Project 1001: Green by R.E.M.
I've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas
Another great album from possibly the best band of its era. While listening today, it dawned on me that Michael Stipe does not possess one of the great voices. He’s probably never going to sing opera at The Met. But his voice is unique and quite distinctive. Not just the sounds his voice makes, but the words he expresses. I don’t think one has to align with his politics to appreciate the poetry of his lyrics. Although most early R.E.M. fans didn’t consider this album to be typical R.E.M.-style music, Green expanded the band’s artistic view as they moved to a major label for the first time (Warner Bros). With that they began to grow their audience on the way to becoming one of the most popular and influential bands ever. This is the sixth album in a remarkable run of enduring music.
My Rating:
The Rolling Stone review said this: “Green reveals a much wider range than previous efforts, including a playfulness that wasn’t there before. Some songs have a downright bubble-gummy feel: on “Stand,” Peter Buck lets fly with a ridiculously wanky wah-wah guitar solo. Still others reveal more emotion than the band has shown in the past; “You Are the Everything” and the untitled track that closes the album are frank love songs with few strings attached.
Except for those tender ballads, R.E.M. has completely lost its folk inflections. A heavy guitar sound has replaced the old Byrdsy jangle (which scores of college bands continue to ply). The trademark asymmetrical song structures are gone, too; now, verses are repeated for maximum catchiness.”1
For the 25th Anniversary of Green, Jennie Rothenberg Gritz wrote, “As drummer Bill Berry put it at the time, ‘We discovered a whole new songwriting technique: Grab an instrument you don't know how to play and fool around on it till it sounds right.’ So the drummer played bass and the bassist played accordion. The guitarist sat behind the drum kit and picked up the mandolin.
All of that gave the album a bright, original sound, but that’s not what made it so extraordinary. It was what the songs were actually about. ‘I decided that this had to be a record that was incredibly uplifting,’ Stipe told Rolling Stone back then. ‘Not necessarily happy, but a record that was uplifting to offset the store-bought cynicism and easy condemnation of the world we're living in now.’ ”2
Sid Smith, writing for BBC, opined, “Recorded over an eleven week period, whilst the majority of R.E.M.’s trademark elements are in place, there’s also an ambition on Green that’s not always present on their earlier albums.
“Green is not quite the sell-out some REM die-hards would have you believe but it was the point at which the discreet manifesto previously pursued became writ large. A bigger sound made more explicit than ever before, Green pump-primed the world for what would become Athens’ biggest export.”3
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Gareth Thompson wrote:
“Are R.E.M. the best band in the world?” asked Andy Gill, reviewing Green in Q. He decided they were. And so did millions of others.4
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #125
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart:
> Stand #6
> Pop Song 89 #86
• RIAA certification6:
> 2x Platinum | August 17, 1994
> Platinum | February 14, 1989
> Gold | January 10, 1989
Released on November 7, 1988. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: Kokomo by The Beach Boys7
• Number one album: New Jersey by Bon Jovi8
• Number one movie: They Live by John Carpenter9
• Most watched TV programs: The Cosby Show, Roseanne, A Different World, War and Remembrance10
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice11
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking12
Other albums released that week
• Beast from the East by Dokken
• The Memphis Sessions by Wet Wet Wet
• Straight out the Jungle by The Jungle Brothers
• Endless War by Realm
• California by American Music Club
• All or Nothing by Milli Vanilli
• The Trinity Session by Cowboy Junkies13
Sport
• Nov 2 A's shortstop Walt Weiss wins AL rookie of year.
• Nov 5 1st NBA game at Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons beat Hornets 94-85.
• Nov 7 Sugar Ray Leonard KO's Donnie LaLonde.
• Nov 10 Orel Hershiser (23-8) is a unanimous choice as NL Cy Young Award.
• Nov 13 Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna wins his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
• Nov 15 Dodgers outfielder Kirk Gibson wins NL MVP Award.
• Nov 16 Jose Canseco is 1st unanimous AL MVP since Reggie Jackson.
• Nov 16 Robin Givens sues Mike Tyson for $125 million for libel.
• Nov 20 38th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Bill Elliott wins.14
Notable Births
• Nov 4 Dez Bryant, American football wide receiver (Dallas Cowboys), born in Galveston County, Texas.
• Nov 6 Emma Stone, American actress (The Amazing Spider-Man, La La Land), born in Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Nov 12 Russell Westbrook, American basketball guard (NBA MVP 2017; NBA All-Star Game MVP 2015, 16), born in Long Beach, California.
• Nov 18 Jeffrey Jordan, American college basketball player; son of Michael Jordan.
• Nov 19 Patrick Kane, American ice hockey player (Chicago Blackhawks), born in Buffalo, New York.15
Historical Events
• Nov 2 The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain mainstream media attention is launched from MIT, strikes Pentagon, SDI research lab and six universities.
• Nov 3 Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera's nose is broken as Roy Innis brawls with skinheads at TV taping.
• Nov 8 900 die as earthquake hits China.
• Nov 8 Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate Michael Dukakis.
• Nov 11 Oldest known insect fossils (390 million yrs) reported in Science.
• Nov 15 Soviet space shuttle makes unmanned maiden flight (2 orbits).
• Nov 16 Estonia declares sovereignty in internal affairs.
• Nov 16 Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto's PPP wins 1st free Pakistani elections in 11 years.
• Nov 16 President Reagan and the First Lady participate in the official state arrival ceremony, meetings and a state dinner with Margaret Thatcher.16
Notable Deaths
• Nov 6 John Hubbard, American actor (Don't Call Me Charlie, The Tall T, One Million B.C.), dies of kidney failure at 74.
• Nov 9 Clarke Hinkle, American College-Pro Football HOF utility (NFL C'ship 1936, 39; 7 × First-team All-Pro; NFL All-Star 1938–40; GB Packers), dies at 79.
• Nov 9 David Bauer, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame player and builder (priest, school coach; National Team manager), dies at 64.
• Nov 9 John Mitchell, American lawyer, political operative (US Attorney General, 1969-72), and convicted perjurer (Watergate Scandal), dies of heart attack in Washington, DC at 75.
• Nov 19 Christina Onassis, Greek heiress, daughter of Aristotle Onassis, dies of heart failure at 37.
• Nov 21 Carl Hubbell, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (9 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1933; NL MVP 1933, 36; NY Giants), dies at 85.17
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
On Prime: 128. Green by R.E.M.
All the videos: You're Welcome 128; Green by R.E.M.
Thompson, Gareth, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ed by Robert Dimery, p. 590.
Ibid.