That's Cinnamon/That's Hollywood


Since New Adventures in Hi-Fi, my relationship with new R.E.M. material has been like this: joy, grief, anger, acceptance. It happened with Up and it happened with Reveal, and it will probably happen again with their next.

Joy because I'm a junkie. I'm from just south of Athens, GA and visited often. (Mostly for the Best Buy there.) I grew up with R.E.M. jammed in the CD player or queued up in Winamp. Almost every song on Automatic for the People made me want to hit 'repeat' more than I should have.

Same with 'New Adventures', though people often tell me they can't stand it. I look good in a glasspack/I look good in me - So Fast, So Numb. Where do you think the domain name came from, after all?

Grief because this new electronic sound sucks, period. I can barely tolerate it. Where did all the electric guitars go? How about the rock? E-bow, for crying out loud?

Anger because I want the rock back. Why did you have to go Hollywood soft on us, Mr. Stipe? Buck must be bored out of his mind these days, unless he enjoys playing the synth.

Acceptance because I can't see it coming back. We're stuck in this new-age rut. In R.E.M's case, I'm sad to see the Twentieth Century go to sleep. At least New Adventures on back will live in my Winamp playlist. (Oh, and 'Sad Professor'. Up wasn't a total waste.)

Time.com says..

Newsweek Says: (Not that I place much creedance in it)