cool. i didn't see that at the time. i think i was m.i.a. from these parts for most of 2007. i think my biggest issue with drive is that i've heard it too many times to the point that i downright can't stand the song anymore. it wasn't exactly one of my favorites ever to begin with, and i'm pretty much in agreement with your take on its poor placement as an album opener.
it's funny, reading through that makes me 1) need to hear sidewinder NAOZ because i friggin love that song, but more importantly 2) wonder why i always tend to rank automatic almost at the very bottom of my list anytime i consider what would be rem's best albums. there are so many fantastic songs on it, why the hate? maybe it's the simple overplayed factor. i did used to listen to the radio quite a lot, especially back when i finally decided rem didn't suck. i remember when i decided rem didn't suck, actually. i distinctly remember being 14, standing in my grandmother's dining room with my radio, and realizing "it's the end of the world..." was a good song. oddly enough, i was at my grandma's house when i decided rem sucked as well, when i was 11 and she saved an article in the paper about the beatles anthology that had a sidebar of quotes from various well-known artists, the only one being...haha, i found it. yay google: "I've always referred to the Beatles as elevator music because that's exactly what they were. I've never sat down and listened to a Beatles record from beginning to end. Those guys didn't mean a (expletive deleted) thing to me.'' which, for me when i was 11, was blasphemy. nevermind that i'd never heard an rem album at the time, and couldn't have named a single song of theirs. but i decided if this stipe character hated the beatles, then his band must suck. bomac thinks i'm close-minded now? he should have met me when i was a kid. but anyway. in addition to being all set with "drive" for the rest of my life, all the singles on that album were incredibly overplayed, still seem to be overplayed even though i rarely ever listen to the radio now. whereas i don't get that with any other single from any other album, even though it's highly likely that i've heard WTFK or driver 8 just as many, if not more than anything off ATFP.
agreed
