R.E.M. Style
Apparently R.E.M. is “coming out” now. As one industry pundit said, “while their recent albums were a bit insular, Accelerate sounds as if it were made with the audience in mind.” So R.E.M. is “coming out” as the more extroverted band we loved in the 80’s. But Stipe is also “coming out” and acknowledging he’s gay, too. A coincidence?
Has anyone heard the new R.E.M. album? Is it any good? Leave a comment, let me know!
But what’s fascinating and potentially useful for those of us interested in word-craft is Michael Azerrad’s article about Stipe in Spin magazine. It’s Web-writing at its best, and worth studying. Web-writing is surely the next-generation of sweet prose, no doubt. As a lifelong aficionado of writing style and an OSU journalism grad, I’ve studied the sweeping changes in articulate style in the last two centuries, and this new Web-writing style deserves careful consideration. You see it in blogs, in a crude way, but it’s obviously reaching higher places, and English style is undergoing evolutionary change. I wonder if they teach the mechanics of this style in journalism or anywhere.
Azerrad’s style is economical. There’s no fat, not a single word. He conjures a whirlwind of fast-paced pictures like the MTV music videos, but Azerrad uses clipped word-pictures. Fascinating, somewhat disjointed, and reflective of the American psyche.
Anyway, the R.E.M. interview is a worthwhile read.
I have heard Accelerate. I’ve never been a huge REM fan- I’ve always classified them as “OK” in my mind. Although they’ve had a few songs I really liked- “Drive”, “Whats the Frequency”, “Man on the Moon”. The album is straight up rock and sounds like typical REM- good, but on first listen, not interesting enough to grab my attention.
Michael Stipe…gay!?!? Shocker!
Keith, Michael Stipe has been out, and very publicly, for years. For instance, see this 2001 Time article: http://tinyurl.com/6grpoe
Well, ain’t that a hoot? Thanks Michael for the info. Frankly, it don’t matter to me none if they’re gay or not, I’ve always enjoyed the music.
Yes, I only mentioned it because it refuted the idea that all the “coming out” language around the new album was pegged to Stipe’s coming out. As stated, Stipe has been out for years; perhaps few people noticed at the time, since R.E.M. was relatively unpopular then. It’s old news but is hitting the media radar all over again because of the recently increased awareness of the band.
Yeah – especially since “gay” is so “in” now. It is now trendy and cool to be gay or bi – of course this is getting so much attention.
In fact many collegiate women are now known as LUGs – that is Lesbian Until Graduation.
I love R.E.M. – always have – probably always will.
LUGs! Haha, that’s hilarious! I know some teenager SLUGs, but I’ve never heard of LUGs before!