Are we gonna have a teenage summer?
R.E.M. rests on its considerable laurels while Crowded House struggles to add to its legacy
I didn't expect to be so moved by the sight of the four original members of R.E.M. performing together on a stage for the first time in 17 years, but watching them amble through a sweetly prosaic version of "Losing My Religion" at the American Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony last week made me a little misty eyed.
As I have shared here, when push comes to shove, R.E.M. is my favorite band. Many others vie for that crown, but the quartet from Athens got there first and save for a late-period dud that still contained at least one song that still means a lot to me, never stopped earning my affection.
One reason for that staying power is the same reason this night felt so special: They knew when to quit and they stuck to it. Despite what must surely be boatloads of cash promised for a return to the stage, they held true to their vow in 2011 that they were well and truly done.
Yes, they did perform, but it was one song at an awards ceremony that obviously means a great deal to them. I imagine that will be the last we'll see of these four on stage. That there is only a 25-second snippet of decent video on Stereogum and a few cell phone videos mostly dominated by the presence of other cell phones held aloft is perfect. R.E.M., despite being one of the biggest bands in the world at one point, always thrived in the mystery. In these days of ubiquity, that this short performance feels more like a whisper, a rumor, is so fitting.
The interview they did before the ceremony just adds to their appeal. All four were so charming, so complimentary of one another. Has there ever been a band that hit retirement and still genuinely adored one another?
Another favorite band has taken a different path, with mixed results. Crowded House released a new album in late May. For a band that hasn't had a hit in 30 years, resides halfway around the world, and has issued only eight albums in its nearly 40-year career, the amount of Stateside publicity was a pleasant surprise. The band performed on CBS Sunday Morning and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and various members appeared on podcasts and gave numerous website interviews.
Given all of that awareness-raising, one might expect at least a blip on the sales charts. Instead, the album didn't chart in the Billboard top 200 in its release week or beyond it, and even in Australia, the band dropped from No. 3 in the week of release to No. 82 the next.
You can attribute this to any number of factors. Part of the problem is that the two singles released before the album came out — "Teenage Summer" and "Oh Hi" — are among the weakest songs on the album. Compounding that is this: I would imagine all of the publicity likely reminded people about Crowded House, and in the absence of a strong new single, the next logical step for almost everyone other than rabid fans is to go to a streaming service and queue up the hits. As I’ve stated before, there are few times a late career album will push a classic out of the rotation, so unless the new songs are amazing (they are not) the only thing you’re doing is raising a general level of awareness that will help back catalog.
Another lingering factor among fans is the makeup of Crowded House v. 3.0. When band leader Neil Finn first reunited the group in 2006, he brought back bassist Nick Seymour and multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart. Late drummer Paul Hester was replaced by Matt Sherrod. When reuniting the band for a second time in 2019, Finn brought his two sons, Liam and Elroy, on board instead of Hart and Sherrod. The absence of Hart was a particular blow to fans, and the two fairly tepid albums that resulted did little to dissuade them that Finn had wrongfooted the reunion.
Both Finn sons are seasoned musicians, and there is no fall-off sonically with their presence. But it does not sound like the same band. Coupled with the fact that Neil Finn started leaning on a falsetto that lacks the power of his usual vocals, and the turn in his songwriting toward a more modern sounding pop feel, the new albums have left many cold.
The third single, “The Howl,” seems to be gaining a bit of traction, though, curiously enough, it’s a Liam lead vocal where he sounds more like his dad than present-day Neil does.
Regardless of what happens with the new music, you can’t buy better publicity than the cover of Australian Rolling Stone and a slot on Jimmy Kimmel for a band that hasn’t had a hit in more than 30 years. Credit to the band for not taking the oldies circuit route. There are still creative juices flowing, and at times the album shows it. Their last album came out at the same time as new albums by The Chills, Teenage Fanclub, and Del Amitri. None of those other bands have had new music since. This isn’t a nostalgia act. It’s a working band, whose work just isn’t as good as it was at the group's peak.