Artist bio

In the '80s and '90s, when underground rock music on independent labels exploded with word-of-mouth popularity and critical acclaim and the opposing audience for mainstream pop also surged ahead to new levels of commercial enormity, a four-piece rock and roll band from Athens, Ga. forged an unforgettable career out of walking the line between the two.

R.E.M. was the acceptable edge of the unacceptable stuff; the hard-working college-rock band loved by critics from the start, and recommended by those in the know, until its gradually growing fanbase eventually made it one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Throughout its career parabola -- from the raw, Southern art-rock of the early '80s to the singles-driven widescreen pop monoliths of its middle age, and down the slope of commercial success to the post-Bill Berry years -- R.E.M. has made engaging, self-respecting pop-rock songs and albums, staking out its claim as not the best rock band of its day, but one of the most consistent, and well-aging of its peer group.

R.E.M. also helped bring the concept of college-rock, or alternative rock, to the public consciousness. During its formative years, despite such accolades as its full-length debut Murmur being named top album of 1983 by Rolling Stone magazine, the band was largely ignored by commercial radio. But the R.E.M. bandwagon kept rolling and picking up new acolytes, largely due to the group's tireless touring schedule, and the embrace of college radio stations, which gave the band heavy airplay throughout the '80s. They were the visible face of this expansion of the music industry, in which bands that weren't incredibly popular by major-label standards could succeed by appealing to an "alternative" fanbase.

Ironically, as much as the band exemplified alternative rock, their subsequent crossover into mainstream pop stardom helped render that concept nearly obsolete. One could hardly call such latter-day R.E.M. albums like Out Of Time and Automatic For The People (each quadruple platinum) "alternatives," as would be the case with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, dubbed with similar tags in the early '90s even as they topped the Billboard charts.

But name-calling aside, R.E.M.'s catalog, now some 13 albums strong, is one of the more accomplished of the modern rock era. And the apparent key to the group's success is that over two decades and counting, its members have always made the music that they wanted to make; what kept them interested and excited about rock. That in itself should be a fitting legacy.

Albums by this artist

Reveal (2001)

Up (1998)

New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)

Monster (1994)

Automatic For The People (Recommended) (1992)

Out Of Time (1991)

Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)

Reckoning (1984)

Murmur (Recommended) (1983)

Chronic Town (Recommended) (1982)

Concerts

August 31, 1999
Chastain Park Amphitheater, Atlanta

August 20, 1999
New World Music Theatre, Tinley Park, Ill.

R.E.M.

Up

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» BRIAN COHEN | STAFF WRITER

R.E.M. Up Warner Bros., 1998 RiYL: Radiohead’s OK Computer, XTC, The Sea and Cake, Yo La Tengo's Painful, Sean Lennon

Since its 1982 debut, Murmur, R.E.M. has succeeded in paving the non-mainstream promenades of rock music. The band has outlived virtually all of its contemporaries with muted fanfare, relatively little controversy and irreverence to the commercialism that has come to plague today's music industry. Indeed, there had been no real "turds in the punchbowl" of R.E.M.'s career, as frontman Michael Stipe said.

With such a history, it was a big deal when drummer Bill Berry decided in 1997 it was time to quit the band that he had helped create. For the first time in its 18 years, R.E.M. hit a major snag.

But instead of dwelling on the negatives of such a stinging loss, the remaining three members of R.E.M. capitalized on the opportunity to throw caution to the wind by completely revamping their approach to songwriting. The result is Up, a densely textured, sprawling masterpiece that outshines and outclasses most of the late '90s rock releases.

Having set the electric guitar aside in favor of keyboards, mellotrons and kitschy noise machines, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills traded job descriptions for Up, playing each other's instruments in addition to a host of other rhythm machines and analog synthesizers from Buck's private collection.

The first listen to Up is likely to incite a few raised eyebrows and dropped jaws. Aside from Stipe's trademark vocals, it's not always easy to believe that the music underneath is being played by R.E.M. In fact, the album begins with the band's most experimental offering to date, as the low gurgles of "Airport Man" fizz, pop and crackle into an eerie coagulation of soft vocals and vibrating keyboards.

Following suit to 1996's New Adventures In Hi-Fi and 1995's Monster, the second track of Up proves to be the album's real jumpstarter. "Lotus" kicks off with a raspy "Hey, hey!" chant and a dazzling roller-rink keyboard intro, ultimately stepping into a swaggering chorus. A vintage guitar riff rattles around the verses, recalling the warped and jagged edginess of 1985's Fables Of The Reconstruction.

For all its weirdness, parts of Up bear similarities to many other R.E.M. albums. The mandolin sections on "You're In The Air" could just have easily fit on Out Of Time, while the darker aura of "Sad Professor" and "The Apologist" would not be terribly out of place on Automatic For The People.

Thanks to Stipe's ease with channeling his emotions in a third-person voice, Up is another "character record," much like Fables Of The Reconstruction. But where the subject matter of Fables' songs came from actual fixtures of Stipe's Athens neighborhood, the characters on Up are mostly creations of Stipe's imagination.

The protagonist of "Hope" struggles with the decision of whether to trust science or religion, while the elderly gentleman in "Sad Professor" finally comes to grips with his inability to get through to his students. A courtroom drama unfolds in the spooky bass-driven "Diminished," while a moment of epiphany bursts open for the subject of "Walk Unafraid," -- Stipe's favorite album track -- which was lyrically inspired by Patti Smith.

The album's lone love song is perhaps the best track on Up, with some of the most romantic imagery ever to grace an R.E.M. album. "I count your eyelashes secretly / with every one whisper I love you," croons Stipe in the Beach Boys-esque "At My Most Beautiful." With multi-part background harmonies and an orchestral swirl of strings and piano, this is clearly the best song Brian Wilson never wrote.

Much like OK Computer, Up works best when the drips and churps of the added instrumentation enhance the melody instead of drown it out. The frazzled synthesizer on "Suspicion" fills out its subtle background, eliciting one of Stipe's most gorgeous melodies in recent memory. First single "Daysleeper" benefits from a few wisps of feedback and remains the album's most traditionally structured R.E.M. song. Here, Stipe discusses the dangers of technology and its effects on a night worker whose stressful nights have been colored "headache grey" with responsibility. The song's infectious minor-keyed chorus proves R.E.M. is still more than capable of appealing to a mass audience.

In the band's tradition of strong album closers, "Falls To Climb," the closing salvo of Up, is a chilling session of self-introspection. Light-years from "Radio Free Europe" but still perfectly essential, Mills' soft organ and Buck's acoustic guitar melt with Stipe's powerful and uplifting chorus to unearth the track's quintessential R.E.M. feel.

There's no hiding the obvious changes in R.E.M.'s approach to the mixing and arranging on Up. But the unmistakably familiar elements of melody and beauty that remain at the songs' cores shine through. Repeated listens to Up will assure fans that R.E.M. still possesses an undeniable talent for making great albums.

BRIAN COHEN |