Green

So many of these songs sound like they just improvised the vocals to them on the spot and never bothered refining or improving them

Lovely stuff! Some good tunes here. Simpsons: Yes

I Don’t remember any of the songs names, but I didn't mind it.

These guys are so hot and cold. This album is cold as anything.

Right on the edge of being a bit dull.

Great album, numerous hits, very few low points.

Such a cool band. Need to listen to them more.

ok

R.E.M. is always a classic. I couldn't tell much of a difference between songs on this album and songs from other albums, but I do appreciate that consistency.

7/10 pretty good

good for multiple listens

I’m not familiar with R.E.M. so this one surprised me. Really liked it. It’s like a poppier Alice In Chains.

My introduction to Athens’ finest rockers.

not really my style. Didn't like it much

A lot more mandolin than I was expecting, but I'm not necessarily complaining.

This is a nice piece of music though I expected to enjoy it a lot more than I did. I like REM, though haven't listened for years, and on relistening I'm afraid this album is a bit bland, dull, lacking energy.

90s sitcom theme song music

- Leuk - 0 nummers toegevoegd aan MMMM

So very good! The lyrics make you think and feel, and the music is a tour de force. Great job y'all 👏👏👏

Excellent album. Outstanding. Great sounds and lyrics.

eh

Don’t remember enjoying this so much

Fruta noble la mandolina

udemærket album. Jeg synes ikke det var sådan meeeeeega godt, men det er åbenbart en del af Kurt Kobains top 50 albums og inspirerede bla alt rock movement i 90'erne fordi det gjorde noget eksperimenterende. Jeg synes langt fra det er det bedste REM jeg har lyttet til.

As brilliant as ever.

Orange Crush is a huge track but I was underwhelmed by the rest of the album.

This one was released when I was in 4th grade, I think. So, I'd listened to it before, but not as much as some of R.E.M.'s later work, which I thoroughly enjoyed in junior and senior high school.

It was fine, I guess. I felt it just meandered a lot. It was just a guy yapping over a guitar track. Kept expecting him to start saying "loosing my religion" during each song because of how similar and unremarkable each one was. Dunno, maybe people like this album for the lyrics.

It is REM. No brainer 5 stars.

So annoying. Fav: -

Not my favourite R.E.M. album but it's still pretty damned good.

Pretty good

Surprisingly tedious. No sign of what they are going to become a few years later.

Lowk kinda boring. The thing that's gonna be prominent in most of these early ratings is me not being familiar with this type of music at all. Like it js feels a little boring to me. It's like the same thing over and over and over and it's just not really my cup of tea since I really like more energetic shit but it might help expand my taste?

1.5 favs: - world leader pretender

Genre: Alternative Rock I did not particularly enjoy this listen. I like some of REM’s songs, but this one felt like it was an album to be an alt-rock album. It was 1988, and this was the music that impressed at the time. I like Orange Crush, but that’s about it. Stipe’s vocals aren’t for me, and the music doesn’t do much for me either. 2/5

Like it wasn’t bad but sounds like all the others

not their best. not so many beautiful tracks, but good for listening all album

Serve your conscience overseas! Full jangle rock era REM. Some tight shit here.

Great album, the live tour was fantastic! REM polished and rocking.

Eh, wasn’t the best, just felt a bit off and not appealing. 2 stars

6/10

No tämä on samaa REMiä mitä ne kaikki muutkin

Muy bueno

GREEN - another great REM catalog album. It's hard from one decade to anther to convey the status of a band when any particular album came out, but REM was pretty much at the top of rock groups in the 80s and 90s and this was a monster. Pop Song 89, Orange Crush and even the sickeningly sweet Stand are great examples of the jangly guitar forward songs and catch vocals of Stipe and Mike Mills harmonies that we all love about REM.

Great.

4/10 R.E.M. have the ability to write some really fantastic tracks, but they also seem to miss the mark pretty frequently. This album has a lot of ideas that never really go anywhere. There are a few standout tracks scattered through the album, like Orange Crush, Hairshirt and I Remember California, but the lasting feeling I had when listening to this was that it was all a bit underwhelming and underdeveloped. They frequently had tracks which didn’t have a decent hook to grab onto, and some which barely diverged from a single idea, which made them a bit of a tiring listen. There were also a couple of songs that sounded like really long intros to songs that never actually arrived. Every now and then, I’d have a little ‘oooh’ moment, but frequently this was relating to a small part of an otherwise meandering track. Perhaps this just hasn’t aged well, or it’s one of those albums that you had to be there for, but I just never really felt particularly engaged in the listening process, apart from in a few fleeting moments here and there. Pop Song 89 - This is a decent jangly pop number. It’s a bit repetitive though and feels just feels a bit too safe. To my ears it sounds like they were trying to make it have a bit of grit by throwing in some more driven guitars in places, but it’s not really consistent enough to give it an edge. Get Up - There is actually a bit more drive to this. It never actually gets massively interesting though. It’s not bad, exactly, and it’s fairly catchy. I quite like the little ‘dream’ bridge section as it actually throws something a bit more interesting into the track. It’s short, so it doesn’t outstay its welcome. You Are The Everything - A twee little song that sounds like a four minute intro to a song that never actually arrives. Meh. Stand - Immediately things take a step in a more solid direction. There’s more of a drive to this. I quite like the rhythmical choices that Michael Stipe makes, particularly in the chorus. They’re not that conventional and give it an interesting lilt. It’s a decent track, but things still aren’t really connecting with me in a significant way. World Leader Pretend - I feel like this kind of meanders around a bit without ever really landing on anything. Both the verse and the chorus sound like verses. Again, it’s just not quite engaging me and I can’t find enough to get my teeth into. The Wrong Child - Another song that’s a three and a half minute intro to nothing. It just never goes anywhere and it’s pretty boring. Orange Crush - This is a classic. The little off-beat triplet bass is really nice and it’s got a great hook. There’s a decent amount of momentum to it too. Like much of the album, it doesn’t actually do much in the way of interesting development around its core ideas, but the ideas are good enough to carry the song. Turn You Inside-Out - We’re back to something a bit more plodding. I feel like there are some decent ideas in here, like some of the backing vocals, and it’s actually a song that has grown on me through its runtime. It’s got a bit more grit to it, but it just feels like it could do with a bit of a tempo boost to really drive. Hairshirt - This is quite a nice song. The problem is, I don’t feel like there’s been enough momentum in the album to allow this sort of song to shine. If there had been a bit more tempo and thrust to the previous songs, this would have worked as a nice moment of calm, but as it is, I just doesn’t resonate in the same way that it could have done. I Remember California - I really like this one. There’s a real brooding sense of discontent about it. I can definitely hear echoes of this in some Nirvana tracks. There’s plenty going on here to and nothing gets too stale either. As with the previous track, though, I feel like this would have shone brighter on a more consistent album as a moment of despair. It probably deserves better, really. Untitled - This one just doesn’t really go anywhere. Again, some decent ideas, but it just feels a bit underdeveloped. They sort of break into what feels like a placeholder section and then swiftly return to the same motif that basically runs through the whole song. It’s just not that interesting.

