Slate's REM vs. U2 piece

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I don't even know where to begin with this. It sort of reminds me of a review of the Geraldine Fibbers I once read where the writer spent half the bit explaining how the Fibbers were different from and better than Violent Femmes. Um, OK.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Saturday, 11 November 2006 02:50 (nineteen years ago)

"Remember the 80s?"

― timmy tannin (pompous), Saturday, 11 November 2006 02:58 (nineteen years ago)

I noticed that the other day and hurt. It's like how the sixties has been reduced in so many corners to the Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones -- totally untrue, and a narrative so entrenched that I'm now sick of it, the bands, EVERYTHING about them. And now the same here. GAH.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 November 2006 03:06 (nineteen years ago)

But that narrative is not your own. Is that the real reason you're sick of them?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 11 November 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

If I was sick of all narratives not my own I would have considered existence via this mortal coil rather problematic.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 November 2006 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

No no, I meant is the media narrative the real reason you're sick of those bands? Because someone might have their own "narrative" going on with their own relationship with the bands and if the media narrative doesn't correspond with it, then maybe it's irrelevant.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 11 November 2006 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

I would be sympathetic of such an individual-sounding argument, which this putatively is trying to be, if this essay didn't include bits like:

Either you loved U2, or you liked them fine. Either you loved R.E.M., or you hated them.

Just, no.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 November 2006 03:39 (nineteen years ago)

Bono even discusses Stipe in U2 by U2: "Michael Stipe's friendship means more to me than I can ever tell you," he says on Page 162. Then, he doesn't mention Stipe's name again in the book.

this is about the dumbest thing i've ever read.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 11 November 2006 04:13 (nineteen years ago)

J.D. OTM

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Saturday, 11 November 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

this article happened twice this week!? [stylus and slate!?]

― blackmail (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 11 November 2006 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

"Hey, remember those Frankie Say Relax t-shirts?"

― wordy rappaport (EstieButtez1), Saturday, 11 November 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

BTW, the Slate article was much better than the Stylus one.

― wordy rappaport (EstieButtez1), Saturday, 11 November 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

this piece is fairly typical of the sort often found in Slate or Salon, where its clear that the writer only knows how to read, and has no idea how to listen. all he seems to be able to talk about is the implications whether the songs WORDS are clear or not. He makes passing references to what the music is doing only as an aside.

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Saturday, 11 November 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

Go listen to jazz, butthole.

― wordy rappaport (EstieButtez1), Saturday, 11 November 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

Yes sir, Mr. Douchebag, sir!

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Forget about the names of the actual bands, what the hell is this:

In the studio, R.E.M. was tentative and exploratory, while U2 was as straightforwardly ambitious as a band could be.

The descriptive terms basically contradict each other, i.e. "tentative" is the opposite of "exploratory", similarly, how can you be "ambitious" in a straightforward way?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

"There's nothing like being at Number One," Bono says in U2 by U2. "It's just better than Number Two."

SO PROFOUND

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

that's the sweet mystery of bono!

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, but OK.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

R.E.M.'s Berry had amicably left the commercially floundering band after suffering an aneurysm onstage during a concert.

How OFFTM can a writer be in a single sentence? The timeline, the reasoning behind Berry's departure, the meaning of "commercially floundering", everything.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 11 November 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

R.E.M. have released three excellent albums after Berry left. I can understand that the guitar-fanatics that used to be into them in the mid 80s dislike how they have mostly replaced him with drum machines instead, but I still don't see how that would be negative to an ILM readership mainly into music featuring a lot of electronics.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 12 November 2006 01:41 (nineteen years ago)

A friend once gave his sister, for her birthday in 1988, a complete collection of R.E.M. lyrics, painstakingly hand-transcribed from repeated listens to the songs. Were they right? It hardly mattered.

Because the present is such a stingy prick-move in the first place?

And I Feel Fine reminds listeners that R.E.M., not U2, made the most memorable music of the 1980s.

http://www.synthmania.com/images/Synthesizers/Roland/TB-303/Roland%20TB-303%20frontal.jpg

― occasional mongrel (kit brash), Sunday, 12 November 2006 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

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