The Zimmermann Note

R.E.M. – Monster

So what better than coming off a slew of acoustic-minded albums than to return with an electric blitz of guitars. Monster feels at times big and bloated. It’s R.E.M.’s way of making an album with a huge sound to tour around.

Monster gets a bad rap sometimes. There have been about 15 different times over the years that R.E.M. has sold out according to critics and fans of the band and I think that Monster was one of those times. I felt that I had even gone with the crowd a little bit on it until I realized subconsciously how much I would listen to the album. I think that the album might be a bit more mature than your standard 17 year old fare and it truly does not mesh at all with the 90’s grunge sound that came from the land of Starbucks.

Instead, Monster feels like R.E.M. making an album that should have been dedicated to some of the bands favorites of the 70’s: Iggy Pop and The Stooges, New York Dolls and T. Rex to name a few. Just like albums prior, the album is dark but still sexy enough and not deliberate. It has a bit of a neon hue attached to it and I think I am reminded often of the video for Crush with Eyeliner when I say that.

From the standpoint of Stipe, it’s one of the few where he is allowed to take on some different characters. He writes “Tongue” from the point of view of a female with falsetto voice and all but it’s also the use of tools, filters and gadgets to give it some character.

When he does need to get personal we get ‘Let Me In’ a tribute to Kurt Cobain. Stipe had befriended Cobain and there were talks of writing music together, but the song works for it’s simple message but one that R.E.M. could relate to. R.E.M. had already been together for 14 years. They had gone through the same growing pains of success from years prior and had become comfortable in their own skin and they had used their goodwill to aid bands under similar circumstances that were feeling those same pressures and kept them from falling over the edge.

What I think that the band does not get enough credit for was that they took something that worked for them and went in the complete opposite direction. This is not Automatic Part 2. This was not R.E.M. by numbers. It still stands by itself as a unique direction that the band took, one that was not always easy to complete but the end product is something that is still cherished from my ears.