Author Spotlight
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I used to feel fine
R.E.M frontman Michael Stipe seems keen on auditioning as the fourth member of the Blue Man Group. Tibet is nice and all, but Michael, you’re making people suffer here. Why is it that artists so ‘mature’ in their youth can be so ‘immature’ in their elder years? I use quotes around those words because I don’t fully subscribe to such simple dichotomies, though I do often wonder — what the fuck happens? Is fame that bad?
Take for example some lines from “West of the Fields,” off R.E.M’s debut album Murmur:
Long gone, intuition to assume are gone when we try.
Dream of a living jungle in my way back home when we die.West of the fields. West of the fields. West of the fields. West of the fields.
Long gone. Long gone. Long gone. Long gone. West of the fields.Dreams of Elysian, to assume are gone when we try
Tell now what is dreaming
When we try to listen with your eyes oversimplify
Now that’s just beautiful — the ‘ong’ alliteration, the zen-type absence and abnegation, the pastoral allusion brought by a vague vector, the intuitive resistance to grammar, etc. Now here’s an excerpt from “Leaving New York” from a recent album Around the Sun.
you might have laughed if I told you
you might have hidden a frown.
you might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around.it’s easier to leave
than to be left behind
leaving was never my proud.
leaving new york, never easy.
I saw the light fading out
“Succeeded in changing me,” and “it’s easier to leave / than to be left behind” sound like something from a 17 yr old girl’s diary. The cliche “hidden a frown” works predictably with “turned around.” Maybe he’s trying to evoke Lou Reed’s stoic irony of New York, key word being ‘trying.’ I don’t want to be a dick, but I just loved Michael Stipe so much when I was younger. For every lady with a bag o’ botox, there’s a rock star who thinks 20 years never happened. The problem with rock n’ roll is that it glorifies youth. Literature fairs better in this regard; it starts off grumpy and tries to end that way.
A friend who visited the band’s hometown Athens Georgia told me that he saw Stipe was here written on the bathroom wall in some bar or something, this being a rhetorically abridged version of Stipe was here, penned by the eponymous man himself.
I used to feel like that kid in the abandoned house in that video. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, fuck I am old.) I guess youth’s fate is written in old stars — the poetry ends when the pain does. I know that’s cliche, thank you for your attention. I used to save up my monthly $10 allowance to buy cassette tapes of a long awaited album. I’d ride my bike for 20 miles to Tower Records because my mom wouldn’t take me. That was punk, people. Now I’m in my boxers with a watermelon on the kitchen counter waiting to be violated. Work is tomorrow, ad infin.
It’s time I had some time alone.
Tags: michael stipe, REM
This is a really wonderful post. But I think Murmur was their debut, or at least Radio Free Europe was their first single. I guess it doesn’t even matter, really. I still really like this post.
This is a really wonderful post. But I think Murmur was their debut, or at least Radio Free Europe was their first single. I guess it doesn’t even matter, really. I still really like this post.
Green.
Green.
thanks david, and post is corrected.
thanks david, and post is corrected.
i don’t sleep, i dream.
i don’t sleep, i dream.
some people don’t have enough ideas to sustain a career?
admirable are those who recognise when their talent has just switched off.
like Cameron Diaz.
some people don’t have enough ideas to sustain a career?
admirable are those who recognise when their talent has just switched off.
like Cameron Diaz.
I always thought those lines about him being “changed” and “turned around” referred to him being a bottom or trying to be a bottom for someone or something about the bottom/top thing with gay men. But maybe I was just making myself smile.
I always thought those lines about him being “changed” and “turned around” referred to him being a bottom or trying to be a bottom for someone or something about the bottom/top thing with gay men. But maybe I was just making myself smile.
I believe it reaches far beyond Michael Stipe. For the life of me, other than, say, gymnastics and mathematics, I have never seen a field that is as harsh on its practitioners as rock ‘n roll – I have never, in my experience – heard a work by a musician over 30 that eclipsed or improved upon the work he or she did before 30 in terms of vision, daring, breaking boundaries, sheer listenability – at best, the innovations all but cease and there is some interesting re-working.
