Miles Standish proud
My favourite era of R.E.M. is a little after his, but c'mon, it's J. Edward Keyes; of course he nails their appeal so precisely: As time goes on I think I probably liked R.E.M. for the wrong reasons. The main attraction for most people, if every one of the seven hundred million pages devoted to them is to be believed, is the early aura of mystery and Peter Buck’s inverted quoting of The Byrds. As a pudgy, quiet, picked-on 16 year-old kid living in the strip mall rat-tail Dream Theater hell of Suffolk County, none of that meant dick to me. The first thing I zeroed in on was Michael Stipe because — and this might have more to do with my own cultural insulation than anything else — this was the first time I’d ever seen anyone I felt like I could relate to even remotely in a position of rock prominence.
I didn't get beaten up as often as he did - I was an outgoing, and more importantly big, kid but other than that he has again given me that odd shiver of recognition that I love to get from writing. And he's excited about the new album - which means so am I. As I've said before, they were my favourite band back when I didn't realise that you had any say in the matter.
I didn't get beaten up as often as he did - I was an outgoing, and more importantly big, kid but other than that he has again given me that odd shiver of recognition that I love to get from writing. And he's excited about the new album - which means so am I. As I've said before, they were my favourite band back when I didn't realise that you had any say in the matter.
