Best/most important American rock band

John Lydon: I don't hate Pink Floyd

 

I believe this to be true: They are the biggest band that disappeared the fastest and most completely. If REM were a movie, they'd be District 9.

 

Save one song, Automatic for the People is a great record, front to back.

 

I'm guessing you're referring to Everybody Hurts.

 

I can tolerate Everybody Hurts, although I often skip it. I don't like Ignoreland. I find it discordant.

 

Funny thing about the Chili Peppers -- my first thought is that I love the Chili Peppers but that I'm not wild about their newer stuff... and then I realize by "newer stuff" I mean anything from the past 30 years.

I love the first four albums. "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" is OK. After that, no interest at all. Seen them live at least 5 times and the most recent show was 1989.

I'm old.

 

I was thinking something like this, but couldn't articulate it. Their influence is mostly in the fact they were one of the earliest college radio bands. Musically, they aren't as interesting or influential like other bands from the 80's. They made some good songs, but in the end they are just well crafted rock songs.

 

Given the state of rock these days I'm not even sure how you consider "influence."

 

Wasn't REM the first "indie" band that really hit it big? I'd never heard of "college radio" as a format before them.

 

I guess I shouldn't say "influence" and replace it with: Do people under the age of 25 even know of the band's existence.

I work with 20 year olds on an assembly line who don't know who they are. If they do, you have to tell them they're the band that produced It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Which is astounding given how massively big R.E.M. was even when I was a kid.

 

They were pretty strong influences on Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and by extension most of the Seattle grunge scene.

You can also trace some REM influences in the alt-country/ folk-rock sub-genre, which occasionally soaks back into stuff done by the big names.

It's certainly not like hit radio today is drenched with REM influence, but it's out there, here and there. (And it's not like I really know much about what's on "hit radio" anyway.)

Also, once REM moved past their initial mumbly-jangly hungover-Byrds incarnation of their college radio days, they didn't really have a trademark sound (like U2's clanging Edge guitar chords and Bono's profound howl) so other bands couldn't really mimic it.

 

Seeing as they've been around for 25 years now, I'm going to nominate Foo Fighters