Green

I’m shocked to see only one 5 star review for this. All I can say is what this meant to me when it came out. As a kid who was unsure of where or how to fit in, this was a world that I could inhabit. This was a place that felt like it belonged to me and that had tremendous depths to explore. Maybe it doesn’t sound new or different because of everything that’s been influenced by it. It was just serious enough to take seriously, just fun enough to be fun, just rocking enough to be rock, and just different enough from everything else to define the alternative. For an album this weird to be as successful as it was in the monoculture times, and break through to present itself to kids like me was almost a miracle. It was a gateway to a million other things but on its own it just about saved me.

Green

I’ve said before that Green is in my top 5 REM albums, fighting it out with Life’s Rich Pageant for top spot, while Automatic for the People holds the door shut to keep Murmur from getting in. I divide REM into two eras, there are more but I’ll keep it simple. The two eras are Before Document and After Document. Green is the best of that latter period. It updates some styles from the earlier period and takes the rock elements that came in during Document. I was 19 when Green came out and it was in constant rotation. They’re all pretty great, but standouts for me are Pop Song 89, Orange Crush, The Wrong Child, World Leader Pretend and the Untitled cut that ends the album. Heck, even Stand, though killed by overplay at the time, is a pop gem with its Cars-like chorus. It was great to revisit this album!

When I was a kid in 1990, a mere nine year old little shit, REM was one my favorite bands. I mean, I had never heard one of their albums and didn’t know their name, but I loved one of their songs. Truthfully, I didn’t even know that the song was theirs or that they were even an actual rock band. (If you’re over 40, you might know where I’m going with this…) The song was “Stand” and I only knew it because it was the theme song for my favorite television show, “Get a Life”. I don’t think I even knew REM was an actual, legitimate rock band until a few years later: I just figured the network just hired some random musicians to write a theme song for their brilliant sitcom starring Chris Elliot. For the uninitiated, Get a Life was a sitcom that aired on the burgeoning Fox network from 1990-1992. It starred Chris Elliot as 30 year old man-child who lived above his parent’s garage and was a paperboy (bicycle and all) for a living. The episodes were always off-beat and surreal with several of them ending with Chris Elliot’s character, Chris Peterson, dying. It was unlike anything on television at the time and for 9 year old me it was the perfect comedy: A live action slapstick cartoon. It’s still one of my favorite television shows ever and is at least partially responsible shaping my sense of humor through childhood and as an adult…a truly formative piece of art in my life. Here’s a brief synopsis of one of my favorite episodes, “Neptune 2000”, lifted from the internet: “When Chris was 12 he got a job as a paperboy so he could buy a submarine from the back of a comic book. Four to six hundred weeks later, when the kit arrives, Chris and his father put it together; however when they embark on the sub's maiden voyage (in Chris's bathtub) they become trapped.” Every time I’ve heard the opening organ riff from “Stand” over the last 33 years, I’ve thought about that episode or visualized the opening credits of the show where Chris gets distracted by an attractive lady in lingerie picking up her newspaper from her front lawn (it was Fox in the early 90’s, a scantily clad lady was practically a prerequisite) and crashes his bike into a parked car. Because of their association with “Get a Life”, REM will always get respect from me, even if I don’t like a lot of the music they released after this record. Green, clearly, is more than just “Stand”. It is a fantastic record and I’ve never really given it an in-depth, thorough listen until day. What a great record, it makes me realize that maybe I’ve been a little too harsh on REM over the years. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch some “Get a Life”. You should do the same…and while you’re at it, make sure you check out the TV show. Zing!

Really good alternative rock from the band that invented alternative rock. Crunchy and melodic. A lot of this really great, but there are a couple of points where the quality dips. Rating: 4/5 Playlist track: Orange Crush Date listened: 13/05/23

I always remembered not liking this band based on the singles I’d heard but this slapped. The Wrong Child is the best song on this album.

