The Random Rankings Thread

[EdRomero]

Am I the only one who assumed Losing My Religion would be the no brainer for number 1?

[mister d]

I’m only in the high 20s but the different one I assumed at #1 has not been listed yet.

[EnochRoot]

Am I the only one who assumed Losing My Religion would be the no brainer for number 1?

Depends how you're defining #1. The quintessential R.E.M. sounding song?

To me? Driver 8.

[mister d]

Ha. You should probably read the Driver 8 write-up.

[EnochRoot]

Ha. You should probably read the Driver 8 write-up.

Wow. Pretty Persuasion Talk About the Passion are on that short list, too.

[mister d]

Did “Daysleeper” miss altogether?

[EnochRoot]

I just commented on that very fact to my wife. Odd omission.

[mister d]

To the point when I got to the top 10 I was like “eh, this is a bit high” but thought maybe he wanted something new-ish.

[EnochRoot]

A track he might've included on this is the track "Fretless" they gave the movie "Until the End of the World."

In addition to Daysleeper, other omissions I'm seeing

I Remember California
The Wrong Child
Exhuming McCarthy
Strange
Fireplace
Lightnin Hopkins
King of Birds
Oddfellows Local 151
Time After Time
Life & how to Live it
Kohoutek
We Walk
West of the Fields
Belong
Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
Ignoreland
King of Comedy
Low Desert
Departure
Leave

bolded indicate I think they're top 100.

[Reaper]

A track he might've included on this is the track "Fretless" they gave the movie "Until the End of the World."

In addition to Daysleeper, other omissions I'm seeing

I Remember California
The Wrong Child
Exhuming McCarthy
Strange
Fireplace
Lightnin Hopkins
King of Birds
Oddfellows Local 151
Time After Time
Life & how to Live it
Kohoutek
We Walk
West of the Fields
Belong
Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
Ignoreland
King of Comedy
Low Desert
Departure
Leave

bolded indicate I think they're top 100.

I'm convinced I am the only person in the world whose favorite REM song is "Tongue". I don't really have an explanation for why. It just is. The 100 list, plus these 20 add-ons, and nary a mention. Oh, and "Nightswimming" is #2 for me

[A_B]

I like a few REM songs but I do not get them as a whole. They are fine but not anything I go to when I’m listening to music.

[EnochRoot]

A track he might've included on this is the track "Fretless" they gave the movie "Until the End of the World."

In addition to Daysleeper, other omissions I'm seeing

I Remember California
The Wrong Child
Exhuming McCarthy
Strange
Fireplace
Lightnin Hopkins
King of Birds
Oddfellows Local 151
Time After Time
Life & how to Live it
Kohoutek
We Walk
West of the Fields
Belong
Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
Ignoreland
King of Comedy
Low Desert
Departure
Leave

bolded indicate I think they're top 100.

I'm convinced I am the only person in the world whose favorite REM song is "Tongue". I don't really have an explanation for why. It just is. The 100 list, plus these 20 add-ons, and nary a mention. Oh, and "Nightswimming" is #2 for me

Damn I missed that one. Tongue’s a solid tune. Rare falsetto out of Stipe, too.

[Steve of phpBB]

I like a few REM songs but I do not get them as a whole. They are fine but not anything I go to when I’m listening to music.

For me, they’re my biggest “I listened to them before they got big” band. I saw them in a 2500-seat auditorium on campus. They’ve always been a favorite. But I kinda stopped listening in the early 90s. I’d come across a song here or there but that was it.

Last summer after we started that playlist battle thing I listened to those first six or seven albums again. Holy shit they were fantastic. I’d especially forgotten how great Murmur was.

[EdRomero]

I like a few REM songs but I do not get them as a whole. They are fine but not anything I go to when I’m listening to music.

I feel about the same. Got into them young when I heard Stand and loved the entire Green album (actually cassette). Maybe it's because of the show on it on Netflix Song Exploder, but Losing My Religion just seems to be their all time great, historic song. Guess there's a difference between casual fans and people that followed them more closely.

[Pruitt]

I like a few REM songs but I do not get them as a whole. They are fine but not anything I go to when I’m listening to music.

For me, they’re my biggest “I listened to them before they got big” band. I saw them in a 2500-seat auditorium on campus. They’ve always been a favorite. But I kinda stopped listening in the early 90s. I’d come across a song here or there but that was it.

