Archive for April 21st, 2008

You Wore Your Expectations Like an Armored Suit

Monday, April 21st, 2008

You said that irony was the shackles of youth, uh-huh.

Much to my girlfriend Erin’s chagrin, all the talk about R.E.M.’s “return to the glory days of Monster” has prompted me to dig out the old REM and see what makes it tick (sorry, hon).

I especially have been thinking about the way that my opinion of them has shifted, the way that my view of Monster keeps changing, and how people can have completely different (and conflicting) views of the same band. What makes R.E.M. a band that I realized I love to my core the way that Erin was gushing about rediscovering Matthew Good Band this weekend?

And more than that, would R.E.M. be that band again?

We rented a car this weekend and when you’re a music nerd, that always translates to “holy shit I have a car in which to play CD’s again,” because wow, sometimes I wonder if I would ever have TRULY liked the Sunset Tree or Len as much as I did because I had a car back then.* Since my driving resides somewhere much closer to “over-cautious grandma” than “reckless speed demon” on the continuum, Erin always drives if we have the option, granting her musical power.**

It also means that when I put Monster on, I was gushing, but I had no idea how much I’d get to hear before she had too much Stipe. I bargained my way to five tracks, because seriously look at this list:

What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Crush With Eyeliner
King Of Comedy
I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
Star 69

The first two tracks made me especially giddy. I couldn’t believe that this album had been living in a random box somewhere in the living room. It felt like fate had decided to let me find this album in the pile, just to brighten an already fun day. From the cheesy, overdone D-to-G-perfection opening, to “oh man ‘Crush’ is about Courtney Love, but then, maybe not?” to the rockin’ out nonsense of “Star 69,” I was beaming. She and I got to talking, and I realized that this album came out when I was sixteen. Sixteen! And it was also one of the first albums that I bought the same day it came out.***

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