Decatur Native’s Band Breaks Up
Decatur Metro | September 21, 2011R.E.M. has called it quits. Wow. That’s a kick in the face.
Thanks to Chad for forwarding
R.E.M. has called it quits. Wow. That’s a kick in the face.
Thanks to Chad for forwarding
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It’s the end of the world as we know it.
But I feel fine.
Who in R.E.M. is a Decatur native?
Stipe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Stipe
Decaturite16 provided a bit more detail in a comment a while back…
“Out of curiosity, I did a little research a while back in the old city directories at the library. At the time of Michael Stipe’s birth – 1/4/60 – there were a couple of Stipes living around Decatur. The closest one was on Woodbridge Drive off Medlock Road just a few blocks northeast of where Melton’s App & Tap is now. That’s not far outside the city limits, and it has a Decatur mailing address. But I’ve never been able to find his father’s name (not that I looked all that hard), so I couldn’t confirm it was the right one. The house is an older, white bungalow — but so are almost all of the houses in that neighborhood.
The other Stipe near Decatur was in Druid Hills on Artwood, which is just south of Fernbank Elementary. A third Stipe was listed as living on post at Fort McPherson near East Point. I’ve read that his dad was military, and he didn’t stay in Decatur for long. I believe he went to high school near St. Louis.
Flipping back and forth for several years, I saw that there had been Stipes living in and around Decatur for a number of years. I believe one of his sisters still lives in Atlanta.”
The one in Medlock Park was his grandmother.
Also Bert Downs, manager and the unofficial fifth member of REM, grew up in Decatur and attended DHS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertis_Downs_IV
One has to think, for a band that hasn’t put out anything decent since “Orange Crush”, 31 years is enough.
“Collapse into Now” was really good, and many others since “orange crush” – which IMHO wasn’t a very good song – “I’ve got my spine I’ve got my Orange Crush”?
Notice the quilt pattern by my post? Is that an Orange Crush? Which is, I would bet , a reference to Napalm.
Uh, yeah.
Agent Orange.
Song is about Vietnam Vets getting sick after being exposed to Agent Orange during the war.
Yawn.
Please feel free to go back to sleep.
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone
Have you ever tried throwing your hands? Let me tell you it hurts! I usually hear a popping noise. And for that, I thank the Stiper for the warning.
Query: How long before we see him on Whale Wars (if that is still on) or other strange activist outlet? Maybe some reality show that focuses on wierd poetry that is barely audible and full of inside jokes?
No, but I did try standing in the place where I live, and that turned out OK.
Maybe we’ll see him on Dancing with the Stars (well, I won’t, since I’ve never seen the show).
Yesterday was, indeed, a sad day in Georgia in many respects. But oh well – what’s on tv tonight?
Not every day Georgia has two reasons to be the national/international news:
The Good – like them or not, REM is a giant in music. There was a time when wherever you went and said you were from GA, people would ask if you knew the band.
The Bad – the sad, shameful, embarrassing Troy Davis story
I know his sister Lynda and she lives in Athens, but I’m not sure about the Decatur connection. I’ll have to ask her.
By the way, Michael is making some pretty cool art these days. Check this out…
http://thecreatorsproject.com/creators/michael-stipe
Long overdue. No denying the impact they had on the music industry, but they have been phoning it in ever since Warner made them all millionaires.
IMHO, R.E.M.’s last album was Green. Everything after that was some other band using the same band members, riding on the coat-tails of the R.E.M. name. A few decent songs, yes, but none approaching R.E.M.’s 80’s work. This announcement is 23 years overdue.
Thank you, sir. I would even go back to Life’s Rich Pageant as their last complete album.
Does popularity color the artist or the critic?
A journey ends when the destination is reached and for many, success (i.e. popularity) is the end of that particular journey. Every journey afterwards is for a different reason.
The same thing happens to nearly every artist or band that produced original, inspired work in their early days, makes it big, and then changes, mostly for the worse as their work becomes less risky and more generic. Very few artists are able to make the jump and still produce original, creative work.
Yes, but “one’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things” (Henry Miller). Take a bow, take a bow. And thank you.
Seriously though, if you accept Miller’s take, and I do, there really is no destination. There is always something left to explore. So, the challenge in creativity, and in life (boy I’m getting heavier than Chaz Bono now!), is how to keep changing, and how to change in different and unpredictable ways. For the most part, humans are wired to keep things stable and not in flux. Bands, artists, heck, even marriages deflate because they get boring (much like my post here)……What was the question again? Ahhh who cares.
For those about to rock [Fire], we salute you!
A band’s popularity colors both; at our advanced age, we are recalling music we were fond of, but also we are conjuring up our impressions and memories of that time in our life.
RE Mainstream evolution, Tom Waits is one of the few artists that became bigger while his music got better. Flaming Lips fit that bill too.
I’m with you on their 80’s work as being the best by far. But to go along with DM’s inference, Automatic for the People was a great album as well, but I think some of y’all poo poo it because it was mainstream. And don’t get me wrong, I have been guilty of that many many times.
