COLUMN: R.E.M. stays positive in new release

    My roommate once spent a whole summer memorizing the lyrics to the song “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” only to forget a lot of them not long after. He’s definitely what you’d call an avid fan of R.E.M. While I did spend some time memorizing the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” – only to forget a lot of them later – I’m more of a casual fan of R.E.M. I can recognize their music, but if you asked me some of their songs, I would be scrambling.

    I do know that they have been around for a very long time. While they will always seem like a young band from the early ‘90s, you’ve got to realize that the early ‘90s were 20 years ago, and R.E.M. actually got together 10 years before that. The lead singer, Michael Stipe, was born in 1960. If people are old enough to remember the Watergate scandal or the Vietnam War, then for some reason it seems like they shouldn’t be allowed to play alternative music – but R.E.M. has been doing it for the past 30 years.

    They released a new album recently – their 15th – called “Collapse Into Now.” It starts off with the song “Discoverer,” which is an incredibly insightful and hopeful song that looks back at the past and eagerly anticipates the future. The past may have been bad, but as the song says, “It was what it was, let’s all get on with it now.” But looking towards the future, “…the opportunities and the possibilities, I have never felt so called.” I guess the band is old enough to have lived life and know the value of learning from yesterday and taking advantage of what presents itself now.

    Just like you can tell a good lyricist when they can talk about how crappy their lives are without sounding whiney, you know someone’s a good lyricist when they can write uplifting, positive songs that aren’t cheesy and honest, but don’t make you feel girly. R.E.M. does it with a few songs on the album, such as the song “Uberlin.” It is a song about change, where Stipe sings, “I know that this is changing me,” but also “Hey now, don’t forget that change will save you.”

    They do it with the song “Every Day is Yours to Win.” It has a similar theme as “Uberlin,” with lines such as “I cannot tell a lie, it’s not all cherry pie, but it’s yours to win,” or “Every day is new again, every day is yours to win, and that’s how heroes are made.”

    And then, as would be expected, right after comes a song that I don’t really understand. “Mine Smell Like Honey” is a song that thoroughly confuses me. It mixes verses about somebody who is independent and does their own thing, with the chorus about how “Mine smell like honey.” I’m probably missing something, but then again, what would a rock album be without at least one song that doesn’t make sense?

    It’s like the song “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter,” which is a lot of fun, and includes one of my favorite lines from the album, “I feel like an alligator climbing up the escalator.” Again, I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but the mental image it gives me is pretty hilarious, and totally worth the confusion.

    All in all, it was a very soulful album that still holds your interest. The sound created by the band is great – it sounds like classic R.E.M., but doesn’t sound out of place at all in the 21st century. The acoustic rhythm guitar, as well as electric guitar solos, mandolin, and tasteful yet simple drumming is all very appealing and fits together well. I would definitely recommend the album, even if – like me – you are not a die-hard R.E.M. fan.

– rex.colin.mitchell@aggiemail.usu.edu