Trying to articulate what makes R.E.M. so great is as difficult as trying to deconstruct Michael Stipe's cryptic lyrics. They are hard to pin down, but their sound walks a delicate line between an uplifting and heartbreaking. In a word: beautiful. Something that rock music tends to shy away from. That beauty most likely stems from a certain vulnerability they display, particularly in Michael Stipe's voice.

Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing I'm very scared for this world, I'm very scared for me Eviscerate your memory Here's a scene You're in the backseat laying down, the windows wrap around To the sound of the travel and the engine All you hear is time stand still in travel And feel such peace and absolute The stillness still that doesn't end But slowly drifts into sleep The greatest thing you've ever seen And they're there for you For you alone, you are the everything Amazing album in its theme and its lyrics, and also in its encapsulation of the feeling of a decade. I dont always agree with this list, but this is definitely one of the albums that everyone should hear. 5/5

I got my spine I got my orange crush Also Stipe just makes a meal of the word ‘conscious’. Legend.

This is the first REM album I owned and listened to in repeat forever. This album is so full of nostalgia for me and that may color my rating a bit. You Are the Everything and World Leader Pretend are my two favorite non hit tracks, but honestly there isn’t a single song that doesn’t hit home for me. My advice is…Go Listen to it now!

Pretty perfect. The end of their second three-album cycle, moving from the janglemumble sound of the first three, to world-conquering titans. The first time I can really hear the mandolin in their work - crucial to the track that made them global megastars. There's another list song (I remember california), a dry run for a more straightforward acoustic ballad (Hairshirt) and a fistful of ironic powerpop songs (Stand, Orange Crush, Pop song). So, excellence as usual.

Today's album is a golden one! R.E.M. are an alt rock/post punk band from the United States. In the 80's, these guys were trailblazers for the genre of alt rock. Interestingly, I reviewed a Husker Du album last week, and they were another trendsetter for the genre. R.E.M. made it big, Husker Du remained a cult favourite. Michael Stipe's strange cryptic lyrics blend seamlessly into the folkish musical accompaniment. Apparently this album was the first to include mandolin, making this one closer to folk rock than its predecessors. Stand, Orange Crush, and Pop Song 89 were all radio favourites, and are phenomenal songs. These alone are enough to warrant a 5 star rating. There isn't a dud on this record at all. Overall, an amazing rock record. I've listened to it many times before, and will continue to. I've had R.E.M. on shuffle all day now! Favourite songs: Orange Crush, Stand, Pop Song 89, Turn You Inside-Out, World Leader Pretend, Untitled, You Are The Everything, I Remember California, Get Up Least favourite songs: Hairshirt 5/5

Should we talk about the weather? Should we talk about the government? No, I think we should talk about this album by R.E.M. Green was my introduction to this band so I'm not going to lie, I'm flat out biased. Over time it doesn't always hold the number one spot in my heart when it comes to their records, but it does occasionally claim the throne. As an aside, we are all, always, allowed to change our minds when it comes to matters of taste; and music is certainly within the domain of taste-based conversation. Mike Mills, the not-so-secret weapon of the band, is a revelation on this record. When I hear him sing his backing lines like "Get up, Get up" or "Freedom" the hair on the back of my neck and arms stands up as I get the feels. His contributions always bring an additional emotional layer as well as rounding out the sound. Songs like You Are Everything are necessary precursors to later hits a la Losing My Religion, and yet they are themselves affecting touchstones of a time in our lives when we held someone as absolutely essential to our being and being in the world. Let's not forget that this album moves effortlessly between such emotional songs and uptempo pop. We get a dose of the pop as the opener does what it says on the tin. Later we shift into it with Stand, which, pardon the pun, Stands out in that category. Hey, just another aside, as we're free-associating on this record: It was R.E.M.'s Stand and the Pixies Here Comes Your Man that were in serious rotation on MTV together and both secretly sneaking in more twangy guitar than I would've otherwise consented to. In retrospect it makes sense that we'd see a rise in indie-country sounds in the wake of that much play. World Leader Pretend, Orange Crush, Turn You Inside Out, I Remember California...I mean c'mon, every song deserves its own exegesis uncovering the influences, drawing connections and otherwise celebrating the craft of songwriting. But I only have a few minutes to write this review and I'd rather be listening to this great record than typing.

