After reading this review, I want every person who reads this
\nreview to go out and buy
\nMonster<\/i>. Normally, I don’t directly request that readers go
\nout and buy my recommendations immediately, but
\nMonster<\/i> is a special case: it’s cheap. It could very well be
\nthe cheapest album in pop music. No matter how small, virtually
\nevery used record store has about ten copies in their catalog. You
\ncan currently buy a used copy on amazon.com for a penny. A friggin’
\npenny!<\/p>\n
What earned
\nMonster<\/i> this dubious distinction? What about this album made
\nit almost impossible for record store clerks to ever sell a new
\nmint copy of
\nMonster<\/i> again? It’s one of the myths of modern pop — sort
\nof like how Hootie and the Blowfish and the Backstreet Boys can
\nsell ten million albums but no one will claim ownership of their
\nCDs. Before we examine why there are so many used copies of
\nMonster<\/i>, it’s important to examine what made droves of
\npeople purchase the album. After all, those used bins didn’t fill
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n
After
\nDocument<\/i>, R.E.M. released a trifecta of folksier, more
\nmellow albums.
\nGreen<\/i>,
\nOut Of Time<\/i> and
\nAutomatic For The People<\/i> each grew more mellow and
\nintrospective.
\nMonster<\/i> promised a return to the more guitar-oriented sounds
\nthat made
\nDocument<\/i> so beloved. Still, it’s not like people hated these
\nthree albums. All made the top ten and sold at least a million
\ncopies (hell, R.E.M. would most likely kill for a gold album
\nnowadays). On top of that,
\nAutomatic For The People<\/i> has been regarded as R.E.M.’s best
\nwork. Still, when early press leaked out that R.E.M. was plugging
\nin the amps and going full tilt, fans began salivating.<\/p>\n
The album sold like gangbusters for the first few weeks. Their
\nfirst single, “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” was a nice single to
\nreintroduce R.E.M.’s return to rock. It featured Michael Stipe’s
\nstream of conscious, marble-mouthed delivery and Peter Buck’s
\nechoing guitar roar. The second track, “Crush With Eyeliner” has a
\ngreat, sexy vibe, courtesy of Peter Buck’s guitar and has Stipe at
\nhis campy best.<\/p>\n
Scott Litt’s production is excellent throughout
\nMonster<\/i>. It’s safe to say that if you played a track from
\nMonster<\/i> to most any R.E.M. fan, they could tell you it came
\nfrom this album, even if the title escaped their memory. Fans will
\nalso regard
\nMonster<\/i> as the beginning of the end of Bill Berry’s stint as
\ndrummer, something that R.E.M. has never fully recovered from. His
\nlast full work would come with their next album,
\nNew Adventures In Hi-Fi<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\nMonster<\/i> is not a career suicide album that would force
\npeople to turn in their copies. In fact, it’s a fairly pedestrian
\nalbum. Returning to rock roots after experimenting with techno or
\nfolk is hardly a risky venture (just ask U2 or Radiohead). Still,
\nwhen artists return to their “roots”, they can oftentimes paint
\nthemselves into a corner. And
\nMonster<\/i> has that inescapable feel of backtracking.<\/p>\n
“Strange Currencies,” “Bang and Blame” and “I Took Your Name”
\njust don’t have that lasting power of earlier R.E.M. songs. And
\neven though Kurt Cobain professed great admiration for Michael
\nStipe, his eulogy to the departed Cobain, “Let Me In” doesn’t have
\nnear the emotional authenticity that it should have.<\/p>\n
In essence, as refreshing as it was to hear R.E.M. return to
\nform, Monster’s novelty quickly staled with hardcore fans. If
\nlisteners want to hear a great R.E.M. rock album, they are most
\nlikely going to throw on
\nDocument<\/i> or
\nFables Of The Reconstruction<\/i>. Still, that doesn’t mean
\nMonster<\/i> is a space filler in your CD tower. Taken as a
\nwhole, the album is surprisingly good. The only problem is that for
\nfans of R.E.M., it’s hard to look at post-
\nDocument<\/i> albums as albums and more as stages of development,
\nor notches on a growth chart for the band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5748],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38170","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-r-e-m","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38170"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}