REM's Murmur used to mean everything in the world to me. In the days when a punk rock shirt signified a co-conspirator, Murmur might have been from the college rock wing, but it was part of the same left of the dial fabric. Its kudzu draped cover promised a Southern mystery tinged of bohemia. I fell for their Byrds and Velvet Underground laced stew hard. I even embarked on my own trip to Athens, GA in the spring of 1986. It was a "pilgrimage" of the highest order. I bought records in the Wuxtry that Peter Buck used to work at and strolled the streets downtown in an amphetamine dazzle of thoughts. My issues of Tasty World (an Athens music magazine) I had bought in the Murfreesboro Cat's Records sprang to life and for a few days in which I didn’t sleep I felt more than alive, I absolutely felt electric.
College rock was indeed an alternate universe in those days and it felt like a movement was sweeping the cognoscenti across the land. The last of the boomers were finishing college and the eldest of my generation were entering college. Green On Red sang about a "Brave Generation", but the Replacements really summed it up with "Bastards of Young" years before the term Generation X was used. We latchkey children from the 70's seemed destined to always sit at the kid's table while the boomers made their mark, but at least we had great music made by the last wave of the baby boom. For better or worse, it would be my peers that put the alternative lollapalooza world on the map. REM is perhaps the biggest of the groups that escaped the college rock ghetto with hardly a cry of sellout to be heard. Does their music still move me?
REM was one of a handful of acts I worshipped and their influence cannot be denied. One of the great things about being young is being idealistic and having the energy to put those thoughts into motion. Whenever I felt off the path of the future places I envisioned for myself, Murmur became a reassuring soundtrack that re-energized my youth and quieted my fears. When I put the record on now I'm left wondering why the record does nothing for me today. I sometimes question where the problem lies. Did my heart grow smaller? Is the inevitable second guessing (ha-ha) of oncoming middle age the problem? Maybe I can no longer live up to the expectations and hope the record used to inspire. Or maybe it was REM's own inexorable slide into mediocrity, which accompanied their arrival into superstardom that has laid a patina of green (pun intended) onto the copper majesty of their early days.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
Wally, first, very nice writing, very absorbing and real, I enjoyed it. And I agree with most of it, but I totally disagree about Murmur: it's their only album that still sounds like genius to me. I love the dark mystery of the lyrics - no fucking clue what he's talking about most of the time, but it sounds important in ways that can only be expressed obliquely. I still find "Radio Free Europe" their single most compelling song and the production throughout by Don Dixon and Mitch Easter is perfect. For me it absolutely holds up.
2 - wally bangs
Thanks for the compliment Eric. I'm glad you still like the album. I've tried and tried to still like it, but I always just end up wanting to sling the thing across the room. I do find myself liking songs here and there, but as far as one album holding up, I've have to say the Chronic Town EP (which CD appears to be out of print. I guess it's not long enough to get me down.
3 - Eric Olsen
I like that too, but it's less tuneful. I also like Dead Letter Office quite a bit: their "Pale Blue Eyes" may top the Velvets
4 - wally bangs
I still enjoy their version of "King Of The Road" off of Dead Letter Office. I also like the cover of Pylon's "Crazy".
5 - Eric Olsen
I think "Superman" was their last song I really truly loved, though there have been many since I have liked
6 - Eric Berlin
It seems as though your present feelings about the band and their activism has colored your feelings about an album you once loved.
Maybe I'm lucky in that I don't really ascribe that much value to lyrics. To me, it's all about the music (and the vocals as music), and it usually takes me a dozen listenings or more of any song before I pick up on what it's really supposed to be all about. I used to find this strange about myself (especially as a writer and worshipper of words) until I learned that some musicians themselves feel the same way.
Onward to Murmur: I agree with Mr. Olsen in that I feel that it holds up extremely well today. It has a timeless, yearning, murky sound that evokes images and emotion. The words are there (and sometimes not) to steer the listener onto new oddities and pathways. The album has a great deal of vitality and versatility to it as well: it's a great listen all the way through, which is rare nowadays, to say the least.
Is it the best REM album? I'm not sure, but it's up there. I've always been partial to Life's Rich Pageant and New Adventures in Hi-Fi (a rare favorite, especially among the old-school fans).
Personally, what the band does or says outside the studio doesn't really affect me at all. If they're into activism, cool. If the drummer dropped out of the band, that's interesting, but I'm more concerned with the results: how does the music hold up (started shaky, getting better by the album)?.