This is perhaps the only R.E.M. album I knew when it was current. I had it on a cassette tape with The Smithereens' Green Thoughts on the other side. I listened to it a lot on my walkman. Still love Pop Song 89 and Orange Crush. Great to hear it again today.

I think I always thought of this album as the midway point between R.E.M being an indy band and getting huge. The one album that could keep everyone happy. Life’s Rich Pageant was always my favourite but can’t argue this one.

This is my 9th or 10th favorite REM album, which speaks more to the greatness of REM than it does Green. If I were to list essential REM albums to new blood, I probably wouldn't even include this one. It sounds like I'm shitting on this album, but frankly I love it. There may be better REM, but Green is still a great album. It would serve as many other artists best album. No one did "Side 1, Track 1" better than REM, and Pop Song 89 continues that streak. This is clearly a band looking for a way to grow beyond Murmur and Reckoning. They'd finally find that on "Automatic For The People". But Green has some bangers, mainly the songs you may not be familiar with. Plus this album gave Chris Elliott the theme song for his short lived television series "Get A Life". That's a benefit in anyone's book, so much so I'm almost ashamed to rate this anything less than a 5.

Good vibes, grunge late 90’s, reminds me of Arizona

Don't listen to this as much as some other REM albums, perhaps because I have to be on alert to skip "Stand". Has a few of my favorites esp. "You Are The Everything" and "Orange Crush". A bit more mainstream than earlier ones, as is well-documented, but Green is really quite inventive for the late '80s. Good arrangements, indeed. Not enough for full marks, but solid.

This is the R.E.M. album I own, bought years back to try to shift my dial from apathy and academic admiration on them, which failed then and today. I suspect the big ‘90s records, when they come to us, may boot me out of this. These songs are fine, well-wrought and personal, just not on my frequency, Kenneth.

i dont know what all the hype is over this band. his voice is nasally and goofy. the jangle chords over upbeat sunny pop rock is silly. i dont understand. i dont. its not compelling, it washes over you like the sound of waves (if it was beach rock that would rule), its got know spirit. white noise. boo.

R.E.M. are a weird band. Objectively I understand why people like them, but at the same time find it wild that people could think this is the greatest music they’ve ever heard!

Honestly, overall, this album is meh. I think automatic for the people is a lot better. Maybe, this was more relevant for people when it came out. Who knows? The wrong child was a moving/haunting song but the rest of them are either boring and the lyrics hidden behind obscurity. I won't be listening to this album again. I guess orange crush was okay but again, not going out of my way to listen to this album

This annoyed me and I don't know why. Maybe I was expecting too much, maybe it's the blandness of this album. For me, R.E.M. works with dark and sad themes and atmosphere. I really like "Losing My Religion", "Fire", and their album "Automatic for the People". "Green" on the other hand tries hard to be "green". To be a feel-good alt-rock piece. It's mostly major key, instead of minor. It didn't work for me, but again, maybe it's just me and my irrational disgust against feel-good alt rock stuff. They feel like corporate rock; "live, laugh, love" in the form of guitar riffs and upbeat lyrics.

Great 80's album.

just wow.

Really enjoyed this, not as good as automatic but a little better than murmur and document in my opinions 5/5.

This is one of those albums I was glad to be around for at its time. I have almost always been slow on the uptake of music but this was one I heard and it landed...did I kknow of Document or Life's Rich Pageant before...nope... did I care? Eventually. But with this and Automatic For The People I was a late but pretty solid fan of this band. 5 stars!

4/5

This is classic R.E.M. right here. Solid album all around.

What an interesting sound. Every song on this album is a standout.

Love it!

Been on an REM kick since I got Automatic for the People two months ago. Probably would’ve listened to this today even if it wasn’t generated

Brilliant album

É sempre fundamental escutar mais R.E.M

A lot more political than I was expecting REM to be, though maybe that's because I know very little music of theirs. Great songs and a very solid sound

Always loved this one! REM outstanding band!

