R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant – 1986
And then R.E.M. rocked.
In my senior year at NYU my roommate and I decided to paint all over our dorm room. He, being much more talented than I and smarter, created enormous doodles and motifs.
I painted “I believe in coyotes, I believe my throat hurts” around my door.
We were about to embark on Life’s Rich Pageant, I guess.
Seemingly to atone for the shite that was their previous record, REM brought it rock producer, Don Gehman, got their Cause celebre on and gave their fans the album we had been waiting for. The anthem for our generation. We almost didn’t get it. U2 decided to be the GREATEST ROCK BAND IN THE WORLD. REM decided to be artists. And a great rock band. And, oh, yeah, the voice of an entire generation. Pissed at the way the native americans were treated. Pissed at pollution. Pissed at Reagan. Just pissed. And LRP expressed that. In bloodlettings like “These Days” and “Hyena” and “Just a Touch” they proved they had the chops and they could chop hard. In conscience tracks like “Fall on Me” and “Cuyahoga” they proved they had something to say and mumbling wouldn’t cut it anymore. They had the balls to record a cover, “I Am Superman”. They even had a sense of humor, “Underneath the Bunker” and “I Believe”.
(After an album where the coda theory fell down, simply because Fables just goes on and on, LRP brings back that encore feel, with an actual hit for the band, the cover of “I Am Superman”) The more I read about LRP the more I am learning just how political the album is. “Flowers of Guatemala” is about dissidents in that region who disappear. However the combination of obliqueness and mumbling makes the content of the songs more difficult to suss out, so they aren’t as important to my listening experience as a whole. It’s nice to know that “Hyena” is about government squashing other governments, though.
On Lifes Rich pageant, REM proved that they could do it on a stadium level. That’s what’s most important about LRP. It jettisoned REM from Leaders of the Alternative Pack to actual stadium rockers. With light shows and courage and anthems. They were OUR heroes. Our Springsteens. Our Zeppelins. Generation X finally had their own idols and could consign those others to “classic rock” radio.
Grade: A+
ASide: Fall on Me, I Am Superman, I Believe, Begin the Begin
BlindSide: These Days, Cuyahoga, I Believe, Hyena, Just a Touch