Interesting and well-written post, Wally.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
7 - Mark Saleski
very nice.
i still love Murmur. maybe best of all, though that's a tough one.
the activism never bothered me...but i'm one 'o them liberal bastards.
8 - Eric Olsen
very interesting Eric, it has never really occurred to me over all these years until now, but I am much more of a vocals-as-music listener than a lyric-head myself. I often don't EVER know all the words to some of my favorite songs. I know the sound of the words and often that's enough
9 - Tim Hall
I'm very much the same (it's probably true of most prog-rock fans!).
The only problem is I find myself unable to appreciate any music for which the lyrics are the main appeal.
There seems to be a lot of stuff with lyrics deeply symbolic of man's struggle against his social-political environment, all of which leaves me cold because there's nothing much happening musically apart from the words.
10 - wally bangs
Nice post, Mr. Berlin, you've got me thinking about something I found to be true after I learned how to play guitar. Basically I used to be into lyrics first and then the music came next. If the music stunk, well no amount of good lyrics can help it, but the lyrics had to pull the most weight for me. Now I key in on music and while I can rarely sing all of the words to a song I can always tell you how the melody goes. In Murmur's case I don't find the music as entrancing as in the past. I find the back up singing of Mills to be better than Stipe's lead vocals. Berry's drumming never blew me away, but he carries the tunes well. He also was the principal songwriter of most of the REM tracks I still like.
I talk about them carrying on after Berry because there are numerous articles where they claimed they would never go on without the four of them there. I'm sure he wanted them to continue, but for a band that had carefully cultivated a hyper political stance, it seems hypocritical to me to not live up to your own words.
Sure the activism has tainted my apprecation of the band as many suggest. But its not because they espouse liberal viewpoints. I think Toby Keith's jingoistic patriotism is just as repugnant. It may just be lingering sour grapes from an old story I read where Pete Buck blasted the Clash for being "political". That was around the Fables era. Even though The Clash had many political ideas I don't agree with, I still love all of their records.
I'm glad my little post has stirred up some response.
11 - Aaman
So you've woken up, don't 'get' REM anymore and feel tired - REM meets mid-life crisis, via sensory political overload - take two 'Talking Heads' and call me in the morning.
Excellent post - familarity does breed contempt.
REM are more than a one-trick pony, though - unlike U2, whose new album sounds a lot like many of their old ones.
12 - wally bangs
Now, I never said I was tired, but man that "take two 'Talking Heads' and call me in the morning" line from Aaman is awesome. I will have to use that one sometimes. Thanks for the compliments.
13 - DJRadiohead
I had considered doing something similar (revisiting a favorite album or song). Reading this post and the discussion that has followed has convinced me I should. I am putting it on my "To Do" list.
Murmur: It never was my favorite R.E.M. album and it still isn't. I was a late convert- the first R.E.M. records I really listened to were their mid-period records (Document thru Monster. When I did go back to listen to their early stuff, I was shocked. Sure it's charming to listen to just how little they knew about making records, but some of that shit is awful.
Now... let me totally contradict myself for your amusement. My favorite R.E.M. song of all time is probably "Fall On Me" which comes from this era I am dismissing.
Point? Shit, don't have one. But, this post did force me to go to "Murmur" on the iPod and now that I have brought up "Fall On Me," I have queued it up next. Thanks, Wally.
14 - wally bangs
I'm glad to have inspired someone to revisit more albums. I look forward to reading your future post DJRadiohead.
15 - Al Barger
Wally, I might humbly suggest that the problem with Murmur is that it wasn't that good in the first place. Hell, for as many dozen times as I heard the thing (and owned it once or twice), "Talk About the Passion" is the only song I readily remember. Murmur just wasn't a Sgt Pepper to begin with.
It's not like REM are a major act, like Prince or the Beatles. That's much less mediocrities at best like Husker Du or the Minutemen.
Now, I mean no hostility. You seem like a fine fellow there. However, you could use some new music. Perhaps you might find some primers on Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry 101 to be a rewarding starting point.
16 - SFC SKI
Well said,"...REM's own inexorable slide into mediocrity, which accompanied their arrival into superstardom that has laid a patina of green (pun intended) onto the copper majesty of their early days."
I do however, Have to disagree, I still find Murmur to be a great album, and superior to anything they have released in the past fifteen years.