I don’t know why 30 is the magic age but it seems to be. Abbie Hoffman seems somehow now, long ago and far away, prescient that way.
The Beatles broke up at just about that age. The Rolling Stones ‘Exile on Main Street’ occurred in (just about) their collective 30th year (to be followed by … ‘Goat’s Head Soup’?) Try to point to anything in the last 20 years of Patti Smith that outshines ‘Horses’, or Eric Clapton with Derek and the Dominoes, or The Who with ‘Tommy’ or ‘Who’s Next’ – Roxy Music, Brian Eno, etc.
Of course now I have reduced myself to old man muttering cliches of golden era & in my day they etc. but this is more of a query than a grumble. I would love to know if anyone disagrees, or if anyone can point to a rocker whose work’s depth and imagination developed after 30 or 40 or dare I say: 50?
Why, I wonder, can this not be? It is perhaps not confined strictly to rock ‘n roll, of course. I don’t think, for instance, I would care much for the writing of a 65 year old Arthur Rimbaud.
I believe it reaches far beyond Michael Stipe. For the life of me, other than, say, gymnastics and mathematics, I have never seen a field that is as harsh on its practitioners as rock ‘n roll – I have never, in my experience – heard a work by a musician over 30 that eclipsed or improved upon the work he or she did before 30 in terms of vision, daring, breaking boundaries, sheer listenability – at best, the innovations all but cease and there is some interesting re-working.
I don’t know why 30 is the magic age but it seems to be. Abbie Hoffman seems somehow now, long ago and far away, prescient that way.
The Beatles broke up at just about that age. The Rolling Stones ‘Exile on Main Street’ occurred in (just about) their collective 30th year (to be followed by … ‘Goat’s Head Soup’?) Try to point to anything in the last 20 years of Patti Smith that outshines ‘Horses’, or Eric Clapton with Derek and the Dominoes, or The Who with ‘Tommy’ or ‘Who’s Next’ – Roxy Music, Brian Eno, etc.
Of course now I have reduced myself to old man muttering cliches of golden era & in my day they etc. but this is more of a query than a grumble. I would love to know if anyone disagrees, or if anyone can point to a rocker whose work’s depth and imagination developed after 30 or 40 or dare I say: 50?
Why, I wonder, can this not be? It is perhaps not confined strictly to rock ‘n roll, of course. I don’t think, for instance, I would care much for the writing of a 65 year old Arthur Rimbaud.
Sonic Youth continues to thrill. & I’ll always love Stipe & Co. and not just for nostalgia’s sake but because I see his journey as somehow parallel to my own as I age and my concerns evolve.
Sonic Youth continues to thrill. & I’ll always love Stipe & Co. and not just for nostalgia’s sake but because I see his journey as somehow parallel to my own as I age and my concerns evolve.
I do agree that this is the usual way it goes. I love David Bowie, but anything after “Lets Dance”…? Maybe its because being in a rock band really takes it out of you – the drugs, the touring, and I know that the business side of the industry is so fucking horrible that it must be impossible not to get burned out unless you have no soul like Bono or Chris Martin.
But the there’s people like Tom Waits – his later period stuff is brilliant, and definitely eclipses the first few albums. He hit his stride, but then instead of getting lame he actually got more experimental… hm who else? Well, Pulp didnt start doing great albums until after Jarvis Cocker was 30 (this probably wont mean much to anyone who isnt English, but trust me they were great). And Leonard Cohen has aged pretty well too… Im sure there are others, but my brain isnt working properly yet…
I do agree that this is the usual way it goes. I love David Bowie, but anything after “Lets Dance”…? Maybe its because being in a rock band really takes it out of you – the drugs, the touring, and I know that the business side of the industry is so fucking horrible that it must be impossible not to get burned out unless you have no soul like Bono or Chris Martin.
