Virgin Radio Album Special: R.E.M. - Monster

Jamie East talks to R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills about the making of album 'Monster' 25 years after its release, as well as their first stadium tour when they realised just how powerful their music truly was.
✪Website: virginradio.co.uk
✪Twitter: / virginradiouk
✪Facebook: / virginradiouk
✪Instagram: / virginradiouk

[@Flux799]

I love this record although when it came out I remember it getting a lot of pushback from the fans. I loved it right away. One of the more underrated albums in the band’s discography.

[@09nob]

Agreed, I held of for a while because it got slated by critiques and fans alike and then a friend lent it to me and as a teenage man it was one of the first times i learnt how wrong they can be, same as you I thought what the fuck were they on about.

[@lindseeziegler90]

This album stands the test of time. An American rock band, Indeed -just as Mike says. Yesss

[@paulamiles9559]

Thank you Bill. Upbeat and loud turned out great.

[@Jansanization]

Love them

[@Mark..P]

Great interview Jamie 👍

[@MakeupElly82]

❤️❤️❤️LOVE MICHAEL STIPE UNTIL I WAS 13.. NOW I'M 38!

[@Olivershawmusic]

Watched this a few times now. Such an interesting interview x

[@anamariaestanislaafernande3892]

Excelebt interview..👍👏👏👑

[@bellaBdaughterofYAHAWAH7]

[@acercade439]

Muy buena entrevista. 😘😍Michael

[@PAUL2935]

I was at Murrayfield in Scotland 95 Monster Tour😎❤️

[@lynnepashley4281]

I love the mandolin

[@alexandredion2151]

I hope U2 will do the same thing with 1997’s Pop and revisit it some day. One of my favourite records of all time

[@Picnicl]

If God Will Send His Angels would have fit in nicely after New Test Leper on New Adventures in Hi-fi.

[@silkywellman8528]

Me too!

[@harbor9054]

15:50 Just took a look at the REM timeline to answer this question from Michael. Throughout the *entire* '95 tour, not just the beginning, MotM was just in the middle of the set- usually about 2/3 of the way through. End of the World was almost always the last song of the encore. We can see that eventually change and by their last run of shows in 2008, MotM is the last song every time.

[@PeterFord]

fun fact, I'm Gonna DJ closed the set of an early 2008 tour show! The only time MotM didnt close the show between 2004-2008 if you only count REM songs. There we a few times they played I Wanna Be Your Dog at the end.

[@thiscorrosion900]

I was an old school R.E.M. fan as well from nearly Day One (but not quite, more like when Murmur came out or just beforehand, Chronic Town), and I just revisited Monster and some of the bonus material the last two nights, and revisiting it, I think it's a great album and it rocks, and it's quite challenging at times, it takes some risks. I also revisited New Adventures in Hi Fi and though I like maybe five or six of the songs on that one, I honestly think Monster was the more cohesive and successful album of the two. It was after New Adventures, for me, that R..E.M. kind of mainly lost me for a long time. Initially I was distracted at the time and didn't give Monster its fair due, I admit. Hearing it these days with a solid sound system at home, and good remasters of it, etc., is a more satisfying experience, by far, anyway. That goes for both of those albums, in fact. I saw R.E.M. live only in 1985, 1986, and at Radio City in 1987, so I didn't see the "stadium" version of R.E.M. on the 1995 tour, for better or worse.

[@souldavidthompson4854]

To this corrosion900 -- I found your thoughts on R.E.M. close to my own. Like you, I saw them relatively early on, in 1984 and then in 1989 on the Green Tour. And like you, I liked Monster (and saw the tour in 1995), but felt the cohesion lacking in their albums after Up and Reveal. Still, a great American band.

[@thiscorrosion900]

@@souldavidthompson4854 These days I can appreciate their later work a lot more, but, in all honesty, I was the most into them up until maybe Hi Fi. After that, there's no doubt they were a very different band going in different directions. On the other hand, they were never going to keep doing Murmur over and over again, of course. I'm just glad I saw them 3x live in NYC, Radio City and then the Felt Forum. To me, Document was like their pinnacle, but also Out of Time and Green were damned good too. I prefer Out of Time now for some reason, although Green has plenty of good tracks. Monster has really grown on me by now.

