Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
I was listening to REM's Monster in my car yesterday. Was really enjoying it and thinking to myself, how could this not have been a huge hit for the band? It made me realize that there's actually a lot of similarities between 90s U2 and early 90s REM, come to think of it. Both went political to personal with Achtung Baby and Out Of Time respectively. Continued in the same vein with Zooropa (which was of course more just plain experimental than personal) and Automatic. And then released a shocker of an album in Pop and Monster to really shake the fan base up. What happened next. Neither one did very well in terms of sales or popularity. One band panicked. The other didn't. Unfazed by the dismal sales, REM went on to make the brilliant New Adventures. On the other hand, U2 came crashing down to earth with a 'back to the roots' comeback in ATYCLB. Granted that since then, REM have floated away towards the town of obscurity. But I wonder if U2 could've delivered a couple of gems on the lines of New Adventures and Up, had they not pressed the big red PANIC button. Discuss.