Stereogum presents Drive XV: A tribute to R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People

• I don't know what it is about REM and the backlash against them. They are far from my favorite band ever, but I think a lot of their IRS stuff is truly great. My favorite work of theirs is the Chronic Town EP, especially the song "Boxcars (Carnival of Sorts)". I've tried to cover that song several times over the past 15 years or so, and bands I've been in over that time refused to touch that song after they found out it's by REM. Success doesn't automatically make a band sellouts or "suck" all of a sudden. I'm kind of happy for REM. If you had seen them during the Murmer era, and someone told you that in a few years they'd be one of the biggest bands in the world, whould you have believed them!?!

• When it comes to this album, I'd rather just listen to <em>Automatic for the People</em>. A college friend actually stopped to eat at Weaver D's. When it was released, I liked it less than their previous output, but the album has grown on my over the years. The sellout comment and response reflect the changing nature of R.E.M. and its effect on fans more than any concessions the band has made to success. Each new album brings new themes. <em>Green</em> was my first or second CD, and my favorite R.E.M. is the even earlier I.R.S. material. I appreciate their more recent work, though, and as much as I enjoy jangle pop about weirdos in Georgia, I understand that it probably is not sustainable or interesting for them.

• kenny -- i mean, joe payne; damn that sneaky IP address tracking we have! -- that's a ridiculous statement. even though i'm a huge REM fan, they've never sold out; if they were sellouts, perhaps they would have sold a shit-ton of records in the last decade. and in the US, they haven't. usually people who are sell-outs are commercially successful. and REM haven't been, compared to the 1990s. not that they probably care.

• Wow, that's the worst covers of the best songs that I've ever heard. I also have a personal fondness for the album. It was the soundtrack of my sophomore year in college when I thought I was totally in love with this girl and it all had to be so dramatic and painful...there was a long time when I couldn't bring myself to listen to it, especially the little clicking intro to Try Not to Breath, and then the guitar chords. The memories were pretty strong. Now, looking back, it's still a great album, and it will always make me feel 19. Cue the violins.

• REM are a bunch of lame, has-been sell outs..havent had a good record out in 20 years!

• This comes at a time when I've been rediscovering Automatic For The People - it's one of those autumnal albums that sounds especially lovely as the leaves fall and the temperature chills. I associate it with a very pivotal point in my life that involved challenges both traumatic and joyful. What strikes me about this album is how very unplayed-out it is. I can't listen to the hits from Out of Time or Green anymore, but "Man on The Moon" and even "Everybody Hurts" still have the capacity to move the listener. Probably my favorite REM album ever, with Fables coming in a close second. Because Automatic has such a special place in my life, I am not going to listen to this tribute, though I did appreciate Matthew Perpetua's notes.

• There have been dark times in my life when I have turned to "Automatic For The People" for either guidance or reprieve. I can't really say that for any other record, save a few. (They would be Radiohead's "The Bends", Moby's "Everything Is Wrong", Smoking Popes' "Destination:Failure" and They Might Be Giants' "Flood") It is a safe assumption that R.E.M. lapped themselves creatively and have yet to replicate the genius (though "Monster" comes close and that's a damn shame, but that's a topic for another time). This collection of covers, though heartfelt and sincere and sweet, is an abomination. Stereogum have gone off the deep end with this one. My main complaints are these : Andy Kaufman himself would be irritated by the cover of "Man On The Moon", "Star Me Kitten" is proof that some songs should only be covered by William S. Boroughs (see the "Songs In The Key of X" X-Files Tv Series CD. I'm sure they're in cut-out bins all over town), ANYONE who can't sing, but attempts to cover "Everybody Hurts" again will get the taser, sludge-rock bands should stay away from REM songs unless they're off "Monster"... Side note : The only group to ever cover "Nightswimming" and do it properly was, oddly enough, Dashboard Confessional. Their covers CD "The Wiretapes Vol. 1" has a lot of genius covers on it, including -- coming full circle now -- the opening theme to TMBG's "Flood" and Smoking Popes' "Pretty Pathetic".

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