A solid more pop oriented entry for R.E.M. Should be regarded as one of their stronger ones.

How extremely unREMarkable. Similar to Elvis Costello, the author of this list must see something in REM that I don’t. Can’t for the life of me understand why they need this many mediocre albums on the list. This album cements the fact for me that it’s only the REM hits that are good, nothing else.

I think this is our third R.E.M. album. It's pretty much what you expect. If you like R.E.M. you will like this. My main takeaway is that "Orange Crush" is a really great song. The rest is ok too, I think "Stand" was my second favourite.

I really love R.E.M.! Reminds me of being a kid. There is a darkness/melancholy mixed with the pop sound that I love. Will definitely be listening again and again.

I own this CD. Get Up You are the Everything I Remember California all made my mix tapes of the day! More produced than their previous albums due to the fact this was their first record with Warner Bros (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I especially like the rock of Orange Crush and Turn You Inside-Out. Not my favorite R.E.M. albums but would probably land in the top 7. Untitled is my favorite untitled song ever, well maybe a tie with the Smashing Pumpkins.

Ist ok. Haut einen nicht um gibt aber auch nicht direkt schlechtes dran 3/5

I find myself coming back to Green less than other REM albums. It's still okay.

Before its release "Green" caused some panic in fans who feared what major label R.E.M. might become. The story is familiar enough. A small time band gets a small taste of success and then tries desperately to sell as many albums and get as much radio play as possible. But Stipe and company were not the sell outs that some feared. Major label backing got the word about R.E.M. to a wider audience, sure, but not at the expense of their art. In fact, they only accepted a record deal on the promise of artistic freedom and used the experience to create their most experimental work here, trying different styles, new instruments, and switching isntruments to create wider possibilities. This experience also set the template for what their sound would evolve into. The sounds of "Out of Time" and "Automatic for the People" had their foundations in "Green". This album is clearly a major turning point and it incorporates some interesting pop elements alongside the experimental ones. For some, this is the peak of the band's career. Few would argue that it wasn't important.

More evidence of how REM turned puck toward alternative rock. Good high quality throughout.

Limp dick band

nice, but probably not gonna go back to it

The opening track is a banger. The rest of the album really kicks ass too. I know I've listened to this album before but I enjoyed it more this time. R.E.M. really is one of the great American rock bands 5 stars all day.

Aika perus R.E.M levy, oli parempi kuin odotin. R.E.M tuntuu omaan makuun hittejä lukuunottamatta aika tasapaksua, mutta oli kummiskin ihan hyvä kuunneltava. Parhaat: Orange Crush, You Are The Everything

This was in such heavy rotation for me back when it came out I don't think I can be objective. Some part of me is sure there are better REM albums, but 12 year old me is still sure this is my favorite band. And on another somewhat biased listen, it's not perfect, but it really is great.

One of my faves. College rock rocked.

not my sound

Stand is a classic. Orange Crush is too. But otherwise most of the album is just OK. I did enjoy a few other songs on here. World Leader Pretend is good. There's also a lot of dull shit on the album, too. Like Hairshirt and I Remember California. The good is very good, but the bad is torturous.

Excellent Album!!

One of the 3-est albums of all time from (probably) the 3-est band of all time

It was good, could hear how it influenced 90s alt, didn't get hooked though

it's just not my thing. i can appreciate some of it, but I just feel really meh overall.

Sounds very experimental although the pop type hits like Orange Crush and Stand, and even Pop Song 89 grab your attention. I feel most of the rest of the album would benefit from repeated listenings but I found myself gravitating to the tunes where the hooks were immediate and I didn't have to decode the often confusing lyrics. Nice album.

A little too sleepy

Inescapable bias here as this was on heavy rotation during those music formative college years, but I consider this peak R.E.M. as part of the period that includes the last years on IRS and the early years on Warner. This is definitely the band stretching for pop commercial appeal, and the sunny sheen stands in stark contrast to the more morose feel of the earlier (and then later) records. But the songs are absolutely first rate (the novelty hit "Stand" aside), and the band is on the absolute top of their powers.

Kind of sounded like Weird Al. I did enjoy some of the lyrics

Even though R.E.M. were supposedly trying to reinvent themselves with this record, the music here doesn't break much new ground, as much of it has the same simple guitar strumming and picking patterns common to a lot of other R.E.M. songs. (Even when Peter Buck switches to mandolin, he's still in default mode.) Additionally, on a lot of the tracks Stipe's vocal melodies don't mesh well with the music ("Pop Song 89" and "Stand" excepted, where he keeps it more straightforward). The acoustic tracks are a mixed bag - "The Wrong Child" is overcooked, for example, but on "Hairshirt" all of the pieces come together perfectly.

Not bad

The best of the R.E.M. Warner Bros releases.

3/5

Yeah not for me I'm afraid.

