OPO: '80s bands who ripped off REM

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In honor of the worst-Athens-band thread, pick your favorite '80s band that was blatantly influenced by early REM.

I'll start: early Miracle Legion.

― Mike Appelstein (mike a), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

The mid-'80s Feelies. Actually, I'd say that R.E.M. and the Feelies probably ripped each other off at various stages of their careers.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Although they were contemporaries, I think Guadalcanal Diary did the best job of stealing from R.E.M. right out in the open.

― paul cox (paul cox), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Not for nothin', but if anyone was ripping anyone off it was R.E.M who ripped off the Feelies (or, to be a bit more polite about it, it was the Feelies who chiefly *INFLUENCED* R.E.M).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Can I say Lets Active??

― brg30 (brg30), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:49 (twenty-three years ago)

No, because Mitch Easter (Let's Active's frontman) produced some of REM's early records....making him an active participant in the very sound you're accusing him of ripping off!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, Alex, that's what I said -- that they probably ripped each other off. You will admit that the Good Earth Feelies sound more R.E.M.-ish than the Crazy Rhythms Feelies?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Fair enough, Jody. I'll give ya that. Why are we so obssessed with "ripping off" on this thread? All the bands that have been mentioned here thus far are basically from the same community and are invariably friends with each other. They were also all recorded more or less within the same era. When I think of bands "ripping off" each other, I think of Creed ripping off Alice in Chains' sound ten years after the fact or Big Black ripping off Killing Joke's sound, etc.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 01:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I acutally like Polaris (basically Miracle Legion), more then REM.

― David Allen, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 02:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Gene Clark - "Strength Of Strings" hahahahahahahahahohohohohohohohoho!

― Paul (scifisoul), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 03:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe "ripping off" was the wrong phrase. I did want an
excuse to talk about all the REM soundalike bands that sprung up in the '80s. Most of them, of course, denied sounding like REM when called on it.

Others that come to mind: a picture made, Arms Akimbo, Winter Hours, Art In The Dark. And though I can hear the REM in mid-80s Feelies, they're distinctly different. It's all in the rhythm section: Demeski/Weckerman/Sauter are unmistakably their own entity, no matter how you bury the vocals and make the guitars sound on top.

― Mike Appelstein (mike a), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 04:15 (twenty-three years ago)

No mention of the Connells so far, so...

The Connells

― paul cox (paul cox), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 04:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Addendum: The Connells sort of fall into the second wave (not being from Athens, sounding a little more polished). Additional entries in this category might include the Judybats, the Reivers*, House of Freaks, etc.

*I know they were originally named Zeitgeist and recorded for DB right in the middle of the whole Athens boom (an excellent album, btw). But as the Reivers, they sounded more focused and dedicated to their craft.

― paul cox (paul cox), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 04:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Certain ppl are going to kill me but I gotta say 54-40

― dave q, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 09:25 (twenty-three years ago)

You will admit that the Good Earth Feelies sound more R.E.M.-ish than the Crazy Rhythms Feelies?

Peter Buck produced Good Earth which means similarities would also be heightened.

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 13:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Mrs Green

The Hollowmen (not the Leeds Gothsters)

― Wondering Boy Poet, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 15:11 (twenty-three years ago)

OTM on the Connells--the shamelessly commercial, frat-boy take on the early Stipe/Buck Experience.

God, almost every effin' band formed in the South for years after the Hibtone single dropped had some mysterious kudzu tendrils curling around it. The first ones who spring to mind are Kilkenny Cats and Dreams So Real (both actual Athens bands founded in the wake of REM's conspicious success; both enjoyed brief, undersubscribed recording careers). See also gajillions of other regional also-rans and never-weres.

― Lee G (Lee G), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

Seconding Polaris, I LOVE "Summerbaby." Also the Primitives' "Crash" was pretty awesome.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

OTM on the Connells--the shamelessly commercial, frat-boy take on the early Stipe/Buck Experience.

This is simply wrong. First of all, they weren't commercial, as they never had a fraction of R.E.M.'s success. Second, the Connells did in fact dress like frat boys, but Mike Connell's songs were far more subtle and interesting than frat-rock crap from the region like Hootie and the Blowfish.

And, for what it's worth (I grew up in Raleigh, NC and knew these guys), the records in the Connells' collections were by the Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen, not R.E.M.

― John Hunter, Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

Guided by Voices in their early days. Blatantly.

― The Velvet Overlord (The Velvet Overlord), Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

dreams so real!!!! the funniest of the bunch (besides the butthole surfers i guess, even there it's close though)

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:55 (twenty years ago)

Even though his band's music was tuneless sludge compared to R.E.M., Eddie Vedder ripped off a lot of his persona and stage presence from Stipe.

― John Hunter, Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

yeah post-ten tree monkey he's basically stipe in 'so. central rain' video right?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:59 (twenty years ago)

"Others that come to mind: a picture made, Arms Akimbo, Winter Hours, Art In The Dark."

Who the heck are these bands? Who were Polaris?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 22 September 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

Tim, you didn't go to school in the South, huh?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 22 September 2005 05:54 (twenty years ago)

No. Omg, though, plz tell me that the band called "Art in the Dark" were totally great.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 22 September 2005 05:57 (twenty years ago)

"74/75" is a great song!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 22 September 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

Polaris are best known for doing the theme song to "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." I know they had a cassette you could get through sending off some cereal box tops in a Pete and Pete related promotion. I guess one of the producers was a fan or something? Stipe appeared on the show at one point as a disturbed ice cream vendor named Captain Scrummy, so I wonder if he was connected somehow to Polaris getting on there...I have no idea, all my knowledge of the band's songs comes from mixtapes people have made for me.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 22 September 2005 06:16 (twenty years ago)

Cerebral Corps

― mzui (mzui), Thursday, 22 September 2005 07:05 (twenty years ago)

I'll second the early Guided By Voices. They sound just like early REM, and they were very good at it.

For proof, check out the song Old Battery

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 22 September 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

paging mike appelstein to thread re: pete & pete...

as for the feelings ripping off REM, you people are on crack. the good earth sounds influenced by lou reed/velvets more than anything else.

and alex OTM regard the usage of ripping off. obviously these bands were all connected and shared some sort of community, of course the influence would rub off. thats the point of a scene, duh. [the "duh" is not meant for you, just emphasis.]

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Thursday, 22 September 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

feelings = feelies. i should look at the screen when i type!

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Thursday, 22 September 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

I'll second the early Guided By Voices. They sound just like early REM, and they were very good at it.

For proof, check out the song Old Battery

Checking it out now. The bass work sounds like Mike Mills, to be sure, but in every other way this is a thousand times more like the first Judybats record than anything by R.E.M.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 September 2008 03:04 (seventeen years ago)

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