But the there’s people like Tom Waits – his later period stuff is brilliant, and definitely eclipses the first few albums. He hit his stride, but then instead of getting lame he actually got more experimental… hm who else? Well, Pulp didnt start doing great albums until after Jarvis Cocker was 30 (this probably wont mean much to anyone who isnt English, but trust me they were great). And Leonard Cohen has aged pretty well too… Im sure there are others, but my brain isnt working properly yet…
Neil Young is still pretty dope (though I guess I’m not prepared to argue his more recent stuff is “better” than the earlier albums — he does still rock, though, in mostly unembarrassing manner).
David Byrne is still cool, too. Then again, I have a 99%-nonsexual mancrush on David Byrne.
Neil Young is still pretty dope (though I guess I’m not prepared to argue his more recent stuff is “better” than the earlier albums — he does still rock, though, in mostly unembarrassing manner).
David Byrne is still cool, too. Then again, I have a 99%-nonsexual mancrush on David Byrne.
Oh, and fuck REM.
I spent many years defending them against the “everything after Green (or sometimes Life’s Rich Pageant, depending the stridency of arguer) sucks” culture of complaint.
But now they do, kind of, finally, suck.
Oh, and fuck REM.
I spent many years defending them against the “everything after Green (or sometimes Life’s Rich Pageant, depending the stridency of arguer) sucks” culture of complaint.
But now they do, kind of, finally, suck.
Lucinda Williams. I saw Marianne Faithfull at a bar when she was pushing 50 and she was fantastic. Aimee Mann now or in Til Tuesday? I like her now better.
Juliana Hatifield is 41.
PJ Harvey still does incredible work in her late thirties. Kate Bush.
Those were all ladies.
Mark Kozolek is as good now in Sun Kil Moon as he was in Red House Painters.
But yeah, I’d have to agree with Tony that the its a rough business. And I’ll add that the emotional intensity that makes rock so- intense- is hard to sustain. And mellowing with middle age is a good thing in life, but not for ROCK.
I’ve had too much coffee.
Also, speaking of mid life- Stipe is having a “mid life crisis” where regular men drop their wives for 23 yr olds, buy sports cars and start drinking heavily. So, it’s not just Stipe of rock stars. Middle age makes many of us idiots.
Also, I’ll add, as consumers I think our relationship to pop music is like our relationship to restaurants. You like your favorite place, you don’t want it to go away, but every now and then, the thought of eating there again makes your stomach turn. You have to try the new place around the corner- it’s new! It’s exciting! And soon enough, you’re not going back to the old place more than once every two months or so- and that you do out of guilt. And now the new place isn’t feeling so mew anymore and you’re just waiting for that other new place to open up down the street. It’ll be new!
that shiny happy people song still bounces around in my head, 20 years later. sometimes, when i’m on the verge of finding a little moment of happiness, it comes back and reminds me of everything wrong. same for “soldier of love”.
that shiny happy people song still bounces around in my head, 20 years later. sometimes, when i’m on the verge of finding a little moment of happiness, it comes back and reminds me of everything wrong. same for “soldier of love”.
really interesting points ricky and tony. reminds me of the malcolm gladwell article in the new yorker about genius and its connection to precocity.
tom waits and aimee mann and the handful of others notwithstanding, they do seem to be the exception.
i feel the reason for this, as opposed to other art forms (writing in particular), is that so much of what makes a musician vital is a kind of roughness, urgency, and desperation that seems to only fade with age, success, and affirmation — in short, it’s not life-lessons we want from our rock — it’s feeling. guts and balls and heart. sometimes brain too, but not necessarily, just as an accidental bonus.
really interesting points ricky and tony. reminds me of the malcolm gladwell article in the new yorker about genius and its connection to precocity.
tom waits and aimee mann and the handful of others notwithstanding, they do seem to be the exception.
