After all these years, R.E.M. still relevant

After all these years, R.E.M. still relevant

By Mike Celizic

Any suggestions that R.E.M. had lost its rock n roll roots and its focus after 28 years as one of the music industry’s iconic bands have been laid to rest with the release of Accelerate, the groups first studio album in four years.

Its more than good, according to Rolling Stone, which called the release, the best record R.E.M. has ever made. And the crowd that turned out on Rockefeller Center Tuesday to hear Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills play a trio of songs seemed to agree, greeting the pioneers of alternative rock with enthusiastic cheers.

We kind of knew from the first couple songs that we wrote that we were on to something, but to get this kind of enthusiastic reaction from the critics and the fans is really great, he said.
Its especially great after their last album, Around the Sun, failed to break the top 20 lists. Lauer asked what made the new album so good.

The communication was really good between us to figure out what we wanted to do, what we wanted to accomplish " keep it short, accessible, sharp, kind of energetic, said Buck.
The energy is apparent in the selections. After going 10 years without releasing a genuine rock single, R.E.M. came up with seven for their new album.

They also broke new ground by becoming the first major group to release a new album entirely online through the website ilike.com. They’ve also set up a website, supernaturalsuperserious.com, where fans can put together their own music videos using clips the band has provided.

The technology is out there and the best thing you can do is to break down the barrier between yourself and your fans, said Mills in explaining why the band decided to take the album straight to the Internet. Its just a way to remove the middleman and connect directly with the people that like you.

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