Wasn't keen on it. Was a bit samey from song to song. Couldn't tell when one ended and one began

The album felt very low energy and samey, just not for me

2.5

2.5

Solid ok.

Good album. A couple of classics.

Heard it before. I probably have a very normie taste but this is one of my favourites from R.E.M. 4/5

Fantastic album by an amazing band. Not my favorite of theirs but still one I will listen to again.

Poppy. Melancholy. Low Energy. Mostly boring. Best song: Orange Crush

I dug it

REM puts me into REM.

Iha menevä. Ei noussu selkeitä starakappaleita.

good stuff

You can feel the anguish in the sound

“The Wrong Child” is fascinating. The cultural context that it was written in is so different from where we’re at now. They are being vulnerable and empathetic to the extreme towards the subject matter, and the music is just this swirl of moody folk chords that establishes this as ultra-sincere. It’s nearly impossible for me to hear it without reflexively finding it cringe, self-serious, all the things that REM influenced in the 90s that get mocked today. Like, it’s a lot easier for me to draw a line from REM to Creed when I hear it. Objectively, it’s funny in 2025 to hear Michael Stipe in sensitive folkie mode crooning “tell me what’s it like to go outside, I’ve never been outside”. It’s not this record's problem but it makes listening to this era of the band feel a little quaint sometimes. Anyway four stars I guess? It’s a little inconsistent but it’s got some of their best singles (my hot take is that “Stand” is a banger).

Highlights: Pop Song 89, World Leader Pretend. In a nutshell: from college radio to adult radio. It feels different compared to Murmur and a little different to Document. Less jangly. It’s alright. Production is an improvement compared to Murmur. The riff from I Remember California reminds me of The Bends era Radiohead (ie My Iron Lung). What's interesting to note is Discogs labelled this album as “AOR” (ie Adult Orientated Rock). In terms of the book, this could be an example of an artist “aging out” of a market (industry concept, not mine). They started their career in the college radio rotation, now they’re playing on commercial radio. Sellout move? Maybe? Overall: 5/10

Fun album with a good mix of songs, not as many really great tracks as some of the subsequent albums. 3.5

Felt very familiar. Kept waiting for Losing my Religion. Orange crush is a banger. Good album

Pretty good overall. Better than the other R.E.M. album.

orange crush is kind of a banger

Awesome

I can't

I'm not as familiar with Green as other R.E.M. albums, but this one has Pop Song 89 and Orange Crush, which is monumental. R.E.M. in the 80's and early 90's had an incredible streak of amazing albums.

Diverse and amazing album.

I am just not a big fan of R.E.M. It's ok. The best track is "Orange Crush"

Not gonna lie, I haven't thought of R.E.M in more than a decade. I'm not even sure I've heard more than one song from them before today. Lyrics are interesting, not sure about the music itself. Orange Crush is my favorite so far. Idk what happened, but I guess I started getting this album right after Orange Crush, something just clicked. Might need to listen to it a second time. Not sure I like Untitled that much, but it's a good way to end the album so I appreciate it as that. Doing a second listen right away. Favorite song/s: Orange Crush (because it made it click) Song/s saved: Most of them outside of Stand and Untitled Album saved: Yes

Found myself skipping every other song. Some were just so... whiny?

I can't really imagine a world with such narrow musical standards that this was pushing the fringes. It's great alternative rock but it didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. I suppose too much time listening to copycats makes the OG's a little less special. It's a solid album but unlike Kurt Cobain, this does not crack my top 50

I really liked this, and every time I listen to the older REM stuff I think how influential they were to the entire grunge/alternative movement in the 90's. They were making 90's records in the 80's, and they were already at the top of their game well before anyone else had even started. There are a couple outliers that took multiple listens to really understand like "The Wrong Child" and "You Are The Everything" but after a couple listens (I listened to this a few times because I liked it so much) they're both really great in their own way, mostly emotionally. The rest of it is just conventionally good rock music. The arrangements are simple yet complex enough to show off the talents of the whole band. The lyrical content is somewhere between depressing and observational, with the occasional spark of joy or curiosity which is the hallmark of Stipe's writing. Stipe himself seems to have grown in to his own voice on here more so than the previous albums and it's less whiny sounding than before, which is is a big improvement. The instrumentals are as well written and performed as they've always been. This album is still as relevant to me as an adult as it was when I was a teenager first hearing it. It has the true staying power of a timeless record.

Get a Life was an American television sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network from September 23, 1990, to March 8, 1992. The show stars Chris Elliott as a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson. Peterson is a charmless, oblivious and irresponsible manchild who lived in an apartment above his parents' garage (Elliott's parents are played by Elinor Donahue and his real-life father, comedian Bob Elliott), and often wreaks havoc on their lives and the lives of people around them. The opening credits depict Chris Peterson delivering newspapers on his bike to the show's theme song, "Stand" by R.E.M.

Was fine. 5/10

It's a good album, but not great. There are really nice instrumentations, but some songs feel bland. There is a big lyrical importance, which is nothing bad, but sometimes it seems like the lyrics carry all the interest of some of the songs. However, it has been a pleasant listening over all.

Very good

Un disco con 2 canciones excelentes y el resto de canciones que oscilan entre buenas y regulares, una constante en la carrera de esta banda.

Super catchy album. I’ve always liked R.E.M.’s singles so it was really nice to hear more of their album stuff. Some real bangers in here and very enjoyable. Would definitely listen to this again.

Another really good R.E.M. album, my favourite so far. Pop Song 89, You Are The Everything, Stand and Orange Crush, Turn You Inside Out and Untitled are all brilliant songs. They're getting their first 5.

Tipping my cap to Ben Wyatt on this listen. A good portion of this album was on Parks and Rec in some way or another. Aside from that, it was decent, easy listening. Nice to hear something other than losing my religion

I’ve never been able to get into R.E.M., and this album didn’t really help the cause. Michael Stipe’s voice kind of annoys me, and the mandolin soft-rock sound isn’t my cup of tea.