This is a favourite of mine from the early 90s. I like it more than Out of Time. Weird themes and great sounds.

Every time I hit an R.E.M. album I end up spending the entire day listening to them. Such an amazing band. This record only produced 1 or 2 hits but the whole thing is great.

My second favorite REM album

Nice- second REM in a row.

So glad I came back to this album. So beautiful. I kept thinking one song would be my favorite and then the next one would be just as good. If I had to pick, I really love The Wrong Child, Turn You Inside-Out, and Hairshirt.

One of my favorite REM albums!

I bloomin' love REM

Brill

Another desert island album of awesome.

Great

Another great album!

Pop Song 89- 5/5 Get Up- 5/5 You Are the Everything- 4.7/5 Stand- 5/5 World Leader Pretend- 4.8/5 The Wrong Child- 5/5 Orange Crush- 4.7/5 Turn You Inside-Out- 4.8/5 Hairshirt- 5/5 I Remember California- 4.9/5 [untitled]- 4.5/5 Total- 4.9/5

Orange crush and stand are excellent. Great album

Loved REM as a teen!

Un de mes chouchous, un doudou que je trainerai toujours. Je l'ai trop écouté pour admettre ses limites. "You are the everything", "World leader pretend", "Hairshirt" seront toujours vraies et touchantes.

A very good REM album. Maybe even my favorite from them.

I literally just listened to this album yesterday. It's probably my favorite by R.E.M. It's sort of their transition album, from less polished, murkier material to the more pop-sounding later years. It's a perfect blend. I think of this as their Revolver. I love the use of the mandolin. 5 stars.

I adored this album in 1989. I haven't payed it much attention in the last 20 years. This was good to listen again with perspective. There is only one track I couldn't stand to listen to again. It's the song that got this album noticed. I think this is the transition album between classic REM and modern REM. Elements of the band's past and future are present. Still after all this time I believe this is a solid album throughout. Definitely putting it back in rotation.

Document was my first R.E.M. love, but this was the album that solidified our relationship. Fantastic album that hit me right in the sweet spot and just the right time of my life. This sort of became the pivotal R.E.M. album for me, but I happily enjoyed their offerings before and after this.

Wait, stop me if you have heard this before…I’m not really an R.E.M fan in the sense that I have no familiarity with their albums as a whole. This one was a good one.

This was a very popular album when I was in college. Almost everyone I knew had it and played it. While I definitely was aware of their hit songs before this album, this was really when I started to be more aware and be a fan of R.E.M. as a band. I'm quite fond of this one.

Green is a fabulous album. Stand is probably the truly standout track, but the whole album is full of bops. Just an awesome straight up rock album.

Uno de los mejores trabajos de REM, casi cerrando su primer ciclo como banda. Mezclando sus influencias post-punk, con una enorme sensibilidad pop y empleando sonidos que previamente escapaban a la paleta de la banda, Michael Stipe y compañía logran una recolección de canciones sumamente pegajosas y atrapantes. De todas formas, mi opinión no es objetiva, ya que R.E.M. es una de mis bandas favoritas.

Souvenirs !

brings back college memories.

perfection

I had this when it came out and fell in love with the sound - one of the gateway albums into the indie/alternative scene for me. Discovered their back catalog, saw them on the Green tour (30+ songs on the set, support from Hoodoo Gurus and Go Betweens), and then saw them transform from an Indie darling to stadium filler. As for this actual album - it certainly sounds 90s not 80s, and I suppose that indicates how much influence REM had on the shape of 90s alternative rock. Michael Stipe is a big part in this - vocal stylings as well as his public persona were like nothing else at the time. But it's not just about him - as a band they had changed their sound from simplistic guitar noodlings to a garage band that knew their chops. Mandolin was a strange addition but it works here. The way the bass and the guitar work together on all-time banger Orange Crush is fantastic, and the drums just drive everything along. Great to listen to this one again.

