too

(They did a "Strange Currencies" needle drop in The Bear, though)

layceepee.bsky.social•38 days ago

It's especially impressive that The Smiths have been able to remain cool despite Morrissey being such an asshole for way more years than the band existed.

planetoffinks.bsky.social•39 days ago

I was born in 86 and can name only the two huge REM songs. No one I knew growing up listened to them.

cardiganenthusiast.bsky.social•39 days ago

A funny thing I"ve had happen is several friends that grew up into punk/hardcore in the 80s/90s and dismissed (or hated) REM ask me where to start with REM and are now big fans.

mdaware.org•39 days ago

oh this resonates with me

gregrmurphy.bsky.social•38 days ago

Heck, I was in high school in the 80s and most kids didn't listen to REM then either (I was nuts for them). The Out of Time/Automatic era seemed to tap into a whole different audience of "adult" radio folks, not hipster teens.

And of course now I don't have the slightest idea what kids like...

michaeljameshawk.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think of REM as a pastoral country band. Sadly the urban decay ethos is more familiar to youth than natural music from the land. Also, there is a slowness of pace that matches a rural heartbeat kids are not familiar with, living in parking lots and all.

humblecore.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think it’s just the look of the bands, honestly. REM is very normie compared to the goth and rockabilly soft boy aesthetics of The Cure and The Smiths.

kmonson.bsky.social•39 days ago

This will be an unpopular take, but I think the lyrics play a big role. Smith and Morrissey are singing directly to brainy misunderstood teenagers, with irony and humor and just the right amount of sex.

I love Stipe's lyrics but he always seems to be singing to himself.

nealdusedau.bsky.social•39 days ago

This is correct I think. The Cure nail yearning, misses and regret, the Smiths depression, nostalgia, and doomed love.

REM's early lyrics are famously hard to even hear properly, and then Stipe doesn't make it easy to decipher once you catch them, where the other two bands are quite direct.

gabelacques.bsky.social•39 days ago

While REM’s further down that spectrum than, say, The Smiths, I do believe (anecdotally) they will enjoy Eternal College Life

mdaware.org•39 days ago

i think 1 part of it is that a lot of recentish music seems very similar to the Cure-style 80s , eg chorus effects, and I suspect some of it is genx/millenial producers, songwriters etc and maybe thats part of why younger listeners can get into that stuff? a lot of chicken v egg tho

mdaware.org•39 days ago

my random example is olivia rodrigo's pretty isnt pretty, which has some tones and chords that to me (an internet guitar hobbiest) feels very Curish to me, and her producer/collabaratpr dan nigro who is <10wks younger than me…

bartsmith.bsky.social•39 days ago

how much of it is that REM just has such a unique sound whereas as most of the other older bands that get rediscovered by new generations sound like contemporary bands the youth already like?

jamgyal.bsky.social•38 days ago

The reasons are kind of similar as those for U2 and Coldplay.

estarianne.bsky.social•39 days ago

I don't know about the Smiths, but The Cure is an extreme bop and very fun to listen to, while REM is a little depressing which is why we loved them in our angsty years.

Now the Cure *lyrics* can be depressing...

arik.org•38 days ago

Never cared for REM. The Cure still takes me back to Junior and Senior years of high school… and Head on the Door was the first CD I owned.

southmetromusic.com•39 days ago

Maybe they kind of embody the artsy/highbrow high school kids from all the 80s nostalgia shows and movies being put out. Their sound is kind of timeless too? Doesn't sound as "old". More electronic stuff, where REM falls into the guitar band category more.

dogunderwater.bsky.social•39 days ago

is REM still touring? the cure and morrissey at least feel like they never stopped

ttpphd.bsky.social•39 days ago

No they disbanded several years ago

ethanclauset.bsky.social•39 days ago

I've run a record shop in the south for about 15 years and Cure and Smiths are steady sellers but there are no secret hip kids looking for REM records

lobsterdog.bsky.social•38 days ago

It's cuz the singer went bald.

banjo99.bsky.social•39 days ago

I went to a Michael Shannon/Narducy Murmur show and it was very old. Any kids there looked like they came with their parents even grandparents.

willarther.bsky.social•38 days ago

Could be that REM just hasn’t gotten that YET, maybe?

fonzmulder.bsky.social•38 days ago

i don't recall REM being considered cool even back in the 90s, despite being very popular

marawilson.bsky.social•38 days ago

It’s strange to me, because this is a band that everybody in my family, regardless of generation, loves. They were my boomer dad‘s favorite band. My siblings and I all loved them. My siblings kids love them. They are due for a resurgence.

osbornbrett.bsky.social•38 days ago

Same, there’s a few REM tracks you could get a good response from at any age gathering, The Smiths not so much, never got them. Didn’t mind a bit of Morriseys solo stuff.