i feel the reason for this, as opposed to other art forms (writing in particular), is that so much of what makes a musician vital is a kind of roughness, urgency, and desperation that seems to only fade with age, success, and affirmation — in short, it’s not life-lessons we want from our rock — it’s feeling. guts and balls and heart. sometimes brain too, but not necessarily, just as an accidental bonus.
thanks for the malcom gladwell lead, just read it. good article. years ago i was infatuated with the genius-madness aura. this article serves as a nice foil to that.
thanks for the malcom gladwell lead, just read it. good article. years ago i was infatuated with the genius-madness aura. this article serves as a nice foil to that.
you’re welcome! i love that piece. there’s a lecture you can find by googling of him comparing the eagles and fleetwood mac in the same way. fascinating.
you’re welcome! i love that piece. there’s a lecture you can find by googling of him comparing the eagles and fleetwood mac in the same way. fascinating.
Dylan, the Mekons and Mission of Burma are some other oldsters still doing great work– indeed, with the Mekons, I love their last album as much as any of their earlier stuff (and they certainly reached some towering heights earlier in their career).
RE: REM, I don’t agree. Yes, from Chronic Town to Fables is a stretch of weird genius that I truly love, and they’ll never replicate it (the SOUND of those albums is just from another planet). However, I really also think the trio Automatic/Monster/New Adventures is great, and the subsequent albums have had, at the very minimum, some excellentsongs.
Yes, Around The Sun is the weakest album in their catalog. And Michael Stipe’s lyrics are sometimes — a la “Leaving New York” — very “on the nose,” or “Hallmarky” or what have you (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, IMHO).
But he’s capable of some great lines. Check out the wordplay below from “Horse to Water” from the last album, which when you hear the song has this crazy propulsive to it — and the last line is a killer.
You’re only as big as your battles.
Rattle my cage with your shadow.
I’m a bantamweight with a mouth full of feathers,
Don’t you know that what comes around goes around?
Don’t darken my doorstep again,
You’re mixing up living with tchin-tchin,
You’re mixing up lose with win-win,
You lead a horse to water and you watch him drown.
Dylan, the Mekons and Mission of Burma are some other oldsters still doing great work– indeed, with the Mekons, I love their last album as much as any of their earlier stuff (and they certainly reached some towering heights earlier in their career).
RE: REM, I don’t agree. Yes, from Chronic Town to Fables is a stretch of weird genius that I truly love, and they’ll never replicate it (the SOUND of those albums is just from another planet). However, I really also think the trio Automatic/Monster/New Adventures is great, and the subsequent albums have had, at the very minimum, some excellentsongs.
Yes, Around The Sun is the weakest album in their catalog. And Michael Stipe’s lyrics are sometimes — a la “Leaving New York” — very “on the nose,” or “Hallmarky” or what have you (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, IMHO).
But he’s capable of some great lines. Check out the wordplay below from “Horse to Water” from the last album, which when you hear the song has this crazy propulsive to it — and the last line is a killer.
You’re only as big as your battles.
Rattle my cage with your shadow.
I’m a bantamweight with a mouth full of feathers,
Don’t you know that what comes around goes around?
Don’t darken my doorstep again,
You’re mixing up living with tchin-tchin,
You’re mixing up lose with win-win,
You lead a horse to water and you watch him drown.
I like Paul Westerberg better now- better and in a different way- than when he was with The Replacements.
and marlon brando got fat don’t forget that. take that geniuses. the internet is all up in your face and what are you going to do about it.
and marlon brando got fat don’t forget that. take that geniuses. the internet is all up in your face and what are you going to do about it.
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fame isnt ‘so bad’, its just the end of a road. once you get there, what’s left? the roots of creativity are far in the past, and so much of life has been explored already that i think you reach into areas that a weird, just in hopes of finding something new.
fame isnt ‘so bad’, its just the end of a road. once you get there, what’s left? the roots of creativity are far in the past, and so much of life has been explored already that i think you reach into areas that a weird, just in hopes of finding something new.