No, I think I poo-poo it because, while it had some decent songs, overall it was weak compared to earlier albums. The earlier stuff depended more on Buck’s guitar, and that appealed to me. When Buck’s guitar was weak or innocuous the songs were the same.
I was really just looking for a reason to write “poo poo.”
I prefer my Poo Poo on Platters. But they were waaay before REM’s time.
Mmmm…..Golden Buddha.
I.R.S. ruined that band. Once they left Hib Tone, they just nose-dived.
(Yep, I think I just indy-cred slammed this whole thread.)
I remember reading a review for “Life’s Rich Pagent” in either the UVA or American University student student newspaper that absolutely blasted REM for selling out and going mainstream.
Yeah, it was never the same after Bill left.
I see where this sub-thread is heading….MONSTER was/is one wicked album. Can’t resist cranking that one up whenever Mrs S and the kiddies aren’t in the car!!!
Don’t be H8ers. REM rocks!
Not a hater at all, but a huge fan of R.E.M.’s Green and earlier work.
Don’t be h8ers, be Driver 8ers.
Like
Favorite garbled REM lyrics anyone?
First one that comes to mind is “We Walk”:
Up the stairs into the landing
Up the stairs into the Ho Ho Ho oh oh oh
Take away sass, Maalox Bayeeayeeay-aby
Take, away sass (dum, dum dum dum)…
One of my favorite bands of all time. The reason I went to college in Athens. But as much as I hate to admit it, the band was not the same since Bill Berry left. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say the band was phoning it in since he left — some of the post-Berry albums had some really good songs. But overall, the band lost something when his songwriting skills and backing vocals were no longer there. I’m not sure why they continued after he left but I respect them for giving it a go. I wish them all the best in whatever they do.
by the way dsw, I love your shoe stores. but I must admit i find it a bit offensive that men only get the wall to the left and the tiny clearance rack by the stockroom while the women get the remaining 832 acres. thanks for your attention to this matter.
You picked your college because a band lived in the same town? Not because the college was good or the town was cool?
“because the college was good” – that’s a good one!
When I graduated from college in upstate NY, REM played a big part in my choice to come to Atlanta. I wanted to live where there was a thriving music scene. Although they weren’t here in the ATL, they were signifiers for the vitality of the overall landscape in Georgia.
The funny thing is, I never did see them live. I even had tickets for the reunion with all four of them a few years back at the GA music hall of fame induction, and passed them on to my brother in law.
Yes. I wanted to go to Athens because of the music scene. I was limited to attending a college in Georgia, so the fact that the state university was located in a town with an awesome music scene — I entered UGA in 1986 — was a happy coincidence. My parents wanted me to attend a junior college. No thanks! Plus, I believe college or any sort of education is what you put into it. I had a wonderful four years at UGA, met my wife there and wouldn’t trade my experience for the world. And I saw a lot of great bands.
I’m sad! Another little piece of my youth ending. Green was one of the first concerts I ever went to without parents at the Omni…Nostalgic moment kicking in
What a great local connection to Decatur I did not know about. REM will go down in music history as one of the best rock bands ever. I loved the crossover with Kate Pierson of B-52s fame — and another Athens, GA music group. Pierson sang with REM on “Shiny Happy People.” I just read where the B-52s will be playing at Callaway Gardens in early October (6th I believe). REM may be gone but their music lives forever.
Out of Time, Monster and Automatic for the People (especially that last one) were all great pop/rock records. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
If only U2 would hang it up…
Where’s the like button?!?
Got that right.
You clearly feel otherwise but unlike R.E.M., U2 have continued to make great records. All That You Can’t Leave Behind, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and No Line On The Horizon are great albums. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb ranks among their best, if you ask me.
I weep for the younger generation…
I don’t. Every generation has its music, and it’s a requirement that every generation before it finds it boring, meaningless or just plain awful. Think back to your teenage years. My dad was a big fan of late 60’s/early 70’s music (Beatles, Cream, Iron Butterfly, The Who, Pink Floyd etc.). For me, it was all about AC/DC and Ozzy, which he just couldn’t get. Nothing about that generational opinion gap has changed.
There’s still a lot of great music being created by today’s artists (and, as always, a lot of crap, too). In fact, I would argue that there’s even more great music being made, given how many more outlets there are to release it. No longer are artists forced to play the big-record-company game.
Yeah, overall I think I agree with you DTM. And it has, perhaps, alot to do with the actual experience of learning to like what you like (e.g. you heard Floyd at a party and found out that your crush liked it). Preferences, though, shouldn’t have to persist. I have, at times, envied people who can reinvent their taste and find greatness in completely new music, while I just keep rediscovering what I liked in the same albums after I’ve neglected them for another three years.
Spring 1981, University of Kentucky. Savvy music editor at the student paper gets a pre-release copy of “Radio Free Europe,” falls in love with it and spins it over and over again at a house party. The crowd dances so hard the kitchen floor in his decrepit rental collapses. I’ll always associated REM with falling into the crawlspace and still thinking it was the best party ever.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
-Green Day
Dang. This was supposed to be under FFAF.
Or, not be at all.