It was fine. Not soft enough but not rock enough either. Wished it made more of an impact but I didn’t think it was bad

Decent but nothing special. Only familiar with some likely via Parks and Rec

Listened to this on plane. Fun listen, don’t think I’ll be coming back often though. Later stuff is better

⭐️⭐️/5. My first R.E.M. album and so far, not my fave. Get the feeling they’re more of a lyrics/emotion band when I’m so much more of a beats gal. Some little moments here - different instruments/sounds that may look to a future change I would enjoy more.

Not my first REM record - that was Document thanks to the ubiquity of The One I Love on the radio in 1987 - but probably the first one that left a real imprint on me. Stand was *everywhere* so much so I still can’t, uh, stand it, but looking back on the video and general vibes of late 80s/early 90s REM, what happened to that world? It was a little queer, a little multi-racial, obviously very white guy-centric, but the general spirit was inviting and fun, not cool, etc. Green’s an odd record and one they somewhat replicated with Out of Time. You have standout, accessible radio-ready songs - it’s right there in the lead-off track’s title - and then mixed in a set of acoustic/mandolin-forward cuts that are, well, pretty dark! It didn’t seem like it at the time, but after they narrowed in on World Leader Pretend and Hairshirt’s baroque, morose sound, a lot of Green seems like a bridge or transition record. And yet this was very much the Big Major Label Rock Record. You could not escape these guys throughout 1989.

very good album, orange crush is a great song, i would 100% listen again, not too long, just a good time

8.5/10

Just like my review for "Murmur," this sure is a full album of R.E.M.! It feels more refined and I preferred it to "Murmur." Nothing really bad here but nothing special either

I don't like R.E.M. so much. All the songs are the same.

Pop Song is good and memorable. As is Orange Crush. I am reminded how much I hate “Stand” as it was used in “Get a Life”. This is coming from a long-time REM hater. They are the reason why we have bands like Coldplay.

Not the album of theirs that I would have chosen, but it is still a really good one.

This one was ok. I was teetering on disliking it but I think it was fine.

Possibly the best album from an amazing group.

6/10… power pop / rock

Good listen.

Great album.

I’ve never been a big R.E.M. fan, and can’t say I’ve ever listened to this before, but I enjoyed it more than I expected.

1.6 We have 4 REM albums so far. If you gave me a million bucks and a year to figure it out, I still wouldn't be able to distinguish one from another.

Major key, mid-tempo, pretentious, semi-folk-rock-balladish things making up some, mediocre Experimental Rock.

Not bad

Not my favorite R.E.M. record. This and the previous record, Document, started getting R.E.M. on the pop music stations and more heavy rotation on MTV. To me the sound became to polished and to overproduced. While there are still some amazing songs on this record, it just was not my style. I was a big fan and went to every show when they would come into town, but by this record, I was less interested in the band. This album was really less jangle pop as the previous albums and R.E.M. seem to lose their college radio station sound. That is fine, we all have to graduate from college someday. However, for R.E.M. their college sound was what drew me in and made them endearing.

Oddly like lead singer’s voice. Might check the rest of the catalog out! Favorite Track: Orange Crush

Between “Stand” and “Orange Crush” for my faves

Typisches R.E.M. Album, der Fairness halber muss ich aber auch sagen das es halt wie jedes Album der Band klingt, also irgendwie der gleiche Klang, Gesang, etc. Hat sich nicht abgehoben

Irgendjemand hat mal gesagt, dass der Sänger von R.E.M. sich anhört wie Donald Trump, seitdem kann ich das nicht mehr weghören. Ich mag R.E.M., aber das dritte Album nun, nur eins kam bisher auf 4 Sterne. Orange Crush hat positiv herausgestochen

Great stuff.

vier (minus) world leader pretend

i really liked it actually

I love REM. Especially the early albums. They were one of my college radio favorites back when that was a thing (I assume it’s not anymore?). When this album dropped I recall wondering if they’d ever do anything essential again. Thankfully they did, but this wasn’t it. It’s 3.5 for me, but I’ll bump to 4 just because.

Bra! 4a

8/10

Again, I just find REM so completely average.

Didn't like it as much as I expected to.

4.2

I've spent the past 20 years trying to get into R.E.M. I’ve always felt like I should be a fan—I love their hits—but I’ve struggled to find a full album that really connects with me. Could Green be the one? Surprisingly, yes. I really enjoyed this album. It’s an easy, fun listen, and before I knew it, I’d played it three times in a row without even realizing. Michael Stipe’s voice is truly unique—haunting, expressive, and perfectly suited to his lyrics, which often balance the strange, the magical, and the delightfully nonsensical. His delivery draws you in, even when you’re not entirely sure what the song is about. The guitar work on this album is fantastic—varied, textured, and always interesting. It keeps things fresh from track to track and showcases the band’s versatility. Brilliant stuff. Favourite song: Orange Crush stands out as an absolute highlight—urgent, catchy, and powerful. I also love Get Up and Stand. The faster, more upbeat R.E.M. tracks are definitely the ones that resonate with me most. Least favourite: Honestly, there isn’t a weak song on the album. Each track brings something to the table. Album artwork: Very cool—distinctive and eye-catching without being overdesigned.

The first REM Album I heard and still sounds great

I was 11 when this came out and wouldn’t buy it on CD for another five years or so, so Green isn’t the early-REM/late-REM demarcation line for me that it is for old(er) heads. To me, it was just part of the back catalog of this amazing band that I was blessed to fall in love with in my teens. Athens was only about three hours away from where I grew up, so two friends and I did a day trip to see the church where they played their first shows and the bridge from the back of Murmur and Wuxtry Records. My best friend at the time, who was way more into REM than I was (and they were my favorite band), put that together. I would have never thought to do that. I’m grateful for the people in my life who got me to do things. I don’t know why I don’t think to do things, but mostly I don’t. I’m also grateful for REM. Music nerds; just nerds generally; Southern boys just like you and me; writing songs about being confused and scared and sad and angry that were just poppy enough and just weird enough to hit my ears right in their sweet spot. A perfect band for teenage me, and a huge part of my life as a music fan. Green isn’t one of my favorite of their albums, but the worst REM album is better than almost anything else.

