R.E.M.: Accelerate

By Steve Morley

Back in 1986, the Athens, Georgia-based band R.E.M. gleefully proclaimed the arrival of Armageddon on “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” a cheeky, thumbs-down assessment of American politics, religion and culture in general. If the pronouncement was premature, the band contends on their 14^th and latest album, Accelerate, that the fragmentation of which they spoke is now more rampant then ever. Accelerate revs up the band’s often-introspective sound and waves a righteous fist at the powers-that-be even as it stirs up embers of hope for the last of the baby boom generation and its younger counterparts. This is a thinking man’s repurposing of late ‘70s punk rock, retaining some of punk’s guitar-fueled aggression but eschewing its destructive bent in favor of positive action and belief in the possibility of change.

”Living Well is the Best Revenge” summarizes vocalist Michael Stipe’s hope (as expressed in interviews) that the 21^st century’s first decade need not be defined by the troubled state of the union at present. Between lyrics too cryptic to easily interpret, he predicts the demise of an unnamed enemy in quasi-revolutionary style, saying “The future is ours and you don’t even rate a footnote.” The media is one likely target, if the sardonic opening line of the adjoining track, “Man-Sized Wreath,” is any indication. (Turn on the TV/ What do I see?/ A pageantry of empty gestures all lined up for me, wow/ I’d have thought by now/ We would be ready to proceed/ But a tearful hymn to tug the heart/ And a man-sized wreath, wow.”)

Stipe is unusually forthcoming, though, on the somber “Until the Day is Done,” surveying a frayed and divided America with no effort to conceal his frustration. (“The battle’s been lost, the war is not won/ An addled republic, a bitter refund/ The business-first flat earthers licking their wounds/ The verdict is dire, the country’s in ruins.” 

The track bemoans the America that will be handed off to the next administration, with Stipe’s lyrics again indicting journalists as political accomplices who have “written our stories to entertain notions of glory and bull market gain.”

“Houston” is based on controversial comments made by former First Lady Barbara Bush about Hurricane Katrina refugees in Texas. The trudging mid-tempo track affirms the hope and dignity of the displaced even as it signals disaster with a mournful organ sounding an evacuation siren. (“If the storm doesn’t kill me, the government will/ Gotta get that out of my head/ It’s a new day today and the coffee is strong/ I finally got some rest/ So a man’s put to task and challenges/ I was taught to hold my head high…”) 

The surreal, post-apocalyptic “Sing for the Submarine” envisions a plan to rebuild the world from ashes, suggesting the prospect is actually more promising than fearsome. (“The world as we know it/ (is) a high-speed train/ We’ll pick it all up and start again/ It’s all here where I keep it/ It’s all in the submarine/ It’s all a lot less frightening/Than we would have had it be.”)

While this is the band’s best-received album in a decade, its urgent response to current affairs, coupled with songs that often trade craft and melody for immediacy, leaves questions about how well it will age. As the members of R.E.M. themselves hit middle-age, though, they offer in Accelerate an 11^th--hour rallying cry, a burning-off of bitter buildup and the roar of a classic band getting back up to speed.

Audio Clips

"Living Well is the Best Revenge"

"Man-sized Wreath"

"Supernatural Superserious"

"Hollow Man"