REM was so badass for so long but some of their later music is ignored

[The Polack MSgt]

It's only natural I suppose, people move on and the flavor of the month changes...

What seemed revolutionary in the 80s seems Corporate 25 years later.

It's a shame but very few artists last that long to begin with and the few who make it rarely stay at their peak popularity.

All of that is true, but it doesn't touch the genius of the band. This song is a quintessential REM rocker.
The guitar work s deceptively hard.
The rhythm shifts and shimmers in subtle ways.
The vocals are classic Michael Stipe.
And of course the lyrics are vague and bewildering

My favorite REM song is still "Driver 8", but "Low Desert" is a close second and no one ever plays it on the radio...

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Automatic for the People - end to end my favorite release of theirs

THIS song...wow.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. That is a forgotten gem as well

They were the biggest band on earth for a decade and yet they have a huge number of songs that seem almost unknown to most people.

I mean not even just random people but Rock fans as well...

And just because I like "How the west was won and what it got us" so much that I bought the cassette single, here's the B-side

I think they had just found an accordion in a pawn shop and sat around trying to play...

[d_r]

3. I don't know what is underheard and what isn't

But I've always loved Stipe reading that album cover in "Voice of Harold" I think because I loved 7 Chinese Brothers first.

[The Polack MSgt]

5. Wow, I had never heard that

Awesome. Thanks

[mr_lebowski]

6. I literally know all the words to Voice of Harold ... I prefer it to 7 Chinese Brothers ...

The pure tenor quality of the voice of Harold ...

on and on songs roll on and soon you are caught up ...

it's so classic. I esp. love how he doesn't actually read the liner notes verbatim but mixes up pieces and it all just flows just perfect, even though he was making it up at the time.

DLO is a forgotten gem, for sure.

[d_r]

9. When i first got a cd player

The DLO CD had just been released and it was the first CD I bought

[BootinUp]

8. That rocks! nt

[mr_lebowski]

10. That one, along with Hairshirt & You are the Everything from Green

Oh, and Half a World Away from Out of Time ... are my favorite vocal performances of Mike's.

[TexasTowelie]

4. I'm a REM fan myself and still listen to them occasionally.

The fact that Stipe was the primary vocalist while Mills can only really be described as a backup vocalist had some impact since the songs were beginning to sound the same despite the fact that they added more orchestration in attempt to counter the fact that Stipe's voice was so easily recognized.

While some of their dropoff in popularity was due to changing musical tastes, I think that Michael Stipe's opening up about his bisexuality scared off a lot of fans since the social stigma against homosexuality was greater then than it is now. Their popularity dropped dramatically and the college-aged students that were their fan base aged while the news group of college students preferred either rap or hip-hop instead.

There may have also been some blowback within the recording industry themselves because they signed a huge recording deal and they were stuck holding the bag when the deal soured.

[mr_lebowski]

7. Their last truly great album, WAY under-heard (though well-appreciated, critically) ...

I think it's easily their 2nd best post-IRS album, after AFTP.