The Byrds & Early R.E.M.
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RickFan
The Byrds & Early R.E.M.
I have always loved the Byrds but I grew up on early R.E.M. (This equates to everthing up to Life's Rich Pageant Album ) . Anyone else get that 1st real Ricenbacker bug listening a watching Peter Buck on that Jetglo 360 back when R.E.M. still had alot of Jangle ??
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fatrat
I was into the Beatles and the Byrds when I was 14 and at the time the only music on the radio and on MTV was Van Halen and hair bands with synths. As far as underground music or indie, it was pretty hard to find bands that didn't ham fist through songs and yell. I liked some of it but most of it was trying to come up with something new and it failed. So along comes REM, Game Theory and Lets Active, with all the Rickenbackers. That was when I first started listening to something besides Beatles and Byrds.
It was fresh at the time but by 1989 I hated it because everyone wanted to sound like REM, jangle, jangle, mumble, mumble, go the lyrics. So I got into post punk, pre-grunge type things. I was playing through all this time so that was a musician's perspective on it at the time. I remember I could have gone to see REM in 1984 at the Roxy in Atlanta, I blew it.
I'm with you on liking everything up to lifes rich P... I hate that "end of the world song" thats horrible. I hated them after that and anyone with a paisly shirt and with long hair in the front, short in the back. Most people by then that liked them were frat daddies and private school boys and I wasn't one. I grew my hair long and got in a band that played melodic punk. We didn't realise that the same music was going on in Seatle with Sound Garden, Mudhoney and Nirvana at the very same time. We were playing our own original music version of Black Sab. crossed with Joy division and the Sex pistols. We mixed in just a touch of a Beatles' bass playing but you didn't say that at the time. It wasnt cool. We broke up in 1991 right before all that got hot out in Seatle. Oh well.
FATRAT
It was fresh at the time but by 1989 I hated it because everyone wanted to sound like REM, jangle, jangle, mumble, mumble, go the lyrics. So I got into post punk, pre-grunge type things. I was playing through all this time so that was a musician's perspective on it at the time. I remember I could have gone to see REM in 1984 at the Roxy in Atlanta, I blew it.
I'm with you on liking everything up to lifes rich P... I hate that "end of the world song" thats horrible. I hated them after that and anyone with a paisly shirt and with long hair in the front, short in the back. Most people by then that liked them were frat daddies and private school boys and I wasn't one. I grew my hair long and got in a band that played melodic punk. We didn't realise that the same music was going on in Seatle with Sound Garden, Mudhoney and Nirvana at the very same time. We were playing our own original music version of Black Sab. crossed with Joy division and the Sex pistols. We mixed in just a touch of a Beatles' bass playing but you didn't say that at the time. It wasnt cool. We broke up in 1991 right before all that got hot out in Seatle. Oh well.
FATRAT
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marty
Hi All,I also was turned on to REM about the time
of Rockville/Driver 8.Thought it was a change from
mainstream,sounded Southern.But what made me a
fan, was when they brought Roger out to jam on
some T.V.show.I thought"those boys might really
make it now".It was cool to see a Rick when every-
one was playing pointy guitars.I saw them live
later and they really jammed.
of Rockville/Driver 8.Thought it was a change from
mainstream,sounded Southern.But what made me a
fan, was when they brought Roger out to jam on
some T.V.show.I thought"those boys might really
make it now".It was cool to see a Rick when every-
one was playing pointy guitars.I saw them live
later and they really jammed.
R.E.M. had a good sound, melodic, yet as uncompromising and artsy/intense as other post-punk bands such as Husker Du, the Pixies, or Fugazi. College radio music. jangle. mandolin. film students. This one goes out to....