Whiny bloke this guy

Shame on me for not having listened more to Green than I already have. The run from 'Stand' to the beautiful 'Hairshirt' is extraordinary - perhaps with the exception of 'The Wrong Child' which I honestly could live without on the album. Otherwise, the album perfectly ties together the groups' worldwide stardom of Document and the mandolin earworm to come on Out of Time.

R.E.M.’s first album on Warner sees the band going in a new direction. There are still the non-negotiable stadium rockers like “Orange Crush” and “Turn You Inside-Out”, but Green is also the birthplace of the more experimental sound fueled by mandolin and major keys. Green provides a little bit of everything you want from an R.E.M. record - it’s a farewell to the IRS years and a hello to the signature sound that was to come.

You can tell they're a group of talented musicians, and that they have a great understanding of what they're doing musically, but it never really clicks for me. Part of it is probably that I don't love the lead singer's voice, and that's an important part, and helps set up an initial impression. I do like the experimentation that's done. It works well enough to the point that it isn't really all that noticeable, which is a good thing, I think. So, it blends in well with their other musical decisions. I just didn't really like it all that much. Favorite Song(s): I Remember California

Great timeless album, I would never have guessed it came out in 88. It is quality REM, although it gets a little bit repetitive towards the end. Still a great listen!

Great album! Classic rock, and easy to enjoy. 7.6/10

You might not like their politics or fashion or whatever but I challenge you to find a group writing better melodies and pop songs than REM.

Stand and Orange Crush are great. Everything else is pretty meh and blends together.

Some good songs— Stand and Orange Crush are xrt classics. I don’t think it’s a great album and probably doesn’t deserve a spot on the list. Kinda plain ya know?

I’ve always found R.E.M. to be pretty annoying

May need to circle back to this one!

That jangly shrug-rock, saying-nothing self-important garbage. What came after this became the soundtrack to either sipping lapsang tea while journaling or eating shrimp with mid-priced white wine.

Solid album. Forgotten how good they are.

REM is great.

Politically charged alt rock with brains and mood. Loved the darker tracks.

It's not a coincidence that I avoid REM (whereas WAR was a total surprise out of nowhere). One of them was alright to begin with but just turned into the usual REM dirge. It might be Stipe's earnest droning voice. It might be the instrumentation (but no - the band are perfectly good. It's definitely Stipe. He's whining.

I have a complicated relationship with R.E.M. Their hits HIT, but everything else kinda sounds the same. 3 stars here for a solid album that didn't blow me away or leave me feeling like I wasted my time.

I like this. It stays interesting, the music is fun, the lyrics are interesting. A good time.

Det var en sløj omgang. Skulle tvinge mig selv til at høre det færdigt.

Jeg tror måske jeg har glemt eller overset hvor gode R.E.M. faktisk er. Det er en ret fin kombination af upbeat og alvorlig musik og lyrik.

A lot of pleasant songs

Enjoyable, but like most REM, doesn't do anything special for my ears.

Not bad little bit boring

Great album! I grew up listening to REM. I love the way that Mike Mills counters Michael Stipe’s vocal on songs like “Get Up” and “World Leader Pretend”. It was a great album to start the work week.

R.E.M. was a band that pretty much never missed. They’ve got 4 albums in the book and a good argument could be made for including 3 or 4 more.

By the point Green came out, REM had hit the top of their career. They had gone from college radio favorites to mass market stars and filled arenas with the album, Document. Green, while a good album, sounded more like outtakes from Document. The leadoff, Pop Song 89, was jangly enough to be old REM and Orange Crush added a bit of social commentary to the REM mix. Plenty of others were MTV and radio hits (Get Up, Stand) but none of them are as good as It's End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), or almost anything else on Document. After this came their biggest album ever, Out of Time, which was coincidentally one of their lowest artisticly. Lot's of teenage posers would soon loved REM but even they knew it wasn't quality. The albums that cam later, especially Automatic for the People, Monster, and Adventures in Hi-Fi were better albums but not as popular. So, whether you see Green as the beginning of the fall or fork in the road depends on whether you care about sales or art. If the latter, then Green was only the bump in the road.

Third R.E.M. album for me and all in chronological order. I think they're a good band to listen to in order as the sound develops and here we are approaching their commercial peak but coming off their college radio indie years, still before I knew them. They have started to vary the sound more, which I appreciate, with some nice mandolins sandwiched between the drum-driven rockers. I'd heard this before but not really 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 enough perhaps. There are the obvious stand-outs, including Pop Song 89, Orange Crush and Stand but I found a lot to like right through the runtime and it's yet another really enjoyable and consistent LP from Athens' finest.

My personal feeling is if I've heard one REM album I've heard what there is to hear. I'm guessing they have like 4 albums on this list since they've had a bunch of successful albums. There's nothing wrong with this album but almost 40 years later the impact of it is very diffuse

4th album. Three stars it was okay. Wasn't great. Wasn't the worst? Wasn't their best? decent album middle of the road. Can see where other artists borrowed from the sound, especially the new pornographers in twin Cinema

Solid, but not the best from REM. Leans a touch commercial for me.

A lot of improvements compared to the debut album and a lot more enjoyable. Still feels like a bit of a relic of its time.

Another 5 star classic from R.E.M.!

Just good 3.3

Stand saved it from a 1. This was a precursor to grunge and the darkness of ‘90s rock. Yuck!

Drones on a bit despite being 40mins. Important, sure, but eh

Decent. Lots of hits I’ve heard through the years

An incredible record with amazing production. Lyrics hit as with many R.E.M. songs, and this album provides songs that anyone can listen and relate personally. Have listened to this one a few times and will keep listening to it in the future.