bullgooseparty.bsky.social•38 days ago

The Wake Up Bomb still rocks hard

alisontrue.bsky.social•38 days ago

Michael Shannon’s touring tribute band probably isn’t drawing kids.

mattrosoff.bsky.social•38 days ago

I said this about the Smiths and REM to a 20something in a bar a few months back and she actually countered and said it was the opposite. So: there’s hope. (I’m ok with the Smiths and Cure, but REM was formative)

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•38 days ago

Yeah right? That's what I don't get. Had multi-generational appeal for years then just didn't anymore.

brodiedog.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah it's pretty much just Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy preaching the gospel of REM these days

matcatastrophe.bsky.social•39 days ago

Just off the top of my head, maybe because they occupy a weird center place between The Cure, who also have a long career but are still making albums, and Smiths with their shorter career but ongoing drama. R.E.M just don’t make any effort at being “noticeable” enough anymore.

matttomic.bsky.social•39 days ago

I'd have to imagine Robert Smith or Morrissey tattoos outnumber Michael Stipe tattoos in something like a 5:1 marging.

bobsshortshorts.bsky.social•39 days ago

Possibly the Cure's and Smith's biggest hits are more easily accessible pop songs (Friday I'm in Love, This Charming Man, etc) whereas It's the End of the World is a gen x version of We Didn't Start the Fire (saying this as an REM fan)

hatchback.bsky.social•38 days ago

Flip that: We Didn’t Start the Fire (1989) is a Boomer version of End of the World as We Know It (1987)!

mhiers.bsky.social•36 days ago

Oh man, this is definitely an anthill I will fight on. While in the surface- sure similar, but End of the World as We Know it is actually saying something if you follow it. We Didn’t Start the Fire is a list.

bobsshortshorts.bsky.social•38 days ago

damn, i stand corrected

eoinhiggins.bsky.social•38 days ago

I like The Cure and don't care for the other two but there's just no question that not only were REM bigger then, their music has aged well—they're still gaining fans

wesinjapan.bsky.social•38 days ago

It's because they broke through, but in a kind of boring way. We gotta get the kids into Dead Letter Office

shaunheiser.bsky.social•39 days ago

Is The Replacements the analogous band in America’s case? Or is it Pixies?

terraistrying.bsky.social•39 days ago

Boys always liked the replacements when I was a teen/young adult.

wetsian.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think kids today mostly know the band from their post IRS hits and think of them as just dad rock. They don’t know Driver 8 or Talk About the Passion.

casersatz.bsky.social•39 days ago

I agree. But how do you think The Cure and The Smiths (just to give two examples) escaped being "dad rock" when they all came out of the same era?

countryjim.bsky.social•39 days ago

Because R.E.M. signed a massive deal with Warners and became global superstars, and the Cure and the Smiths didn't

Normies were into R.E.M. in the Warners era

wishda.bsky.social•39 days ago

R.E.M. was dad rock even when they were young and hip. Like Wilco or The Decembrists after
them, they were a band that no one would have blinked if a dad was playing them in the car.

The Cure and The Smiths were weird, while R.E.M. was always “accounting majors in a college band” coded.

wetsian.bsky.social•39 days ago

My dad loves REM (fan since Chronic Town) and I guarantee he’s never heard a Smiths song and maybe knows a few Cure. I just don’t think they got the radio play where he was in the 80s (Indianapolis).

wetsian.bsky.social•39 days ago

To be clearer I just think there are more kids (in America) with boring dads who love REM then the other 2

nikostratis.com•38 days ago

I often wonder if part of it is that they influenced bands that are perceived as being cooler than them in one way or another, bands who become Brands through nostalgia which REM never really got and eventually they got lost in the mix. The songwriters songwriter problem.

missmira2u.bsky.social•38 days ago

Mass culture has only retained its memories of the REM songs that came out after they fell sharply off the coolness cliff

mbletst.bsky.social•38 days ago

this thread made me go listen to shiny happy people and then get mad all over again that it wasn't used as the outro song in jordan peele's us

tape.website•39 days ago

I think it's because they're Sad Music and teens are perpetually into that shit. R.E.M. has a lot of dark stuff to be sure but they've never been sad-coded

jaimetowne.bsky.social•39 days ago

They sounded nothing like a typical southern band early in their career but they were most definitely a southern band. Their existence oozed an identity that could only originate in the American south yet they sounded nothing like Skynyrd, Allmans, etc.

jaimetowne.bsky.social•39 days ago

That’s what made them cool and they lost a lot of that coolness when they removed that identity from their sleeve & started to become more worldly.

skeptictank.bsky.social•39 days ago

I’d argue this does actually happen, albeit with a much smaller subset of the more clued-in college kids, who discover that REMs first few records are better than their vague awareness of what REM was

jsstark.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM is your dad. Can be cool compared to other dads but is ultimately just there in the background. The Cure and the Smiths are your dad’s cool friends from high school. Why can’t dad be more like them? (I like REM 10x more personally)

keviniskevin.bsky.social•39 days ago

In America, I have to believe it's because of both their popularity and how they got it. I've been a fan for years, but it was hard to convince people my age that the band that made "Shiny Happy People" and "Everybody Hurts" (and was, at the time, making Reveal and Around the Sun) was cool.

byctom.bsky.social•38 days ago

it is important that we survey America's youth to get the answer to the question: when did you first hear of REM?