Nirvana was good too, and I don't believe that their sound was ever "duplicated" well by any other shallow Seatle band that tried to come out afterwards and pretend to have that same bad-***/I-don't- care attitude. Cobain was a hero/anti-hero/villain character all rolled into one that really never did a damn thing to promote peace and love; in fact, perhaps by promoting the discomfort, angst, and ill-feelings inherent in modern society, he was able to convey the art of a culture lost in itself, mocking its failed attempt to "smile on your brother, try to love one another".... now dark images of society became popular, and were further conveyed by other quality emerging bands like Tool, NIN, and Radiohead. The wildness, and experimental jazz nature of Mr. Bungle (with the talented voice of Mike Patton) deserves mentioning here too. From profound to profane (like Brian Wilson's "Smile"), 90s rock would never have been so funky if 60s rock hadn't been even funkier and more pioneering thirty years earlier. I mean, the WHO were as "punk" as it gets, and smashed guitars before Cobain even knew what one was.
Byrds jangle, and R.E.M. picked up on it...
Nevertheless, R.E.M. wasn't hurt by the "grunge" competition, if anything, it helped them sell records because many of the artists, Cobain included, cited R.E.M. as reference. Unfortunately, R.E.M. was thus too inspired by "grunge" in turn and put out "Monster", which was mediocre-at-best. Their last album wasn't too bad though, maybe even a bit techno/futuristic (then again, they no longer have a human drummer).
Recently, I viewed some old SNL episodes and saw 2 back to back. One where R.E.M. was performing, and the other with U2. In my opinion, R.E.M. was good, but, U2 was better at conveying their message live.
Nirvana was good too, and I don't believe that their sound was ever "duplicated" well by any other shallow Seatle band that tried to come out afterwards and pretend to have that same bad-***/I-don't- care attitude. Cobain was a hero/anti-hero/villain character all rolled into one that really never did a damn thing to promote peace and love; in fact, perhaps by promoting the discomfort, angst, and ill-feelings inherent in modern society, he was able to convey the art of a culture lost in itself, mocking its failed attempt to "smile on your brother, try to love one another".... now dark images of society became popular, and were further conveyed by other quality emerging bands like Tool, NIN, and Radiohead. The wildness, and experimental jazz nature of Mr. Bungle (with the talented voice of Mike Patton) deserves mentioning here too. From profound to profane (like Brian Wilson's "Smile"), 90s rock would never have been so funky if 60s rock hadn't been even funkier and more pioneering thirty years earlier. I mean, the WHO were as "punk" as it gets, and smashed guitars before Cobain even knew what one was.
Byrds jangle, and R.E.M. picked up on it...
Nevertheless, R.E.M. wasn't hurt by the "grunge" competition, if anything, it helped them sell records because many of the artists, Cobain included, cited R.E.M. as reference. Unfortunately, R.E.M. was thus too inspired by "grunge" in turn and put out "Monster", which was mediocre-at-best. Their last album wasn't too bad though, maybe even a bit techno/futuristic (then again, they no longer have a human drummer).
Recently, I viewed some old SNL episodes and saw 2 back to back. One where R.E.M. was performing, and the other with U2. In my opinion, R.E.M. was good, but, U2 was better at conveying their message live.
McGuinn and REM performing "So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star" onstage at the
Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ for MTV's Rock Influences Show - Saturday, June 9, 1984
I'm still relatively new to the Forum and am finding new stuff to respond to all the time. While I actually do have a life, the topics covered on this site are quite various and great.
The Beatles and Tom Petty (especially Hard Promises) got me going on Ricks, but REM sealed my fate. I saw them in 1983 in Minneapolis on their Reckoning tour. I can't begin to describe the experience, but there has been nothing like it since. On a similar note, I was speaking with my aunt the other night. I told her I was going to see Clapton this week (not a favorite, but free tix!) So we started talking about good live shows (I didn't bring up REM because...well, if you don't know REM well, it's just not worth it) and she brings up seeing the Beatles at Shea. She started to talk about it and then she just went quiet and said, 'You know, you just had to be there. I couldn't hear them, girls were screaming, and I cried the whole time'. To her, it was a surreal, almost religious experience. This sounds like a tired description, but her experience was probably not unlike most others there. At least I could hear REM when I saw them for the first time. But when I hear Peter Buck's Rickenbacker jangle live....... I just wish I could have appreciated it more that first time. Every REM live performance I have attended over the years has also been great. They are just a great live band (although a bit more tame These Days). REM's influence is so far reaching, but don't forget the Lou Reed influences that seem to gaining in popularity and are sometimes attributed to REM imo. Interestingly, on REM's latest album Reveal, I hear Let's Active influences that I haven't heard in a very very very long time. This album is very different, but - The more things change, the more they stay the same. Peter Buck has been called the master of jangle guitar, but imo only in more modern times. I Will get get me one of those fancy Peter Buck 360 models! I'll sign his name, throw a sticker on it (or Let's Active button like he used to have on it) and call it my own signature series!! Rick On!!!!