I will probably have Orange Crush stuck in my head for the next few days. Otherwise, the rest of the album was just sort of there for me. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. It was ok.

Apart from Orange Crush, I did not like this album. I don’t think I like REM in general.

I guess we're going to have all of REM's albums on this list? This, at least, has my favorite song from them, Orange Crush. I Remember California turned out to be good, too. This is a 3.

Legend has it that R.E.M. was conflicted when propositioned to leave IRS for Warner Bros; the latter said, "whatever IRS will pay you, we'll double it." IRS gave their blessing to leave the label, and made as big an offer as they possibly could to further help milk Warner Bros on the deal. In the end, everyone won: R.E.M. signed a great deal and exploded as THE biggest band in the world, IRS made good money on the back catalogue, and Warner Bros had a successful band in their catalogue. Green was born. It has many of my very favorite R.E.M. songs such as Get Up, Orange Crush, and Turn You Inside-Out, as well as hits Stand and Pop Song '89, which helps to remind me the year this album was released. My biggest complaint with R.E.M. in general is that most of their songs are just one repeated 4-chord progression, with Michael Stipe musing over various melodies and ideas. It's formless. This isn't bad on the occasion, but it becomes a bit one-note. Anyways, they probably strayed the most from that formula on Green, and the album shines as a result. Another fun anecdote concerning this album is for Get Up, which evinces Mike Mills as some of the best backing vocals in the business. He had overslept for the rehearsal of these Green sessions, and when he arrived, they had a new song, Get Up, and he jumped right in to do his part. Only when they were live on stage on the Green tour did Stipe introduce the song as being written about Mills oversleeping that day. Mills is in essence telling himself to get up! "Dreams, they complicate my life." I recall that if you caught the cover in the right reflection, you'd see a 4 over the R in both R.E.M. and Green, and in the track listing on the back, the fourth track had an R instead of a 4. Those quirky kids! This is essential R.E.M.

I remember saying on my last R.E.M. album review that it was peak-R.E.M. style, but that's also how I feel about this one, just an earlier version of it. When you think of R.E.M., this is it. 3.5

Never was much of an REM fan, but I found that this album kept things interesting and was 'rock' sounding compared to some the others.

- i was a bit bored to be honest - some cool elements and probably has inspired something somewhere -vocals weren't for me ★★

Just boring really

Eh, it's wasn't very engaging.

excellent album with creative tracks

It’s ok but not going into my rotation

In the end I didn't mind it, but it probably isn't something I'd add to my frequent rotation.

ka philipp album holt

als ob ich die noch nicht kannte??

I've never been a massive fan of R.E.M., I really like some of their individual hits, but I had never listened to one of their albums. This experience confirmed me and R.E.M. just don't click. A few highlights. but an overall dull album for me.

Still not a fan by any means, but overall not a bad listen

suffers greatly from the valley style track listing and does not deliver a solid finish. the singles and 2 tracks at the top were all that kept my attention

Too monotone lead vocal.

Love REM

I think R.E.M. definitely have their own particular vibe. The lyrics are so artsy but kind of nasally sung and every song on here vaguely sounds like something I’ve heard before - maybe being played at a mall. All that being said, i love that vibe.

The second REM album I've gotten through this, though I can say I liked this one much more than the first (AFTP). There was some diversity to the music that kept it engaging, plus the songs themselves were enjoyable for the most part. There were still a few I didn't like; Stand stood out for that reason (see what I did there?). I didn't think it was great. But, as someone who doesn't really care for REM, I have to say this was pretty good. Overall: 3.1/5

Boring pop-rock.

bof

Enjoyed! Less good than the jack white album, but i can see its value even if its not as much me

I don't get the love for REM... it's so mid for me. Not a great voice. Not great instrumentals. a bit whiny? I dunno. it's fine but def not must listen to imo

love REM!!

own

No way I can rate this rationally. I was a huge REM devotee and when this came out I listened to it nonstop. Saw them seven times on the Green tour. I stand by my love of this record: pop irony, hard rock grind, delicate beautiful weirdness. It's probably not even in the top 5 REM albums, but it is for me a 5 star classic.

Here is a good case that being trapped to the whole number rating gives me pains. For personal impact, this is totally a 5. Relistening in today's context this is really a 4. I still have fond memories of listening to this upon my "cool" cousin's statement that he "was really into the early REM catalog", when Automatic for the people came out.

Oh man. Green is the first REM record I heard. I remember stealing the tape from my brother's room. I still love it. It's somewhere in between their early more raw stuff and the later sophisticated art rock - Green has a bit more pure pop to it, which is actually what I like least about the REM in general, and Stand is the first song of their that I loved, and it's just so poppy that I sort of thought of this as one of their not so good albums for awhile... But relistening, it's actually better than I thought! I forgot about Orange Crush! Man that's a good song.

This album was how I got into REM back in 5th grade, so it should have a powerful nostalgia aura for me. But “Orange Crush” aside, I was surprised by how little I liked this album listening to it now. It seems like I can hear them moving further away from the early stuff i still like, and some songs verge on the full cringe effect of “Shiny Happy People.” Automatic for the People sort of redeems this arc for me, but I honestly struggled to get all the way through this album. Extra points for memories of 5th grade though.

It’s hard to separate this album from me at 17, but it still sounds great. “You Are the Everything” is my favorite now, probably not back then.

It's not bad for a major label debut/commerical/"sellout" album and "Orange Crush" is one of their very best tracks, but overall it's a steeeeeeep dropoff from their first five albums.

Decent variety in moods and instrumentation

REM put out 5, 5-star albums in row. Green is where things started to crack a bit. Still 4-stars. Songs like Pop Song 89, Get Up, and Stand feel like REM just wanted to do something easy for a change. Turn You Inside Out is probably their best rocker of all time. World Leader Pretend would have fit well on a previous album. Gems like You Are The Everything and Hair Shirt are clues to what would come on Automatic For the People

This is one of my favorite albums from R.E.M.!

