R.E.M. – Monster – 1994
(My apologies for the scattershot writing below, I am listening to the record while writing about it at the same time. Not quite a liveblog, but close.)
I always liked “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth. It was precisely the attitude and power I had been hoping for from REM. We had all been waiting for The Rock Record. REM promised this would be it. How could it not? There’s a fucking electric guitar SOLO in the middle of that freaking song!
So, what went wrong?
(It’s a real testament that Michael Stipe can come across as both Iggy Pop AND Nico on the otherwise annoying “Crush with Eyeliner”.)
What went wrong was that REM was never really a “rock” band. They started off as a slanted folk/rock band with decidedly rock undertones. My friend, Robbie Rist, likened my band and Queen and others to what was great about The Beatles, in his opinion. In all those great bands (and I include mine only for reference) everyone in the band has a predilection toward different music. And they would share that with love with others. Harrison dug country, McCartney actually liked, say, show tunes, Lennon loved early rock. You put that all together and start to create. There’s no doubt the 4 members of Queen had differing musical tastes. REM is no different. This is totally unlike, say, KISS or Motley Crue, where the members come together through a love of one band or style. Berry loves the rock, Mills is the arranger and probable archivist, Buck digs the folk, Stipe is the artiste.
I’m not sure where REM got their influences but, rest assured, they are varied and wide and intellectualised as often as they are visceral.
So, the outcome is the antiseptic and ugly Monster. An appropriate title.
I can remember exactly when I pushed stop while listening to this album in 1994. Probably during “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”, a song that would play with the “Oddfellows” style but it’s contempt for it’s subject matter and narrator are worn on it’s sleeve. And it’s not pretty. More like a soundtrack for a serial killer. That would be fine, but REM took me on that road of tears and sadness so well on the last album. Is it so much to ask for for those guys to play music I want to listen to? The album picks up a bit with the “Ignoreland” sounding “Star 69”, a song rendered redundant now that we have caller ID. But, at least it rocks. On the other hand it’s followed by a new REM trope: the arpeggiated ballad. “Strange Currencies” could be “Everybody Hurts” with new lyrics. Or a play on “Nightswimming”. Or… On it’s own, “Currencies” is a lovely tune. Played after the brilliance of “Hurts”, it feels like a band repeating themselves or having run out of ideas.
Props to the faux soul of “Tongue”, however. Calls to mind mid-70s Mick Jagger. The song is even more poignant when you realize that it’s written in the voice of a woman who is tired of being a “last ditch lay”. She can’t help doing it because she’s needy and desperate but she hates herself for it. Sad.
I get that “Let Me In” is written for Kurt Cobain, but wouldn’t a more fitting tribute to that dead friend be a song that doesn’t sound like Sonic Youth’s tonguebath?
The album proper ends with “Circus Envy” an over-processed garage rock song that suffers from sounding too much like nails on a chalkboard. And with that it’s time for the, you guessed it, encore! It’s too bad “You” is nothing more than a grinding dirge, milling the listener’s ears and daring you to ever play it again.
I don’t like Monster. I feel as though any REM fan either has to accept that it’s bad or spend eternity trying to defend it. I won’t be the latter. It’s not a great record. I think REM is using their own success currency to do whatever the hell they want. And that’s fine, that’s how it should be, but when your drummer has an aneurism playing your music, maybe you’re doing something wrong.
Okay, that’s not fair, I’m sure Berry would have had one if he was playing a “1,000,000” but he didn’t. And, after 50 minutes of this album, I feel like I’m about to have one, too.
Grade: C-
ASide: What’s the Frequency Kenneth, Bang and Blame
BlindSide: Star 69, Tongue
DownSide: King of Comedy, I Don’t Sleep I Dream, Strange Currencies, I Took Your Name, Let Me In, Circus Envy
