"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
Old thread now so sorry to chime in so late. While I agree with the general thesis of Billy Dat's quoted post here, I think I have to disagree with the timeline above. There wasn't a high schooler or college kid in America who hadn't heard "It's The End of The World As We Know It," "The One I Love," and "Stand" a thousand times before Peter Buck picked up a mandolin. Document and Green both were multiple platinum albums, the former was in the top 50 of Rolling Stones' list of the best albums of the 1980's, and they were consistently on MTV by 1987 or so. It was certainly a slower buildup to superstardom than Dave Matthews going from playing on the Crowell Quad in 1993 to showing up on every pop and rock station in the country 18 months later. And certainly "Losing My Religion" launched them into the stratosphere, but R.E.M. was already considered by many to be an "important" American rock band long before we hit the '90's, and had been a critical darling and commercial success for quite some time at that point.
That's the other primary difference here, other than just musical style. Others covered this in the first page of the thread, but R.E.M. is part of the rock canon, was beloved by music critics perhaps even more than by their fans, and is much more well known internationally today. They had a solid 15 year run of producing well-received albums, and are generally given a lot of credit for ushering in "alternative rock" alongside the grunge movement, whereas I can't think of any band or musician outside of someone like John Mayer who I would think might claim Dave Matthews as an "influence." I say this all as someone who probably saw DMB in concert 15 times between 1993 and 1997 or so and was a big devotee of the jam band scene from age 18 to about 25, but the legacy of Dave Matthews is pretty limited. They sold a lot of records for awhile and have entertained a helluva lot of people in concerts over the last 30 years, but I don't think anyone really considers them as a band that changed the world or is a big part of rock history or whatever. They're more like keepers of the flame along with Widespread Panic and Phish and others who took the Grateful Dead's mold and reshaped it. In fact, the longer they stayed on scene the less well-received their studio work became (and to be honest, I think for good reason - I wouldn't sit and listen to a full album released by DMB after Crash and even there I'd skip a couple tracks). They arrived on the scene at their musical peak, rather than building up to it and evolving in a way that brought in more people with each album. For me, and I suspect a lot of others, they're very, very tied to a time and place, whereas R.E.M. are widely considered one of the pantheon bands of the late 20th century.
REM is one of my favorite bands ever, I never cared much for DMB at all. Outside of being bands from college towns that mostly toured the southeast while growing a following is really the only commonality I see. REM is highly influential, one of the essential 80s indie/college rock bands, right up there with U2, The Smiths, Talking Heads, The Replacements. Thats unique high level company. I would argue that their move to WB was not really a sellout move, they made 6 records in that trademark IRS style, and decided to explore different musical avenues from the baroque pop of Out of Time, the brooding folk of Automatic for the People, the raw rock and sex of Monster, the stripped back emptiness of New Adventures in HiFi and the experimentalism of Up, they always took chances.
DMB I just associate with Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, Phish, that was never my scene. Their tour bus did dump poo on some folks so I guess thats kinda rock n roll
Whoa. There are some seriously studious posts recently that are making me question my music tastes.
I’m listening to Tedeschi Trucks Band right now and wondering who their influences were. I suppose REM is probably a bit above Hootie and Spin Doctors, but by how much? I doubt any are high on the list of influences for musicians like them.
This may be the weirdest mash-up thread I can think of.
Carolina delenda est
Random thought... REM may also be the only band in the world whose drummer suffered a ruptured intracranial aneurysm in the middle of a concert and lived to tell the tale.
Edited to add: cool or creepy that his last name was Berry?*
*(For the uninitiated, intracranial aneurysms are often referred to as 'berry aneurysms.')
Edited again to add: Probably the only thing weirder in rock history than a guy named Berry rupturing a berry aneurysm during a concert was the death of Randy Rhoades, epic lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy was deathly afraid of dying in a plane crash, so the band drove to every concert. Randy was killed when their caravan was struck by a small plane.
Last edited by rsvman; 06-28-2022 at 11:23 PM.
and wondering if it was a fair comparison or not. I appreciate the replies; I was looking for provocative thought and have received it, thanks!!
The original question on this thread still befuddles me.
On a completely tangential note, apparently REM was not the only band to ever write a happy-ish song about the end of the world. There is an Italian band called La Rappresentante di Lista that put out a song called "Ciao Ciao" (Bye-bye) about the end of the world.
It's kind of a fun, catchy, Latin-style pop-tune listen, if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxer4GwV1sc
Since I am learning Italian, I also took it as an opportunity to do a little translation. It may not be completely accurate, but it's close.
The video starts with an announcer, who says, "Our evening ends here. The end of the world. Bye-bye."
Song starts thereafter, with these approximate lyrics:
How are you, baby?
Where are you going this evening?
Such fear around you,
It's the end of the world.
Above the ruin I am a queen
But I don't know what to save.
I'm torn, I already miss you,
Sweet eyes, broken heart.
What a fright! Like the wind
This land will disappear.
Amidst the silence of the general crisis
I greet you with love.
Chorus
With the hands, with the hands, with the hands, bye-bye
With the feet, with the feet, with the feet, bye-bye
With the head, with the chest, with the heart, bye-bye
With the legs, with the butt, with my eyes, bye-bye
This is the time of the end.
We will break all the shop windows.
It's our turn, you don't feel it, it arrives like a wave.
I feel it will explode, explode.
The end of the world is the perfect carnival ride;
The desire to party bursts in my heart.
The end of the world! What sweet cancellation!
I don't feel well, my head explodes.
Chorus
With the hands, etc., bye-bye
Good night. Good night (in French)
Good night, and bye-bye.
Good night, it's the end, I salute you,
Bye-bye.
Good night, good night (in French)
And good night, and bye-bye. Bye-bye, bye-bye.
While eating chocolate at a local shop
A social vertigo overwhelms me;
While reading a stupid newspaper in the city,
World war breaks out.
Chorus
With the hands, etc., bye-bye.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
Age old indie rock "ethic" derided and bemoaned any independent band's move from a small label to a major as "selling out" in essence, compromising your art for money. I wasn't really dialed into any sort of scene in 1988 when REM signed with WB so I can't attest to any backlash, but I'm sure there were those true believers who did. I think REM's work stands for itself and their integrity.
Its just another form of tribalism, and a desperate attempt by some to cling to some indie cred ideal to come across as interesting people. I wish I could say I was lying when I've heard scenesters abandon certain bands because they had a song used as a transition bumper on NPR and were thus "too popular". That aint no way to live.