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

Any theories on this @scottaukerman.bsky.social?

method1.bsky.social•39 days ago

Sorry for not being the one you tagged, but I think part of it may be image: Robert Smith is all lipstick, hairspray and whimsy. Morrissey is the disaffected loner poet with a flower in his pocket.

REM are just…kind of normal dudes? Great music, but hard to build the same kind of fandom.

method1.bsky.social•39 days ago

A great advantage to The Cure and The Smiths in 2025 is that they never are going to come off like someone’s dad. They are eternally “other” in a way that REM doesn’t have.

pyromance.bsky.social•38 days ago

unfortunately, i think morrissey comes across as someone's dad a lot more in the past decade than we'd all like

method1.bsky.social•38 days ago

Sure. But Smiths-era Morrissey is a whole different vibe

kedgehog.bsky.social•38 days ago

If you dad fawns around in an open shirt with gladiolas, I’d like to meet your dad

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

Might as well plug this one too while we're here. https://bsky.app/profile/lukeoneil47.bsky.social/post/3kggwuikbos2l

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

Despite both obviously being very popular for decades they were never as massive as REM became. Could be part of it.

shelleybwoke.bsky.social•39 days ago

The Cure has arguably had a greater cultural influence than REM. And i say that as a huge REMhead

mentoch.bsky.social•39 days ago

At least not in America.

oujii.bsky.social•38 days ago

REM's last 9 albums peaked on the UK charts at: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 5

They were just huge everywhere, in a way that's kind of hard to believe now

mentoch.bsky.social•38 days ago

Man, that's wild.

hanksingle.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think this is part of it - there's a copy of Monster in the CD collection of a lot of uncool, unhip parents, and I think that kind of association is tough. Also, like, Stipe was constantly ridiculed, essentially bc he was a rockstar without hair, and I think that kind of shades their memory.

krellomat.bsky.social•39 days ago

How to say you’re American without saying you’re American lol

mgbesq.bsky.social•39 days ago

Very objectively, globally, REM has sold 90M records vs The Cure 30M and The Smiths 10M.

krellomat.bsky.social•38 days ago

With all due respect, album sales alone are a very bad measure for „greatness“

mgbesq.bsky.social•38 days ago

Nobody in the thread discussed greatness. It was a matter of how “massive” the bands were, and REM was objectively more massive than The Cure or The Smiths.

backonboogiestreet.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah REM were one of the 2 or 3 biggest bands in the world for a time. Also dressed like dorks for whatever that's worth.

jcry.bsky.social•38 days ago

As opposed to The Cure? Bob's hairstyle is iconic but man, those guys had some wild fits at times.

backonboogiestreet.bsky.social•38 days ago

Iconic is the key word there. Bob is probably the first person most people picture when they hear the word "goth" despite the giant hockey jerseys he wore for years.

jcry.bsky.social•38 days ago

Goth from the neck up.

Kevin Smith from the neck down.

backonboogiestreet.bsky.social•38 days ago

😆

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM sold something like 100m albums, The Cure around 30m and The Smiths like 5m based on a shitty quick search that is probably wrong.

velourshirt.bsky.social•39 days ago

Smiths only had 4 studio albums, seems legit

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

I believe it it just seems so small compared to their cultural footprint

michaeljameshawk.bsky.social•39 days ago

The key here is all 3 are locked in tremendo.

prozacelf.bsky.social•39 days ago

I'd believe it

Growing up in the 80s-90s I recall REM getting a LOT more exposure on the radio & MTV as well

birdynumnum.bsky.social•39 days ago

REM was never part of the "teenage angst ennui 'i wear black on the outside because i feel black on the inside' twee cardigan wearing' scene. i think the Smiths and Cure keep resonating with that never ending supply of kids.

jackhitts.bsky.social•39 days ago

Also how much of the Smiths and Cure’s popularity is that they’re British so you had to work to find out about them? Like if you’re an American teen in the 90s REM was everywhere but the Smiths and the Cure were like a secret only for misfit kids.

oujii.bsky.social•38 days ago

i feel like by disintegration and wish the cure were pretty ubiquitous too; the smiths otoh no longer existed the 90s