Last summer after we started that playlist battle thing I listened to those first six or seven albums again. Holy shit they were fantastic. I’d especially forgotten how great Murmur was.

I saw them at the Masonic Temple in Toronto way, way bak in the day.

As I recall - a great show.

The lack of love for "Monster" on that list was disconcerting.

[rass]

I made a short list of personal favorites before reading and they were all on there.

Though I do feel bad not missing Daysleeper while reading. He seemed to like Up, too.

After all of that the one song I’ve had in my head since reading the article, including an indeterminate period of time when I couldn’t fall back asleep after waking up, is Electrolite. Wasn’t on my short list.

[EnochRoot]

You’re out of sight!

I saw R.E.M. open for the Police at the Hartford Civic Center in August ‘83...Saw their Life’s Rich Pageant tour in Miami ‘86, Green Tour in Miami ‘89, The Monster Tour in ‘95 in both St Pete & Orlando, (Radiohead opened St Pete, Lucious Jackson opened Orlando), and then ‘99 at Merriweather (Spacehog opened), and the last time was in 2008 at Merriweather (Modest Mouse, The National opened).

[sancarlos]

I've always liked REM. In their early days, I kind of grouped them with The Replacements, since they were two bands that helped define the emerging "Alternative Rock" genre. The very first CDs I ever purchased (the same day I bought a CD player) were Life's Rich Pageant and a Squeeze cd. I still listen to the "Eponymous" (best of the early stuff) album on occasion.

[Shirley]

I love REM, but I almost never listen to anything after Document. Murmur and Reckoning are two of my favorite albums ever. But I just never enjoyed their later music nearly as much even though they got way more popular.

[EnochRoot]

I love REM, but I almost never listen to anything after Document. Murmur and Reckoning are two of my favorite albums ever. But I just never enjoyed their later music nearly as much even though they got way more popular.

I still consider Automatic for the People to be a masterpiece, and Green as well for the songs that weren't singles. But I do agree that their best stuff was done right out of the gate.

[brian]

I love REM, but I almost never listen to anything after Document. Murmur and Reckoning are two of my favorite albums ever. But I just never enjoyed their later music nearly as much even though they got way more popular.

I still consider Automatic for the People to be a masterpiece, and Green as well for the songs that weren't singles. But I do agree that their best stuff was done right out of the gate.

Those are mostly contradictory opinions though even though I agree with both of you in part.

I think their best album is Automatic For The People, which itself is probably one of the greatest 20 or 25 or so albums in rock history. And their earlier stuff was mostly better overall but I still think there's plenty of chaff in those albums as well. I also think some of their later albums got a bit of a bad rap from the normal process that happens after a band gets huge and a lot of early fans want to jump off the bandwagon. I mean, go back and re-listen to Monster and New Adventures In Hi-FI and those are some great fucking albums, better than just about anything else that came up in the mid-to-late 90s especially as the music industry was infested with shitty grunge bands and rap-rock garbage.

[brian]

I mean, even an album like Up -- find me another album from 1998 that has three better songs than Sad Professor, Walk Unafraid and Daysleeper. I'll wait.

[EnochRoot]

I love REM, but I almost never listen to anything after Document. Murmur and Reckoning are two of my favorite albums ever. But I just never enjoyed their later music nearly as much even though they got way more popular.

I still consider Automatic for the People to be a masterpiece, and Green as well for the songs that weren't singles. But I do agree that their best stuff was done right out of the gate.

Those are mostly contradictory opinions though even though I agree with both of you in part.

I think their best album is Automatic For The People, which itself is probably one of the greatest 20 or 25 or so albums in rock history. And their earlier stuff was mostly better overall but I still think there's plenty of chaff in those albums as well. I also think some of their later albums got a bit of a bad rap from the normal process that happens after a band gets huge and a lot of early fans want to jump off the bandwagon. I mean, go back and re-listen to Monster and New Adventures In Hi-FI and those are some great fucking albums, better than just about anything else that came up in the mid-to-late 90s especially as the music industry was infested with shitty grunge bands and rap-rock garbage.

Gun to head, I think Life's Rich Pageant is better, but that's probably because it meant a lot more to me than AFTP ever could. As you're aware, back in the 80s indie bands had to fight to get any airtime on MTV. LRP basically led to the creation of 120 Minutes, because all of a sudden, MTV had to create a space for all this music. Fall on Me was in demand. This was the LP that brought indie officially into the mainstream.

