Heartland

I recall that somewhere Eldritch praised Michael Stipe as a 'very good' lyricist (even though he maintained that he was still the best.) I also seem to recall him somewhere saying something along the lines of he wished The Sisters were regarded as a dark version of R.E.M. rather than being compared with Ozzy Osbourne or something like that.

Also. compare below with the current incarnation of The Sisters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIC8CwVeeWA

Worth discussing?

Well yeah if we all remember the 80s. Certainly in student ghetto Leeds there was a crossover between TSOM and REM at the Thursday Bop and Poly Disco, maybe not so much at the Warehouse or Phono.

I never rated Stipe as a lyricist. Total pseud IMO.

I remember that interview, I think it was in Select magazine (now defunct) roundabout 1992 or so.

Never had a huge deal of time for REM either, and they did seem to become more and more a parody of themselves over the years.

mh wrote:Never had a huge deal of time for REM either, and they did seem to become more and more a parody of themselves over the years.

That's a harsh comment from fan of TSOM.

(Lurking mode off)

Regarding the R.E.M./Ozzy subject:

https://youtu.be/hgMzl_ov1Do?t=142

If anybody really shouldn't know this interview yet, I highly recommend it, as it is one of the best (i.a. because Andrew says "Baby... Boogie... Baby" at one point, and because he's generally very talkative here).

As for the R.E.M. like hits, I'm sure he refers to Something Fast and I Was Wrong (maybe WYDSM), both of which are part of the current setlist, as you know. I think Show Me goes in a similar direction. Full circle for ya.

(Lurking mode on)

Losing My Religion is one of my all tme favourite songs and its lyrics are superb. My feelings with regard to anything else by REM are ambivalent, although i'd go for "the end of the world" and "this one goes out to the one i love"over pretty much everything else.

I bloody love Bang & Blame.

I love both bands, though I think they do come from different places musically, the sisters from a harder harsher background more Stooges and Suicide than REM's more maudlin Patti Smith background. Regardless of liking or not both AE and MS seem to spend a lot of time considering the words they are going to sing and that to me is good. I can see the darker comment, Suicide seem a damned sight darker than Smith.

Maybe I'm just getting older and mellowing but I find myself listening to stuff that the young me would have hated. REM I've come to realise had some great songs. Fortunately we get less fundamentalist as we get older. Hopefully anyways.

REM are superb so far as my ears are concerned. When Von was interviewing rock stars in the 90s I held a hope someone would pay him to interview Stipe. Probably wouldn't have been a great read, I guess it makes for a more engaging conversation to read him calling rock star's live performances arch or their new albums s**t, than 'hey you're a great lyricist', 'umm, thanks' etc.

Monster and New Adventures In Hi-fi are two of my all time favourite albums. Huddersfied 95 and Old Trafford 03 are two of my all time favourite gigs. How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us is my fourth favourite song title of all time, bettered only by I Have Slept With All The Girls In Berlin, Show Me On The Doll, and Evidently Chickentown.

Michael Stipe wrote: And you're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth.

WHERE THE FCUK ELSE WOULD YOUR TEETH BE

fuck's sake

markfiend wrote:

Michael Stipe wrote: And you're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth.

WHERE THE FCUK ELSE WOULD YOUR TEETH BE

fuck's sake

These days, probably in a glass by the bed?

markfiend wrote:

Michael Stipe wrote: And you're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth.

WHERE THE FCUK ELSE WOULD YOUR TEETH BE

fuck's sake

Completely unfair Mark. The song "You Are The Everything" is obviously about old age and you must know that.

For those who don't know the song:

Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing (say, say, the light)
I'm very scared for this world, I'm very scared for me (say, say, the light)
Eviscerate your memory
Here's a scene
You're in the backseat laying down, the windows wrap around (say, say, the light)
To sound of the travel and the engine (say, say, the light)
All you hear is time stand still in travel
And feel such peace and absolute
The stillness still that doesn't end
But slowly drifts into sleep
The stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen
And they're there for you
For you alone, you are the everything

I think about this world a lot and I cry (say, say, the light)
And I've seen the films and the eyes
But I'm in this kitchen (say, say, the light)
Everything is beautiful
And she is so beautiful (say, say, the light)
She is so young and old
I look at her and I see the beauty of the light of music (say, say, the light)
The voices talking somewhere in the house, late spring
And you're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth
You are here with me
You are here with me
You have been here and you are everything

Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing (say, say, the light)
I'm very scared for this world, I'm very scared for me (say, say, the light)
Eviscerate your memory
Here's a scene
You're in the backseat laying down, the windows wrap around (say, say, the light)
To the sound of the travel and the engine (say, say, the light)
All you hear is time stand still in travel
And feel such peace and absolute
The stillness still that doesn't end
But slowly drifts into sleep
The greatest thing you've ever seen
And they're there for you
For you alone, you are the everything
For you alone you are the everything

Not really pseud is it?

it's lot, helluve lot more easire to not change mind.

Yeah fair enough, maybe I should give them another chance.

Come to think about it, I've mentioned my irrational grudges against musicians before. For example, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense for me to have refused to listen to anything Paul Weller has done since 1982, simply out of spite.

Teeth in your mouth... Yeah OK I'm wrong. I hadn't ever considered the idea of teeth being false ones, in a glass or whatever. It's me who's a moron, not Michael Stipe

You are forgiven brother Mark, your penance will be served in the Dry Dock come Spring.

markfiend wrote:Come to think about it, I've mentioned my irrational grudges against musicians before. For example, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense for me to have refused to listen to anything Paul Weller has done since 1982, simply out of spite.

I feel the same way about Paul Weller, not out of spite, it's just that everything he's done since then is s**t.

I consider Crush With Eyeliner to be the greatest love song ever written. And that's that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycvJHQUqU1M

As for the 'teeth in your mouth' thing, I've never taken this to be about old age but instead to be about the security of being part of this world which we can know and understand on its own terms insofar as they apply to us. On the one hand, this is a theme which is later revisited in 'Undertow':

Brother can you see those birds?
They don't look to heaven
They don't need religion, they can see

This takes things is a metaphysical direction. On the other, with our knowledge about and understanding of the world comes responsibility for its stewardship, the overall theme of 'Green'.

ribbons69 wrote:

markfiend wrote:Come to think about it, I've mentioned my irrational grudges against musicians before. For example, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense for me to have refused to listen to anything Paul Weller has done since 1982, simply out of spite.

I feel the same way about Paul Weller, not out of spite, it's just that everything he's done since then is s**t.

This, in medical terms, is called The Joshua Tree Syndrome.

GC wrote:

ribbons69 wrote:

markfiend wrote:Come to think about it, I've mentioned my irrational grudges against musicians before. For example, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense for me to have refused to listen to anything Paul Weller has done since 1982, simply out of spite.

I feel the same way about Paul Weller, not out of spite, it's just that everything he's done since then is s**t.

This, in medical terms, is called The Joshua Tree Syndrome.

Counterpoint:

I put War on the other day. U2 were always pish.