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah but doesn’t apply to kids now

jackhitts.bsky.social•39 days ago

Yeah you’re right but I guess I was thinking that there’s still a cool factor behind the Cure and the Smiths because they’re basically still cult bands (basically). REM is still around. You might hear “Losing My Religion” or “Man In The Moon” at the grocery store.

egg-van-gundy.bsky.social•38 days ago

smashing pumpkins were and they’ve gone the way of REM, probably because they got too big, too

jerryroe.bsky.social•38 days ago

Smashing Pumpkins has definitely not gone the way of REM. A major influence on a lot of young bands and a big draw live still. Billy’s just insane and they only really made one truly good record.

egg-van-gundy.bsky.social•38 days ago

mazzy star is bigger now than either

90sslowjamz.bsky.social•38 days ago

The Mazzy Star Renaissance is such a great development

bullgooseparty.bsky.social•38 days ago

As they should be

dansbadsky.bsky.social•38 days ago

I worked with a kid who's trying to become a pro wrestler. He told me one day that he got a meeting with this guy named Billy who now owns the NWA. I said "you mean Billy CORGAN?" And he said "yeah something like that"

Had no clue that his music career existed/was why he could even buy the NWA

hickman.bsky.social•38 days ago

Much smaller scale, but a friend's much younger brother almost did some work with Butch Walker out in LA and he was really confused when all of us (grew up in late 90's North GA) not only knew who that was but were really pumped about it

dansbadsky.bsky.social•38 days ago

I told him to go listen to Zero, he did and came back to me halfway through like Scott Smalls learning who Babe Ruth was saying "this is THAT DUDE? That old bald head dude is this guy???"

stevemoniak.bsky.social•38 days ago

And Billy Corgan turned into a red pilled dipshit

oujii.bsky.social•38 days ago

so did morrisey

jimmybowman.bsky.social•39 days ago

I think if we convince the kids that 80's REM and 90's REM were actually different bands, they'd latch on to the former with gusto

b-bolt.bsky.social•39 days ago

you will need to assemble an elite team of old gen-xers from youtube comments. only problem is they'll try to fracture on whether REM sold out on Green, Document, Life's Rich Pageant, Fables of the Reconstruction...

jamiea.bsky.social•38 days ago

Mitch Easter era REM was the best REM

onetruewheel.bsky.social•18 days ago

Yes, Dantés was framed but he wound up the richest man in the world with a smoking hot slave goddess half his age.

houlihan.bsky.social•38 days ago

I'll bite - Something happened between Life's Rich Pageant and Document. Jarring turn for the worse.

jeremywoodward.bsky.social•38 days ago

That would be the record producer Scott Litt, who REM worked with for the next 10 years.
Document
Green
Out of time
Automatic for the people
Monster
New adventures

houlihan.bsky.social•38 days ago

Well I don't like Scott Litt very much. Ruined one of my favorite bands.

mattrosoff.bsky.social•38 days ago

Wrong. Green was their last decent album. Out of Time was the sellout

kjscientist.bsky.social•38 days ago

Elder millennial here to stan for Automatic for the People

houlihan.bsky.social•38 days ago

Hmm going to have to disagree with you there, chief

toowoke2joke.on.computer•38 days ago

Guys, I don't think this murder mystery is as complicated as you make it to be. Here's the smoking gun.

bubbaprog.lol•38 days ago

wait are you saying the youths are more attracted to neo-fascist Morrissey than boring rich progressive Michael Stipe?

brittexkavi.bsky.social•38 days ago

I’m team Stipe (fav band) so I’m biased but Morrissey is such a pretentious shit. I saw him & The Cure a month apart a few years ago & it was like night & day in presence & performance. Smith was incredible. Stuck it out w/us in the rain. Top 3 shows.

rowyourbot.bsky.social•38 days ago

It's the music probably. Maybe REM is too smooth, too easily assimilated to pop to the casual listener.

brittexkavi.bsky.social•38 days ago

REM (IMO) is one of those bands that people like me who were super into music & coming of age loved b/c they were experimental at times & their best songs are on well known albums but never received radio play. Additional cool points for his friendships w/Cobain, Yorke, & Patti Smith.

rowyourbot.bsky.social•38 days ago

I know. I saw them in concert, in a small theater. A great band. I was never as into them as some but appreciated their music.

brittexkavi.bsky.social•38 days ago

They don’t head up a lot of peoples lists like mine & I’m always pleasantly surprised when I share this commonality. REM was my 2nd show but it was after they blew up w/Monster. Radiohead & Natalie Merchant opened but I would have killed to see Stipe play a small venue.

nduggan.bsky.social•38 days ago

In my limited conversations with the youths re: the smiths (as a high school teacher). The youths do not like morrissey but do like the smiths. This is purely anecdotal and an extremely small sample size.

lukeoneil47.bsky.social•38 days ago

lol but also yes

lurkymclurk.bsky.social•38 days ago

But his sax playing really lifted those deep cuts on Monster…

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