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I know that Radiohead toured with them back in the day before RH took over the scene. I've just given this album a listen today and I'm really impressed with their harmonies and the vibe that comes across through their songs. I feel an almost deceptive upbeat quality to their lovely acoustic instruments. So far I recommend
OK you've made me feel so old. Pretty much everybody my generation (teenager in the '90s) had a copy of this in their house at the time, it feels like. Everybody Hurts, the Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Drive, Man on the Moon, were all huge, I mean huge songs that defined the early mid 90s just before Britpop.
I have Green, Document, Out Of Time, Monster, New Adventures In Hi Fi, Up, Reveal - they're all great. They were actually the first gig I went to, Earl's Court in 1999 on the Up tour (Up is awesome, often overlooked as it's the least rocky, but it's properly beautiful).
Michael Stipe is a brilliant singer. Peter Buck is a fantastic multi instrumentalist and songwriter, the work he did with Eels for Daisies of the Galaxy still makes me well up
Ah, I feel you. REM at Earl's Court wasn't my very first gig but it was the first time I'd seen one of my top tier favourite acts and it was the best gig I'd been to at that point in my life (I was 17). Still one of the best. And yes, Up is an excellent album - I know it's cool to prefer 80s REM but while I like it all, the REM I truly love is from Green through to Up.
Original poster - I recommend Green and Monster as your next 2 albums, to get a sense of the variety of styles REM covered and excelled in. Probably my 2 favourite albums these days. But then also, Out of Time was also a colossal global hit and everyone had a copy of that too. I am jealous of what you have to discover!
I love how by the time of Monster they were basically the biggest band in the world, after the FM radio friendly behemoths that were Out Of Time and Automatic, so it feels like they deliberately made Monster grimy and more obtuse, so they could go back to being a little bit on the margins again. Monster is such a dark album, incredible distortion throughout. You is terrifying, as is Circus Envy. But Tongue is tender and beautiful, Bang and Blame is another all time classic.
I don’t think they were bigger than U2 at that time , personally