3.5/5

No esta mal, sin mas

Me gusta el rollete

Me duele la cabeza

I did not use a private session for this one as I have listened to it many times. I went through a REM phase in college, but didn't like some of their newer albums. Back to this album, it rocks. Has some great classics.

There's definitely an argument to be made for "Murmur" and "Automatic for the People" being on this list but this album not as much. Its a perfectly acceptable album but come on. Favorite track: You Are The Everything

3.5

Men den var nära att få två i vissa delar

REM are an interesting one for me, I think my favourite thing about them is how much I hear their influence in so many bands I love. But when it comes to REM themselves I find them incredibly hit or miss. Green is alright, the songs I like I do like but the ones I don't were a drag. Honestly this felt way longer than an hour by the end of it. Favourites - Pop Song 89, You Are The Everything, Stand

‘Stand’ would go insanely hard on Warning by Green Day. Pop Song 89 (7/10) Get Up (7/10) You Are the Everything (8/10) Stand (9/10) World Leader Pretend (8/10) The Wrong Child (6/10) Orange Crush (10/10) Turn You Inside Out (7/10) Hairshirt (6/10) I Remember California (7/10) Untitled (7/10) 7.5/10

Very nice and upbeat but they all sound pretty similar

Lots of great stuff here, borderline 3 or 4. Need more listens.

Didn't love a few songs but overall I enjoyed it a lot!

A great album by R.E.M. Michael Stipe's vocals really drive the album, and his use of layering is unique and haunting. The drums are an omnipresent force. My favorite song was Orange Crush.

Having only been exposed to singles on the radio, I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I've enjoyed the REM albums I've listened to as part of this project. Catchy riffs and interesting lyrics.

Two R.E.M. albums in a row! Well, let's get them out of the way I suppose... Bleh. Blablublarghalumebleylalagullumbelum. I don't dislike it. I don't like it very much either. 3 stars

Oh yeah just what i needed, an other mid R.E.M album

simple. smiths-y voice. really like it

Ça va j’accepte

Quite enjoyable, I like the lyrics and the musical style of REM. It doesn't grab a hold of my attention necessarily, but I appreciate it when I listen to it.

My 4th R.E.M. album and probably my favourite. Upbeat at times, melancolic at others but with Stipe in his most Stipe-iest

I got into R.E.M. with "Automatic For The People". I've only listened to the hits from the 80s albums. So I knew Stand and Orange Crush are great. It turns out most of the album is great. It's not quite "Automatic" though. 4.5 rounded up.

Hmm... I love a lot of R.E.M songs, but they also have a lot of similar sounding fillers... This album is not different, some songs hit, some don't... And it's not creative or weird enough to compensate... Still good, would always be happy to listen to it, it just ain't great...

Fun

By 1988, R.E.M. were close to the path of unlikely stardom. Largely staying on the course of consistency, they had raked in credibility and enough cache to entice listeners who ranged from curious to diehard. Green, the penultimate push towards uber-popularity, exemplifies that range broadly. Jostling between now typical political musings and jaunty diversions into irreverence whilst going back and forth with harder and softer musical styles, Green is the blueprint that R.E.M. provided that would be improved upon whilst not compromising its own ecosystem. Whether one considers this the end of a blistering era or the start of a brilliant period in the band's history, Green is the bridge that connects two roads that would serve to provide a path to many others. Favorites: Pop Song '89, Get Up, You Are the Everything, World Leader Pretend, Orange Crush, Turn You Inside-Out, Hairshirt, Untitled.

yeah ok easy listening

Impressionante como eles tinham muito a dizee

I absolutely LOVE REM, but as has always been the case when listening to this - which I know is highly acclaimed in their back catalogue - I am kind of ambivalent to it. I think instead of being a great realisation of where they would end up and the accomplishment of where they started it's just TOO transitional. It misses the soaring poppy art rock highs of their later work, and the austere jangle of their early records.

I listened a lot to this album on release and I was a big fan of REM. Its undoubtely a good album but for me some of the magic hasnt survived the years.

Great album! Very happy that I got this one today. You can really hear some of the sounds that inspired Nirvana.

Je pensais pas mais énorme banger Y a de tout, et du grunge avant l’époque

Almost as bas as radiohead

Ok I checked and the REM inclusions in this list are weird. Four albums which is a lot, but none of them are their biggest album, Out Of Time? Don’t get me wrong, REM is a great band and this is a great album. It’s a transition album. The band’s major label debut. Their “selling out” album. I think the only huge hit here is “Stand”, but I guess the overall sound is more polished and accessible (not that REM were terribly inaccessible at any point). It’s a beautiful album, great late eighties early nineties alt rock. Dunno, three stars based on my personal taste but I mean I’m not sure it should be here.

how in the world is this on the list? its like bad and boring dave matthew’s band

Top 10 favorite band all time 5/5 love you thank you list. I love their songwriting, I love Michael’s lyrics, I love his voice, I love the way they sound, I love their experimentation, I love how every REM song sounds different but sounds like an REM song I just adore this band. Peter Buck is a top 10 underrated guitarist of all time, Mike Mills rules as a bassist, Bill sure is there. Album specific, a lighter/brighter than usual, fantastically politically charged album. I love that this was a purposeful effort to not write REM songs and they created some of the most REM songs possible. It’s a cool departure from their usual garage rock but I can’t wait to get those albums on the list later (murmur and document are on the list, right???). Highlights are obviously the singles but world leader pretend rules and so does I remember California as a sleeper hit. I will admit it’s not their strongest album but not their strongest is still a 5. Orange Crush is a top 10 for them. I don’t know what REM albums are on the list but I want to say what I think should be if Green has made it: Murmur, Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic, and Monster. Realistically, I will accept that whole list minus Monster. *Future Drake here they left out Out of Time, I can not believe that that is probably my favorite album of theirs*

Although I really like REMs hit songs, I found this album to just be pretty decent. Other than Orange Crush (one of the first songs I learned on my guitar), not many other songs really stood out for me. The entire time I was listening to this album, I was thinking that The Smiths do everything better. That being said, healthy 3

Front loaded with a lot of hits, lost me a bit on the second half. Still a 4/5 record

R.E.M. is a weird band for me. Their highs are so high, Stand through Orange Crush is a great sweep of songs, and I genuinely forgot just how fuckin' good Orange Crush is. Alot of the rest is kindof forgettable though, and when Michael Stipe's singing isn't working out, it REALLY isn't working. Good stuff though still, leaning four but placing at 5 because I'd love a physical copy.