I love it. Great Rock. Not more to say.

R.E.M. is a classic for me forever. Several songs on Green take me to very specific memories.

I love this album; this was the tour I saw R.E.M. on. Superb song-writing and interplay between the four members of the band. Possibly my favourite album by the band.

Excellent, innovative album shifting the genres of the 80s.

1/26/24. Will need to put more respect to R.E.M.'s name, really, really enjoyed this album.

Listening to this album prompted me to do something I’d not done before—listen to their first eight albums in the order they were released. Glad I did. While Green wasn’t my fav album, it gave me a better understanding of their intentions to keep changing and staying creative and challenged by their music. (Loved how they swapped instruments. Thanks for the Wiki link btw, it always helps.) They had great staying power and really tried hard to keep their music fresh. Didn’t realize they’d been around since 1980. Impressive volume of work. Gotta love this band and the artistry behind their music.

I listened to murmur about a month ago through 1001 and loved it (I gave it a 4, but I would have changed it to a 5 long ago if I could) so I have high expectations. Pop song 89 is very good. This kind of music is one of my favorites, and it is executed brilliantly here. Get up is very good but not as good as the previous track. This one sounds a little more like murmur to me. You are the everything is also very good. I love accordions in music (probably because of my love of They Might be Giants) so I welcomed them here with open arms. Stand! Oh my goodness! I know this song! I had no idea this was an R.E.M song. It’s very good as well. World leader pretend is another excellent song. Not much to say about this song other than the fact that it’s really good. The wrong child is really good. Orange crush is also really good. Turn you inside out is one of my favorites so far. Very good. I think I might be an R.E.M fan… Hairshirt is really good. I have so little to say about this album, even though I’m absolutely loving it. I will say that the lead singer has a great voice which is shown off very well here. I remember California is another excellent song. This album has the perfect amount of diversity where no two songs sound too much alike but it’s similar enough that the album doesn’t sound disconnected. Lastly, untitled. I always thought not naming songs is kind of dumb, but I’ll excuse it because of just how good this song is. This is another absolutely incredible song. Overall very very good. It’s around the same quality as murmur I think.

Nice band. Listen regularly to them! personal top3 in no order: Get Up Stand Untitled

Awesome listened to it twice

I have this album on CD. Let’s see what I think of it years later. Whiny. Years later.

This is a great album!

Ja was soll man da sagen, ausser dass ein Album der besten Band automatisch auch gut sein muss. Oder umgekehrt. Und natürlich Orange Crush, einfach geil!

tolles album! und sowas von gut! nebst Orange Crush auch Stand und andere eingängige titel.

Absolute classic. I don’t think there is value comparing Document, life’s rich patent and automatic for the people, each are classics. It often just depends on at what point you discovered REM. For me I’d heard document and saw them live. But the album I bought was Green. Truly transformative. Love everything they’ve ever done. Right up to the end they produced classic contemporary and challenging music. Green is a proper album. Nothing out of place and every track worth another listen. Head and shoulders above most of this 1001 journey. All topped off with an iconic cover.

Yay, REM. I can just chill. I used to think this was the best REM album, until I realised it was Life's Rich Pageant / Murmur / Reckoning depending on what day it is. It's definitely 2nd/3rd/4th best though. I think it was pitched perfectly for young me, mostly pop but complex enough, and the odd 'difficult' song I could initially dislike but grow to love with the force of a thousand suns (the wrong child) Get Up, Untitled, World Leader Pretend, You Are the Everything, Hairshirt, these are perfect songs.

I know this album is perfect, you know this album is perfect, so instead of wasting your time I want to give a shoutout to the user that wrote a cover article length treatise on why you should watch the Chris Elliot sitcom Get A Life for their review instead. Five stars.

When it all came together for R.E.M. Just a great disc from front to back. Fabulous harmonies, great addled songwriting, and just musically solid. Nothing unexpected, but Turn You Inside-Out still rips.

I enjoyed this a lot. The vocal layering was interesting and it was cool to hear hits like Orange Crush in the context of the album.

