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Is former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry going to tour with the band this spring? A “reliable source” who called into an Atlanta radio station sure thinks so! And the way this maybe-news sent the R.E.M. fans on my buddy list into paroxysms of exclamation points and “OMG”ing indicates to me that if the band wasn’t planning on touring with Berry, they might want to think about giving him a ring and a big, big bribe. UPDATE:The band’s management is saying this rumor is “entirely untrue.” Sorry everybody. [Paste]
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I’m torn by this rumor: Bill Rieflin, who has been playing drums for REM for several years, is a perfectly fine drummer and I’m not convinced that Bill Berry’s return would improve the band. On the other hand, it was around the time Bill Berry left that REM started to, ya know, suck balls.
@extracrispy: I wondered too, but I was convinced that Berry was a mighty step above Rieflin when I watched REM’s recent induction into the Hall of Fame-show; Berry was the only good thing about it, making a mediocre trio into something else entirely. It made me want to like them again.
Like with Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, or the Who: it’s the drummer.
@Jfrankparnell: True, that Nirvana tour after the guitarist died showed he didn’t matter much.
@Ned Raggett: R.I.P. Pat Smear.
@extracrispy: Bill Berry left in ‘91?
@tigerpop: Once again, the myopia of supposed “old school” REM fans rears its narrow-minded head. If you don’t hear at least 8 great tracks on Out of Time then I don’t know what to say to you.
Why must every REM post deal with how people think the band has sucked for X amount of time when other musicians (God, David Bowie and Neil Young come to mind immediately) get a pass on their decades of questionable material? This is why I love Matthew Perpetua’s Pop Songs project so much because he is able to look past the BS and appreciate a lot of the later period songs for what they are, good songs in a lot of cases.
@Ned Raggett: There was actually an original drummer before Dave — back when success was anti-dream in KC’s eyes.
1) Fire old drummer
2) Hire Dave Grohl
3) PROFIT!!
@Lucas Jensen: I was supposing that he left AFTER Out of Time, which came out in early ‘91. And . . . oh fuck it, I liked Monster.
As for Bowie, Young, etc., I agree 100%. Chrome Dreams gives me the douche chills.