The Beatles and Tom Petty (especially Hard Promises) got me going on Ricks, but REM sealed my fate. I saw them in 1983 in Minneapolis on their Reckoning tour. I can't begin to describe the experience, but there has been nothing like it since. On a similar note, I was speaking with my aunt the other night. I told her I was going to see Clapton this week (not a favorite, but free tix!) So we started talking about good live shows (I didn't bring up REM because...well, if you don't know REM well, it's just not worth it) and she brings up seeing the Beatles at Shea. She started to talk about it and then she just went quiet and said, 'You know, you just had to be there. I couldn't hear them, girls were screaming, and I cried the whole time'. To her, it was a surreal, almost religious experience. This sounds like a tired description, but her experience was probably not unlike most others there. At least I could hear REM when I saw them for the first time. But when I hear Peter Buck's Rickenbacker jangle live....... I just wish I could have appreciated it more that first time. Every REM live performance I have attended over the years has also been great. They are just a great live band (although a bit more tame These Days). REM's influence is so far reaching, but don't forget the Lou Reed influences that seem to gaining in popularity and are sometimes attributed to REM imo. Interestingly, on REM's latest album Reveal, I hear Let's Active influences that I haven't heard in a very very very long time. This album is very different, but - The more things change, the more they stay the same. Peter Buck has been called the master of jangle guitar, but imo only in more modern times. I Will get get me one of those fancy Peter Buck 360 models! I'll sign his name, throw a sticker on it (or Let's Active button like he used to have on it) and call it my own signature series!! Rick On!!!!
Thanks for the great photo Terry. Rickenbackers galore!
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm
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C._Bourke
That rock influences "Folk Rock" episode was great.
Still have it on tape somewhere. I remember being amazed at all the Ricks on stage and at just how stoned Michael Stipe was!
I just started to play and bought my first guitars then. A Rick 4003 and a 320.
Around that time I was a Beatle fan, but more so a McCartney and Wings fan. Didn't understand the bad rap over 'Broadstreet. (Yes I'm of the age to have liked Wings first...What? Paul was a Beatle?!?!)
I guess I was very lucky to have started out on Rick's and never go through that junk first guitar stage. Mostly because of that one MTV show!
Still have it on tape somewhere. I remember being amazed at all the Ricks on stage and at just how stoned Michael Stipe was!
I just started to play and bought my first guitars then. A Rick 4003 and a 320.
Around that time I was a Beatle fan, but more so a McCartney and Wings fan. Didn't understand the bad rap over 'Broadstreet. (Yes I'm of the age to have liked Wings first...What? Paul was a Beatle?!?!)
I guess I was very lucky to have started out on Rick's and never go through that junk first guitar stage. Mostly because of that one MTV show!
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whitfordstholmes
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corey
Sorry to be posting on such an old thread...but I just got on the board and I'm an R.E.M. nut.
You can count me among the "Peter Buck made me want to play Rics forever" clique. I got into everything from Glen Campbell to The Velvet Underground to Radiohead through the R.E.M. filter.
As for Mills, I really think he does great things with ANY bass... He uses his Fender bass to great effect, IMHO.
You can count me among the "Peter Buck made me want to play Rics forever" clique. I got into everything from Glen Campbell to The Velvet Underground to Radiohead through the R.E.M. filter.
As for Mills, I really think he does great things with ANY bass... He uses his Fender bass to great effect, IMHO.
I've come to accept that there will never be a Peter Buck signature series, since I've learned here that he doesn't want one and that his 360 is basically stock. My question is this: If there was a signature series 360 in Jetglow, would anything about the guitar be different than an existing stock 360 aside from Buck's signature? By the way, Corey, Welcome to the Addiction of this page, or should I say Welcome to the Occupation?
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330fg
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oli