radiohead and rem

[Zoomerang96]

theyre great friends and they respect each other, but why? there music has nothing that much in common to me.

enlighten me please.

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-Cloyd
-Balls McCone
-Cloyd (again)
-Blattus
-Box Bran-Delle

[zooropamanda]

i dont think that has anything to do with anything.
U2, REM, Radiohead, Bjork, Smashing Pumpkins..all abnds that have respect for one another. Nothing alike, any of them.

[qball7200]

Back when Radiohead started out I believe they opened up for R.E.M. at some shows. R.E.M. gave them a chance and probably helped them through the music business. I recently read in some mag that before one of the shows Stipe gave Thom some of his old clothes (didn't say why) and all the members of Radiohead put them on before they went on stage.

[Calluna]

I came across the following article while browsing the web and while it doesn't explain why Radiohead and REM are friends, it does do a good job of describing the similarities in their musical styles. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and perhaps you might as well.

Getting It Wrong
by Michael Goldberg

OK, OK, so all critics have the right to make up the rules and then weigh the albums they listen to against them. That doesn't mean I have to sit by in silence. The latest piece of criticism to cause me to pace about — a review of the recent albums by Radiohead and R.E.M. by a writer named Kelefa Sanneh — appeared in the New York Times on Sunday (July 1). For some reason, Sanneh has chosen to use some theories Joe Carducci put forth in his 1994 book, "Rock and the Pop Narcotic," as the setup for his review. Carducci wrote: "The essence of quality in rock's musical terms is to be found in the musical interaction of the players of a guitar, a bass and a drum kit. Its special musical value is that it is a folk form which exhibits a small-band instrumental language as in jazz, rather than mere accompaniment to a vocalist as in pop."

Sanneh presents this to set up his discussion of how R.E.M. and Radiohead used to be bands that fit the Carducci definition, but now aren't. Of the groups' new albums — Reveal and Amnesiac — he suggests that "when rock groups move away from rock music, they also move away from 'group' music. Reveal and Amnesiac sound like the work of composers and arrangers, not players. Neither of these albums really works, but there are enough successes here to justify optimism about whatever comes next...."

Why the albums don't work is not clear. Sanneh apparently wishes R.E.M. and Radiohead would make music like they used to — get in a room, plug in, jam, come out with some great songs. Only I don't know that that's the way R.E.M. ever wrote songs, and I don't know that it's the approach Radiohead used to take either.

The creative process is a mysterious one, and there are no rules. Bands like R.E.M. and Radiohead have been around for a long time — R.E.M. since 1980; Radiohead since the early '90s. They have benefited from breakthrough after breakthrough in recording studio technology, and like some of their inspirations — the Beatles, Brian Wilson — they've taken advantage of them.

Sanneh seems to think that because they are utilizing loops and samples in their recordings, and because they are experimenting and not just playing the songs together in a room, they are no longer bands. "Like Mr. Yorke, Mr. Stipe often sounds as if he's singing along to something he's hearing in his headphones; the force of a singer engaging a band has been replaced by the juxtaposition of vocals and accompaniment. Instead of competing for space in the same tight arrangement, voice and music occupy totally separate spheres."

Reading that, I have to wonder if Sanneh and I have listened to the same albums. I have to wonder if Sanneh just wants more of the same ol' same ol' from two bands that refuse to repeat themselves. And I also have to wonder about Sanneh's premise. As far as I know, neither Radiohead nor R.E.M. signed that "A band must conform to these..." contract. I think they've always made the music they damn well wanted to make. They're still doing that, and god bless 'em.



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Remember the goul.

Shake n' bake
Do whatever it takes

[Salome]

it's very hard to make sense of some of R.E.M.'s lyrics

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Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

[Kieran McConville]

Very timely article there Calluna. I also read the NY Times article it was in response to, and considered it a pile of narrow-minded bollocks.

As for the connection between the bands, well they've both got their own styles. But I do recall once that REM's "Fall On Me" was cited as an early inspiration for the Radiohead members (very early on, probably even before they had a band name).

[DebbieSG]

both great college bands, for one thing.

[brettig]

Originally posted by Salome:
it's very hard to make sense of some of R.E.M.'s lyrics

says he who supposedly had understood it all