Anybody remember R.E.M.? In the late '90s, with a decade and a half of steadily increasing record sales and unflagging critical fawning, they were one of the biggest bands in the world, ready to assume their place on the musical Mount Olympus alongside all the other all-time greats.
But a funny thing happened on the way there. An illness-plagued world tour in 1995 led to drummer Bill Berry quitting the band, and for the next decade their music sounded like, no pun intended, they'd missed a beat. As their studio albums sank into a lackluster, intermittently inspired rut of bland, midtempo pop, their fan base deserted them - at least in the States, where their last album, 2004's Around The Sun, missed the Top Ten and failed to go gold. While they can still pack large theaters and arenas, the crowds are getting older, and they head to the restrooms during the newer songs.
2008 finds R.E.M. in a weird position. They're not quite living legends who can coast on their reputation like the Stones or even Van Halen. They're not influential forefathers of any particular movement - you don't hear young new bands trying to imitate Murmur or Life's Rich Pageant. But they're not really current, either; a new R.E.M. album can no longer generate the same enthusiasm that, say, a U2 album does. And while their live act has gotten stronger over the last several years, they haven't been road dogs since the '80s.
For the remaining faithful, a listen to their 14th and latest album, Accelerate, will feel like a vindication of sorts. It's R.E.M.'s long-promised return to rock, and for the first time in ages they sound like a band again, fully awake and engaged. It's nothing they haven't done before, really - here it sounds a little like Monster, there a little like Document - but they haven't done it so well for so long that anyone who still cares about them is bound to be thrilled.
The question is, who still cares? How many of the millions who stopped buying their records ten years ago will be lured back into the fold? Will any of the music fans who've come of age in the dozen years since R.E.M.'s commercial star began to fall even know who they are, let alone be motivated to listen?
One of the biggest blessings and biggest curses of how we listen to music today is that we can avoid so much of it. Inescapable hit singles or blockbuster albums are becoming ever rarer with the fragmentation of terrestrial and online radio, the death of music TV that actually plays music, and even the demise of record stores. With fewer and fewer outlets for pop music to be a communal experience, we're all stuck in our own musical orbits, with our own favorite blogs and niche market satellite radio stations and iPod playlists. And if R.E.M. isn't in that mix, will anyone feel like they're missing out?
Well, this longtime fan hopes you'll search out a blogger who's posted tracks from the album, or watch the video for "Supernatural Superserious" that's playing on Amazon.com, or even, heaven forbid, find a radio station that still plays R.E.M. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the must-hear albums of the year, regardless of whether it stops the attrition of their fan base. At the very least it should remind you why so many people cared so passionately about this band for so long.