Turns out I like later R.E.M. better than early R.E.M.

This is the best R.E.M. album I’ve loved it since it came out. I listened to it 5 times yesterday

Brilliant

Wikipedia omschrijft dit album met 2 stijlen: bubblegum en experimental rock. Beide dekken de lading absoluut niet en slaan de plank ook tegelijk compleet mis. Onder welk genre je het dan wel zou moeten plaatsen, zou ik ook even over na moeten denken. Indie misschien, maar dat is natuurlijk ook een nietszeggend catch-all genre. REM is een genre op zich. Als je REM hoort, en zeker uit deze periode, is het overduidelijk REM. De karakteristieke stem van Michael Stipe is voor mij als muziek in de oren, het is als het ware een apart instrument. Voor sommigen zal het ook iets teveel van het goede zijn allemaal, al die albums van REM in de lijst. Ik zou denk ik Document en Automatic for the People hoger inschalen, en ik wil op zich best wel een rangorde aangeven in de albums onderling, maar dit is gewoon een steengoed album. Hier wil ik ook een 5 voor kunnen geven. Dus dat doe ik dan ook gewoon lekker.

I have tried to get into REM a few times before with little success, so I am surprised how much I like this album. There are a few songs that I'm not super crazy about so this is probably closer to a 4, but I am feeling generous and I can see this growing to a 5 on future listens.

REM is another classic. If you want to experience real music if the era of the early 90s. This is it. Green album a great introduction

Great stuff - the mandolin really does unlock the magic! This is in a kind of sweet spot for me, in that I recognize some of the singles, for sure, but wasn't subject to having them overplayed. Fave tracks - "Pop Song '89" is a great opener, "Orange Crush" for the upbeat poppier numbers, and, hmmm, lemme see, "Hairshirt" for the more slowed down esoteric ones....

This album starts off quite strong but then Stand and Orange Crush just steal the show so much so that I listened to the album a third time and skipped those two tracks and yeah it's not too bad overall. Faves the two aformentioned, Pop Song 89, and I Remember California.

One of those albums that saved my life. R.E.M. made me realise there was music outside the confines of what the commercial stations played us. Ironically they were on the cusp of commercial success. My forever big regret is not lying to my parents that I was working and going to see them at the Horden Pavilion in 1989 on their Australian Tour.

Absolutely nothing bad about this album except it finishes

Very good

I liked a lot of these songs, but for whatever reason this didn't hit as a full album for me

A bit mixed. I enjoyed the album, but not as much as I thought I would. There are a couple of pretty great songs here such as World Leader Pretend or Orange Crush. But also a couple that border on the boring and on the whole the album doesn't seem very cohesive. REM can and did do better than this, so I'm not sure why this one is so popular. Worst of the 4 REM albums we've had so far. Still rounding it up from 3.5 stars though, but just barely.

R.E.M. seemed to be THE alternative band of the 80's. Originally backed by I.R.S. Records (with A&M as their distributor), R.E.M. enjoyed a successful run of albums before jumping over to Warner Bros. With better overseas distribution and maintaining creative control, R.E.M. set out to try new things on Green. Mandolin, accordion, cello, and steel guitar are broken out to bring new sonic textures to the signature R.E.M. sound. Oddly enough, it's the song Orange Crush that stands out as the best on the album, and it's without any of the new approaches to songwriting. If we're talking brass tacks, R.E.M.'s run in the 80's is great, no matter which album you choose. There's a consistent songwriting quality that gives their brand an alternative rock something to appreciate.

Excellent album - the remastered version sounds phenomenal. 4.3/5

Very good album - I missed it first time round, because I didn't start listening to them until Losing My Religion. If I'd heard this, I wonder if I'd have been hooked then.

the end of REM as i know it, and i feel fine

That's is is REM transitioning their sound out of the Friends coffee shop era and into their later more mature sound. It's good, but there are better in the discography to come.

I liked it! Reminded me very much of the hip. Gonna listen to some more REM. 8/10