[@jude999]

He just came in from the lobster catch.

[@richardclark6858]

I can only remember what’s the frequency which is a fantastic song.. mick mills really looks like Rolph Harris now…

[@swedishchefhands9037]

Had Christian Bale never gotten into acting, this would be him.

[@Music-el7if]

Stipe totally disses on Rolling Stone magazine lol!

[@jaggass]

Is Peter Buck still friends with Stipey and Mike Mills?

[@kennethtaylor541]

A lot of bands have a "purple patch" of three or four albums, but R.E.M. did way better than that. For me, all the I.R.S. albums plus "Automatic" are stonewall classics, the others a little (or a lot!) patchier. I think the original "Monster" holds up really well, but the remaster kind of blands out a lot of what I really like about the original scuzzy sound of the album. Looking forward to "New Adventures" next though, some real underrated gems on there. Also, what would be great would be if some of the early live bootleg recordings, which include songs never (to my knowledge) recorded, could be released.

[@duckbrew]

How many damn promo's are they gonna do for this album?? Jeez

[@lynnepashley4281]

I just love him.....I could listen to him speak forever.He is still gorgeous also ❤️ ( Michael that is )

[@bavideomaker29]

Jamie needs to do a bit more research before interviewing someone.

[@catnapgee5357]

they look older than they did in the 80s

[@denisehomestlno5470]

Because they are you dick

[@denisehomestlno5470]

Because they are you dick

[@catnapgee5357]

@@denisehomestlno5470 wow you take jokes well! it's not like you're a dick or anything! Now say it again, 3rd time's the charm!

[@denisehomestlno5470]

@@catnapgee5357 cos they are you dick

[@pts5217]

Love REM and I love grungy campy ironic glam rock, but I just dont love Monster. It felt uninspired and forced to me.

[@Music-el7if]

Yeah it's crap

[@dynjarren8355]

It was REM trying out Grunge and it basically failed. They were a Folk Rock Band! Never meant to be a hard rock band! Luckily, they tried it and got it out of their system. The album was terrible! One of their worst! Green, Out of Time and New Adventures are the best!

[@gogetter5137]

WTF? Monster? ugh. Terrible record. Call me a curmudgeonly crusty old R.E.M fan...but it's mind boggling to me how much their brilliant string of I.R.S. records aren't celebrated more. Fables of the Reconstruction? A dark, southern gothic masterpiece. Pageant? Phenomenal. Murmur? One of the greatest debut independent LP's of all time. Their I.R.S recordings are still so incredibly genius and timeless. Monster sounds very dated to me...because it was a forced, disingenuous record (they practically admit this). It all fell apart when Bill left afterwards They all admit this too. They are my favorite band of all time. I have EVERY right to comment about the crap that they released.

[@bavideomaker29]

I give them points for trying. They wanted to create a glam-rock inspired "rock" record that didn't sound like R.E.M.

[@gogetter5137]

@@bavideomaker29 I remember the day that the news came out that R.E.M signed with Warner Brothers. It was as if the apocalypse happened. All of the fans were freaking out....including me. They released "Green" on Election Day 1988 if I remember correctly. The old school fans were expecting a sell out type of record. I was too actually. Upon the first listen...I fell in love with them all over again. Holy Mandolin! "You are the Everything" and "Hairshirt" are still some of my favorite songs in their catalogue. The first time I listened to "Monster"? They lost me. Immediately. It wasn't R.E.M. It was R.E.M trying to be another band. They were so brilliant for so long...there isn't one band on the planet that can sustain greatness throughout their whole career. I'm just thankful that they gave me 1 ep, an awesome B side compilation with "Dead Letter Office", 8 amazing albums and a SHIT TON of old bootlegs to enjoy! There's not many bands out there that have that vast of an amazing catalogue.

[@CTChipmunk]

@@gogetter5137 couldn't agree more. i wrote them off w/monster. fast fwd 25 years later and going thru my all my music i decided to put on some REM earlier this year. i ended up getting hooked on them all over again. i ended up buying the 1996 - 2011 albums and am finding each one to be a masterpiece or near masterpiece. it's like rediscovering them all over again.

[@mrjackpotz]

it wasn't their best but it was far from terrible