17 - wally bangs
Al,
I was born in Memphis and reportedly am related to the Presley clan somehow, though I've never discovered any link other than my mother being raised a dirt poor sharecropper in North Mississippi. She is an Elvis fanatic from the poodle skirt generation so I was exposed to Elvis from the start. In fact the big three in my house as a small child were Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Chuck Berry. The first 45 I ever bought was also Chuck's only number one hit in America - "My Ding-A-Ling" - which led me to his incredible 50's sides. When my 1st grade class used to bring in records for music day I was the oddball that brought my mom's old 50's 45's, instead of bringing Top Forty sides.
Like Mojo Nixon sang - "Elvis is still the king".
I agree with REM not being a major act, but there are millions that would disagree. I beg to differ about Husker Du and the Minutemen - while not being huge sales wise or completely consistent I don't think they are mediocrities.
18 - Eric Berlin
Al - I'm starting to think that you enjoy turning up the heat to see who you can bring to a boil.
You've thrown around terms like "wasn't that good" and "major act" and "much less mediocrities" (not sure what that one even means, actually) with a degree of reckless abandon, in my opinion.
You think that Murmur wasn't as good as Sgt. Pepper's? I don't think you'll get a lot of argument there. But what, according to you, constitutes a major act? REM has sold millions of albums, is known and admired around the planet, and has been cranking out high quality albums for a quarter-century.
Maybe the problem for you is that they're not really a typical rock or pop band, and that doesn't jibe with you as far as standing tall with the likes of Elvis (either one), the Beatles, Chuck Berry, etc.
I read an interview with REM once where Stipe, I believe, described the band as a "strange little folk-punk band." I thought that was just about perfect, and as far as strange little folk-punk bands go, I would consider REM a major act.
Finally, there are a number of great singles off Murmur that stand out aside from Talk About the Passion, including the much-mentioned Radio Free Europe. I personally dig Moral Kiosk and We Walk, which is a beautiful sing-song jangle of a tune that can and has gotten lost inside my head for weeks at a time.
~ Eric B.
19 - Shark
Despite Big Al's whacky political ideas -- and the fact that he often goes a bit over the top with his repressed, homoerotic fixation with Prince, I gotta go with him on this one.
IMO, REM is the most overrated, pretentious, shitty little garage band that ever made it big. My opinion is possibly influence by a live performance that was the sloppiest, worst sounding, limp piece of shit I've witnessed in almost 40 years of attending rock concerts.
Oh, and Michael Stipe is a pretentious poseur. (great hair, tho!)
(Note: 'course... yall know how I love to hate famous 1980s type icons...)
20 - Tim Hall
I love the quote in Fargo Rock City - "The great advantage in not being one of the 'cool' kids is that you don't have to pretend to like REM".
21 - Eric Olsen
the great advantage of being inherently cool is never having to pretend to like anything
22 - Shark
I hate alla yaz.
23 - Al Barger
I don't mean to disrespect REM. They did some good work in their day. You could about get one really good best of album out of their best songs.
As a singles band, they're not quite up with the Monkees, but still, they're ok.
24 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
i don't think i heard the record in question, on account of a general disinterest in REM, but this was a brilliant post.
25 - Al Barger
Mr Berlin, I'm sure that discounting REM will constitute the pulling of some fanboy chains. Sorry.
I say these things, however, because they're true. REM has been probably the most ridiculously overrated band ever in rock music. They made a few good songs, but they were never really a major league band.
You seem to think that I somehow wouldn't appreciate folk or punk folk or some little subcategory of rock music that they fall into. That's just silly.
The problem there if anything would be that they're too middle of the road stylistically, not that they're too radical.
I'm just saying that all those folks who have somehow made REM their favorite group (and there are lots of them) seem like they could use some remedial musical education. I have to conclude that some REM fans have a very limited musical vocabulary, if they think this is the greatest thing going.
Otherwise, I would think that they'd find more musically and emotionally substantive artists to fixate on. The Beatles or Prince or Merle Haggard or Miles Davis or classical or something.
Seriously, what album of REM ever was in a league with Parade or Sketches of Spain?
Bringing it closer to home in REM terms, why would you listen to them when you could just as easily be listening to the Byrds or Velvet Underground?
How did these guys ever get appointed as great high kings of shiznit? They don't have the songs. You get past a dozen or so outstanding songs in their entire career (and that's counting "Stand"), and their catalog starts running thin.