But still, Automatic For the People proved they were still on top of their game. So many good songs on that LP, but Ignoreland itself makes that album essential listening.

[Shirley]

I "discovered" REM when I was in high school in the mid-80s. They were huge in my high school even though you never heard their music on the radio (only rarely on MTV when they played Radio Free Europe). When you're 15 or 16, that leaves a mark. So, I'm still very partial to the albums when nobody knew what the hell Stipe was saying. Once he started enunciating, they got way more popular, but I guess I'd moved on to other stuff. Not saying that stuff's bad at all, but it's almost like a different band.

[bapo!]

Haven't listened to them regularly in 25 years, but they're still one of the most important bands in my life. Every time I hear one of their songs, I'm determined to dive in and relive those old albums. Like, I would hear 'Fall On Me' at the Pub, remember how great they were, and leave with plans to find 'Lifes Rich Pageant.' Two months later, I would be back at the Pub, hear 'Begin the Begin,' then leave with plans to find 'Lifes Rich Pageant.' (I have trouble with motivation.)

I listen to random songs on YouTube sometimes. There are a lot of great ones, but that's a horrible way to listen to music. Do I still have those cassettes in my closet? Would they still be playable?

[mister d]

Like, I would hear 'Fall On Me' at the Pub, remember how great they were, and leave with plans to find 'Lifes Rich Pageant.

Most great songs I accept are the right length but "Fall On Me" is one of two I'm convinced could have another 90 seconds added and only be better.

[rass]

I bet we’re totally on the same page with the other song

[EnochRoot]

Like, I would hear 'Fall On Me' at the Pub, remember how great they were, and leave with plans to find 'Lifes Rich Pageant.

Most great songs I accept are the right length but "Fall On Me" is one of two I'm convinced could have another 90 seconds added and only be better.

If you're thinking it needed a clap-track like Boston's Long Time, I think we're in agreement.

[mister d]

It is neither. A song from a duo that could theoretically make billions or trillions on a post-pandemic reunion tour.

[EnochRoot]

What is the funnest song?

Can't Get There From Here? Superman? We Walk? Get Up?

[mister d]

Stipe always seemed to have a lot of fun with “Man on the Moon” live.

[bapo!]

It is neither. A song from a duo that could theoretically make billions or trillions on a post-pandemic reunion tour.

Peaches and Herb? White Stripes? A lot of the best Simon and Garfunkel songs are 3 minutes or less. I think I remember you saying that you like 'The Only Living Boy In New York,' but that's a hefty 4:01.

Superman?

I love 'Superman,' but I can't vote for a cover. 'End of the World' just came up next on YouTube, but that's probably too cliché of an answer. Probably the most beats per minute, and that's fun, right?

[rass]

Pretty sure he laughs during the album version of The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

[EnochRoot]

Sidewinder's a good answer.

I was dating a bitch when that LP came out, too.

[EnochRoot]

Stipe always seemed to have a lot of fun with “Man on the Moon” live.

Hey baby!

[+] spoiler

[mister d]

Bapo’s memory has it. Easily could add another verse to that song and it couldn’t go anywhere but up.

[DaveInSeattle]

For most of the 80's, REM was absolutely my favorite band. I had read about them in Rolling Stone, but had never heard them. I saw the video for 'Radio Free Europe' on 120 Minutes, and thought 'Yep...that's totally for me'. Something about the jangly guitars and vocal harmonies is right in my wheel house.

My favorite album is 'Fables', but I enjoy all of them up until Bill Berry left the band. And even those are still interesting.

[bapo!]

Bapo’s memory has it.

I have a rass-like memory for the threads that I read. But I disappear for long stretches, so it's only about 5% as impressive.

[mister d]

🎵 5% of the time we're gone
But we don't know where
And we don't know where 🎵

[EnochRoot]

For most of the 80's, REM was absolutely my favorite band. I had read about them in Rolling Stone, but had never heard them. I saw the video for 'Radio Free Europe' on 120 Minutes, and thought 'Yep...that's totally for me'. Something about the jangly guitars and vocal harmonies is right in my wheel house.

My favorite album is 'Fables', but I enjoy all of them up until Bill Berry left the band. And even those are still interesting.

just finished listening to Fables, and now stepped back a year to Reckoning.

Shirley touched on this a bit - back then when radio ignored them...It just made them better. Reckoning fucking rules.