I grew up listening to the early R.E.M. music. Without the blink of an eye, I prefer the earlier material. RECKONING is not only their best album, in my opinion, but one of the strongest albums of the 80's.
In all honesty, I wish they would have taken their own advice. I remember reading (or seeing) an interview with the band, back in 1990, and they said they just wanted to make it until Jan. 1, 2000. They wanted to do a New Years Eve show, and simply walk away. It would have been a good end to the career... and a good time.

I've always enjoyed the band.
Our keyboardist is related to the bass player of R.E.M. The Mills guy.

Love R.E.M....and their last album was amazing.

Accelerate did not live up to a long past of awesomeness

I love their older stuff. Especially Murmur and Dead Letter Office (even though it's not a "real" album). Life's Rich Pageant is pretty sweet too though I don't listen to it much any more.

Of their middle period stuff I love Automatic for the People the most. I wish it had been their swan song though because everything they did after it isn't very good and it would've the perfect sound for a final album.

Three great albums there. I definitely prefer their earlier stuff although 'Monster' was a great departure for them.

R.e.m.
 

Surely one of the most important bands of the last 30 years, R.E.M. continues to have great influence on the alternative scene to this day.

If for some reason you haven't gotten into them, check out the following albums:

Murmur - 1983 - A stunningly mature debut from the Athens G.A. quartet.
Key tracks: Radio Free Europe, Pilgrimage, Talk About the Passion, Perfect Circle, Sitting Still, Shaking Through, West of the Fields

Reckoning - 1984 - By focusing more on Peter Buck's jangly guitar handiwork, R.E.M. managed to create catchier songs, widening their audience slightly.
Key tracks: Harborcoat, Seven Chinese Brothers, So. Central Rain, Pretty Persuasion, Time After Time (AnnElise), (Don't Go Back to) Rockville

Fables of the Reconstruction - 1985 - With Fables, R.E.M. retells the mysterious myths of the South with great results, albeit slightly less consistent than their previous two albums.
Key tracks: Feeling Gravity's Pull, Maps and Legends, Driver 8, Life and How to Live It, Can't Get There From Here, Kohoutek, Auctioneer

Lifes Rich Pageant - 1986 - After the sombre tone of Fables, R.E.M. sought to produce a more upbeat record. Lifes Rich Pageant is upbeat, but doesn't lost an ounce of its maturity to this.
Key tracks: Begin the Begin, These Days, Fall on Me, Cuyahoga, I Believe, Swan Swan H, Superman

Document - 1987 - A commercial breakthrough for the band, Document brought R.E.M.'s greatest pop songwriting talent to the table.
Key tracks: Finest Worksong, Welcome to the Occupation, Disturbance at the Heron House, It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), The One I Love, King of Birds,

Green - 1988 - While not a great album in its entirety, Green was the first album to feature Peter Buck playing Mandolin, an instrument that would be used heavily in their next album.
Key Tracks: Pop Song 89, You Are the Everything, Stand, World Leader Pretend, Orange Crush

Out of Time - 1991 - R.E.M., like U2, entered the 90's with yet another fantastic album. With the best production yet, R.E.M. utilized guest vocalists (including Kate Pearson from fellow Athens G.A. band The B-52s), strings, mandolins, synthesizers, and bassist Mike Mills on lead vocals occasionally to create a complex, yet easy to listen to record.
Key Tracks: Losing My Religion, Low, Near Wild Heaven, Belong, Half a World Away, Country Feedback, Me In Honey

Automatic For the People - 1992 - Considered R.E.M.'s masterpiece by many, Automatic for the People is a deeply emotional, contrived, painful, and overall sad album. Dealing with controversial themes like God and Heaven, Drugs, Suicide, Death, Euthenasia, and simply pain in all forms, Automatic represents R.E.M. at its greatest level of maturity.
Key Tracks: Drive, Try Not to Breath, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite [sic], Everybody Hurts, Sweetness Follows, Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Find the River

Monster - 1995 - R.E.M.'s first real effort at creating a rock record pays off in many respects, but the album is not all it could have been, as it seems to distance itself from the listener.
Key Tracks: What's the Frequency, Kenneth?, Crush with Eyeliner, Star 69, Strange Currencies, Bang and Blame

New Adventures in Hi-Fi - 1996 - While a very good album in its own right, and arguably more of a "rock" album than Monster, New Adventures is significantly different from pre-'96 R.E.M. The difference between New Adventures and, say, Out of Time is comparable to the difference between U2's Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree.
Key Tracks: How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us, The Wake-Up Bomb, Undertow, E-Bow the Letter, Leave, Bittersweet Me, Electrolite

Don't bother with the drivel they produced afterwards, although you may want to check out the new one Accelerate. It's worth it.


What do you guys think of R.E.M.?

I have Green and love it

Love this band. I've been a fan for a long time but recently I've been feeling like im growing into their music. Really starting to love it. Murmur, Reckoning, and Document are my favorite albums. Document probably being my most favorite.

I'd rather listen to Reveal than New Adventures In Hi-Fi