A short time back, we did an R.E.M. anthology. For me, there are a lot of parallels between the two bands. I'm not usually on the cutting edge of the music scene, but I was there at the beginning for both of them, working at a college radio station in a po-dunk Georgia town in the early 80s. Big, big favorites from the get-go.
Similar career trajectories for both, from humble beginnings to international superstars. Great album after great album with very few clunkers along the way. And I followed every twist and turn along the way. I reached a musical dead end sometime in the mid-90s, with a wife and kids and money too tight to spend on a lot of albums and concerts, but I still made the effort for R.E.M. and U2 until...I just didn't anymore. Maybe we (the bands and I) just got old.
Rattle and Hum was the first U2 album that didn't WOW me. A couple of the songs are among their best, some of it was okay, some I didn't like at all. (They might have stolen Helter Skelter back if Bono had gotten the damn lyrics right.) I remember a scene in the movie where they were talking about closing this chapter of their career and starting a new one. For me, this new chapter started out great, but it just reached a point where that connection wasn't there anymore. I stopped listening.
