Fine Fan Fun
Roughly a week into listening to the new REM album, Accelerate, I realized I’m having fun being an REM fan, and that hasn’t been true in a while. I’ve been walking around with my iPod, singing along with many of the tracks and probably scaring passersby. I’ve been recording TV appearances and reading reviews, and feeling downright giddy about the upcoming tour. And I don’t want to be guilty of projection, but I think part of my fun is feeling like the band is having fun. I remember watching the documentary about the Vote for Change concerts back in 2004, where REM was playing with Bruce Springsteen right around the time that Around the Sun came out. There’s a bit backstage where Michael Stipe is looking at some of the packaging for the special edition version of the CD, and he gives a copy of the album to Springsteen. But there’s a bit where he shows the album to Peter Buck, and Buck seems pretty much disinterested, and almost glum. Given what I’ve read about the band’s attitude at that time, disinterested and glum don’t seem so off the mark. This time around, Buck’s bantering with Stephen Colbert and summing up the lessons of 2004 as “Make a better record” on the Today show.
It’s a nice feeling, is what I’m saying. But if Stipe is giving interviews in 2011 talking about how the band has finally addressed its communications problems, you’re probably gonna be seeing a story on the evening news about a lunatic philosophy professor running through the streets mumbling incoherently. So let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.