ren (a they/them)

life & randomness & music & love 💜

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 18th, 2023

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  • For me - I got into REM with Document (seeing a few videos late at night on UHF television) and it only grew with Green. I loved Green so much, from the bouncy “Stand” to the beautiful “You Are The Everything” to the pervasive “World Leader Pretend”.

    I was in high school with Out of Time came out and while “Losing My Religion” was stunning, I balked at the album because of how poppy it felt to me at the time (I was so knee deep in Violent Femmes and other college/alternative bands, Out Of Time sounded like a sellout to me. “Radio Song” with rap and “Shiny Happy People” and whatnot. I shunned REM! Dead to me!

    Back then, being a “sell out” was the ultimate sin. Of course later I grew to appreciate OOT for it’s lowkey subversiveness and experimentation - even finally understood “Shiny Happy People” (a song about Chinese propaganda). But it wasn’t until much much later, maybe after Monster when I finally got into OOT.

    So, here I was, broken up with REM and moving on with my life. 1992 I was living on my own in a small little garage apartment, poor and scraping by, just doing my thing when AFTP came out. i heard the acoustic brooding verses with triumphant chorus of “Man On The Moon” and the kind of non-music video of “Drive”, a very strangely arranged song, and decided to give REM another chance.

    And well, I love the album. I was BACK BABY! They took their pop learnings and made them dark. Even it’s most uplifting songs have a dark broodinest to them. The album is crafted like a mixtape, builds, goes big, comes down, instrumental interlude, and ends on possibly one of the finest and beautiful closers ever with a deep message about love and/or the environment.

    To me, the album only improved with age and feels timeless, or should I say, out of time.