Taking Sides: Smiths vs. REM

I loved The Smiths, but they're a hard band to carry on loving in the same way after a certain age.

I pick... Throwing Muses!

REM and the smiths are my two favorite bands; but the smiths are happy music for me now, while REM still invokes emotional responses in me.

and up is in my top three REM albums. took me seven years to get into it, but now it's a must.

I have no stats to back this up. It is entirely a feeling of mine, but it seems to me that when it comes to today's overall cultural relevance, the balance tips so much in favor of The Smiths.

erm duhhh

I think we were talking in another thread about how REM has fallen out of favor, based on the fact that their records can mostly be had for cheap and don't seem to be sought out by younger people.

Kinda hard to compare, though, since REM put out almost four times as many studio albums. Imagine if they'd split up after Lifes Rich Pageant.

Not good bands

True. Theyre great bands

Love both but I'm going for REM.

Surprised darragh doesnt like REM actually

I like both, but I'll take any '80s R.E.M. album over any Smiths album.

Idk I feel like the sublime introspection REM was lauded for only surfaces in fleeting glimpses in their actual recorded output

Idk I feel like the sublime introspection REM was lauded for only surfaces in fleeting glimpses in their actual recorded output
--i;m the worst poster e9er (Drugs A. Money)

I don't recall introspection being a particularly prominent critical touchstone for R.E.M. It's probably not the biggest thing someone would look for in Michael Stipe's lyrics.

Yeah, I think REM is famous for creating hard-to-articulate feelings and mood, not for sublime introspection!

^this

As much as I love Rourke's playing, I think that Berry/Mills were easily the superior rhythm section, and R.E.M. made quite a lot of records which I still enjoy listening to in full. The only Smiths album that I honestly think works from start to finish is The Queen Is Dead, although I've come to appreciate Meat Is Murder a lot more recently.

REM bores me to tears these days, Smiths still vital, funny, evocative, surprising, detailed.

I'd guess that REM will, over time, be more influential on a subtle musical level and The Smiths will be more influential on a conceptual level. The latter is what tends to get written about. Personally I prefer Smiths.

their actual recorded output
you know this brings up an interesting point more broadly, which is that I wonder how much of the initial R.E.M. impact is due to what a phenomenal live band they were early in their career? Also makes me wonder about other bands whose live shows exceeded their recording impact.