R.E.M. is one of those super consistent bands that I often enjoy, but don't think about all the time. The Wrong Child, Orange Crush, Pop Song 89, and Untitled all hit strong.

OK REM. Not my favorite. Marks the shift into more mainstream rock/pop than indie. More produced. Less jangly.

Light rock, but still feels like 80s.

Classic late 80's album, everyone at the time knew it or owned it. "Pop Song 89" was a big hit with a great riff. "Stand", while annoying at times, is another hit that still gets a substantial amount of airplay today (51M listens). Rounding out the big 3 is "Orange Crush" which I heard on the radio yesterday (74M listens). Glue tracks like "Get Up", "Turn You Inside Out" round it out. I will add that "The Wrong Child" is horrible, a full on trainwreck of a song. I would not add this to my T1001 but I respect the impact it had at the time and the hits it produced that still get on the radio. 3.5 stars

Meh. A couple of good tunes.

Better than Coldplay.

Another phenomenal walk down memory lane. This is the kind of album you share with someone who isn’t very familiar with an all time great band

Amazing album. Love REM

Just a flat out classic album. Orange Crush is prob my fave REM song. Poetry set to mind blowing music.

Some bangers and some yawners. Never heard “ I Remember California” before. Really like that song

This album way exceeded my expectations…..it’s really goddam good!

Such a great late ‘80s album. Represented the college alt movement perfectly. Have been a late adopter so learning this decades after the fact

Good album. Orange Crush will always be one of my favorite songs. Never get tired of it.

It's orange, with orange, but it's "Green". More importantly, it's damn good. Classic R.E.M. with songs with dark, relevant messages to this day. Favorite Track: "Orange Crush".

it was mid

Kinda cool, very 80's kept on waiting for losing my religion though hahaha

Some decent songs ngl. Just not great

Despite thinking that -- at their core -- REM sound quite dweeby, I've just always loved them. Love Stipe's vocals, and their music just always hits an very enjoyable spot in my brain + ears. However, it gets a bit samey samey and I prefer their other outputs. It's a high 3 low 4 for me.

Pfff. I neither really like nor dislike R.E.M. It's too much middle of the road for me. And that's exactly what I think of this album. It's like pleasant background sound. You keep hoping that something will happen, whether it's a really hard rocking song or a beautiful ballad, but nope, it's like a gentle river bubbling along the countryside. I really don't understand ''You are the everything'; the instrumentation doesn't work and the singing of Michael Stipe is truly unbearable in that song. 4 stars is really too much honour. It's a bleak 7 our of 10 but that translates into 4 stars. But I just can't do that. So I ignore the methodology and adjust to 3 stars.

Maybe one of their greatest records! No bad song here.

The first R.E.M. album I've listened to. I knew all of the best songs already, so it really wasn't anything too new. Still a solid album.

So many years on , it’s difficult not to hear the seeds of the classic albums to come. Still a great listen though. Apart from the well known singles, Turn You Inside Out and Hairshirt were standouts for me.

Another REM album I’ve failed to like. By my tastes I really should like this band but I just don’t. It’s weird cause so many artists I love were inspired by REM. I guess I don’t like his voice. The lyrics are cool though.

This was so grounding and soothing to listen to! Full of hope, with hints of alienation and disconnect! I really liked the sonic texture of this music 🥹 Album rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Never been a big fan of R.E.M. but this is a decent album.

Classic R.E.M., not much more I can say about it.

Flaccid, self-absorbed, inoffensive. This band does nothing for me. They have a distinctive sound; I'll give them that. But it's a whiny, jangly sound I don't want to hear.

86/100. A great listen, blending art rock with touches of psychedelia and folk in a way that feels both fresh and timeless. The writing is sharp and thoughtful, while the instrumentation is rich and dynamic, giving the album a layered, textured feel.

Nice.

It was good, witty and comical at times. My favorite tracks were Stand and Orange Crush. Haven’t listened to R.E.M a lot, but vaguely remember my dad listening to them when I was a kid

A very creative album. I appreciate what this did for music as a whole, but I can't say I loved the listen.

One of my all time top ten favorite albums. And maybe the #1 most influential on me. I bought this in sixth grade when the Monkees-esque Stand video was all over MTV. At that point for me, it was all about Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Warrant (sorry not sorry) and the rest, with a lot of U2 in there too, but REM was truly the first "alternative" band in my life, in that they were just weirder and more unpredictable and elliptical than U2, and certainly much more so than the hair metal (which I still love) that dominated MTV and which everyone else in school was listening to. This album still kills. You Are the Everything is the most underrated REM song out there. I do feel a lot of nostalgia for this so that may bias me as I know most REM fans do not consider this their best (and indeed a lot of them hate this album), but whatever.

Never really liked R.E.M. They've always come across to me as a band that loves smelling their own farts, and they expect you to enjoy it as well. The only redeemable song on the album is "Stand" but even that one gets old fast.

A catchy album by R.E.M. Some good reasonable hits. However I prefer their earlier works.

Buen álbum. Leí que experimentaron con crear canciones de rock en tonalidad mayor, probaron instruementaciones nuevas como la inclusión de la melódica. Me pareció interesante un momento en el que solo queda sonando un marimbol. La voz del cantante es muy representativa de la banda.

After Murmur and Fables, Green is third in my top 3 R.E.M. albums. When it's great it's really great and even when it isn't really great, it's pretty great.

Never really got into them