This is our first Weekly Album Club discussion thread! Last Wednesday I passed out our assignment. REM's 1992 follow up to their mainstream breakthrough Out of Time, Automatic For The People
https://lemmy.world/post/4994392
One of the 1000s of band inspired by Velvet Underground that became a band that kicked off a 1000 alternative bands of their own (and is our community header). After taking college rock and literally kick starting the “authenticity” alternative music boom of the 90s, REM returned with this brooding dark album.
https://songwhip.com/rem/automatic-for-the-people1992
So you all had a week, what are your thoughts on AFTP, what it meant for REM, to music, to you? How does it feel in its place in time? And whatever else you want to talk about with it.
Let's go!
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.